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.
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
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:
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:
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.
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.
How about some stainless acorn nuts, cap head screws or something to hold the steel strap on the flip front? Could use the same fasteners for the bonnet straps on the top too ? 
Not sure what the best way to tackle the crazing is yet as it is literally covered in them, more than I'd want to be bothered to V out. I was just going to rub the gel coat right back nearly to nothing with 40-grit and build up lots of hi-build 2-pack and bury it. I'm not massively bothered about it coming back through as I won't be trying to hide the fact that it's a flipfront, as long as I can hide the worst of it.
