I've recently got hold of what looks like a good quality 'glass flip front*. I'm after some advice on fittting it - I realise (of course) that it will need to be hinged, but any advice on how to go about it would be very welcome. Do I just bond the hinges straigt to the glass, or bond mounting plates or what? More specifically, do I need to install bracing bars to/beneath the front to comply with MOT regs and the law in general? Do I need to cut away the tops of the flitches, or remove them or what? Would anyone perhaps know if somewhere like JLH sells the fitting and bracing bits separately? ;) Any advice welcomed - bear in mind it's going on an LCV (complete with proper chassis!)
*Yeah, posey, I know - it was VERY cheap, under a quarter of the price of replacing all the panels in steel, and I've always fancied a flip front. And I'm a poseur... The rest of the car is being modded anyway (1275, Sierra box etc,) so I'm not going to worry about originality!
Flip Front Fitting
Forum rules
By using this site, you agree to our rules. Please see: Terms of Use
By using this site, you agree to our rules. Please see: Terms of Use
Flip Front Fitting
Last edited by bigginger on Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hi Andrew,
We do not as yet supply a fitting kit for the standard minor, primarily because most folk we have sold to have individual requirements or completly different chassis. If you can do without your van for a few weeks we could sort it for you at a v.reasonable rate
Our flips are reinforced on the front panel sto allow brackets to be bonded on. Some of our customers have used a suitably shaped anti roll bar and its fixings, fitted to the front X member and the rest to the flip. You do not need to remove any panel work, apart from the obvious, and you can split the bonnet hinges apart and then use a new pin or 'R' clip to secure the two halfs when the bonnet is shut. A pair of D'zus fastners on the bottom of the wing adjacent to the door post will secure this area.
You could fit the front of the flip by cutting off the ends of the bumper stays, and bond two lengths of round bar to the front panel which would then be inserted into the bumper stay tube. A quick release mechanism could be rigged up to allow easy seperation. This needs the fine detail to be realised but may well proove the neatest route. A hinge could also be worked into this design. Just a thought.
We do not as yet supply a fitting kit for the standard minor, primarily because most folk we have sold to have individual requirements or completly different chassis. If you can do without your van for a few weeks we could sort it for you at a v.reasonable rate
Our flips are reinforced on the front panel sto allow brackets to be bonded on. Some of our customers have used a suitably shaped anti roll bar and its fixings, fitted to the front X member and the rest to the flip. You do not need to remove any panel work, apart from the obvious, and you can split the bonnet hinges apart and then use a new pin or 'R' clip to secure the two halfs when the bonnet is shut. A pair of D'zus fastners on the bottom of the wing adjacent to the door post will secure this area.
You could fit the front of the flip by cutting off the ends of the bumper stays, and bond two lengths of round bar to the front panel which would then be inserted into the bumper stay tube. A quick release mechanism could be rigged up to allow easy seperation. This needs the fine detail to be realised but may well proove the neatest route. A hinge could also be worked into this design. Just a thought.
Sounds good - I want to hinge it at the front, so I reckon I'll buy a pair of hinges from one of the Mini sites and work with them, probably attatched to a bonded on steel reinforcement plate/bar. What do you guys do with the flitches then? I haven't dry fitted it yet, but I assume that the tops of them will foul it if left in place - and (given that it's a thick, well built piece, the seller said it had cost him £200 plas vat, so it MIGHT even be one of yours) do I need bracing bars? I'd say not from a structural point of view, but I don't know what the law thinks about that...