Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Making and Installing Lightweight Rear & Front Bumpers

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Making and Installing Lightweight Rear & Front Bumpers

    As promised, more details on the Lightweight rear bumper, and first pictures of the Lightweight front bumper (prototype).

    NOTE: The pictures are not in order, but you should be able to figure out what pic goes with what description - sorry..

    Light Weight Rear Bumper:

    The original rear bumper assembly – steel beam, foam, plastic cover, nuts & bolts, weighs about 28.2 lbs.

    Since my car is a non-streetable drag racer, I got rid of the steel beam and foam – and only am using the plastic cover. I removed the steel stiffening brackets from the interior corners of the cover. When the cover is installed, it makes the car look “stock”.

    You need to drill some small screw holes below the rear hatch to fasten the cover on, and drill a couple of extra holes in the rear body work behind the wheel well opening to fully secure it. The bottom edge of the cover fastens onto the lower body work.

    This is a pretty quick and easy modification to do.

    Installed, the lighten cover weighs 2.2-lbs, so you are saving 26-lbs. Definitely worth while for racing purposes!

    If you want to change the color of the cover, you only have to clean it with paint thinner and put a coat of Rustoleum All Purpose Primer on it, and then your finish color.

    Light Weight Front Bumper Protoype:

    Since it was “bumper day” I started a rough mock up of the front bumper, which is still a long way off before I really start working on it – but it gives me ideas about the front frame re-enforcing.

    The bumper is again a light weight cover only. It is from the rear of an Aspire. I like it because it has no lower opening grill (more aerodynamic) and it sticks out pretty far – giving room behind it to put things.

    My current plane is to build a lightweight frame to secure the bumper cover to the car. The frame will also be able to support a small tractor battery and the AFFF fire bottle.

    As mentioned, this is a “one day I'll get to it” project, but from the mock-up it looks pretty “can do” simple.

  • #2
    I don't have a bumper either. Shame on me tho i do drive it on the street that way...

    I actually dont even have the bumper cover on right this minute. Im gonna make a custom cover of some kind. Just no clue how i want to just yet.
    1990 (LUCIFER 2.0) fully built BP+T with E153, Fueltech FT500, traction control with hopes of 600hp (i drank to much of the KOOL-AID)
    1990 OverKILL BP+T, evo ecu system, coilovers, aspire brakes, full advanced suspension, Garrett! The Autocross toy!
    1989 (BRITSTIVA 1.0) B6T and sold
    19?? 150$ burnout car SOLD
    1991 (STRESS RELIEF)SOLD

    Comment


    • #3
      Couple more photo's of Lightweight Front Bumper

      I got the Aspire rear cover fitted on the front of RED a little more professionally today. I was able to use the existing Festiva front cover mounting holes on the fenders to secure the Aspire cover.

      I have to make a couple of simple sheet metal fairing pieces to fill in the open spaces on the top and bottom of the cover, but that will be simple to do.

      Now that the cover is in place, I can see how I want to re-frame / re-inforce the radiator support brackets and make a lightweight frame work to support the battery and fire bottle.

      Since it is a non-streetable drag racer, there will only be a lightweight after market plastic 100-watt driving light (for night racing) on the passenger side. The driver's side will have a "funnel shaped" air inlet for the EFI system.

      I think it looks pretty good and I haven't had to cut or modify the Aspire cover to get it to fit - always a plus.

      If anyone has comments or suggestions, now's the time to make them before I get a whole lot deeper into this project!

      Comment


      • #4
        Very nice, very simple. I need my car street legal and would also like to be slightly protected, so I was considering building an aluminum tube bumper. Any advice?
        A mechanic knows how; A technician knows why.

        Wrecked. Repairs in Progress"Frankie" 1957 Chevrolet 3100, NA 2bbl 283cuin, Muncy Granny 4sp, 3.90 Open Diff @ ~95K miles

        Wrecked. Repairs in Progress"Alice" 1991 Ford Festiva L, NA EFI B3, 5sp @150k miles

        Reassembling"Aurora" 1991 Ford Festiva L, NA EFI B3, 5sp @240k miles

        FB Festiva page: Jared Bennett
        Instagram: jaredbear82

        Comment

        Working...
        X