My Homemade Aero Bumper
 

I had a spare front bumper for Thrifty McGassaver (my VX) and this is what I've done with it so far:
https://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9318/aerofront.jpg
https://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4207/aeroleft.jpg
https://img33.imageshack.us/img33/6583/aeroright.jpg

Done with the help of a buddy of mine that I work with in the summer. Took about 20 hours to get to this stage. Next up is a lower lip air dam.

That's really fantastic! What techniques did you use?

I used Great Stuff expanding foam to lay down a backing for the fiberglass jelly to cling to. Then the final step was to shape and smooth the jelly and then skim coat with Bondo. And then paint.

Next bumper I'm making will use plastic welding though. It will be faster than the methods I used on this bumper.

Holy crap, that looks great. I wish I was capable of that sort of work.

I like the asymmetry.

You could also consider some PVC cement. I have used it several times to patch together motorcycle fairings. It is strong as hell and you can sand it as well.

Just a little teaser:

I started making the lip last night and will have it done tonight after I stop off at Home Depot. Expect pics late tonight or tomorrow morning.

Home Depot is my favorite auto parts store!

Very very nice work. It gives me ideas for my Yaris hatchback front.

Wouldn't you have warranty issues with that?

His warranty ended almost 10 years ago.

I meant Roadrunner's Yaris.

Quick "in progress" shot since I'm home taking care of my sick girls today and didn't get it all finished yet:
https://img34.imageshack.us/img34/7818/dsc01496v.jpg

I still have four more brackets to make and to coat the lip in black Plasti-Dip for rock chip protection.

The lip material is called FiberEdge and the brackets are made from 1/8" thick x 1" aluminum flat stock that I measured drilled and bent.

Daylight shot of the fabrication part done, still need to paint it black.
https://img2.imageshack.us/img2/5150/vxairdamday.jpg

What is your lower lip made from? Going to be doing this sort of thing to my festiva gokart soon.

what about scraping/bottoming out?

when I extended my airdam, I scraped on just about everything. I ended up trimming it back twice before I was alright with it.

any problems so far?

Lower lip is made from FiberEdge garden edging, aka fiberglass and duraflex gel.

It does scrape but I've had a low dam like that for so long now that I'm used to where is scrapes and avoid those areas.

I've nicked it once yesterday, but the way I have the brackets set it allows for some flexing.

when mine would scrape, it sounded like the front end coming off of the car.

I never did get used to it. after trimming it several times, it doesn't scrape anymore though it is only an inch (at the most) longer than factory.

it all looks really good. my wife asked why I couldn't do that to my car.

Now that you mention it...why not have it spring-loaded, like a snowplow's trip edge?

End view of such a plow:

https://www.snowplowsupply.com/images...eltripedge.gif

I had a thread on that very notion. I was also thinking it could be made in sections so they could be replaced individually easier if needed.

Heh...my memory sucks, but I see that I had the same solution to the same problem.

You explained it a lot better, that's for sure. I am pretty interested in seeing someone try it. I think a belly pan would make more sense for me.

I've gotten too lazy to do much anymore.

lazy may be a bad explination. the kid keeps me extremely busy. I do good just changing oil and logging in gaslog entries (I have one I still need to input, dang-it)

Front end looks great. Alot of great ideas there.Good Job.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

I am not actually going to run that lip during the snowy time, it's just on there for the transition and some fabricating skills practice. but making it hinged would be an idea to toy around with.

In the mean time I've picked up a different material to make a lip with:
https://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pro...a4d2ef_300.jpg

Inspired from THIS thread.
It looks good, isn't super low which is good for winter, and it comes in foam that is good and flexible.

I'm still going to have the Fiberedge lip (plow) on for a couple tanks of gas, unless I really get the itch to put on the new foam lip.

That looks like a good material for the job. It reminds me of people using garden edging.

I bought some of the edging and it was very cheaply made. really really thin and I didn't feel comfortable using it. I think it was thicker years ago or maybe I just got ahold of some really cheap stuff.

I ended up tearing apart a trash can (stole that idea from jay)

https://img268.imageshack.us/img268/7356/winterlip1.jpg
This will be the version of lip that I will run for the snowy season here in MN.

I know it won't do much for FE but it looks nicer than jsut the naked aero bumper.

Made from this:
https://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pro...a4d2ef_300.jpg

that looks really good. are you going to leave that on now until spring?

did you ever plasti-dip that other airdam? I was wondering what that would look like. I am thinking of redoing my grill block. the problem is that if I do redo it, it will just be for cosmetic reasons.

I really didn't think I could make it look any better (more due to lack of know-how) and now you have semi inspired me. if I could only find the time.

man, your car looks really good. it looks factory (which is what I like)

I do plan on keeping the lip on there until spring now.

I haven't plast-dip'ed the fiberedge lip yet, but will when spring rolls around.

Glad I could be some inspiration for you.

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

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

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

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.

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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.