Flip Nose Finagling!

Flip nose kits are extremely popular, and we have installed many for our clients. But every install is different. Every car is different. Every nose has a different crash story to tell.

Ed’s Bugeye from Michigan came with a unique set of challenges, so I thought it would be helpful for folks out there to see a post about this particular flip nose installation.

There is supposed to be a bushing here. This one was ripped out by a previously mounted front bumper.

Reverse View of the issue. Bumper loads tore the bushing out of the front frame rail (common)

The first issue was his missing bumper mount. You can see it ripped-out of the right front frame horn. That bushing supports the front bumper, and if you hit something hard enough, the bushing will sometimes tear out. Without it, you can’t mount a front bumper or a flip nose kit. So first step on this job was to weld a bushing back in, so that the flip nose would have an anchor.

This is what the bumper mount is *supposed* to look like, and after we welded a bushing from a wrecked frame horn into the hole.

Next up, we mounted the kit in the holes and found that the frame horns were badly bent, again from prior crash damage (which seems common on all Sprites). You might be able to see that the nose didn’t fit very well once mounted and that the gaps were big at the body especially at the rocker panel.

After fitting the front flip kit, this is the gap we had on the driver’s side bonnet wing. It was almost a full inch too high! It was touching on the other side. This told us that the frame horns were not only bent upwards, but also slightly twisted in proportion to each other.

There should NOT be this much deviation between the heights of the frame horns! (This is why the driver side nose is higher)

This photo shows just how drastically the front horns were bent. There is supposed to be a slight upward turn to these horns from the factory but this is excessive.

To address these gaps, we had to move the flip nose pivot points dramatically, and the only way to do this was to slice the frame horns in the exact correct location to move the horns enough to bring the nose into alignment and eliminate the unsightly gaps. Cutting these wedges out was a great way to move the entire mounting point to align the nose.

The driver’s side frame horn needed this cut made to allow the horn to be maneuvered into the desired location.

The passenger side needed a similar cut made. Not an easy task to accomplish!

Once we had the horns in the right location, we welded the wedges closed and anchored the horns in their new location. This is not for beginners! Sometimes this sort of modification is needed to make things fit.

Some welding, some grinding, and a quick shot of black paint after the horns are moved to their desired locations and it’s as if we were never here!

The result is horns that are adjusted to make the nose fit properly, and a much better overall look for this car!

You might notice the upward sloping angle of the front frame horns. This was built-in at the factory on all Bugeyes. On this car, you might be able to see some twisting of the front horns, one is raised higher than the other, again from prior crash damage. Now, the horns are back in alignment with one another once again.

The bonnet now fits better than ever before!

After this frame horn surgery, the bonnet now fits better flipped forward than it did when it arrived as a conventional rear-hinged unit. The addition of a set of bonnet hold -downs to keep the nose from opening unexpectedly and the package is complete! A flip-nose kit allows for easier access to under-hood components like the battery and distributor parts without the danger of bonking the back of your head on the bonnet wing! Order your very own flip-nose kit today!