Aero Bonnet latches

Stephen Swanepoel · Post by **Stephen Swanepoel** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:15 am

Hi Guys anyone know or had exerience fitting a pair of Aero bonnet catch/latches?

I need to drill holes in Carbon Fibre and not clued on tools to use.

Sokar · Post by **Sokar** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:43 am

An angle grinder, preferably the heavy petrol driven ones

Normal drill bits should do the trick, drill a nice small pilot hole first, then drill the size you need, you shouldnt need to press hard either, since its fibrous I'd say its kinda like drilling into wood more than drilling into steel or something like that.

The question you need to ask youeself is, are you happy to drill into a CF bonnet worth quite a few tom yourself?

widowmaker · Post by **widowmaker** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:55 am

stay away from the edges.
stick down wide masking tape.
dont press hard.
pilot hole very good idea.

i would resin-reinforce (paint) the hole walls after the drilling to keep the rain/dirt outa the now exposed fibres and to make stronger

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:02 pm

Shamelessly stolen!
hope it helps

Unpack the bonnet pins and check all the contents, I had a spare washer and nut in the pack which proved handy

Start by fitting the pins, open the bonnet and you will see two holes in the panel perfect for the pins to go through.
Unclip the wiring loom from underneath the panel to make a bit of room to get to the back of the pins.

Cut the rubber stops to 13mm

Wind on one of the nuts and one washer onto each pin and drop the pin in to the hole.

The top of the pin to the panel height is 40mm

Put one washer and a nut onto the back of the pin and do it up.

I could of just drilled a hole in the rough area of where I wanted to fit the catches, but I wanted to be a little more accurate than that so I put a touch of copper grease onto the top of the pins.

And closed the bonnet to mark where I was going to drill.

I used a 13mm drill to put a hole straight through both layers of the bonnet where I had marked it.
No going back

Use the template provided to mark where to cut the bonnet, stick the template on with some masking tape. I positioned the template so that the horizontal lines were just in front of the pin, this was to allow for the angle of the bonnet.

Remove the bonnet.

Drill the six holes for the fixing screws (4.5mm) and two for the drain holes, drill through both layers.

Drill some small holes in a chain around the inside of the template

Remove the centre and file to size.

Turn the bonnet around and on the back drill clearance holes to allow a socket to the nuts

Use a bit of grease to hold the washer on to the nut.

I had a bit of trouble getting the nuts in the correct position due to how close the nuts are to the side of the catch, luckily I had a old socket I could do this to.

Do up all the nuts and check everything is tight.

Replace the bonnet and line it up

Gary57 · Post by **Gary57** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:18 pm

Where did you get a CF bonnet from??

Stephen Swanepoel · Post by **Stephen Swanepoel** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:50 pm

THANKS!!
Nice one cant go wrong with that kind of input

Thanks Guys

Doctor G · Post by **Doctor G** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:54 pm

I've been avoiding drilling holes for the window washers in my sabre's CF bonnet for over a year.

Seems quite complicated since the bonnet is hollow and consists of a outside and inside "layer".

You need to drill/cut holes big enough in the inside layer so that you can get your hand in there to attach the water hoses to the actual spray-jets.

The holes for the spray-jets must be drilled small, then filed square so that the jets sit in place. Too much filing and the bonnet may be messed up.

one day....

Stephen Swanepoel · Post by **Stephen Swanepoel** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:58 pm

Gary57 wrote:Where did you get a CF bonnet from??

CF bonnet from Seibon
Import part sourced one for me +-R5000-00

Not too happy with it though, Its been on my S14 for about a 8months now, and soon after install it started making dents on it which look like hail damage.

On closer inspection you can see that the bottom fiberglass frame is pulling on the carbon skin at the glue points, My advise is stay away from Seibon.

BUT it still looks quite HOT.

widowmaker · Post by **widowmaker** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:12 pm

resin isn't crazy about heat (you get different heat ratings though)

R5 grand is cheap though - i reckon it will cost me about 4 to make
(and if you stuff if up first time it'll cost R8 grand... and so on and so forth)

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 8:21 pm

get some seriously sharp drill bits hey!!!

like scalpel sharp!!!

and be careful!!!