86 Elcamino- Looking to do a sliding tilt front clip, any suggestions???

[Rwolf15241]

1 Fiberglass fenders, hood, and Camaro / El Camino front bumper.

Thinking about using 1 inch steel rod and a linear bearing mounting to the tilt hardware for the slider

[MonzaRacer]

The one i saw used like solid 2 in rod sliding into front horns, a frame inside the steel dog house and as ITT sat down in the rear it had feet that slide on a lubricated rod(tabbed from more solid rod and a cut down piece of heave wall well casing. Also it had some guide pins up neat top of firewall and designer had built a latch pin on a cable.
Really pretty simple, then he used some heavy industrial springs to control the closing, which later he swapped for hydraulic limiters.
When in latched, a simple over on either side slid out, he rotated it forward to push dog house forward then had spring loaded hand grabs on either fender and simply lifted it up. If you are using glass front end it would be so simple.
A combination of parts might be good also.
The navy rod that it slides on just has to be stiff enough to not bend under doghouse weight. And not be so long as to be super stressed.
Same guy replicated it on old 68 Charger, and did it in aluminum as it had fiber glass dog house with parts of steel rad support with headlight parts built in and the original grill, made motorized.
The support in front is critical. I have even seen some with straight rods up front across to support it.

[indyjps]

Will the front clip slide forward far enough with big wheels on it? Will the lower rear of the fenders clear, or are you cutting the fenders and keeping the bottom rear stationary? There will be a lot of bodywork to finish out the inner wheelhouse areas when you flip the front, the firewall needs to be done well also.
Can I ask why the flip front end? Not doubting your skills, many of the ones I've seen don't turn out well, it's a lot of time to get it right. The Elco looks good in the pic, shoot some paint and get on the road.

[jlcustomz]

Geometry for clearance is one of the concerns with any similar project. Some vehicles require cutting a section of the front fenders off & attaching to cab for clearance. However for our application here, if you make the hinge point even with the bottom or slightly lower than the front fenders , this should make the fenders clear the doors ok. Take a good side view pic, draw it out on poster board, cut out the front & experiment with pivot points .

Other obvious tasks would be to make the radiator core area part of the frame & the entire front clip one solid part without getting too heavy. Gas shocks or even hd linear actuators could be incorporated. electric would be cool.

Another thing to consider is that the core support & fenders are part of the rigidity of the weak factory frame. This can of course be made up for.

Glad to offer any help without question as to why.
But what do I know about different opening front ends???