The RN bonnet hinge stay has one end closed to resemble a piece of tube. The other end is open so that the hinge pin can just drop into it.
Can someone advise which end goes to the radiator and what stops the hinge pin from lifting out of the open end.

Location: Near M1 Jtn28

It's like that on the RP too. The forward end just has a half tube for the hinge pin to rest on. Makes removing the bonnet much easier. The bonnet catches keep it all in place. I doubt that you'll ever develop sufficient forward velocity for it to be affected by slipstream...

Location: Gard, France 30960

Many thanks Reckless, I'll be able to complete a bit more assembly work now.

Location: Near M1 Jtn28

We all manage reversals in posts at some stage, but surely the closed captive end is the front. My car spent much time in windy Wellington where relative air speed of 90mph in gusts was not uncommon. (Often could not get out of 3rd on the flat. Council used to place ropes across one street to assist pedestrians!)
The bonnet always retained at the front.

Location: Auckland, NZ

Hi all,just trying to get a better fit on the RP's bonnet,I have managed to extract the side panel hinge pins with a lot of WD40, a few well chosen words of encouragement, and a big hammer. This has left me with the top section which I want to secure first before attempting the job of aligning the fully assembled unit. The query I have is, how is it secured? From the previous answers above, I'm a little confused as to the location of the open/trough seating, front or rear? Another problem is , what does the closed/tube mounting look like as I don't have one at all. Finally, how is the front seating fitted to the radiator shell, my non genuine fixing was bolted to the shell but the nut under the shell bracket was wearing through the top tank,is there a fibre/rubber pad between the tank and nut,or what?

Location: Piddle Valley

Assuming that the RN is the same as the RP there is an extension to the rear of the radiator shell that a metal rail carrying the front hinge dish and rear hinge tube. At the rear it's bilted to an extension sticking out of the bulkhead. See here:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/181551428698699953/

Thanks for the reply Bruce. The picture is not quite clear enough for me to see if the rear tube is part of the rail,or an additional bolted on piece. My rail has only the trough section, could the tube bit have been cut of by a previous owner ?

Location: Piddle Valley

brian,

to your original question.

how the bonnet is held on.

its not just by the bonnet pulls.

the bonnet hinge should have a stud in the middle. that goes through the middle of the bonnet bar. and held in place with a 1/4 inch nut.

tony

Location: huncote

That would explain the hole in the rail by the horn mounting Tony. My bonnet hinge has no stud though, should it on a RP?

Location: Piddle Valley

Hi peter,

Yes the RP has it.

I'm sure someone can put a picture up.

Tony.

Location: Huncote on the pig

In case there's confusion, the central hinge has the bolt as part of it, so it's unlike the other hinges. Cheers, Bill

Location: Euroa, Australia

I'm sure I'll work it all out eventually , as I'm a bit unhinged myself Bill,but could someone answer the query about the tubed end , is it part of the rail or a separate piece. Also is the central stud welded to the hinge pin or is there a sort of "stirrup" mounting? Such a small job but seems to be quite complicated.

Location: Piddle Valley

The rail with the rear tube and the front half tube are all one piece on my RP. I've never seen a centre fixing. The only holes in my bonnet rail are for the Rist horn bracket.

I'll take some close ups & post later.

Just had another look at the centre hinge and cannot see where a stud could have been, there being no gaps in the hinge to allow one to fit without compromising the operation of at least one side. Some photo's might help.

Location: Piddle Valley

Good morning. I am reluctant to disagree with m' learned friend Mr Betts but I have never seen a centre locating fastening on an RP - Ruby yes RP no.
The 'tube end' I have always associated with the bulkhead end so the bonnet can be easily removed over the radiator.
Regards
Stuart

Location: Staffordshire - the creative county

My 1932 RN. has the fixing stud that attaches to the rail just like the Ruby fixing

Et voici!

Just found this photo on a different thread - its that AAK restoration posted by Shuttle. Seems that there is some sort of gadget in the middle of the bonnet hinge to the bonnet rail but certainly there's nothing like that on my RP.

Location: Huncote on the pig

I do like to cause problems,at least that's what SWMBO says.My sincerest thanks to all who have contributed to what I thought would be a straight forward answer. So, to summarise, My rail has a hole for the stud but the bonnet was made not to have a stud. The rail end has been cut off at some time and the "tube" end removed. This I shall now have to fabricate and weld back on. The open or trough end should be at the front to facilitate bonnet removal. I may or may not institute a central stud on the hinge to anchor the bonnet more securely using a wing nut to speed up removal. Again thanks to all, Peter.

Location: Piddle Valley

Having had a bonnet lift at medium speed into a severe head wind in another make with huge damage (including to my nerves) I would suffer any slight inconvenience of the tube to front. My guess is that owners were fitting reversed and/or in extreme winds bonnets were moving back anyway so a reversion to the safety strap (not fitted on my RP). On many cars there is now little retaining the ball of the bonnet clips.

Location: Auckland, NZ