It Flips! Progress report: Jonny69mobile

[Jonny69]

It's been a long time since I did a progress update on the ole Anglia but I've been busy so here it all is in one big unmanageable lump. Bear with me there are lots of tatty looking pictures, plenty of filler, welding, fibreglass, rubbing, swearing and blood.

Lets start at the front and work round shall we, this is how she's looking at the moment:

I've just spent the weekend fitting the flipfront, a job I've been putting off for ages, but it fits a treat and hinges really nicely now. Although it's tatty I reckon I'll be able to patch it in and repair the cracks, tears, splits etc. More about that in a bit and on with the pics.

 

[Jonny69]

Here's the back panel that I have lovingly repaired. It was completely perforated as I showed in some previous pics but I've welded some new metal in and filled/sanded ready for paint:

The bootlid is also sanded and ready for paint. This was matt black when I got it and the colour changes have been quite comedy, turquoise under the black, pink, yellow and finally light blue:

Rear corners are both fully welded in now. I've lowered the raised weld with the help of my new bodywork hammer. It's in anti-rust primer at the mo ready for some plop and plenty of sanding. Not that anti-rust primer is in any way going to help an Anglia, don't now why I bothered:

I didn't take any pics as I went along but I have welded up all the trim holes on the doors, ground smooth, filled, block sanded and both the doors are also ready for paint. The door on this side was blown over with treacle or Pritt Stick or something and it was a sod to sand off. I resorted to 40-grit and some serious elbow grease. Underneath there were a few perforations, but welded in some patches and block sanded them in. Nice and flat:

 

[Jonny69]

So onto the flipfront. The piéce de la resistance, the showcase, what you've all been waiting for, the, oh whatever. It's fitted up. Closed:

And open:

 

[Jonny69]

Close up to the hinge you can see how it's done. I made up a hefty bit of L section that bolts up to the bumper iron mountings on the sides of the chassis, then some box section drops down at 90 degrees (to clear the anti roll bar mounting) with tube welded into the end. A thick strap bolts through the flipfront on the end of which is more tube and some thick bar hinges the two.

What I've done is redesigned what was on there so that it's a bit stronger and a bit more rigid on the car end. I don't want it going off for a quick fly while I'm driving so it's held down real strong. I could have welded it on and it would have looked a bit prettier but this way it all bolts on and off and the pins pull out. At the top I'll be putting on some bonnet straps to pull the front up into place and I might glass in some sash cord to make it a bit more rigid as it is all wobbly and floppy at the moment.

 

[Jonny69]

The general state of the flipfront is "extreme disprepair", it's a mess, but at £350 for a new one I think I'm going to be el cheapo and repair mine. This is the sort of thing:

Nothing a bit of spit and tissue paper can't fix mixed in with plenty of sanding and a nice cancerous sounding cough. Anyway, last up is two more pictures, I can't think of any caption to go with these. Don't even know why I took them. Maybe I'm excited.

 

[Confused]

Looking awesome, Jonny

My dad added a couple of supports on the inside just above the wheel arches, as they were seriously bowing/flexing across that - once he added those it really stiffened it up and stopped it flexing as much Basiclly just a bit of wood/steel and covered in fibreglass to attach it to the inside


I've got my S13 fully stripped now, i'll soon be starting on the bodywork side of mine


Garry

 

[paradigm]

Coming along nicely then

Just how sturdy is the flipfront, just the mount points look like they could tear, just doesn't strike me as being a rigid fit, but then, I haven't seen one up close.

 

[olv]

it's really coming along now. good work, i admire your persistance

 

[Jonny69]

Just how sturdy is the flipfront, just the mount points look like they could tear, just doesn't strike me as being a rigid fit, but then, I haven't seen one up close.

It's all wibbly wobbly

Basically I've got three bolts going through each strap where there were previously two. I'll be isolating these with rubber washers so it should prevent it from tearing but I'll be reinforcing those areas with more 'glass mat as well. When the flipfront is down it wraps round the bodywork so it can't actually go anywhere, it can't fly off when you're driving or anything. Obviously it won't be much use in an impact, but that's the reason I left all the inner wings and front frame in place.

 

[paradigm]

Ah fair enough

It did look like it "should" be wibbly wobbly, and you have confirmed that! lol.

Looking forward to seeing how you reinforce it though, and good luck working with glass fibre, I hate it

 

[Jonny69]

Blech, same here. I bought a roll of 'glass tape as I can't face working with mat. It'll minimise the amount of cutting and shouldn't get too many splinters.

Love the smell though, deadly but...

 

[Zip]

That kinda looks like a turtle

 

[paradigm]

That kinda looks like a turtle

Can I have some of whatever it is you are smoking?

Jonny. Not tried the 'glass tape, always worked with mat, and you are SOOO right about the smell

 

[Jonny69]

 

[L0rdMike]

Wow didnt know there was a Anglia in Finding Nemo.

 

[Scuzi]

Looks like a lot of work has gone into that, I can't wait to see the finished product. What lump are you thinking of sticking in there?

 

[Jonny69]

Lump is already in but it's not fully assembled yet. It's a 1660cc crossflow bottom end, forged pistons, steel flywheel, full race GT Cortina head, Kent 244 cam, twin 40's and 4-into-1 manifold. It's about 150hp @ 8000rpm, not bad for a 40 year old lump!

Edit: here it is before I did the work, rebuilt since: