Hood Frame fouling - Help! Wheelz?

[dasadrew]

About a year ago I noticed that the hood frame on the left side was catching on the head of a bolt which secures the frame the body. I took the offending frame part off, did some minor bending (straightening!) corrections, still fouled, so then chamfered the frame edge a bit, still fouled, so chamfered the bolt head. It still basicall fouls, but the frame can slide over the bolt head due to the chamfering.

Now the right hand side has started doing the same, but the fouling is so severe that I can't get around the problem with slight chamfering.

Any help is welcome! The frame part is the boomerang shaped bit. I'm really not sure if it should have the bends like mine has (the contour is highlighted in the pic with the yellow dotted line)

Of course I could change the bolts to Allen screws with a domed head, but I'm not sure if I should in preference get serious with straightening the frame.

Cheers

Drew

Bolt Head foul 1.jpg

Bolt Head foul 2.jpg

[JeffW]

Hi Drew

With a mitt full of caveats (I don't know anything about hood frames, I don't like hood frames, I have bent previous hood frames), do these help at all? My hood does not catch on those bolt heads but it is literally millimeters clearance.

If you need any other photos, just shout.

Jeff

IMG_0811.jpg

IMG_0813.jpg

[dasadrew]

great pics Jeff, at least shows that it's not s complete one off problem only affecting me! Already feel a bit better!

[JeffW]

Pleasure! Your right one looks a wee bit wonky bent, but the left one doesn't.

[dasadrew]

now that you mention it, it is isn't it.

[JeffW]

I think my right picture is almost at the same angle as yours so yeah, looks quite bent towards the bolts.

And I am no engineer, but would that bend cause the other side to be pressed closer to those bolts as well?

[sujitroy]

I've got two spare frames, both are like that. you may be able to shim it and tighten it up a bit. But much easier to do without the canvas cover

[sujitroy]

also it can be bent a bit but again without the canvas

[dasadrew]

Job done! I took the boomerang frame bit off, and slightly straightened the "S" bend it has in its length. Chamferred the curved bit which passes over the boltheads, refitted and it works. Have also ordered up some Allen key pan-head bolts to fit sometime instead of the hex head ones.

Thanks for the tips guys - also to Klaus who sent me some pics directly.

[Wheelz]

I call those parts the J legs. These are distorted on many of the frames I have worked on, but they are easy to remove and reset, although they are such a weird shape you might struggle without a template to compare to.

[jbuckl]

The j-leg on my hood frame has a 50 year old chamfer.
Its appearance is polished wear.

[dasadrew]

Thanks guys. It's comforting to know that I've now done a common Stag "tweek", and not bodged my Stag 'cos I didn't know any better!