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If your going for a 2 piece front, id be tempted to bolt the wings and front panel on to get decent fit and do a removable bonnet. Not sure the 2 piece will be rigid enough with the hinges you have in mind.

Just my thoughts

Shell looks good though

Ya your right Rob, it's not very rigid to be honest. This had crossed my mind already... I was thinking about possibly constructing a frame of some description out of box tube steel & it will actually be the steel that's connected to the hinges I have. Then the fibre front connected to the tube frame. In my head I can picture it vividly but constructing it may be a different story! The good thing is I have plenty of engineering minds around me that are willing to put their sixths pence worth in... But yes, fully agree that the hinges directly fixed to the front would not work. You'd need atleast a section of box tube spanning the length of each wing (rear to front) connected to each hinge...

Well that's the plan

Bargain!

Didn't think of a subframe so to speak. Suppose it would work.

Yes... Subframe... That's the word I was looking for!

And this is what I've got planned for the front...



In two separate pieces...





So hopefully with a bit of fiddling I'll manage to get it fitting half decent!!

A few more hours spent in the man cave over the last few days.. got my hands on some boot hinges that came off an old bmw e36. Good old ebay....



And constructed some brackets out of some 25mm box steel for them to be attached to..





This is how the hinges will sit.. hopefully..



Welded in place...



And then bolted on the hinges...





Then had to fabricate some uprights for the front to be attached to, just drilled some holes and welded in some 10mm bolts..



Obviously this all had to be done twice, one for each side...





This is what its meant to look like, just temporarily placed the flip front on the upright struts. Will have to now think of a way to somehow attach to the box steel..







Once I've got it fitting as well as I can I'll strengthen it by welding some more box steel in, kinda like a subframe.

Thats it for now!

What are the hinges off?

Looking good, the box section could be a good point to tie in the front brace bars for subframe

Ooops.. I meant off an e46, the older 3 series. Ya thats not a bad idea Dave, possible... cheers.

Not much of an update, just a bit of a rant really...

FIBREGLASS FRONTS ARE SHIT!!!!!

Been out there the last two days trying to get it right but its near on impossible to make look good... and yes, for those of you that did warn me I am lapping up my humble pie with my tail wedged firmly between my legs!

I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and spend a few quid on a steel front, it will still be a flip as I have the hinges all sorted now (had to move them back a couple of inches as the wings were snagging the body half way up).

Anyway, if your thinking about fibreglass... listen to everyone else and forget it!! FairPlay to those who have fitted them well!

Anyone wanna buy a fibreglass clubman front end??? (not the best sales technique I know lol)

What's wrong with it?

Whats right with it more like... the wings don't align with the A panels, if you pull out the wing to meet the A panel then the upper lip (where it meets the bonnet) bends in, the bonnet doesn't fit properly and its just generally a bit flimsy....

fair play for giving it a go.

Do it with steel?

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

Before you give up on it, how about bolting the wings on to let you get the gaps right and have a removable bonnet? Appreciate what you are trying to do with the entire front opening though

Fair enough

New shiny stuff arrived today from Minisport.. my first dealing with them!







Had to grind away a bit of the gully lip to get the new wing gusset on top...



Straight away a much better fit...







Just having a quick glance at the gap between the front of the wheel arch and the tyre & it seems quite small.. does it look about right to you? The subframe is not bolted on securely but its close enough...



So I guess the next thing is to weld it all together, the bonnet needs blasting as theres quite a bit of surface rust present underneath. I might leave the bonnet separate so that its removable by itself, but will flip up with the rest when left attached?? Not sure really... I know it'd be more rigid welded on...

Looks good! Bet it cost pretty penny for clubby panels? Is the idea to have bonnet on pins to do small checks n whole front flipping upwards for big jobs and showing off the POWER?

A petty penny indeed.. needless to say the missus doesn't know!

Ya still deciding on having the bonnet removable or welding it to the panels?? Dunno yet!

Arches generally need to be cut for the bigger wheels

Seems a shame to cut my new arches... was thinking of smaller wheels anyway. I wonder what would be the biggest size I would get away with without cutting them? I was thinking 12x6's but I reckon I'd still have to chop them at that size..