Simpson in a III- Spare Tyre Carriage

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Originally Posted by LWB123

Hello from Brisbane.

A small point and nothing to do with the original inquiry on spare wheel carriers, but I was a bit surprised to see all S3 models listed as having the "deluxe" or station wagon bonnet - my late Uncle's 1974 S3 88" and my own 1975 S3 88" both came new with what you described as the sharp edged "a" bonnet.

I thought the "deluxe" bonnet became the standard fitting only during the S3 production run about the standard body colours changed and they went to silver wheels.

Cheers,

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They are listed as standard in the parts book (unless I am mistaken), although this may not have applied to Australia - the standard bonnet was always available, and, I suspect, may have been specified by many dealers simply to reduce the price, or because they wanted to fit a spare wheel carrier and the standard bonnet places it slightly lower. I suspect that the standard bonnet may have been dropped in Australia in late S3 production as being pedestrian unfriendly.

John

Just adding to the 'bonnet survey' my what seems like very original S3 109 van like coops has the straight lip bonnet with spare carrier on it, but the paperwork shows it started life on a farm so maybe that is what you got when ordering the extra spare? The wagon I wrecked had the rounded without spare.

If you want to experiment Coop I have a free rounded lip bonnet at my place and in the right colour! I have my S2 spare wheel bonnet also if you wanted to copy the structure or beef it up at all. A couple of bits of lighter c section and a few bolts might do it. Also you could play with your own version of recessing. Probably easier just to buy the real thing but the offer is there.

The other offer i have is a rear swing out spare carrier that uses all original bolt holes and holder for a jerry can incorporated. It looks like you put your number plate on the wheel and it latches into where that was. You could have one on the back, one on the bonnet and more space inside? Might save using the roofrack and having that weight up so high. I inherited the carrier from my brother but don't see myself using it in the short term so very welcome to long term borrow it or if you really love it we can talk.

Cripes!! All this free advice and information! What a great bunch of folks you are!
Firstly, Craig, yep, love to check what you have on offer and will phone you this evening to arrange a time.
Secondly, Jerryd, thanks for the pictures. I see you have the side rubber tie-downs and have heard elsewhere that these are a good idea if you carry a spare on the bonnet. Are yours original or an after-market item, and do you think they make a difference?
Jeff- thanks for the tips- watching the tyre slide off is one thing- lifting it back up again could pop a few valves- and I'm not referring to the car or the tyre, either... :D We will be a bit space limited, so putting the second spare outside somewhere is the aim. I also think it might help to spread the load over both axles.
And Blknight, thank you for the suggestions as to alternative locations- I hope we never have such bad luck as to require 6 spares, but if we ever get really really serious about going off road, you just never know....:)
Regards to you all,

Coop

Hi coop, the rubber tie downs are the only means of holding my bonnet down, as when the holden conversion was done I assume they disposed of the original bonnet catch etc.

I'm looking out for a metal set as fitted to army spec vehicles as the rubber ones do tend to bounce around a bit especially in high winds on the highway.

Hi folks,
Have obtained a second-hand bonnet with the relevant fittings, a little rusty around the steel/aluminium junctions, but pretty sound. Have drilled out the solid rivets, disassembled the frame from the bonnet, grit blasted the frame back to bare metal and primed with etch primer, had the bonnet soda-blasted back to bare metal and just waiting for decent temperatures before spraying that (39 degrees here today- too hot for spray painting).
I'm torn between borrowing a mate's rivet gun and using solid rivets to do the reassembly, or buying some blind rivets and using my own manual tool.
I note that my existing bonnet (which is not designed to carry a spare) has used pop rivets throughout its assembly. I've never used a rivet gun to set solid rivets, so will need to practice a bit before doing the job that way.
I gather that some pop rivets retain the mandrel to make a more "solid" rivet thus providing better shear strength and vibration resistance.
Also unsure which rivets to use- aluminium, steel, or something like monel?
Anyone out there knowledgeable in this area? What have others done? Should I use solid or pop rivets- and which metal?

Coop

First do your marking out aligning then drill your holes to nominal size

once thats done

• rough back the paint where the spare wheel carrier is ment to make firm contact with the skin. (should make a circle about 12 inches or so in diameter with a line thickness of about 1/2 an inch or so)
• Wipe over the paint work where you dont want sikaflex sticking with a light oil (lanox works well) ensure that you dont get any on the mount OR the exposed ally)
• apply a bead of sikaflex or similar
• Use some dome head capscrews to clamp the mount down (you can use celeco clamps if you have them) in every second hole (if you're going to be lazy or overengineering about it put a body washer on the underside and tighten them up)
• insert and peen over/pull through your rivets
• replace the capscrews with the remaining rivets (or leave them in place if the strength of the rivets or the work involved is of concern)
• Wipe off the excess sikaflex, then when the working stuff has cured give the bonnet a wash to get rid of the oil.

Thanks Blknight, that'll be useful when I come to putting the fitting back onto the bonnet. But I have misled you with respect to the status of the project. The accompanying pictures should help. I've completely disassembled the bonnet, including the internal frame as well as the spare tyre fittings (what I call the "upside down dinner-plate") so that I can remove corrosion and repaint. I'm wondering what type of rivets to use when I put it all back together...
Regards

Coop
Bonnet TopAttachment 43980
Bonnet BottomAttachment 43979
Bonnet Disassembled Attachment 43977
Bonnet frame being primed Attachment 43978

I had assumed that you were only trying to mount up the dinner plate.

Solid Ally rivets.

The same principles apply to assembling any of the ally-steel parts of a series, sanding back the ally and applying the sikaflex are a me thing, I do it because it prevents "chafing" of the paint where the components flex over each other/.

Thanks Blknight, I'll practice some riveting and see how I go.
Cheers,

Coop

Borrowed a Mate's rivet gun, dragged the compressor out of the shed and this is the result. I have to say the solid rivets look much better than pop rivets. I decided to bolt the "dinner plate" on using 6mm bolts and nylok nuts because the holes had already enlarged to about 6mm and those that hadn't I reamed out to fit.
Just a few more fittings to rig, and then it gets cleaned up and top coated.
Thanks for the tips, Dave, turned out really nice.
Cheers,

Coop

Details of the rivets
Attachment 44269