Bumper alterations

[greatwhite]

I recently opened up the bumper "nostrils" to allow more air into the radiator area.

The purpose of the modification is partially for preparations for an intercooler from a 93 Dodge mounted in between the AC condenser and the rad.

Since you need a front plate on trucks here, I had to lower it to not block the enlarged holes. I cut the plate mount in half in order to move it down and still use the original lower bolt holes. Basically, I ran it through the table saw (!) twice and removed a couple inches from the middle. Then I used some jb kwik and reinforcements to put it back together.

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/b8ba0cc5.jpg

Then I Measured out the new holes and taped them for a reference point while cutting. I proceeded to cut the inner nostril edge out with the cut off wheel and set the piece aside. Then I cut out the enlarged hole.

Now I had my opening, but it was a nasty raw hole. I grab the inner radius I set aside earlier and spark up the welder. Nice factory style edge was the result. Then it was a couple filler pieces made from the cut out portions to make a new edge that mimicked the factory stamping.

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/aea59b58.jpg

Once it was all done, a shot of primer protects it for now. The whole bumper will go out for chroming once I get it where I want it.

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/winnersmudge.jpg

Ahhh, I like it. That's the diesel bumper GMC should have stamped out in the first place IMHO.

The lights in the bumper are photoshoped, but I'm thinking of mounting them in there also.

Oh, one last thing; those aren't ricer halogen projectors. Well, they started out that way. I bought them for the housings, gutted them and installed Acura TSX HID projector housings in them. 4300K capsules, natch.

I wouldn't buy a set of them if you weren't doing something similar. On a larf I tried them out as delivered and the light was worse (or as bad) as the OEM yellowed housings. Absolute crap.

To say the light output is "better" with the TSX projector retrofit is a bit of an understatement.

I can see those Moose in the road a long way off now.......

:cool:

[sctrailrider]

Looks real good.... I have seen on fleebay a plastic air dam that goes inside those bumpers and turns air up to the rad but mine didn't come with one....I don't know what year they started using it...

[greatwhite]

Looks real good.... I have seen on fleebay a plastic air dam that goes inside those bumpers and turns air up to the rad but mine didn't come with one....I don't know what year they started using it...

Mine already has it installed.

[DennisG01]

Those holes look really nice!

Don't know if I'll do it, but I'm very curious about how you made the cut portion of the new holes have that "rolled" look. I read what you mentioned above, but I'm not quite getting it. Can you talk more about that?

[greatwhite]

Look a the green tape in the second pic in the first post. Those are my cut lines.

Cut the edge of the hole out, move it over to the new hole close to the center of the bumper and butt weld.

Shape a few pieces of scrap on the metal brake to just a bit more than 90 degrees and trim to fit the missing pieces in the lip. Butt weld, grind flat, finish with a flap wheel.

Shoot with a bit of "chrome paint" to stave off the rust until you can send it off for rechroming.

Done.

:cool:

Closer to the finished product (rough welding done) and fog lights cut into the bumper:

http://www.thedieselpageforums.com/tdpforum/showthread.php?t=40927

[DennisG01]

Ah, got it. Thanks.

It really does look nice!

[greatwhite]

Got to the fog lights today.

I had already previously cut the raw openings and hung the lights:

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/defbb3c4.jpg

But it was very raw.

So, I fabbed some "buckets" from 2" flat stock while I was fabbing up the subwoofer guard:

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/913e7b64.jpg

Then I fitted them to the bumper and welded them in. A bit of grinding finished the raw shape and a shot of "bumper chrome" will protect it until I can get back to finishing it up super smooth:

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/2dbdaf78.jpg

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/3393c2f2.jpg

Most will only see a minimal difference, but it looks better than just raw cut openings and goes a long way towards looking more integrated and OEM.

It also allows for proper set back into the opening so the lights at least have a chance of survival in a front end tap. With them in the raw openings, the lens portion stood proud of the bumper front surface. They're KC lx2's, so the lens is actually angled to throw more light to the side:

http://cdn.autoshepherd.com/media/catalog/product/KCH/1775_Square.jpg

With the angled lens, they now follow the curvature of the bumper when the housing is pointed straight forward for a nice clean look.

As you can see, I've only got one side done so far but it's well on it's way to looking more finished.

Final smoothing after fab is done and re-chroming will make it all look tickety-boo.

I like it!

:cool:

[DennisG01]

You had me 'till "tickety-boo"... :rolleyes: