S4 Bonnet Spring

[Certified Lotus]

I was watching a Elan Sprint video that Harry Metcalfe (EVO magazine) made and noticed how easily he removed the bonnet spring from the hook on the front of the bonnet. Mine is under a lot of tension and I'm thinking have I installed incorrectly? Does it wrap around the steering rack?

Mine is extremely hard to put on the bonnet hook. By the way, same with my S1 dual springs, very very tight.

Any insights here?

[TroonSprint]

On my Sprint it is easy to remove the spring from the bonnet once the bonnet is held upright. I can do it one-handed while the other hand supports the bonnet. It is one of the really sensible features on the 2-seater Elan.

Does it wrap around the steering rack?

Not sure what you mean. The loop on the lower end of the spring goes right round the rack. In fact I don't think it can be removed without taking the rack out. You can see it clearly in this picture of my chassis.

Mike

[jimj]

Glen, yes and yes. It loops around the rack and is really awkward to clip on to the bonnet (hood in foreign)bracket . Bloomin` nuisance (pain in the butt?)
Jim

[elanner]

Like Mike's, mine is easy to fit & remove when the bonnet is raised. It seems sensibly tight. When releasing the closed bonnet with the dashboard handle the spring is strong enough to raise it about 6-8 inches.

I always leave the bonnet open when the car is parked in the garage on the assumption that it will reduce the chance of fibreglass stress fractures on the front edge. And it helps cool the engine.

Nick

[Elan45]

I put a keyring, about 1 inch in diameter onto the bonnet bracket, so when the spring is hooked up, it will relieve some of the spring tension. I remember seeing a S4 once that sat outdoors for years and the bonnet was severely distorted in that area. So, I wanted to lower the spring tension and hope it wont happen to mine.

[Certified Lotus]

Thanks for everyone's responses. The key ring concept is a good one. Does anyone have a measurement of the spring uncompressed? I wonder if mine is too short?

[elanner]

Glen,

Measured my spring for you yesterday. I have a radiator blanking panel that covers the rack with a hole for the spring to fit through, so it's a bit awkward to measure accurately. Plenty of room for parallax error. However, as best as I can gauge:

- Length of spring coils, at rest: 5 1/2"
- Top coil to hook: 1"
- Top of rack to bottom coil: 1 1/2"

Nick

[pharriso]

Just happened to buy one at Paul Matty's Saturday:

S4_BonnetSpring

[Certified Lotus]

Nick , thanks for the measurements! It's interesting that your spring compressed is 5 inches as mine is 7 inches. Phil, the one you just bought is in between Nicks and mine. So I guess the tension on mine is correct.

Never the less, I did "lengthen" it by adding a stainless steel fitting from a boat. Working great and now does not add more stress to the front hook on the bonnet. Plus now I can just reach in to lift the spring off easy to remove the bonnet.

[ricarbo]

I used to struggle to get the spring on/off on my Sprint , which is the same, I think, until I got a bit of string and tied that on to the top of the spring. Much easier until the string breaks!
regards
Richard

[adigra]

My spring is really easy to remove, but it seems almost too weak as it barely lifts the bonnet at all when I release it. It used to be really tough, but since Option 1 repaired the bonnet and fitted a proper hook it seems that I need to get a slightly shorter spring.

[Elanconvert]

my s4 spring is a bit of a bind to get off and on.......which thankfully is not very often......
what I did was to buy a bunch of cable ties for a pound or so, round the spring an bonnet hook.......infinitely adjustable and disposable ......just snip off! [apologies to environmentalists... ]

fred