{"id":8470,"date":"2014-03-30T13:37:46","date_gmt":"2014-03-30T17:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monocoque-metalworks.com\/main\/?p=8470"},"modified":"2015-02-18T12:41:15","modified_gmt":"2015-02-18T17:41:15","slug":"a-new-nose-for-an-old-race-bonnet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monocoque-metalworks.com\/main\/2014\/03\/a-new-nose-for-an-old-race-bonnet\/","title":{"rendered":"A NEW nose for an OLD race bonnet!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The circumstances of racing allowed us another shot at restoring the Donovan #61 E-Type aluminum race bonnet. We completely restored this bonnet after a bad crash at Watkins Glenn in September of 2012, and got the job done just in time for the Jaguar Races at Lime Rock in May of 2013. Then last Summer, we freshened it up even more, with another new wing.<\/p>\n

This past Winter, we had the opportunity to do the job over again, with more time, and “no-holds-barred” – and the results amazed even me!\u00a0 This was once a stock-shaped E-type bonnet without headlamps, but 40 years of racing had changed the shape of the mouth considerably. We’re now back to the stock configuration, and she is in better shape than ever!<\/p>\n

But – as usual – getting there was another marathon session of long nights working into the wee small hours of the morning…<\/p>\n

Finally, the bonnet was completed, and we were ready to leave early on Monday morning – only to wake up to an unexpected 5 MORE inches of snow in March! Will this Winter never end!?!<\/p>\n

So, our trip was postponed by one day, and it turned out to be a good thing, since we had finished everything except the fresh air ducting, and they were going to get it back without those parts installed. Even though I had worked on the bonnet 50 hours over the previous 4 days, I just plain ran out of time… But I took advantage of the snow day to dive back in and complete the fresh air ducting for the monstrously large Weber carbs – increasing the flow in the process.<\/p>\n

One interesting thing about this recent “re-do” is that Brian and I both were not wild about the crude patch in the nose of the center section, but we just didn’t have time to get into all that last year. This year, we decided to go ahead and fix that area as well. Ironically, I was surfing the jag-lovers forum a couple of months ago, and there was a posting about my work on this bonnet last year, where one user had said, “I really wasn’t that impressed with his work on the nose of that aluminum bonnet…” Well, I’ll just let you imagine my reaction to that… Needless to say, I was QUITE motivated to build a new nose this time around!<\/p>\n

Take a look at what I came up with this time!<\/p>\n