Just wondering how others go about bracing their fiberglass front ends? I have a few ideas, mainly using round tubing, just not sure what size and thickness of tubing to use. I usually go way to overkill on everything, so pictures or examples would be great. This is on a 55 Chevy with a one piece tilt front end. Also, where it connects to the fiberglass, normally guys just use an auto body glue to stick the metal (perforated or other) to the fiberglass? Do you leave it at that point of fiberglass over top of the patches as well?
I have seen this done multiple ways, but can speak to what I know of a car I just did a little work to as well as what I know from working with basically the same stuff on construction equipment. As far as bracing up the fiberglass, it doesn’t take much of any and I would just do as much as makes you comfortable considering it all just adds weight back to what you save with the glass over steel. Attaching the steel brackets to glass can be done with just adhesives that are made for that. We do that on equipment hoods where I work and it will break the glass before coming loose in the joint. We don’t glass over it. When I just put a front end like yours back together recently, the only bracing it had was a piece of angle under the valance panel area to tie both sides together where it hinged. It was just bolted to the glass because that is the way it was done in the mid 60’s before the adhesives of today were available.
The Willy's in my Avatar has a glass, tilt front end. To give it strength and keep it strong I bent & glued 1/2" copper tubing all the way around the perimeter, inside wheel wheels, etc. After that we glassed over the copper tubing, sanded and contoured the inside lip & painted. It's very strong and now when you run your fingers underneath the wheel opening lip it feels like a steel front end the best it can, plus gives it that finished look when open. The rear wheel well radius I glued 1/2" rubber hose because it followed the contour better, kitty hair over that, finish glass, sand, sand, sand, paint! Used bent Conduit, for the tilt part than same procedure to finish.
Another '55 thread; https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/glass-frontend-rescue-thread.1195575/
Thanks for the ideas, like always I wanted to overdue it compared to these. I like that perimeter idea to help finish it. guthriesmith I will admit I would have thought these things were too flimsy to bolt through and tilt on the lip like that. I get nervous just lifting it off by hand right now lol.
What you do depends on the use. If it's strictly dragstrip use, then it needs less bracing, and lighter tubing. But for street use it requires more bracing, and a bit heavier tubing. You can get away using 3/4" EMT and a EMT bender if the frontend is a street weight glass frontend, as they're both thicker, and usually have better bracing already in them. I bend up two main tubes that start at the frame horn ends, and go up to what would be the edges of the hood. Then follow all the way back along the hood edge in one piece per side. Once you've got the two main braces, you'll need cross braces at the rear, and front corner bends. And bracing at an angle from just behind the bends down to the pivot point of the main tubes is good too. Another cross tube above the pivot point will also make it all more rigid for street use. Once it's all formed up, I use body panel adhesive to secure it to the fiberglass frontend. Then glass over it with fiberglass cloth to make it all part of the frontend. It will warp when you secure it to the frontend, if it's not thick enough fiberglass. But most street weight frontends wont warp from the fiberglassing, or wont warp much. I like a plate at the end of the main tubes, and a weld bung in the end so I can add a heim end to allow final adjustment to align the whole frontend. Have to cut the ends just short enough that the Heim will not run out of threads as you adjust height.
I used conduit and lots of others have as well, it's a pretty common brace, I laid mat and resin over it to bond to the fiberglass. I also made sure and put a cross bar at the scoop hole opening, that's where I grab it to tilt it forward so I'm not pulling on the fiberglass itself.
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