bumpers, making my own (?)

check out the recent thread of John mccarbon. They are busy making these

 

my mistake, it actally in the beginning of this very thread that he reveils his project on gfk us bumpers.

I was starting to look for interest in a gfk us model bumper but decided to start with a package deal of Euro bumpers, Euro grill and Euro brackets making it a plug and play deal.

 

Was I ill two weeks ago, now's my friend who supposed to help me with the mould....

In the meantime I ordered and received the aluminium and brought all the stuff to the shop for cutting. This will be done probable comming Saterday. If so i will have the parts shipped to the anodizing shop a few days later. This anodizing will probably take another week so in between i'm sure we can finish the first bumpers.

Only thing left to do know is finding a shop that can take care of the brackets for a reasonable price. (The quotes I recieved so far were pretty damn high ..) That's the first prio now. (but i'm sure i'll manage..)

 

The mould will be a split type mould. The first half is ready now and the other half is on schedule for tomorrow.
In the meantime I have the first grill prototype ready and beside the obvious small mistakes this will be the way to go.


keep you posted!
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Today i made my first bumper. Obviously it's not perfect yet but as a first attempt with the self made mould I'm actally quite happy with the result.

The parts for the final grills are arrived too and I put one together yesterday just to look for any mistakes but fortunately they are without any.

This week i'll have them shipped for anodizing and in the meantime i will make a second (, and better) bumper.

the pictures show the first home-made bumper.

will be continued
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After a few more attempts the fourth bumper saw daylight today. With all the advise my friend (who works for ferrari and doing all sorts of carbon stuff...) gave last friday it came out quite nicely.

Some minor work to do before painting and than i've finally finished the first one for actual usage. Obviously this one will go on my own us gtb
The grill's are almost ready too. Unfortunately the shop anodised only the bigger parts and forgot all about the small ones. I've sent them back last thursday so they will be in beginning this week I guess/hope.
Probably somewere at the end of next week starting making some more bumpers.

Just for the record, the first batch of grills were 5 pcs + one real prototype ( which is sold allready, or actually I traded it for a nice pair of harnas safetybelts). One grill is for me so I have four left.
Together with the bumper and bracket I will sell these.
Only part to make the set complete are the frontbrackets. These are worked on however as we speak..

The package of front bumper, matching grill and front brackets will sell quite well I think. However as this project started out mainly to serve my own need (and fun) and I considder the first batch prototypes anyway i do not feel asking top-pricing.

Anybody who's interested in more info and/or a purchase is invited to PM me.

 

finally i recieved the last part and i put one together instantly. The outerparts will be connected.

in front on the picture the us grill, behind it my home made.
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It has been some time but finally i received the brackets for the frontbumper. Both parts ( so the part mounted on the car and part in the new bumper) are made from 304 grade stainless steel. And very lightweight. The part mouted on the car is a perfect fit to replace the US shocks. So I just have to pull out the shock and replace it with this one.

Now i have these brackets i can finally continue with finishing the actual bumper.

 

it's been a while but i give up on the bumpers. I used a qv for a mould but the section at the turnlights is simply to hard for me to get right. And I don't want to sell crap.


However, I made some very nice grills. I have 4 pcs. left. I also had made 10 sets of very nice stainless steel brackets that are a direct replacement for the original shocks.
The grills are already on ebay and the brackets will be today or tomorrow.

For the grills I set the reserveprize pretty low. But if you like to skip ebay, pm me

 

thanx Darryl for the support.


I ended up with almost a dozen bumpers but the main difficulty was to get the area's below the turnlights in good shape. This area is very narrow and I think pouring resin will do the job but I simply do not want to invest ay more money in the project.

Another supporting reason for me to quite this work is that I decided to run my trackcar without a bumper. So the real personal need was gone too.
Time was another factor as well. Making these bumpers costed a lot of my time and this actually caused some serious delay in my trackcar project.

I simply under estimated the work. And I can only reckomment to any on the sideline: don't try this at home, simply buy your bumper somewere.


upsite: the grills actually worked out perfectly. So although i'm pretty down on luck with my bumpers, I'm really proud on my grills
All together i did learn a lot of workng with glass reinforced fibers. This knowledge will pay off when i start with making my own doors....

 

For my project I already had several grills and bumper brackets ready.
I sold a few on ebay already but the last 2 sets are still available.

I do not plan more (but I might be tempted if there's interest enough.)
Anyway I put an ad on ferrariads so grab yourself a nice deal.


BTW I'm selling a euro 308 sparewheel there too.