Evening,
I think Jim (209) and I have solved this mystery.
It is always the nearside headlight on RHD cars, Jim has gone through 3 and I know of several others. Offside lights have been available through Eurospares but until recently there have been no nearside ones left, because they keep getting broken. It can not be coincidence or bad driving that has caused Jim to go through three on one side but none on the other...............................
The problem is not the bonnet release mechanisim, it is either a fault with the lights or the cars. The lights have 3 brackets two on the front at the top one on the rear at the bottom.
When you fit the offside light all three brackets touch the car at the same time, and when fitted you are left with a 7-10mm gap or so above the light when the bonnet is shut. When you fit the nearside light the bottom/rear bracket touches first, and as you push the light into place it tilts/rotates upwards/backwards until the two front brackets touch the car. When you fit all the screws and close the bonnet there is a 7mm gap on the outside of the light, but the inside is very close if not touching the bonnet. When i close my bonnet gently you can here the metal scraping glass. You can see that a few hard slams of the bonnet eventually is going to hit the glass and crack it.
Now it is either the rear bracket welded to the car is too far forward or the bracket on the light is too far backward either way these two are touching too early. I did not fancy cutting into the chassis so i removed the bracket from the headlight, it is only held on by 4 rivets and are easy to drill out. Mine now fits perfectly giving a 7-10mm gap along the top of the light and no contact with the bonnet.
All you need to do is drill new holes into the plastic of the light and then re-rivet the bracket 10-15mm further forward. It maybe that you tape the bracket onto the light and then offer it into position, if the light almost sits on the bumper, play around with the brackets position until all 3 brackets touch at the same time.
This does not seem to be an issue on all cars, Jim's is chassis 209 and mine is 211, it could be that a batch of cars went out with the chassis bracket welded in the wrong place ? Although as Maserati had run out of lights it could be an issue on all RHD cars.
Meridian now have a supply of nearside lights, but as Jim has gone through 3 lights buying a new light is unlikely solve the problem.
I think the above is self explanatory, but will try to take some pictures to try and show what i mean.
Del
I think Jim (209) and I have solved this mystery.
It is always the nearside headlight on RHD cars, Jim has gone through 3 and I know of several others. Offside lights have been available through Eurospares but until recently there have been no nearside ones left, because they keep getting broken. It can not be coincidence or bad driving that has caused Jim to go through three on one side but none on the other...............................
The problem is not the bonnet release mechanisim, it is either a fault with the lights or the cars. The lights have 3 brackets two on the front at the top one on the rear at the bottom.
When you fit the offside light all three brackets touch the car at the same time, and when fitted you are left with a 7-10mm gap or so above the light when the bonnet is shut. When you fit the nearside light the bottom/rear bracket touches first, and as you push the light into place it tilts/rotates upwards/backwards until the two front brackets touch the car. When you fit all the screws and close the bonnet there is a 7mm gap on the outside of the light, but the inside is very close if not touching the bonnet. When i close my bonnet gently you can here the metal scraping glass. You can see that a few hard slams of the bonnet eventually is going to hit the glass and crack it.
Now it is either the rear bracket welded to the car is too far forward or the bracket on the light is too far backward either way these two are touching too early. I did not fancy cutting into the chassis so i removed the bracket from the headlight, it is only held on by 4 rivets and are easy to drill out. Mine now fits perfectly giving a 7-10mm gap along the top of the light and no contact with the bonnet.
All you need to do is drill new holes into the plastic of the light and then re-rivet the bracket 10-15mm further forward. It maybe that you tape the bracket onto the light and then offer it into position, if the light almost sits on the bumper, play around with the brackets position until all 3 brackets touch at the same time.
This does not seem to be an issue on all cars, Jim's is chassis 209 and mine is 211, it could be that a batch of cars went out with the chassis bracket welded in the wrong place ? Although as Maserati had run out of lights it could be an issue on all RHD cars.
Meridian now have a supply of nearside lights, but as Jim has gone through 3 lights buying a new light is unlikely solve the problem.
I think the above is self explanatory, but will try to take some pictures to try and show what i mean.
Del
