Adjusting the Bugeye Bonnet: Who's been there?

I am starting to work on the bonnet. Of course, the fender to rocker fit is lousy with the fenders splayed wider than the sills.

At the rear, near the cowl and outboard of the hinges,there are rods that run at a 45 degree angle and hold the fender to the centre part of the bonnet. There is a small bit of adjustment in that the inboard end is slotted. Pulling these in to the end of the slot had no noticeable effect.

I removed the rods entirely and was able to easily locate the fender in place over the rocker panel. It did not require much effort to do this since without the brace the fender is quite flimsy. This is good because the fit is not terrible when I push the fenders into place on each side.

At this point I am looking at modifying the braces. My first instinct was to graft in a turnbuckle so that I could adjust it easily. The problem I see with this is that the ends need to be free to flex if I shorten the rod. This led me to think that maybe all I need to do is bend the ends of the rod where they bolt to the bonnet. Any tips out there before I go and re-invent the wheel?

Pete

Some pics of the problem area:

Peter,

You need to start at the hinges, not fun but you will never correct hinge fit by playing with the bars.

Dave

Dave:

Not sure what you mean by "start at the hinges"?

I bolted the bonnet to the hinges and have a decent match between the back of the bonnet and the cowl.

I wonder if I should bother to work on this area untill I get the rubber that fits in the cowl channel? I assume there is such a rubber!

If I take the bars off, the sides fit much better.

I will be at it this week-end, so shouldhave some more up to date images.

Pete