progress on the front bumper

[lostforawhile]

ok i've made some progress on the front bumper,here is the kit i will be using to fix all the years of dings and dents,scrapes etc. on the front bumper cover. this is a flex bumper repair kit from nappa part number 765-1540. it contains enough material to repair minor damage to both a front and rear bumper and costs around 25$ it's like using autobody filler but it's flexible epoxy based. you mix it one to one. i've used it before on other cars,it's just really important to follow the surface prep directions. this makes a nice sandable repair. the amber fog lamps have been restored after a lot of work,and i will replace the broken driving lamp as soon as i can. the plans are to paint the bumper cover trim black like the rear one, and black out everything but the new grill i'm making. even the light housings will be black. except for the lenses of course. i'm probably going to go back to the black grill on the front instead of the chrome one,talking about the one attached to the hood. with a black and white car,I only want a little bit of polished stuff or shiny stuff on the front. just enough for an accent. the power steering cooler loop is going to go,I have the auto transmission radiator in my car,and it has the extra cooling tank in the bottom. I will use this for the power steering cooler. I also have to clean up all the wires for the lights,so they are hidden, I'm thinking of getting some special radiator paint from eastwood for the ac condensor,this allows you to paint it without impairing heat transfer. tomorrow I am going to pull the bumper cover off and get busy. first step is to remove the last lonely grill bar remaining and fit my new grill in there,so i can install the mounting bolts. want some pics?

this is devcon polystrate, it will be used to fix the one crack i have in my front bumper,it bonds to almost anything plastic ever made,even those washer fluid bottles.

one of the restored amber fog lamps


ok here is the new billet grill,the tapped holes on the bottom are for stainless button head cap screws,I only made it two rows because thats all you can see anyway due to the lights. it still needs to be polished up and clear coated. this will be the only polished part on the front.

[lostforawhile]

oh i will be taking a lot of pics tomorrow and will post it as a how to on fixig bumper damage

[lostforawhile]

hmmm found one in the camera i forgot about,milling the holes in the new grill

[lostforawhile]

ok we got a lot done today,the bumper cover is off and being worked on,my wife painted the grill that attaches to the hood,and she painted the pieces that attach under the lights. I was able to get that ugly ass power steering cooler off, and got the power steering system hooked up to the cooler in the radiator,the only major problem i ran into was trying to get one of the clamps that hold the hoses to bolt up. I spent three hours trying to get a stupid bolt in by the ac compressor. ended up cpvered in dirt and ps fluid but i got it done. I'm in the process of mocking up the grill right now,to get it bolted in,and we ground down all the bumper gouges and got them ready to fill.
cathy shaking up the bumper paint





you can see some of the new grill here,of course it hasn't been polished yet or anything.

the huge and ugly original powersteering cooler loop

[3G Jester]

you forgot the / in the end bracket. lookin real good tim, its great your wife joins on that. what color did she paint it? black?

[lostforawhile]

i fixed it now you can see the grill,yea the covers are black,everything on the front of the car will be black except the grill bars,we got rid of the chrome insert grill that attachs to the hood and painted one black instead. that lower grill bar gets twenty one stainless steel button head cap screws for show.

[lostforawhile]

ok a few more,I filled some more of the spots,I will sand them tomorrow, this stuff is like sily putty,you have to apply it with a wooden stick.
my lights in their temp home.

some of the damage,it has already been ground and sanded,and tackragged.



the bumper with the spots filled,it's about 45 degrees here,so i'll let it dry until tomorrow,then sand it.

I was going to pull an all night overhauling thing,but it's too cold and i'm exausted from fixing the cooler earlier. so the bumper will have to wait until tomorrow.

[lostforawhile]

got a little more done,this stufff is really hard to sand,it's like sanding an eraser. it doesn't want to feather worth a crap. if anyone tries this to fix your bumper make sure you wear a good dust mask,this is epoxy based and is really nasty and bad for your lungs.

[BDaccordguy]

LUKE... I AM YOUR FATHER. haha, but seriously, good work.

[b8er]

yea man, looking good, cant wait so see it on the car

[lostforawhile]

I can't eithier,the car drives like crap without it. still a lot to do,twenty years of flying garbage on the road have taken theit toll.

[gp02a0083]

ahhh the bumper fix stuff , yah it sucked using it , its the resin epoxy type or the stuff u mix like bondo ?, not all the flexable products feather well to begin with

[lostforawhile]

it's a two part flexible epoxy,theres more on it at the beginning of the post,it doesn't like to feather well,when i'm done i'll put a couple of coats of flex primer on it to fill the imperfections,like i did on the back one.hmmm,I wonder if it would fix the imperfections on those dogs teeth?>

[gp02a0083]

yah probally would lol, liek u said probally the best thing is to use a high build flex primer and then sand it smooth

[lostforawhile]

we will probably use that,i will take some pictures tonight,at school when we work on it some more. it's gonna take a lot to fix all that old road rash,I could have just gotten another one,but this one is original
r

[lostforawhile]

ok a few more,I am making progress on filling all the unnessary screw holes and things, I fitted the new grill, and i reinstalled the metal part of the bumper on the car.
working on fitting the grill


some of our mess,this is what we are cooking up today cheeseburger!! mmmm epoxy

well the car looks like something out of mad max now,no front bumper cover,and the big steel inner bumper across the front,no grill and green primer. all i need to do is hook up my big fog lights on the front. for proof mad max goggles!!

[lostforawhile]

ok progress,the bumper cover should be ready for paint soon,my wife will be working on it tomorrow while i'm at work,there is more to fill,and i need to make some grillls for those plastic ones that go in the bottom of the bumper,they always fall out. the grill paint looks like gunmetal over the matte finish aluminum,so we are going to stick with that. and the small plastic grill is done.

the new plastic grill part

school supplies

new aluminum grill for the bumper cover

[A20A1]

I'll wait for the completed pics.

[carotman]

Nice. I wonder if having the PS cooler in the radiator will not get hotter than if it was in front of the rad like from the factory. I know that Honda used the same setup on the 4th gen Accords but the loop cooler had little fins all around it.

[lostforawhile]

it doesn't seem to have any effect so far,even with the engine warm,the ps hoses are still cool to the touch,it makes more sense,your power steering pump works hardest while you are moving slow,when there is no airflow for the original cooler. this keeps the temp at a constant at all times. ok here are some more bumper progress pics.

the back side of the crack around the light,the panels were aligned,and it was filled with plastic epoxy. the panels were warped enough to require cutting out part of the bumper plastic to make the two parts of the crack line up.

after the epoxy cured it required cuttting a groove with a dremel in the opposite side of the crack,this was to give the bumper repair filler somewhere to go.

the bumper repair compound requires mixing in a 1:1 ratio,it's real fun to mix at 30 degrees outside.

the filled repair

after it's dry you sand it like body filler,but is a permanent part of the plastic bumper,in the last two pictures,you can see part of my new grill.

[Cheeseburger]

nice job tim, ur car is going to look sweet when its done

[lostforawhile]

ok got the front clip painted,the upper grill installed and test fit,the wiring harness for the lights installed on the metal bumper,and more done on the bumper cover.

the wiring harness being made

front clip painted semi gloss black

metal inner bumper painted

better pics of the grill i made for the bumper cover


the old chrome grill next to the new one

new upper grill


my little friend who kept trying to help

[carotman]

Hehe Cute Cat!

Looks like this bumper filler works great. It must indeed be a pain to mix a 30 degrees but I bet it's more stable when you sand it down.

[lostforawhile]

yea the filler is a flexible epoxy,it's not like regular body filler,once it sets it's part of the bumper. you can do repairs with it,fix broken pieces or even mold small plastic parts with it. it warmed up during the day so i was able to get more done . it's just nasty stuff,a dust mask is a must when sanding it,and gloves are mandatory,it'll burn the crap out of your skin. i think it'll look nice with the front of the car blacked out,everything you can normally see behind the bumper will just disappear. I'm going to fill the small holes in the hood on monday,being stamped out in a die,they are raised a little,so i need to hit them with a body file before i fill them. I'm thinking of making a pattern from the bumper cover while it's off and making a lip for it, has anyone on here molded their own fiberglass front lips yet? I am going to make a wood blank from the pattern and use that to lay the fiberglass on. it's easy to shape the wood,then the fiberglass is an exact shape of it. probably lay layers of matting over it,then gelcoat the top layer

[BDaccordguy]

that Honda emblem in the grille is saweet!