BUILD THREAD “The Juggernaut”

The bumper is actually surprisingly not all that heavy now after all the fabrication and grinding on it. I haven’t actually weighed it yet, but I would gamble that it’s actually lighter than a stock one, even with the extended end caps. I’m not sure how that’s possible, but definitely feels like it.

I can appreciate the fibreglass suggestion, however I have an extreme aversion to the stuff. Like, love to hate it type aversion. Factor in the fact that it’s the front bumper and vulnerable to rock chips and other front end impacts that can lead to spider-webbing, and no, I don’t think that’s the best option. Once completed and painted, it’ll be receiving a complete wrap in 3M paint protection film to help mitigate any potential road damage.

As for the tinted PPF, I had my choice of 3 options: 25, 30 or 50% light penetration. I chose the 30% as it seemed to be the best compromise between making the LED board the least visible and not looking TOO dark. Those are about the only choices when it comes to the tinted PPF.



Thank you Mike, I’m looking forward to a couple days away to just unwind and relax. I appreciate you weighing in on the lights, that seems to be the general consensus amongst the couple people who I’ve shown them to so far as well.

I sure hope that’s the case!



You’re bang on, it is indeed Platinum Plus. My go-to as well. You have suggested weighing the filler and hardener before, but I still haven’t gotten there yet. I really should, as a cheap scale would be easy enough to find on Amazon.

I did however take your recommendation to switch to acrylic blocks which is one of the new tools I alluded to in the post above. I can see the advantages to using them and have been using them exclusively so far on this project. So now I’m really looking forward to seeing the difference they can/will/should make.
Great to hear. I used to use a food scale I got on amazon, but recently stepped up to a used paint scale I took from a shop. Don’t remember how to mix filler any other way.
 
I’m back from our mini vacation and right back in the thick of things. Vacation was awesome, just some much needed time away from the rat race and intensity of work.

There was a lot of this…

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…followed by a lot of this…

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…which ultimately led to a lot of this:

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Empty glasses galore. It was so hot, you absolutely had to stop every couple of hours to rehydrate. At least that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

After getting waylaid by a dentists appointment for a few hours this morning, I got word that my shortened bumper shock substitutes were ready.

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Nice to have them back, but now I’ve gotta wait until the filler work is done on the bumper and it’s in high build primer before I can reinstall them and test fit the whole assembly again.

Just before we left, my order of two more brackets arrived from Classic Industries, these will be for when I start going through the same tuck/narrow/recess procedure on the back bumper.

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The back bumper should be relatively easy in comparison to the front as there’s a lot less weird shapes to it. The shortened front brackets as compared to the stock height brackets show just how much the front bumper has been recessed into the car:

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That’s about all there is to update for now, I still have a couple other irons in the fire: I’m waiting on a very important special delivery from 69hurstolds and a Summit order, plus I got word today that the long awaited and overdue mirror gaskets might just be done. Finally.

But those’ll have to wait for the next update. In the meantime, it’s back to filling and sanding on the bumper.

D.
 
I’m back from our mini vacation and right back in the thick of things. Vacation was awesome, just some much needed time away from the rat race and intensity of work..

After getting waylaid by a dentists appointment for a few hours this morning, I got word that my shortened bumper shock substitutes were ready.

View attachment 242459

Nice to have them back, but now I’ve gotta wait until the filler work is done on the bumper and it’s in high build primer before I can reinstall them and test fit the whole assembly again.

Just before we left, my order of two more brackets arrived from Classic Industries, these will be for when I start going through the same tuck/narrow/recess procedure on the back bumper.

View attachment 242460

The back bumper should be relatively easy in comparison to the front as there’s a lot less weird shapes to it. The shortened front brackets as compared to the stock height brackets show just how much the front bumper has been recessed into the car:

View attachment 242461

That’s about all there is to update for now, I still have a couple other irons in the fire: I’m waiting on a very important special delivery from 69hurstolds and a Summit order, plus I got word today that the long awaited and overdue mirror gaskets might just be done. Finally.

But those’ll have to wait for the next update. In the meantime, it’s back to filling and sanding on the bumper.

D.
I can easily see there's a difference of height but the angle of the image skews the amount. How much are you pulling them in?
 
I can easily see there's a difference of height but the angle of the image skews the amount. How much are you pulling them in?

They have been shortened by an inch and a half from their stock length. Now keep in mind that these brackets were originally designed for a GN or a Regal and not for the Cutlass, so the unmodified length probably wasn’t right for a factory replacement in this application anyways.

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What that means in the grand scheme of things, I dunno.
 
They have been shortened by an inch and a half from their stock length. Now keep in mind that these brackets were originally designed for a GN or a Regal and not for the Cutlass, so the unmodified length probably wasn’t right for a factory replacement in this application anyways.

View attachment 242471

View attachment 242472

What that means in the grand scheme of things, I dunno.
Gotcha. When I did my previous ElCamino bumper tuck, I used drilled & spot-welded OE mounts. I recall moving them in ~1". I basically moved the bumper in until it was just under/at the edge of the lower portion of the grille. That allowed trimming the corner trim filler pieces for a nice, finished look.
 
Latest update on the bumper bodywork.

Still quite a bit left to do, but every day and every hour I can spend on it gets it closer.

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So many adjoining angles on different planes!

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As you can see, I’m sharpening up the body lines on it considerably. They ultimately won’t end up as sharp as they are here, but they will definitely be substantially clearer than the lazy lines they had from the factory. I like to think of it as probably closer to what the designer originally had in mind to begin with.

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Wow you should be on that show Bitchin Rides. Man you do nice work.

Thank you! I can honestly say that this is the most technically challenging bit of bodywork I’ve done to date.
The angles, the measurements, the different planes, everything has to be just right or else it’ll be painfully obvious that something’s off.
I’m taking my time, using the best materials, techniques and equipment on this and I think it’s already paying off. The finished result should hopefully be pretty impressive, both the bumper and the complete car.
 
Thank you! I can honestly say that this is the most technically challenging bit of bodywork I’ve done to date.
The angles, the measurements, the different planes, everything has to be just right or else it’ll be painfully obvious that something’s off.
I’m taking my time, using the best materials, techniques and equipment on this and I think it’s already paying off. The finished result should hopefully be pretty impressive, both the bumper and the complete car.
It is paying off. You're building an absolute show car in a 2-car garage. Very impressive.
 

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