Our next task is to cut the flip front on the Stylus
from the instructions from Tim, it sais to cut the horizontal line about halfway ish up the door. A few people on here have said to cut it lower down, in-line with the bottom of the door! What are peoples opinions who have done flipfronts? Some pics would be good so we can see the difference!
Have you got any tips for cutting the front? apart from a few whiskeys to calm my nerves!
Hi,
I made my cut level with the bottom of the door; the only problem seems to be that the body curves back in a little so the edge just catches on the reinforcing lip I got from Tim. Before cutting I reinforced the line I was going to cut with some extra glassfiber and modified the front frame to give me a pivot point at the very bottom of the body – works well with good clearance over the wheels etc. The only real problem I had was that I didn’t realise one front corner was a little low before I cut the front and this was maintained afterwards, fortunately a minor adjustment to the front subframe with a bit of scaffolding tube straightened things up nicely. There are some pictures here; http://www.clubstylus.be/phpBB2/viewtop ... light=#296
And you should find some others if you do a search on “flip front”
Pete&Matt wrote:Our next task is to cut the flip front on the Stylus
from the instructions from Tim, it sais to cut the horizontal line about halfway ish up the door. A few people on here have said to cut it lower down, in-line with the bottom of the door! What are peoples opinions who have done flipfronts? Some pics would be good so we can see the difference!
Have you got any tips for cutting the front? apart from a few whiskeys to calm my nerves!
Cheers
Best tool I've found for cutting nice tidy straight lines in fibre glass is a diamond disc cutter . Just 2mm wide and less mess than a grinding disc. Lines to be cut , I marked with fine end tippex . Having not done a flip front I would assume the logical level to cut the horizontal would be level with the 2 x 1 inch upper chassis rail ??? I'll have a look at Tim's from some photos I've got open and shut.
I just love the Stylus but she keeps swallowing £££ ! Alfa Red 159 2.4 jtdm ti 260bhp 365lbft / BilsteinB12 + Adjustable Powerflex camber/castor bushes. Red STYLUS 2lt zetec 231bhp 185lbft Dunnell . RED 1972 Alfa 2lt GTAm replica 170bhp.
Looks from the pic's as though strength wise it should go between the fluted areas and level with the inner rail I'm sure there's a good reason for that positioning.
I just love the Stylus but she keeps swallowing £££ ! Alfa Red 159 2.4 jtdm ti 260bhp 365lbft / BilsteinB12 + Adjustable Powerflex camber/castor bushes. Red STYLUS 2lt zetec 231bhp 185lbft Dunnell . RED 1972 Alfa 2lt GTAm replica 170bhp.
i can understand why on the RT because of the fluted areas, but the classis is plain all the way along! might just end up drawing some lines on it and standing back to see what is best!!
But rather than leaving a sharp edge on the bonnet edge all the way round and down it's been given a lip like the top part where the old small bonnet is glassed in if that makes any sense.
all done and cut! did all the lines to what Tim said to do them to and cut it with an angle grinder with a thin cutting disc, worked well in the end! very pleased with the outcome!
how do you put pics up on here? i have one to show ya!
Do you have a colapsible steering column? It seems dead straight or is it optical illusion?
And while you're at it, could you take a picture of the brackets holding the steering rack? I'm not sure if mine are bracketed correctly.
I also notice you don't have the extra bracket in the engine compartiment running from the o/s top rail to the passengers footwell top right. Mine doesn't have it either, but I've seen others that have.
the steering column is the same as the one in the pic you have put on in your reply. Ours doesnt stick out so far though. Its not straight either, but looms it in the pic!
i can do a pic of the rack brackets at some point, although it is very tight getting the brackets on and we could only use the standard rubber mounts in the end! what problem do you have with them?
we do have the bracket pictured, although it comes down towards where the engine mount is, ours is a bit newer than that chassis pictured. I know that if you stated you were going to be running over about 200bhp when ordering your chassism, then they put in extra strenghening to accomodate this, perhaps this is what was done on that chassis?
From memory , this was Tim's first alteration to the existing chassis design / classic / once he came up with the RT. Flip front , he thought , needed more rigidity.
I just love the Stylus but she keeps swallowing £££ ! Alfa Red 159 2.4 jtdm ti 260bhp 365lbft / BilsteinB12 + Adjustable Powerflex camber/castor bushes. Red STYLUS 2lt zetec 231bhp 185lbft Dunnell . RED 1972 Alfa 2lt GTAm replica 170bhp.