Hello everyone,

I have (finally) sourced a good used bonnet to replace my rather tatty one, half of it has been repainted in the past and has gone dull/flaked off back to primer. The jag is working at a wedding this Saturday so she must look her best! There will be my uncles X350 working too, so even more importance on her looking as good as possible, got to keep the X300 end up

Is it as simple as it looks to just unbolt the current and bolt on the new bonnet (and of course removing the gas struts)? I can see three beefy bolts, bolting onto the bonnet, on each hinge. Assuming the new bonnet is straight and unwarped I hope to have no alignment issues.

Thanks,
Tom.

 

The bolts on the hinges have clearance holes. So, you snug bolts, then check alignment and move the bonnet in the clearance holes to align then finish tightning. You may have to fiddle a little. With luck, you will not not have to move the fenders (I guess you folks call them wings) to finish the alignment.

 

Here's a tip for the alignment phase. Use plastic spacers of different sizes to measure the gap at each side along the whole edge. Use them like a feeler gauge. (The type of plastic spacer that is used in fitting windows).

 

Remove the three fixings on each side that fix the hinge to the bonnet, not the three that fix the hinge to the grille opening panel. Your alignment issues will be lesser....and the bonnet will actually come off that way....don't ask me how I know...