GASSER MUST HAVES and cant haves?

Here a few pics I have saved off the HAMB for future reference.Pictures worth a thousand words.

 

Y'all be real careful when picking out the flip front end pivot point. There is a lot of problems that you can run into because the front pivot determines the arc that the back of the fenders and front nose swing on. Extreme example would be the bottom side of the grill hit the tire before the front end is all the way up, or the back side of the fender hit the door and scratch the paint then you will always have to have 2 people to raise it.. Another thing to think about is the pivot point in the right place can make the front end feel as light as a feather but make sure all the other problems are not in the way.

 

Yes, I've done several Tri 5 Chevy tilt frontends, but long ago, so no pictures. My Austin and my Falcon both have tilt frontends and the Austin was the easiest I've ever done, but I split the fenders on it. The Austin is simply a triangle shaped plate that lines up with a hole in the frame horns and pivots on a stud. I put cables from a Malibu wagon tailgate on it to stop travel when opened. I guess the most exotic part of the Austin's frontend is the latches. I made hidden latches inside the fenders from late 70's Datsun PU hood latches.
Being such a light frontend (even in steel!) it needed very little bracing. But the latch points got lots of bracing to hold things closed.

 

Thanks Baron!
And Quain,you raise some very good points:My Dad's car has clearance issues with front end vs doors,and it is a royal pain in the ass!

Scott

Ps:Congratulations on scooping up the Boogie Man project!
You guys have got me considering putting fenders on the A to come down and make some passes with you guys!


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Here's a few pics of the Falcon. I made a toggle pivot to allow the front to move forward 5" before tilting. This cured the interference issues I had at the doors and the frame rails. Again used some Ranger tailgate cables to stop forward travel, and split the fenders to keep the drops from hanging in the way when doing engine work.




The Falcon uses simple Jeep hood hold rubber straps mounted inside on the firewall to hold it in the closed position. One per side.

 

My Henry J took a couple times to get it right, made it able to slide right out if I need to remove the front clip. I used storm door chain/springs to to limit the front swing once tilted.

 

Nice work
71BB427!

This is exactly the kind of stuff that has made this thread a standout.

Scott


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That's a pretty slick setup too Swade.


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Chromer's car had barn door hinges fixed to where you could knock the pin out if you wanted the front end off. I left it that way because that's how he did it in the early 1960. There are pics on his build thread, I think on the first page you can see them on the chassis when it was still setting out side just where it had been for all them years..

 

At first I tried a hinge position near the top of the radiator, it tilted the front fender opening right into the wheel. I lowered the hinge straight down to the frame area and cleared just fine, just shows how things work totally different.

 

The lower the pivot point, the better! In fact I did one for a buddy where we built a plate that dropped down a few inches from the front pan, and the same on the frame. It eliminated a lot of interference issues at the back edge as the frontend pulls away quicker as you get lower with the pivot point.

 

Exactly right low and as a far forward as possible in most cases. But remember forward makes the front end heavier to lift and that can cause a problem with an all steel front end.I did an off topic car with all the inner fenders and stuff for a street cat it pivots nice but I had to add the little hydraulic helpers on it to help pick up the weight. I hate a front end that you cant raise or lower when your by yourself.

 

Yes, it does make them slightly heavier, but both of mine open easily with this 63 yr. old doing the lifting. If the cars don't have a hood opening, then I think a handle of some sort would need to be attached to pull on. It would be tougher to open a frontend from one side, as they tend to twist if done that way. I grab the hood opening on the Falcon, and made a boxed edge on the opening just to stiffen it, and make it easy to grasp and pull.
On the Austin I threaded the old hood handle and bolted it tight to the hood brace inside, so it still looks like it opens the hood, but is used as a handle to pull the frontend open.

 

Dang, who is the craftsman that did those braces on the '55 hood? The holes and cutouts are a top notch attention to detail!

 

Kewi Kev is the craftsman who did this work on Cal Gasser's 55.

 

Should have guessed... He never leaves a detail undone.

 

Glass nose 37 years old and still together on the street..Linier actuator to open and same holds down with set spring pressure in the bottom actuator mount..Nose floats around some when encountering road hazards..Since I made the mold to make the nose latching things down too solid made me nervous...center pic shows the most in one shot, little blue bracket at the cowl corners are locator's [with rubber wheels, sway bar rubbers] and a rubber bumper down stop on the cowl lip to the rear..black square tube is steel 1" x 1" x 1/16th wall [all tubeing is 1/16th wall] main frame structure, connecting bars are 1"x1/4" Alum to the actuator cross bar and pivot mounts on the frame [blue riveted]..Using the linkage allowed compensation side to side and 6" of actuator movement makes 30" linkage attachment at main support..

 

Baron,that work on your buddy's 55 by Kev looks absolutely awesome.
His red Willys is actually the car that was single handedly responsible for swinging my focus over from musclecars to Hot Rods.I saw an article on I in R&C where it was just punishing those tires,and that was all she wrote!

And Seb:
Your attention to detail on that front end is absolutely amazing.Those panels,the layout,it's all so perfectly tied together....it looks more aerospace than automotive.

You guys are really hitting them out of the park with your front end setups.
Every time I start to think I'm pretty slick I see a thread like this and get reminded that I need to keep polishing my skills...lol
Thanks guys!

Scott


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Great thread with tons of info........certainly helps me with my plans for my 55's and 38 Chevy coupe. I have been collecting goodies and doin my homework before I dig in.....hopefully I will get some time in the near future for a build thread. Thanks for all the input and opinions.

 

Exactly why I started it. The more ideas I can compare and contrast now the straighter line I can take from start to finish when I kick off the build. Not to mention the motivation. Glad to see people onboard.

 

My 57 is more street freak but here is my slide & tilt.

 

Jeez, can ya see around that huffer...ha ha

 

I did this on a 33 Willys I built. Definitely low and foward. I added a stop so it wouldn't go over center. I've done tri fives this way too

 

That is a nice piece of work!And with the tube running all the way across,I bet it's plenty strong,and less likely to twist or bind.
Nice job.

Scott


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Here is a nice ,neat set up on a 55 Chevy

 

Baron,
Is that on your car?
That's some super clean,razor sharp fab work there.
This thread is a gold mine for finding good ideas or inspiration.
A good subtitle to this thread would be:"The Fabrication Showcase"


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Nope, not mine, but very nice work. I've been giving some thought about putting a one piece glass nose on my 55, but right now I am too busy on the 57 Corvette to take the time to do it. I have been saving all the pics of some of the trick set ups I like. The best way of doing it is like 1971BB427 did his Falcon with the pivot set up. That solves the issues of the fenders scratching the doors every time you tilt the nose. One thing for sure is there is a lot of engineering that goes into any of these and a lot of work to not only have it open and close easily, but to have the nose fit the doors /cowl properly.
__________________

 

Here's a video my friend did of the tilt system he just built for his '55 gasser project:
http://s1315.photobucket.com/user/mt94ss/media/55%20gasser%20x4-door/55Tilt_zpscb7e98bd.mp4.html

 

""And Seb:
Your attention to detail on that front end is absolutely amazing.Those panels,the layout,it's all so perfectly tied together....it looks more aerospace than automotive.""

Powrshftr: Thank you for the compliment..My being a self appraised anal toolmaker having worked at Pratt&Whitney Aircraft my whole working life is probably why the aerospace look; I had never thought about it other than that's what the anal in me wanted...I like Kewi Kevs approach and the pics Baron posted, nice idea using the front spring eye bolt as the pivot and the tubing support frame...

 

Hi Seb. Your car certainly caught my attention at Rhinebeck. Don't see many shoeboxes done up like this. Liked it then and I like it today. Took this picture probably 10 years ago.