Bonnet Latch Fitted

The bonnet now has the main latch and release fitted. Up until now I have only had the secondary or safety latch which has been making it easier to open and close the bonnet. If I'm planning on going faster then 16km/h (see first drive) I'll need it closed properly. I reconditioned it over a year ago. All went well - it was quite easy to align the pin with the latch
I have updated the to-do list post again.  Refresh your browser (Windows F5) if you have already visted that post.

 The release and spring have been added to actual latch side.

Boot Lid Insulation

On the cup weekend (just gone), the Boot (Trunk to readers in the USA) lid received the same treatment as the bonnet.

A layer of battery pack foam. (The brown boxes are my chargers - a handy source of clamping weight until the glue sets.)




Then the silver roof insulation foil. I stopped halfway down the back so I could easily bolt lights, trim and number plates on.

I think I might treat the parcel shelf (behind the rear seats) the same way.

The Bonnet Closes!

Putting the bonnet back on the car this past weekend was a big deal for me. As much as I have measured and estimated, I really didn't think that the bonnet was going to close with the controller on its mounting tray.
The curves of the Vogue bonnet made it very difficult to be sure.
Note the controller poking over the top. (No the wood isn't permanent).

View from left hand side of car near passenger door. The fuse/contactor box (clear lid) has to be elevated 40mm to clear the cable glands from the DC-DC converters. The single charger behind the controller will be a stack 4 high with another stack 3 high nearer to the fuse/contactor box. A few compromises but it'll all fit.

 Alongside...

The stuff is really in there! The controller cleared the bonnet by about 35mm at the front. I put my hand up through the grill opening to check. The controller tray is supported on the wood - now I can bolt it in.

The revised layout in Google Sketchup.

Added labels to one photo 25 Nov 2010.

Underside of Bonnet Treatment

The underside of the bonnet wasn't painted with the rest of the car so something had to be done. The original had some quilt like construction for sound/heat proofing held in place by a wire contraption - none of it was usable.
Here is the before photo with the insulation gone.

There are 8 of these shipped as packaging with every battery pack. So I have over 90 of them. They are about 10mm thick and 200 x 400mm. We slapped one of them in the heat oven at work and ran it up to 80 degrees C. It handled it quite well with only a slight amount of curling.

So I glued ten of them together along the edges.

I then stuck the left over foil insulation from when the garage was restored to the panel. I used the contact adhesive (brushable) bought from the auto-upholstery place. It was then cut to shape so some of it tucked in around the edges and finally glued into the bonnet with 3M Hi-tack #76 spray adhesive (you can see the can on the lower left).
Home made dynamat!
Prior to gluing the insulation on I painted the frame part of the underside with the same enamel paint I had mixed up for the engine bay (after cleaning it with thinners).
The intention is to help stop radiant heat from the bonnet heating up the engine bay battery packs on hot summer days.