Land Rover Series 3 Restoration - Fitting the New Bonnet - Part 74

[@oldandbroken]

The bloke you purchased it from is a legend Joel. Well packed for postage/couriers he did you a favour. Looks great, another great addition to the Land rover.

[@My911]

Thanks Steve. He did do a good job. I’m guessing all of that damage was already there.

[@conrad1468]

Excellent find! Looks great!

[@My911]

Thanks Cory. I see you are making excellent progress.

[@BarryRowlingsonBaz]

Looks fantastic. The military bonnet system is less about being a quick-release for speed than it is about being an alternative to having to slam it and wake up the enemy in a five mile radius.

[@My911]

That sounds very logical.

[@sergehorion7155]

Very cool indeed with this new bonnet.

[@My911]

Thanks Serge.

[@graemelliott3942]

Very cool! Find a latch bracket from a rusty civilian hood and have it welded on your new military hood! Shouldn’t be too difficult.

[@My911]

Thanks Graem. Good idea.

[@simonbarclay9507]

Looks very cool! Might not be an issue but I have 235/85/16 on my 300Tdi bonnet and it really impacts the windscreen washer jet. The water goes everywhere but the windscreen, fixed by extending the tubes and mount spray heads on the wiper arms. Really very little impact on visibility.

[@My911]

Hi Simon, I can imagine. They are massive tyres. ‘Luckily’ I only bought 4. The bonnet tyre is a 750.

[@johnbradley1599]

You're right Joel - every 2a should have the spare wheel on the bonnet. I'd get rid of that old strap though.

[@My911]

Hi John, already in the making. It keeps going slack when driving.

[@boudeigbokwe2787]

Crazy how much more complicated it is to change the bonnet on a series three. On my series 2 you just raise the bonnet up, slide it to the right and then it’s all done!!

[@My911]

And they call that ‘progression’ 😅

[@boudeigbokwe2787]

Also perhaps you could use there the original wing mirrors would have been to make a latch from them to the military bits on the bonnet and so that you don’t need to drill anymore holes into the wind

[@stevenmee5987]

I love all the alterations your making, it's a fantastic landy. I had alot of the same bother with my own series 3, frame had rotted out so bought a doner with a good frame. I think you could try locate a civilian doner bonnet as weld on the bracket as already stated by other followers, but civilian bonnets usually don't have the straps either. The wheel is secured down with a wheel nut and option of lock. Alternatively I wonder would RTC 3023 off an early 90 do you instead to secure the bonnet. As you said the bonnet probably won't go anywhere with a wheel on it so that 90 lock would be there as a fail safe plus the bonus if security. Alternatively again you could opt for 332969 lock. Happy researching 😃

[@My911]

Hi Steven, thanks for those ideas. I hadn’t thought of that. The 3032 seems quite rare. I only found one reference of it online.

[@upscaleshack]

As has been noted, the hole in the dish is a drain. Without it you will have a nice shallow pond on your bonnet whenever it rains. Those bonnets tend to become banana-shaped when they've been used to carry a spare for 30 or 40 years. The military spare strap down system is totally different to the civilian one, which has a galvanized dish riveted to the center of the bonnet with captured nuts that a pair of hold-down bolts mount to. I think the military didn't use the center catch for sake of speed. The theory being that if you need to get to the engine while under fire you don't want to be fiddling with finding the lever to undo the latch. While I like the look of the bonnet-mounted spare, it makes opening the bonnet a pain in the arse as it weighs a million pounds and when I'm doing frequent work on the engine I keep the spare in the back.

[@My911]

Matt, this is true. I like to see it as a work out every time I need to access the engine. :)

[@JanDootjes]

Love the look of that Military bonnet! That actually is a bonnet from a Dutch 109''. I did restore mine too, consider checking out my channel. And that hole in the bonnet is just a water drain hole.

[@My911]

Thank you. That’s interesting. And thanks for clarifying the whole. I will now remove the rubber bung which I triumphantly fitted last week then :). Ps, I’ve been subscribed for a while now and following your 109 ambulance build. Very cool.

[@patrickmorrissey2271]

I was a little skeptical... I'm sure you remember my previous comment.... But I will admit Sir, it does look really sweet.... heh heh heh!!! Nice! Definitely different. Looks tough as nails. I can't find the time stamp, but you were panning around the hood, and on the edges & the underside, there was really heavy paint blobs.... almost like it had been painted over & over with a brush.... Which actually, I wonder if that's what saved it. It's SO heavily painted, it really couldn't rust... Maybe??? Really, it is dented, no question. But the rust is so minimal. Probably sounds stupid to say "It's not in bad shape", but it really is not bad.... I feel like if you found a civilian hood, or bonnet, even if it was really bad, all you need is that pin for the latch... Cut it off, weld it onto the military hood.... The hood straps are for safety... While you're bombing around in a jungle or a desert, you don't want the hood flying open at an inopportune moment.... HMMV's have clamps on the hood too. Race cars all have hood pins. It's a safety thing. There is also some feeling that, in a minor collision, you don't want the hood "stuck shut". Thus, the straps, even if it's a little messed up, you could still open the hood, still keep using the truck.... I agree with you, I wouldn't drill the fenders... Unless you want to put the straps on the other hood too... I dunno. I think the pin could be welded onto the military hood, and you'd be good to go....

[@My911]

Thanks Patrick, good to hear from you. As you say that paint is really thick and is definitely put on by hand.