Supporting Slam Panel With No Fan Cowling

[allye 530 3 Cars]

The setup on my 205 won't be using the fan cowling and I recall from my previous cars when removed the bonnet doesn't like to close due to the flex in the slam panel.

 

Now I am going to retain the standard latch and not fitting bonnet pins. Can people recommend a way of beefing up the panel or supporting it?

 

Pictures would be much appreciated!

 

Cheers,

 

Ali

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

I made a strut on my red 205 that goes from the underside of the latch mechanism down to the lower front panel cross bar. This is adequate to stiffen the slam panel enough so you can shut the bonnet without it flexing.

No picture but its just a vertical bit of 10mm stainless bar with a bit of a bracket welded to the bottom and a nut in the top so the latch plate bolt goes staight through and picks up the stiffener strut.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Cheers Tom, I've thought about vertical support but I'm loosing the bottom bracket too! I will be making a radiator/intercooler bracket of some kind so could tie it into that.

[cheesegrater 43 1 Cars]

I drilled and rivnut'd 4 mounting holes in the top headlight panels, bolted the two forward sections that hold on to the grill and finally welded some angle underneath the slam panel to retain the rigidity. Ive used the same panel for many years with no issues.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Thanks for that, any pictures? I was thinking about welding some sort of strengthening underneath then I wouldn't need to have a vertical support.

[boldy205 75]

Welding angle to the underside worked well for me too. I cut and welded the angle to follow the curve of the slam panel. Sounds daft, but using all the standard bolt holes to bolt slam panel to panels above the headlights made a huge difference.