My Homemade Aero Bumper

[GasSavers_TomO]

Originally Posted by BEEF

I worked hard on mine and gained some compliments but even I can admit that I am no where near the level of yours.

Thanks but it's nowhere near professional grade.

Anything with time and patients can be learned to do well. I consider myself a Jack of all trades, and Master of none, lol.

Originally Posted by BEEF

I also like the carbon fiber hood. what is the story behind that? I know those things are stupid expensive.

They usually are stupid expensive except when you get them with a car you bought, totaled, then swapped the parts over.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

I wondered if you were an ex-ricer or if you bought it from a ricer needing money or something.

the know how was what I was lacking. my grill block has gone through many phases of it's own. I am not sure if I care enough to take it that next step as my project list seems to continually grow.

if I do, I will probably borrow some ideas from yours.

[GasSavers_TomO]

Originally Posted by BEEF

I wondered if you were an ex-ricer or if you bought it from a ricer needing money or something.

I wouldn't say I was ever a ricer...I've always modded cars, but they've always had a function. I've done things like the factory lip kit for my 98 Integra GSR but never any aftermarket wings or body kits. I've never pulled any of the dash board out to paint it or anything like that that I consider ricey.

I actually bought the hood with the 95 hatch that it was on before I got my VX. My buddy got it from a guy that was de-ricing his civic and trade his stock hood for the CF one. Then I inherited the hood wehn I bought the 95 Civic and swapped it to my VX when I totaled the 95 Civic.

Originally Posted by BEEF

the know how was what I was lacking. my grill block has gone through many phases of it's own. I am not sure if I care enough to take it that next step as my project list seems to continually grow.

if I do, I will probably borrow some ideas from yours.

Borrow away my friend, that is what experiencing and experimenting is for!

I had never attempted a mod like this before, but I just decided to sit down and think of ways to fill in the bumper and bondo it. It's great experience knowing that you don't have to be perfect of something and you can learn. Especially with Bondo, it you mess it up, just sand it away and put more on and try again. The next bumper though, I'll be using the plastic welding technique as this will save me time... about 10-15 hours I believe since my Bond time will be severely reduced.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

I have seen carbon fiber parts that were nothing more than the factory part with a sticker on it for the pattern. until I read your description in your garage, I thought that was the deal with yours as nobody in their right mind would spend $500 or so on a hood to save on weight for gassavings.

it may be one lazy weekend next spring or so I may play with the bumper. you did a gread job on yours and mine doesn't have the curve yours does. mine is pretty straight up and down (slightly slanted) but with no curves. it may not be that big of a job. I gotta get all my honey-do list stuff done first though.

[GasSavers_TomO]

as far as the smoothing of your bumper...Honestly, I would suggest using the plastic welding technique.

There was a DIY in an issue of Project Car Magazine...you might be able to see it HERE. They have a very inexpensive and down to earth approach to it using a torch, screwdriver and zipties as your welding rod.

I was one of those lucky people that happened across a real CF hood for super cheap/free, otherwise I never would've gone that route as it was cost prohibitive. there was a lot of work I had to put into that hood to make it look good again. The clear coat was toast and needed to be re-clear coated and I had to re attach it to the fiberglass frame from when I totaled the Civic that it was on.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

your link didn't go to where I wanted to be so I looked it up on youtube.

where do you get the extra plastic from? there was a guy that used a soldering iron to do it. I actually have one at the house though I would probably buy an extra tip for it. also, how do you finish it off afterwards? do you sand it? wouldn't that leave scratch marks all over it?

I plan to watch some more vids about this because if it is as easy as it looks, it may be sooner than later. thanks for that extra push.

[GasSavers_TomO]

Cheapest way is to heat up a big flat screwdriver tip with a torch to glow red, have the two pieces of plastic cleaned and butted against each other with a groove that a Zip tie can lay/melt into. take the hot screwdriver tip and melt the zip tie into the crevice and let cool.

Sanding would be required unless you do it on the backside of the weld (which is recommended). Then you would fill in the small gap with a light coat of Bondo, sand, then paint.

You can use a soldering iron, but a soldering gun would work best as you can get wide flat tips for those to use for plastci welding.

Sanding: you would start off with 80 or 120 grit depending on how much plastic you need to take down. Work your way up to about 330 grit as the plastic will not respond much after that to sanding.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

I am thinking of just layering another piece of plexi-glass onto what I already have. my grill currently has a piece of plexi-glass (or similar substance) over the once grill surface. I used double sided tape like they use for emblems holding it on. I then used kitchen caulk to fill in the gaps around the edge and mold it into the bumper.

from the looks of it, and I need to look closer, I think that one more layer of plexi-glass will make it smooth. what I have now is painted with krylon fusion paint and matches the paint pretty well so I would probably use that again. if I look hard enough, the rest of the can may still be in my garage.

I really need to look and see what I have and go from there.

if nothing else, you have motivated me to do something.

[theholycow]

If you were going to do a moderate amount of plastic welding, you might want to get plastic welding equipment. Harbor Freight has kits pretty cheap.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

I checked with them but I don't have an air compressor. plus, I would probably only use it once.

I tried to redo my front bumper this evening by just cleaning it up and reapplying the caulk but at a different angle. it looks mighty horrible. I am going to have to give it more attention tomorrow.