I have searched high and low, and there is just really not a lot of info on tilting a chevelle front end, using steel fenders and such. Here are my plans, tell me what you guys think. Hopefully we can make a searchable thread...

I am going to use steel fenders, a glass hood. I plan to use one linear actuator, powered by 12v DC to slide the front end forward so that the fenders do not hit the door, and then another actuator to tilt it upwards. I am also thinking of using window hatch shock thingies to do the lifting. I will use a power trunk latch to hold the front end down securely on the firewall.

One problem I am encountering is how do I get past my bumper? Also, I want to leave my radiator support intact, instead of cutting it at either side of the radiator and attaching the headlight housing parts to the rest of the sheetmetal. For a sliding support, I would like to use two rather large tubes, a larger one connected to my frame, a smaller one connected to hinges, thus the hinges will be able to slide forward and back before the tilt up/after the tilt down occurs.

I am a little unsure of how I will support the fenders by the cowl: I am leaving my inner fenders on, so that will provide much support, but I think I will also make an aluminum square tubing inner frame to bolt the fender to, which may require hammering a corresponding right angle into the top of the cowl for one of the square tubes to sit on. Is this extra support needed?

I am not sure where I will attach the hinges to if the radiator support is stationary. Any ideas?

I will try to make up some drawings of what I am thinking tomorrow, and post them here. Thanks guys! By the way, a thought just occurred to me... why are there no aluminum body panels?

I have seen a number of tilt front ends over the years, it was way more popular 20 or 30 years ago. Most were done with fiberglass one piece assemblies for drag racing. All steel or mostly all steel I have seen fewer of - because using the heavy stuff goes contrary to the usual purpose of taking seerious weight off the front of the car for drag racing. Virtually every front tilt '60's car I have seen were all fabricated, newer ones using some of the more common street rod hardware. I have seen a '64 El Camino (with a '65 one piece fiberglass front end) with the fenders and hood tilting around the grille and lights, so what you want to do has been done before - sorry I do not have any pics.

Thomas

Very cool idea,.. I saw a pic somewhere, I wish I could remember, of a yellow chevelle with a tilt front end but it was all glass 1 piece. I would probably weld the fenders together somehow to the front valance and core support and at the rear under the hood hinges. Then to be tricky I would find a way to still have the hood operate as normal with the fenders down as well as tilt all together as one piece. So basically I would have the dog-house together on the ground to figure how to make it structurally sound enough to tilt it. If this will help, my idea would be do design the hinge to bring the nose up while hinging over your bumper. like a long "C" shape. I would imagine trimming the bottom bumper to grill filler piece from the core support/grill panels wouldn't hurt. I don't think you'll get the whole fender out of the way of your doors and tires so maybe a split fender like on the 'vette's? Hope it helps, and send some pics of progress I would love to see your idea take shape so I can learn too.....

I lilke the C idea. Problem is, the fenders are really nestled into the bumper, if I remember correctly. I guess I would have to cut the lower portion of the fender off in order to get it to work properly, unless I can come up with a really nice mechanism, but then it would have to be very precise, which I do not like. If you have ever seen the robot Biohazard, of battlebots, I am thinking of making a lifting mechanism like the offensive arm he has. I made a robot recently for a competition with an arm very similar, so I am pretty savvy on how it is done. His arm moves almost only upward for the first part of its travel, then forward. If I can attach my front properly to this, I could lift the front end above the bumper and then forward, and have a second mechanism to tilt after that motion has completed. Again though, clearance will be tight, especially fender-to door clearance if I don't want to cut up my fenders. (they are brand new, I just can't do it!!) After thought, I don't think this will work if I want the lights section of the radiator support to be stationary. I am afraid I will have to chop it. (Shoulda saved my old one for prototyping...) There would just not be enough support without it, and not really any place to attach the hinges either.

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/rjbrennn/shared/Tilt_Front_End.bmp

I think that's alot of weight to try to tilt without bending your sheetmetal. Would it be possible to just make one cut on the rear part of the fender, just enough to clear the doors? I think if you went to skinnies up front the front end would clear the tires and with the correct hinge design, the bumpers would clear as well. Keep the think tank rollin', this would be a neat project to see completed...

I have seen this done on a Gran Sport, he cut the backs of fenders in half in the rear, kinda like the vette to clear the doors.Made a tube frame and basically welded everything together.I think bumper and all tilted with it.
Hows about something like the tilt hoods on the older oldsmobiles (mid 90's) where the hood was on rollers and then tilted forward? Mike