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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Bonnet Stay Mounting Query

Does anyone have, or can anyone provide, a photo of how the bonnet stay rod's mounting bracket should sit on the underside of the bonnet?

Mine has suffered as a result of tinworm and a PO's attempt to solve the problem. It currently fouls the small standy uppy bit of metal that serves no apparent purpose on the rear of the slam panel.

I'm intending to remove the bracket and graft in some sound metal before bolting it back in the correct position. Should it align with the indentation above it in the photo and should it be straight fore/aft or at an angle as suggested by the end of the bonnet stay itself?

Don't you just love over-spray. Whoever sprayed my Sprite had obviously never heard of masking tape!

Colin






C Mee

Colin,
that shaped panel with the two screws in black in my car and isn't held by screws (IIRC) and not remodelled by what looks like something dropping on it(?) or engine/gearbox being dragged across the top corner of it(?).

Give me a few moments to find my ancient digital camera and get it working and I'll post photos of mine (RWA Heritage).
Nigel Atkins

Thanks Nigel, the affected panel is on the off-side and was bent over by the bonnet stay bracket hitting it. It's always been like that in my ownership and I'm fed up of it!

A quick skim through pictures of Spridget engine bays on Google images shows either no panels or a mixture of black and body coloured panels but none of them are screwed; I've always thought the large self-tappers looked a bit odd.
C Mee

Colin,
my black panels would be non-original and probably just in their supplied finish.

I'm not sure your prop is in the standard position, if we can recognise and agree datum points I can give you measurements (millimetres only with my eyes no sixteenths or thirtyseconds or even eights).






Nigel Atkins

Colin,
my bonnet prop fixings are on the off-side of the car.
Nigel Atkins

Colin,
image one - prop parking to hold bonnet open.

Image two - where the clip goes to stow the stay when not in use (I can't remember how the clip is held to the bracket).






Nigel Atkins

Thanks Nigel, You've solved it for me!

Feeling like a right Wally now because I've never looked at my bonnet from that angle, so I've never seen the holes for the bracket! It's currently off the car and lying upside down. The location of your bracket also explains the angle of the fitting at the end of the rod.

However, having looked at Moss and others, it looks as though the bracket is an integral part of the bonnet and is not available separately. I can't see how it could be attached with bolts as there's no access to the other side. I'm not sure if I could trust pop rivets! It looks, on mine, as though the original welds had failed or something and the PO had tried but failed to use bolts. If he could weld it where he did, I can't understand why he didn't weld it back where it belonged, unless he couldn't weld upside down and back to front with the bonnet on the car and couldn't be ar*ed to take the bonnet off to do the job properly.

So now it looks as though I'll need to make another bracket (how thick is yours?) and just do a graft to repair the front corner.

Incidentally, it looks to me as though your car and mine have different pressings for the underside of the front end of the bonnet as mine doesn't have the raised bit for the rubber buffer. Your Heritage shell clearly has all the luxury bits and pieces!

Edit: Cross-posted. Thanks for the new images Nigel. Those actually match what's on my Sprite, except I have the spring clip in place on image 2



C Mee

Those rubber buffers were only fitted to late cars. Earlier cars had a captive nut and the buffer had a threaded stud attached to it.

I think that Heritage bonnets are produced to the later spec, although with brackets for both types of support.
Dave O'Neill 2

ETA: now I'm parroting Dave as my typing's so slow, and checking measurement

Bracket thickness - about 1.5mm (1/16") with paint

What about rivnuts, or three steel pop rivets?

Hi Colin,
the buffers are later 1275 or only 1500, I can't remember which now but I'd sooner have the earlier type. The bonnet IIRC comes with the shell and has brackets for both types of prop.

If a mate had a spare rod prop I was going to try that but he didn't so I haven't. The telescopic is a pain, right in the way when trying to get at stuff in the engine bay in that area and gives the bonnet a lean and twist.
Nigel Atkins

Colin,
as getting the telescopic fittings and in the correct order is a pain I did notice earlier, but forgot to mention, your prop is missing a spring at least in your photo.
Nigel Atkins

Dave, Nigel; Thanks for the info about buffers. My Sprite, of course, doesn't have any. Thanks to your comments I have now found the captive nuts on both sides, you can just see the hole for the o/s one filled either with paint or, more probably, weld in the most recent picture.

After studying the Moss and MGOC pages, I too had spotted the missing spring - it and buffers are already on my next shopping list.

Before I relocate the mounting I intend to do a bit of investigation just to make sure the correctly located stay doesn't come into contact with the vertical flow radiator. S*ds law would cut in if I dived in straight away and I can just see it laying a nice dent across the top of my header tank!

I like the rivnut idea, though I've never used them before so this might be an opportunity to try them out.

I tried removing the self-tappers from the upright panels. The damaged side is fine and solid, the near side, however, flaps with the screw removed so there must be a broken weld or missing bolt somewhere currently out of sight. Further investigation required.

Personally I would be very wary of telescopic struts. I have known people be a bit too vigorous with mid-bonnet mounted ones and bend their bonnet - and you know how clumsy I can be. With the strut in your face there's less chance of forgetting it or bending the bonnet.
C Mee

Maybe this is the opportunity you have been waiting for to consider fitting gas struts? There was an article in the MASC magazine a while ago
GuyW

Was it a reprint of Alan's article 'Strutting your Stuff Spridget Style' in December 2009 Mascot magazine (No. 309). which I've kept but still haven't done it.
Nigel Atkins

Could well be Nigel. I have about 280 copies of the Mascots magazine. It takes a while to check through them all! I am not sure why I keep them these days when as a member I can access them on the club website and download them, and they are even indexed there thanks (again) to Alan's efforts.
GuyW

Colin

Thanks for asking the same question as I have a similar problem to fix a PO bodge on my MkII Sprite.

My bonnet prop rod was mounted on a homemade looking bracket with two self tapping screws and a dollop of fibreglass to the RHS of the bonnet - it fell off on day 2 of my ownership and is on the list of jobs to fix.

Weirdly the bracket on the bonnet that Nigel shows is on the LHS of the car with the inner wing mount on the RHS side of the car (and no LHS inner wing mount, but an SU electric fuel pump instead). The bodged prop was on the RHS of the car. I think my LHS wing of this MkII Sprite might be an original due to being the original colour (Speedwell Blue) visible inside, while the car’s seriously bad BRG ‘paint job’ is dolloped outside, but the other wing is definitely a replacement from a midget by a telltale two inch length of MIG wire visible inside where one of the external chrome trim mount holes have been filled (both wings are correct sidelight height at least!)

Sounds like you are cracking in with getting the car sorted for hill climbing this season.

Cheers
Mike
M Wood

Colin,

Are these what you are requiring ?

A few years old - bought before I realised as Dave noted the Heritage shells need the Spiral 'curly wherly' types.

Let me have your details and I'll pop them in a jiffy bag.

R.
richard b

Mike,
I might have misunderstood what you've put but all the prop mounts are on the offside/rhs on my car.
Nigel Atkins

Colin,
Forgot the pic - age again !!

R.


richard b

Richard. Thank you for your offer.

You should receive an email unless you've changed your address since I had a crank shaft from you a few years ago.



Mike. Hardly cracking on - creeping on perhaps! Brakes bled and just the clutch to bleed tomorrow (I hope) and I should be rolling again. Like many others, I have to tread a tight rope in maintaining a balance between work on the Sprite and the 101 other things that a) need doing and b) SWMBO expects to be done. Alongside the Sprite, creation of a new bathroom has been under way and you can guess which of the two takes priority. For once, I gave in and handed the plumbing over to a professional but he finished today so I'm back on duty tomorrow boxing pipes and other essential works! I doubt the Sprite will be run in in time for the Loton April meeting so it looks as though June will be its first competitive outing. Oh, and my bonnet prop is definitely mounted on the off side.

Cheers

Colin
C Mee

This thread was discussed between 04/03/2021 and 05/03/2021

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