The point of this is not to pick on a particular supplier... I only wish
to find out if anyone else has had a similar experience.
I recently ordered a hood catch for my TR6 (the piece that bolts to the
underside of the bonnet with the safety hook on it) from one of the big 3
suppliers. My original had cracked at the base. When I received the
repro part (made in Taiwan, apparently there are no new original stock
available), I was very disappointed in the quality and engineering of the
part. The spring and pin part is fine. But the safety "hook" part of it
did not line up correctly like the original longitudinally (and there is
no way to adjust it) and it was also very wobbly laterally (from side to
side). It is completely unusable as the safety hook will not catch on the
corresponding catch mounted to the bulkhead. Even adjusting the bolt-in
position of the latch assembly in the bonnet (there is a little bit of
position adjustment) does not provide enough adjustment to get the safety
hook to catch. When I hold the repro part up against the broken original,
it is obvious that the repro is no where near within specification
compared to the original.
Anyone else have any experiences with these repro bonnet latches? Are
all of the big 3 suppliers buying the same part from the same
manufacturer? If so, it will do me no good to buy from one of the other
suppliers (unless this was an isolated "out of spec" part and the rest are
really good). Anyone know where any originals are available?
And, yes, I plan to return the part to Moss for a refund. My experience
is that they are good about standing behind their parts if a customer is
not satisfied.
Thanks.
Greg Hutmacher
76 TR6
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