27 replies to this topic

[Horace]

Hi, Just had my radiator replaced, and the front clam appears to be nearly 1cm too far forward, meaning I have a gap to the front edge of the bonnet, and gaps to the doors. The garage have said to bring it back in, but they think that the clam only fits in one position. What is the 'play' when refitting front clams, and are they difficult to align correctly? Ta.

[FLD]

There's loads of Jiggle room. Its dead easy, just loosen the bolts, jiggle it into the right place and then retighten. 1cm is a lot!

[JG]

You can play around with them quite a bit to get them perfect. But there isn't 1cm of play in it.

[siztenboots]

make sure the doors open with clearance , plus they might have not replaced the shims to align it

[Horace]

Do the shims align it backwards? i.e., the more shims, the further back the clam sits?

[JG]

not really no. Post a pic up of the clam/door gap, the clam bonnet gap and the clam to rad surround with the bonnet open.

[JamesC]

make sure the doors open with clearance , plus they might have not replaced the shims to align it

I must confess I didnt notice any shims when taking the front clam off, where are they fitted if required?

[JG]

yep, not all cars have them. Some have them one side and not the other. i don't think you need them, if you can be bothered to play around with it a bit.

[Exmantaa]

Which new rad was placed? If it's too thick and you still have the two plastic "shroud thingys" on your crashbox, the radiator surround sits too high and you clam will be off. I once saw a rad surround placed in front of the crashbox mounting lip instead of over it, so that one was sitting too far forward...

[Horace]

It was a directly alloy replacement from Elise|Parts

[chris_uk]

if you want to pop over im sure we can get it sorted. offer is there

[VIX]

Alignment tolerences are here.

[Horace]

Great info there fellas!! Many thanks. And big to Chris for his kind offer. I'll let the garage have a go first.

[Horace]

Here's some piccies. Waddya think? Is this within tolerance?

Edited by Horace, 19 February 2013 - 08:27 PM.

[CocoPops]

Looks alright to me. It's aligned with the sill etc.

[chris_uk]

looks fine to me aswell

[FLD]

I agree, the clam aligns fine on the sills suggesting its fitted right. The door gaps front and back suggest the doors could be in need of a jiggle. The bonnet is easy to drop forward a bit too.

[chris_uk]

leave it.. looks fine.

[haggi961]

That looks perfect.

[Bumblebee]

After looking at some pics of mine it Look a bit out to me although it could just be the pics

Edited by Bumblebee, 19 February 2013 - 09:00 PM.