P38A Bonnet release

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Flossie

Flossie

Well-Known Member
Posts
11,053
Location
Shropshire
Has suddenly gone very stiff, so much so that I thought the plastic cabin lever might break. Its always been a bit stiff but always opened fine until today. Is it worth stripping it out and trying to lube the cables up? Or is it a faff and just buy a new one?
Britpart one OK?
Latches move freely btw.
I got it open eventually by working the lever in a motion not dissimilar to milking a cow but with a worried look on my face waiting for the 'snap' sound. Not got time to mess today so I'll remove the grill meantime as I need to drive it tonight so at least I can get at the Latches if the cables fail.
 
Don't know, but it's probably a metal cable in a plastic sheath. If water can get in then it can rust and get too big, thus too stiff.
Or the plastic breaks and traps it
 
kermit_rr said:
Don't know, but it's probably a metal cable in a plastic sheath. If water can get in then it can rust and get too big, thus too stiff.
Or the plastic breaks and traps it
Click to expand...
It's a bowden cable, stranded core inside a coiled metal sheath with a plastic covering. Lubrication will work if it's not too far gone. I have a pressure lubricator for cables from my motorcycling days.
 
I've had a look see and realised that I can remove the grill and slam panel and still drive the car if needed, so I did.
Cables both sides were surprisingly rust free but what was happening, I think, was that the outer sheath had snapped just where it enters the little hole in the body work on the rhs, the lhs was just starting to fret in the same place on the sharp steel edge of that little hole. That snapped outer sheath was catching on the edge and locking the cable. When I held it out of the way, the movement was much smoother and the catches released easily. I've temporarily put a 4" piece of 6mm id nylon tube, slit down its length, over the outer sheath, secured with tie wraps to stop it catching, which works well for now. I'll fit that tube over the new cables if I order them which I probably won't. :vb-lol:
Another bonus is I found my long lost scriber under the slam panel sitting on top of the condensor:vb-groan2:
 
I replaced mine with the Britpart one last year.

It's fine.... but one side was a little too long so it wouldn't pull the latch all the way open even when you had the lever at maxumim. I used a cable tie at the ball end to make it a little shorter and it works.

Pay Britpart prices, get Britpart parts.
 
Last edited:
Did the job yesterday and feel a bit of a nob 😬 . The sudden stiffness mentioned in post 1 was caused not by the outer sheath breaking as I thought but my removing the battery a few days earlier to use on my 110.
On replacing the battery, the bonnet cable had dropped down into the battery tray, I didn't notice, and was crushed to death by the battery and further tortured by enthusiastic tightening of the battery clamp.
New britpart one works well with no need of any modifications luckily.
It's a fiddly job especially trying to get the bulkhead grommet home.
 
Bugger, spoke too soon.
Tested 4 or 5 times yesterday and all good so this morning I refitted the interior bits and then the slam panel and grill, shut the bonnet and it now won't release on the passenger side.
Rain has stopped play but it looks like I'll have too modify it as @MrGorsky has done.
.
 
Should have taken a pic but I've sorted the cable being too long issue. I'll do an "in my mind" picture instead. I needed to either shorten the inner cable or lengthen the outer sheath, neither were really practical with the cable in situ and I wasn't going to remove it again!
Then problem is the rh latch, the one nearest the power steering reservoir, luckily this is the easiest of the two to get at. Removing the two screws enables the latch to be rotated exposing the underneath and the mechanism, viewing it through the hole where it mounted. You can get your hand underneath to move it about and push it up to the viewing hole until you can see and work on it better. I used the knurled locking nut off a push bike brake lever as it was aluminium and already had a slot in it. This was put over the exposed cable making the cable nipple effectively 'longer' so the latch would be operated "sooner'. Being aluminium it was easy to close the slot up with a pair of pliers to stop it dropping off. Using a mirror and a torch it's easy to see it all working ,or not, before you close the bonnet. The aluminium 'spacer' was around 8mm thick, looking at the free play in the inner cable before starting its obvious what the issue is , the nipple doesn't even reach the bit needed to open the latch until the cabin lever is fully pulled all the way.
I suspect a 15mm spacer would remove all the slack so spacer thickness isn't super critical. Mine now releases at about 3/4 cabin lever movement.
Hope this helps some other poor sod who fits a britpart cable. Quality is fine just too long inner for that side latch.
 
Flossie said:
Should have taken a pic but I've sorted the cable being too long issue. I'll do an "in my mind" picture instead. I needed to either shorten the inner cable or lengthen the outer sheath, neither were really practical with the cable in situ and I wasn't going to remove it again!
Then problem is the rh latch, the one nearest the power steering reservoir, luckily this is the easiest of the two to get at. Removing the two screws enables the latch to be rotated exposing the underneath and the mechanism, viewing it through the hole where it mounted. You can get your hand underneath to move it about and push it up to the viewing hole until you can see and work on it better. I used the knurled locking nut off a push bike brake lever as it was aluminium and already had a slot in it. This was put over the exposed cable making the cable nipple effectively 'longer' so the latch would be operated "sooner'. Being aluminium it was easy to close the slot up with a pair of pliers to stop it dropping off. Using a mirror and a torch it's easy to see it all working ,or not, before you close the bonnet. The aluminium 'spacer' was around 8mm thick, looking at the free play in the inner cable before starting its obvious what the issue is , the nipple doesn't even reach the bit needed to open the latch until the cabin lever is fully pulled all the way.
I suspect a 15mm spacer would remove all the slack so spacer thickness isn't super critical. Mine now releases at about 3/4 cabin lever movement.
Hope this helps some other poor sod who fits a britpart cable. Quality is fine just too long inner for that side latch.
Click to expand...
It wouldn't have been difficult to make these cables adjustable from the factory, push bike manufacturers manage it.:rolleyes:
 
aj1954 said:
It wouldn't have been difficult to make these cables adjustable from the factory, push bike manufacturers manage it.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
If all the latch parts were metal I could have done that with the complete adjuster rather than just using the knurled locking nut . The threaded adjuster that the push bike outer sheath sits in could have been shortened to suit and the latch threaded to accept it but they are plastic and not much meat there either.
 
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