defconskylude

As promised I mentioned that I wanted to create two front caps for the OEM bumper. This DIY thread is based on an idea of creating MULTI PIECE front lips. Meaning I get to interchange the middle piece and the sides of the front lip.

These will held up by double sided tape and tapping screws

I plan to create 3 versions of the two front caps that will be on the left side and right side of the OEM bumper. Reference the GREEN styrofoam pieces on the bottom pics.

I also plan to make 3 middle pieces that will fit the OEM bumpers. Look at the WHITE styrofoam piece on the bottom

So I tried something different by using floral green foam blocks to sculpt the plug.

LESSONS LEARNED:
1) I will never use these green foam blocks again!

2) They're just too hard to create a lip out of it because the bottom of the OEM bumper has a bunch of curves.

3) Also it gets extremely messy. It would work well for side skirts or anything that's straight.

4) Also I had to cut up triangle pieces to fill in the gaps on parts that had curves. You can see the gaps on the bottom pics.

5) The advantage to these green foam blocks is they're easy as hell to sculpt and sand down. I will go back to the regular white styrofoam I used for my other front lip.

HOW to CREATE THE PLUG:
Tape up the bumper with painters tape
I used the hot glue gun to line up the green blocks
Used the rape chisel on the foam blocks to create your design
Used 60 or 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out
Layer bondo over the foam, then let it dry
Sand down the bondo smooth

HOW TO CREATE THE POSITIVE MOLD:
Lay 3-4 layers of fiberglass mat and resin over the bondo, let it dry 24 hours
Pull the lip off the OEM bumper
Sand down the fiberglass
Use bondo to smooth it out
Clean the positive mold with soap and water

HOW TO CREATE THE NEGATIVE MOLD.
To be continued when I get to that point

After 5 hours of sculpting, I am not satisfied with the shaping I did with the green foam blocks. I'm going to scrap these and try to replicate the design using white styrofoam.

The middle pointed piece I did using white styrofoam will be fiberglassed and molded. I am satisfied with how it looked I will post pictures of these mounted on the OEM bumper tomorrow.

The middle flat piece I did using green foam blocks will be redone with white styrofoam.

Things you need.
floral green foam $3.99 for 6 block package (found at michaels)
hot glue gun
fiberglass mat
rope
roller to air out bubbles in fiberglass/resin
brushes
hack saw
rape chisle (like a cheese grater)
painters tape
goggles
respirator
60 grit sandpaper
sharpie
resin
bondo
wax
PVA (http://uscomposites.com)
tooling gel coat (http://uscomposites.com/)

5 hours logged today.

ed_423

mann more front lips? awesome, when you are done with all of them, i suggest a list of pics with the stock look, and pics of all your finished lips, cant wait!

and how was the meet? couldnt make it cuz of finals

defconskylude

yea ill do OEM comparisons with and without the line up of lips

i didnt get to go since my tags are expired.

09TSXTech

Wow, defcon... You are a very brave and creative person, keep up the good work.

ttk5

hey I think your picture taking skills are getting better lol. seriously.

defconskylude

lol oh i got a new canon 14MP camera. its all auto shots.