tilt front ends...lets see them

pros/cons on a street car?? never had one, but thinkin about it....steel...was lookin at shakey puddins post, and thinkin about ever since...

 

I did it to a 68 Chevelle , I angle cut the lower rear of the fenders, and mounted the lower portion.........It was an all steel frontend, that you could flip open by yourself, and once it was flipped open you could still open the hood.............I did it way back in High school autobody class..............I did not run any fenderwells, and in these parts made a mess of the engine compartment in the rain and snow..........so if your going to do it to an actual driver, I recommend fenderwells of some sort...Goodluck Littleman

 

Link:
http://www.directimagehost.com/pf.php?fid=8256
rerstoration project I did, a daily driver the owner wanted a tilt because engine access is a bitch in long narrow hood trucks. It's cake to work on now, and easy to do, it's all in the planning. No fancy kit, just a bunch of fabbing

 

Since the average tilt front end rattles like a mutha, it's best to run fenderwell headers - uncorked, of course. Masks the rattles very effectively!

 

I ran conduit supports in my fenders, it made the whole thing very stable and firm......it was High School and was all I could afford then...I had never heard of DOM back then, let alone really knew what a tig welder was........I miged everything back then.Littleman

 

Built this when I was a kid....

 

Here's mine - I did a couple years ago. All steel - functional hood - no exposed fasteners or pins. A few times I've almost whacked someone in the head when opening it They see me open the hood and step over to look in while I'm unlatching the tilt and a couple times they've had to duck - not sure if I was close to them or if they just freaked out a little when stuff they expected was stationary started moving. Kinda funny.

I've got two cars with tilt noses - one all steel w/functional hood - the other 1 piece glass. Nothing really wrong with the glass, but after having the functional hood i'd NEVER even consider a 1 piece one anymore. During the winter it's a ROYAL PAIN to flip the 1 piece glass nose in the garage. OTOH on the black car I can opt to just open the hood - if it's something simple or flip the whole thing - It's REALLY spoiled me - wouldn't have it any other way.

FWIW I used hood latches mounted on the firewall - when you go to close it they simply "click" in place. Way way easier than fiddling with the hood pins that are on my other one.

I used 4130 as bracing material - light as hell - super stiff too - doesn't move around like the glass ones do at speed. My only regret was not doing it YEARS ago.

 

Here is one I did for my friend Vic'. It's a 55 Chevy with one piece fiberglass nose. The expanded metal will be 'glassed in.

 

Here is my 56 Chevy from the early 80's. I bolted the steel fenders and hood together to make a tilt front end but I set it up so I could run without the hood if I wanted. I made a structure that bolted on to the fenders just like the original core support. I wanted it to be a one man operation so I mounted a small wheel inside the lower corner of the fender that would roll up the side of the cowl bringing the fender out a little to clear the door. There is a piece of aluminum added to the cowl to catch the wheel as you lower the front end.

 

This is my 53 Chevy PU work in progress. I bolted the hood and fenders together, and like Littleman angle cut and mounted the rear of the fenders. I still have a lot of bracing to do, but it seems to open and close easily.

 

Kind of hard to see in this pic but there is a piece of tubing about 1 1/2" diameter sticking out the side of each frame rail at the front. There is a nut welded inside the tube, recessed a little. Inside the front end was a couple of aluminum panels about 1/8" thick that kinda tied things together. Hard to explain but anyway the front end would be set in position and there were holes in the aluminum that lined up with the tubes sticking out from the frame. I had 2 pieces of tube about 1" long that would go through the holes in the aluminum and into the tube on the frame and then a bolt with a fender washer held the stub in place and instant tilt front end.

 

Here's a survivor 55 Chevy that showed up at a local show here this summer. Had a fiberglass front end and a nice hinge and stop, I thought.

 

great response...the car i'm considering doing this to is a 59 rambler american.

Hemirambler, you got any pics showing how those hood latches are mounted?

Kiwi Kev, cant see it well, but i think i get the idea.

Littleman, for some reason i was thinking you were on the west coast...

thanks to all for the replies.....keepem comin

 

I did a 56 back in the late sixtys with my dad,he was a bodyman ,did nice job ,but just seemed to move & rattle more than iliked.eventiualy put it back to original.Was nice to work on though.

 

My 51 Chevy tilt front all metal and just needing to finish the bottom rear for a stationary set up...

 

Stepchild, Here's a coupel more shots - sorry about dirt - seems I hit a mud puddle last time I had it out - I guess I'm a little lazy getting it clean again

Anyways - The latches are "stock" latches mounted on the firewall - nothing special except that I defeated the "safety" clasp - these are single catchs now - Open hood - reach down and flip lever - "click" it's open - if you don't defeat the safety catch then you have to hold the lever whiel you tilt the front end - kinda hard to do if you're holding onto other stuff

Anways the part that I think worked out kinda neat is the other half of the latch - again I took my que from the factory design - and mimicked it - by taking some solid stock that I threaded and then bent into a "U" bolt (well sorta) now I can adjust the "U" bolt up/down to set the level of the hood on each side.

My buddy just put a tilt on his and instead of using two latches like I did he put a "stud" sticking out of the center of his firewall and mounted the latch to a center crossmember that is the support for his glass front end. To this he added a cable - so to open his - you merely reach into the wheel opening ad grab a lever. Kinda slick.

On mine you don't have to open the hood - but it's a LOT easier that way - plus you get soemthing to grab onto when you go to flip the front end open/closed.

Sorry my photos - suck - not to mention all the mud sploches - but I thin kif you look close you can still see what I was talking about.

 

Here's mine on my 47 Chevy.

 

on the one on my anglia , i used a couple heims and some tubing...2 bolts and un plug the head lights...used dzus fasteners to hold it down....worked nice...and one person could take it off....will have to look for some pics..... brandon

 

Not mine.....

 

Here's pics of mine. It's all steel. The hood is bolted to the fenders. My pics aren't very good but you can kinda see it. There are 2 struts in front that the front bumper bolts to. Those rest in a cradle with a pin throught it to hinge. The front bumper gives the whole front rigidity, so it's not all floppy. Also the way the bimper is on there, with the front is open the bumper hits on the bottom of the hinge, so there are no cables or anything required. I added some cables anyway because people like to lean on it and there is a lot of leverage there. There are no pins holding it down and it doesn't rattle or make noise. I welded bolts in to the old hood hinge holes on the cowl and shaped them like teeth, so when the front comes down, there is a hole that drops over that tooth and holds it in place n all. There are 4 pins and a wiring disconnect and then 2 guys can pull it off no problem. I can open it by myself. Don't know if any of this explanation makes any sense. Maybe I'll get better pics.

Oh, I cut the fenders so that when it is open, you don't wack your head on the bottom of the fender.

 

here is one we finished this summer

 

We did this '50 Plymouth in the early 60's.

 

dragrcr50 how does that hing setup work? I see some flips with the back of the fenders cut off and see some with it still there.I know that a simple hing will make the back of the fender overlap the doors as you close it.I`m building a flip for the Hillman project and was planning on cutting the fenders off on the back.Something tells me that the way you have the hing on that 55 you don`t need to cut them.

 

think i'm gonna plan on doing it...dont wnna cut off lower rear of fender though...some interesting ideas here

have to look at it a little closer, decide if its feasable to allow the fender to spread enough to open and not be a pain in the ass..kiwikevs idea w/roller may help ............

 

well, a quick look tells me that isnt gonna happen...fender rolls in too deep...cant spread them that far........

 

Don't sweat it - whack them suckers!!!! Nothing wrong with a neatly done seam. You'll only piss off the restorers - like they matter

When I cut mine - I sort of boxed them - so they look like a factory edge when they're visible. Personally I think it's difficult to make the angle cut look right. A nice, neat horizontal cut flows with the body a bit better IMHO.

 

yeah , i havent ruled out cutting them.....definately horizontal.....just looking at options...

 

Just lock yourself in your garage and do it!!!!!.Its just one of those projects thats hard to start on........just do it.....procrastination kills everything...........Goodluck Littleman

 

theres a body line down low that looks like a good place to start...just putting a plan together....so i dont wish i had did it different..........