Finally got a bill of sale for the XJ6 so I can get it home.Its a 100 mile round trip now so haven't done much to it.Tried to align the hood to no avail.It is twisted such that the drivers side hood bottom sits on top of the bumper while the passenger side doesn't. Also there is no hinge on the passenger side ( the one that limits the forward progress of the hood when you open it).There are holes there for one.Should there be one on that side?I had to remove the lever that goes into the cable release hole since it would get stuck needing 2 people to struggle to open it.Loosened every bolt I saw and had movement side to side when using a wood block and hammer..It needs to move forward towards the engine to get beyond the bumper,saw no way to do this.Googled bonnet problems but found nothing like this.Any advise would be grateful

 

I just removed my bonnet yesterday for head gasket work. Is there mis alignment or is there damage to the bonnet itself? There should be a locking elbow on the P.S. for limiting travel which I believe you said is missing. The actual hinges themselves are part of a welded assembly that slides into and bolts to the front 'sub frame ' for lack of a better description.
Perhaps one or both of these is damaged / misaligned / loose. I had a broken one when I acquired my XJ and it was unfixable. I was lucky enough to have a parts car to ransack.

There may have been front end damage to your car. Again, have a look at the subframe.

Solo out..

 

there is a bad paint area on the passenger side front fender which might indicate a fender bender.I did look under the bumper and saw those big hinge bolts. They did not look damaged.....so if these are loosened (which looks hard to do) the bonnet can move towards the engine?

 

The hood hinge appliance sits inside the frame rail. There are many bolts to loosen... but it will adjust. You have to loosen the bolts on the , inside fender wall, engine compartment side of frame rail, fender strut as well as bolts that are near the side tanks for the radiator then the whole hinge fixture will move up, down forward and back a bit.

 

Like ICSAmerica says, It's not hard but a little tedious. There are a bunch 'o' bolts to loosen.

 

My LHD car had only one opening limit latch. I removed it. it is in my bits pan. I've found the additional opening that allows to be helpful. But, I am also aware that a gust of wind can smack it down on me. when I had the bonnet off for engine replacement it took me, my son and his strong then GF to set it and get the hinge bolts started. I got new ones in anticipation of getting them in quickly with no cross threading.

A fellow on another forum has a slick way of getting the best final alignment. Remove the grill. Then set the bonnet with the hinge bolts just barely snug and with the llimit thing off. Move the beast around to it's best fit. then, the slick part. Reach through the grill opening and tighten the hinge bolts. Replace the grill and the monkey motion thing if desired and it is done.

Aligning the latch pins with the latches is another project to get smooth operation and yet the bonnet pop syndrome.

Carl

 

Thanks much....I loosened about 9 bolts on Saturday......Apparently there are more than I thought!

 

anyone know the size of those big hinge bolts at the bumper?I.m goin back up to loosen them this Sat and I hope to bring the correct metric socket or open end wrench

 

Will advise. I think there may be 2 sizes... I'll be wrenching more tomorrow.