Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral Fitting a bonnet

I have many key scratches and dents on my bonnet thanks to chavs.

I have priced up a respray at around £120 or a bonnet from a scrap yard for £50.

I was wondering if it was easy to fit a bonnet to a car, or is it a body shop job?

i have changed a boot before now and that was quite straght forward. a bonnet should be no proble. just a few nuts and bolts on the hinges. that should be all it takes. its normally 4 IIRC. even easier if you habvent got a light in the beonnet itself like my silly car has.

Shud be 2 bolts each on 2 hinges,plus bonding strap,plus washer jets water and heater supply. 5 minute job if u have a spanner,but get a mate to help u lift the bonnet and hold it

Has anyone ever done it before?

I presume that bolts need to be at certain tightness other wise it might not sit right?

In answer to that, no i have never changed but like i say i have done a boot which is the same apart from electrics.

The tight ness you need is f***ing tight so it dosnt fall or come loose. also if it has room you might have to position it correctly before tightening it up. all you have to do is trail fit it. but most cars just have simple holes which you bolt together and job done.

Get a marker pen and draw around the old hinges just incase the old one needs to go back on.

Remove all pipes and wiring (If any) and then 2 people needed, one each side. Open the bonnet up and put the stay in place. Remove the 2 x 10mm bolts from each hinge and off she comes....

BE CAREFULL NOT TO DROP THE BONNET ON THE WINGS.

Fit the new one in reverse order but dont fully tighten the bolts, lower the bonnet slowly making sure its not catching the wings etc. Make sure it closes in the bonnet catch properly.

Once your happy with the gaps and fitment then fully tighten the 10mm bolts, not too tight as you will snap them.

Jobs a good one.

Before starting make sure the scrappy bonnet is the same colour AND SHADE as your car, it would be a waste if the shade is out. Also scrappy's are very very careless so make sure there are no marks or scratches when they remove it.

Ive done one before,and the info above is correct. The tightness of the bolt will not affect the way it sites,as long as the bolts push the hinge up against the bonnet then it wont change its position,torque it a bit to stop it rattling loose,but not too much

ok, thanks for all the info. Just need to find a bonnet now.

Any one know any scrap yards locally that specialise in Jap cars?