Boot hinge support

[William2]

I notice that even with the reinforcing boot hinge support channel fitted on my S4 that when opening and shutting the boot lid the right hand boot hinge bodywork does flex a little. To me, this could cause stress cracks to the grp and new paintwork in that area. I read one thread where someone added a reinforcing bracket attached to the wheel arch to stiffen things up a bit. Seemed like a good idea.
Anyone got any thoughts/advice on this topic??

[AHM]

Do you have the stay bracket bolted to the gutter as well as to the hinge?

Have you bent the stay/spring to give it more holding power?

[elanner]

William,

I think we must have talked about this when I visited you last year.

The best solution I've ever seen is what Greg Z has on his late Sprint - some sort of fibreglass strengthening bar under the hinge so that there's no flexing whatsoever as the boot is opened/closed.

My hinge was flexing badly when I purchased my Elan, with stress cracks already well established. So I copied a fix that Mike Gieger (type36lotus) showed in a photo a number of years ago (at least, I think it was Mike). This reduced the flexing very significantly, to the point where I don't worry about it any more. At that time I hadn't seen Greg's car so wasn't aware of any other solution.

Picture attached. Hey, my primer bulb is on display too. Works very nicely But not the full trunk carpeting. One day.....

Nick

[William2]

Hi Nick, good to hear from you. Thanks for the picture. I think it is a very neat and simple solution and I will probably copy it. Hope it's not patented!! Regards, William.

[pharriso]

So you're saying even with the rear scuttle brace between the 2 boot hinges the body is flexing?

Rear scuttle brace is lower part

This was also a factory mod:

Added by the factory

[elanner]

Phil,

I have both those braces fitted. The Rear Strut Brace is not close to the hinges, of course, so unrelated. The other brace, across the hinges, doesn't seem to do much. The flexing is just in the area localized to the right hand hinge itself. Probably in a 2-3" radius. Caused by the stress of the Boot Lid Stay Spring leveraging against the Boot Lid Stay Bracket (names courtesy of rdent.com's part list!).

Mine was flexing alarmingly. I think it's quite a common problem, many Elans seem to have stress cracks there.

Your Sprint may be strengthened in that area, like Greg's. The other bracket you show would be a great fix for the problem too. I'd not seen that either when I copied Mike's strut.

Nick

[pharriso]

Phil..............
Your Sprint may be strengthened in that area, like Greg's. The other bracket you show would be a great fix for the problem too. I'd not seen that either when I copied Mike's strut.

Nick

My rear scuttle brace was missing... I have a piece of flat aluminium in place until Sue Miller get's the braces made up again... Maybe I should make up the bracket shown instead?.... I have 1 stress crack caused by flexing... I don't want any more

[William2]

I have just fitted a similar concept boot hinge support to the one mentioned above. I used a length of 6mm threaded rod and covered it in a piece of rubber tube I had. Also reinforced the area it mounts to on the bonnet stay bracket with a piece of alloy underneath to spread the load. Completely eliminated any body flexing and should therefore prevent stress cracks appearing.

[ericbushby]

I have been concerned about the flexing at this point for a while now.
So I have just fitted a similar arrangement to mine, but slightly different, in that I have made the fixing bracket going forwards from the hinge fixing screws to conceal the end of the rod and it's nut.
Thankyou for the tip.
Taking the Elan to the PENDLE POWER PLUS show today in Barrowford. I wonder what that will be like.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

[Rob P]

Just purchased a replacement spring as the one on my boot just wouldn't hold the boot up and no amount of felting and bending could get it to stay in place.

Trouble is the new replacement spring is great for holding up the boot but it is definitely made of thicker material than the original and as such it is rather stiff to operate and I noticed the flexing occurring, I don't currently have any crazing around the hinge so looks like the mod in the original post will be required.

Is 6mm rod sufficient or should I go thicker ?

[7skypilot]

As a temporary measure, and only until I can provide the excellent mods suggested in this thread, I removed the spring and adjusted it to reduce the tension until it 'just' supports the boot (trunk) lid.

Trouble is, it sometimes 'just' doesn't and my skull bears the scars to prove it!

[Rob P]

As a temporary measure, and only until I can provide the excellent mods suggested in this thread, I removed the spring and adjusted it to reduce the tension until it 'just' supports the boot (trunk) lid.

Trouble is, it sometimes 'just' doesn't and my skull bears the scars to prove it!

Ouch, I know what you mean, hence I bought a new spring