Donova, I don't have anything against "cowl induction". It's just seeing every make and model of car with the cookie cutter Z28 cowl hood (that hood still looks great on a Z28 though!).
Doug
Doug
BUILD THREAD “The Juggernaut”
- Thread starter Rktpwrd
- Start date
I love that the intake tubes are something different, but not a fan of the way that the two intake tubes come to the carb. It doesn't look finished to me. Almost like the tubes are not supposed to go to the carb, like they are going over the carb heading towards something else. But that is some good fabrication tho. Keep up the updates.
Thanks man, I'll keep 'em coming when I can.I love that the intake tubes are something different, but not a fan of the way that the two intake tubes come to the carb. It doesn't look finished to me. Almost like the tubes are not supposed to go to the carb, like they are going over the carb heading towards something else. But that is some good fabrication tho. Keep up the updates.
I understand what you're saying about looking like they're heading someplace else, but you get used to it pretty quickly. It kinda grows on you after a while... You can't please everybody all the time, I guess!
Hey guys, what's up?
It's been quite a while since my last round of "catching up to date" updates on here. My apologies, but I've been logging in some heavy duty hours at work lately, and there simply hasn't been enough time or energy at the end of the day to do much of anything.
But it's Sunday night, and I've got a bit before heading off to bed, so I'm going to see if I can't cover a bit more ground.
As promised last time, I'll cover the front bumper tuck and the mods to the front fenders to accommodate it. I took lots of pics of the mods to the bumper as I went along, but unfortunately not so many of the fenders. Just the "after" shots once they were already in primer. So, here goes...
The term "bumper tuck" is pretty much self explanatory. The idea is to trim down, tuck in and move back the bumper to fit closer to the body reducing unsightly gaps and proportions. I removed the stock chrome front bumper from the car and removed the black impact strip and inner reinforcement. I picked up a second bumper in good shape from the auto wreckers and did the same to it. This pic is the starting point with everything removed.
The inspiration for what I wanted to do with the front bumper actually came from the rear of the car with the rear bumper and side trim panel removed. The shape in the quarter panel where the plastic side trim sits looked like it would provide the perfect recess in which to set the bumper back into when I got to doing the tuck on the rear bumper. The indentation in the quarter panel below and ahead of the tail light in this shot is what I'm referring to:
This recess practically begs for the bumper to be moved back and into this area. The problem then became "how do I duplicate this recess on the front of the car?" As I've mentioned before, I REALLY dislike the cheap plastic filler panels that go between the body panels on these cars, so the plan all along was to eliminate as many or all of them as possible.
On the front fenders, the plastic side panels were removed and the header panel left in place. From there, a template of the exact shape of the recess in the rear quarter panel was made so as to exactly match the shape at the front of the car. The template was then transferred to sheetmetal and cut out. This would be the basis for the recessed area.
Next, a measurement was made from the bottom of the header panel to the bottom of the fender. This measurement was then subtracted from the height of the template. The measurement I was left with would be a small section that would extend the "flush" section of the fender forward to eliminate the gap and the need for a portion of the plastic filler panel. Confused yet? This is what I'm talking about. In this pic, the "flush" fender extension is in the process of being welded on and the recessed portion is missing still. The front part of the extension needed to tie into the perforated section of the front filler panel (covered earlier), so securing the front wouldn't be an issue.
Next, it was time to move onto the recessed portion that would create the pocket that the bumper will sit in. The templated section of sheetmetal cut out earlier was aligned with the bottom and inner edge of the fender and tacked on. This gave me roughly 7/8" of recess which coincidentally matched the rear quarter panel pocket. From there. it was fully welded, hammered and dollied into the right shape, then body worked and primed. This is the driver's side completed.
You'll note that the front of the recessed area is cut back at a 45 degree angle. I initially had it squared off with the front edge of the fender, but I found it was too flexy and would contact the bumper. I would've needed to find a way to support the front edge with a mount or something, but I found it was easier (and lighter) to just cut it back from corner to corner.
Once the recessed pockets were created for the bumper, it was time to start modifying the bumper to match. The bumper was test fit before any cutting was done on it without the fillers in place. These pics show just how poorly they really fit the car.
This one is with the bumper moved back to the desired position closer to the fenders.
From here, it was determined that the bumper ends would actually need to be lengthened to properly fill the recesses created. The flattest most uniform area of the bumper end was determined, and the end was trimmed off. Roughly the same area of the 2nd bumper was cut out and added to the first. Here it is briefly mocked up.
Also note that I've already started welding up and metal finishing the trim holes where the impact strip sat. At the time I thought I was going to have the bumper rechromed, so all the metal work was done old school style by a technique known as picking and filing. Basically, no grinders are used, the weld is filed BY HAND then any low spots are "picked" up with the pointed end of a quality body hammer and filed with a special body file until the surface is perfectly flat and level. It's extremely time consuming, but can also be very rewarding if you have the patience. (The same process can and is used on sheetmetal btw. It just takes the right tools and some practice.)
Back to the bumper, the ends were fully welded on, picked and filed, and the rest of the trim holes filled.
It's been quite a while since my last round of "catching up to date" updates on here. My apologies, but I've been logging in some heavy duty hours at work lately, and there simply hasn't been enough time or energy at the end of the day to do much of anything.
But it's Sunday night, and I've got a bit before heading off to bed, so I'm going to see if I can't cover a bit more ground.
As promised last time, I'll cover the front bumper tuck and the mods to the front fenders to accommodate it. I took lots of pics of the mods to the bumper as I went along, but unfortunately not so many of the fenders. Just the "after" shots once they were already in primer. So, here goes...
The term "bumper tuck" is pretty much self explanatory. The idea is to trim down, tuck in and move back the bumper to fit closer to the body reducing unsightly gaps and proportions. I removed the stock chrome front bumper from the car and removed the black impact strip and inner reinforcement. I picked up a second bumper in good shape from the auto wreckers and did the same to it. This pic is the starting point with everything removed.
The inspiration for what I wanted to do with the front bumper actually came from the rear of the car with the rear bumper and side trim panel removed. The shape in the quarter panel where the plastic side trim sits looked like it would provide the perfect recess in which to set the bumper back into when I got to doing the tuck on the rear bumper. The indentation in the quarter panel below and ahead of the tail light in this shot is what I'm referring to:
This recess practically begs for the bumper to be moved back and into this area. The problem then became "how do I duplicate this recess on the front of the car?" As I've mentioned before, I REALLY dislike the cheap plastic filler panels that go between the body panels on these cars, so the plan all along was to eliminate as many or all of them as possible.
On the front fenders, the plastic side panels were removed and the header panel left in place. From there, a template of the exact shape of the recess in the rear quarter panel was made so as to exactly match the shape at the front of the car. The template was then transferred to sheetmetal and cut out. This would be the basis for the recessed area.
Next, a measurement was made from the bottom of the header panel to the bottom of the fender. This measurement was then subtracted from the height of the template. The measurement I was left with would be a small section that would extend the "flush" section of the fender forward to eliminate the gap and the need for a portion of the plastic filler panel. Confused yet? This is what I'm talking about. In this pic, the "flush" fender extension is in the process of being welded on and the recessed portion is missing still. The front part of the extension needed to tie into the perforated section of the front filler panel (covered earlier), so securing the front wouldn't be an issue.
Next, it was time to move onto the recessed portion that would create the pocket that the bumper will sit in. The templated section of sheetmetal cut out earlier was aligned with the bottom and inner edge of the fender and tacked on. This gave me roughly 7/8" of recess which coincidentally matched the rear quarter panel pocket. From there. it was fully welded, hammered and dollied into the right shape, then body worked and primed. This is the driver's side completed.
You'll note that the front of the recessed area is cut back at a 45 degree angle. I initially had it squared off with the front edge of the fender, but I found it was too flexy and would contact the bumper. I would've needed to find a way to support the front edge with a mount or something, but I found it was easier (and lighter) to just cut it back from corner to corner.
Once the recessed pockets were created for the bumper, it was time to start modifying the bumper to match. The bumper was test fit before any cutting was done on it without the fillers in place. These pics show just how poorly they really fit the car.
This one is with the bumper moved back to the desired position closer to the fenders.
From here, it was determined that the bumper ends would actually need to be lengthened to properly fill the recesses created. The flattest most uniform area of the bumper end was determined, and the end was trimmed off. Roughly the same area of the 2nd bumper was cut out and added to the first. Here it is briefly mocked up.
Also note that I've already started welding up and metal finishing the trim holes where the impact strip sat. At the time I thought I was going to have the bumper rechromed, so all the metal work was done old school style by a technique known as picking and filing. Basically, no grinders are used, the weld is filed BY HAND then any low spots are "picked" up with the pointed end of a quality body hammer and filed with a special body file until the surface is perfectly flat and level. It's extremely time consuming, but can also be very rewarding if you have the patience. (The same process can and is used on sheetmetal btw. It just takes the right tools and some practice.)
Back to the bumper, the ends were fully welded on, picked and filed, and the rest of the trim holes filled.
Once the ends were completed and the trim holes filled, it was time to move on to narrowing it up a bit. Nothing special or fancy here, just the same procedures used on the rest of the bumper. The best suited area was determined, the cuts were made, and it was stitched back together again. If I recall correctly, ! 1/2" were removed from each side, narrowing it 3" overall. It's sitting too high in this photo, but it gives you a general idea of how the fitment was coming together.
The next area to get massaged may not apply to all of you, but where I live, they discontinued the need for front license plates some 20 years or so ago. I'm not really a silly front vanity plate kinda guy, so the recess for the front plate had to go. This was actually probably the single biggest improvement to the bumper!
Back to the donor bumper again, two suitable flat sections were found between the marker lights and the license plate recess. These were cut out, as well as the plate recess on the 1st bumper, one half at a time. Same process again, Weld, file, pick, file, weld, etc, until it was done.
Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of these mods being done, it would seem that I have a habit of forgetting to take pics as I go. I guess I just get wrapped up in the work and then it slips my mind. I can however give you before and after pics that should really illustrate the differences. The decision was made at some point to update the look of the car a bit and color match the bumpers to the car. It'll be much more cost effective on the 'ol wallet, and should help to modernize the looks of the car a bit in the process. In the interest of keeping the rust off the bare metal until it comes time for final paint, the bumper was given a quicky spray bomb white to match the existing color.
Here's a stock front bumper on the Brown Bomber parts car I had:
And here's the completed narrowed, tucked, filled etc bumper on the hot rod:
Here's some additional pics I found of the fabrication process along the way, as well as how the bumper fits neatly into it's recess.
Thanks for tuning in guys! 'Until next time...
The next area to get massaged may not apply to all of you, but where I live, they discontinued the need for front license plates some 20 years or so ago. I'm not really a silly front vanity plate kinda guy, so the recess for the front plate had to go. This was actually probably the single biggest improvement to the bumper!
Back to the donor bumper again, two suitable flat sections were found between the marker lights and the license plate recess. These were cut out, as well as the plate recess on the 1st bumper, one half at a time. Same process again, Weld, file, pick, file, weld, etc, until it was done.
Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of these mods being done, it would seem that I have a habit of forgetting to take pics as I go. I guess I just get wrapped up in the work and then it slips my mind. I can however give you before and after pics that should really illustrate the differences. The decision was made at some point to update the look of the car a bit and color match the bumpers to the car. It'll be much more cost effective on the 'ol wallet, and should help to modernize the looks of the car a bit in the process. In the interest of keeping the rust off the bare metal until it comes time for final paint, the bumper was given a quicky spray bomb white to match the existing color.
Here's a stock front bumper on the Brown Bomber parts car I had:
And here's the completed narrowed, tucked, filled etc bumper on the hot rod:
Here's some additional pics I found of the fabrication process along the way, as well as how the bumper fits neatly into it's recess.
Thanks for tuning in guys! 'Until next time...
Thanks man, appreciate it!
Progress isn't fast enough for me, but I guess it never is! Too many mods I want to do but never enough time.
