Project Facelift

[Jand3rson]

That is how I felt with mine. Let me know if you have any questions with it. How are you reconnecting the two halfs? Oviously don't use bondo;) Maybe fiberglass?

You'll see when I get the pics up, we laid 2 sheets of fiberglass over the top of each other over the seam of the 2 pieces, inside the bumper. When it fully hardens, we're going to use Bondo around the outside seam and anywhere there are gaps to fill them in, then we'll sand everything completely smooth and paint them.

[Mike325]

You'll see when I get the pics up, we laid 2 sheets of fiberglass over the top of each other over the seam of the 2 pieces, inside the bumper. When it fully hardens, we're going to use Bondo around the outside seam and anywhere there are gaps to fill them in, then we'll sand everything completely smooth and paint them.

Nice idea. So the black behind the skin is gone from where you cut to the end of the bumper? Also, how was the fiberglass to work with? I need to redo my bumper.

[uofom3]

I really really really wanna see pics!

[AndrewBird]

So the black behind the skin is gone from where you cut to the end of the bumper? Also, how was the fiberglass to work with? I need to redo my bumper.

The backer piece is still there. It's held to the skin by a couple factory melted-over plastic posts, so it's basically one piece.

Fiberglass wasn't hard at all. Just mix up the resin, spread a little on before the mat, then saturate the mat, making sure to remove all air bubbles. It will make more sense when Josh gets pics up.

[Jand3rson]

I really really really wanna see pics!

And I shall give you pics, my son.

Part III: The major posterior surgery begins...

The bumper bolt as well as bumper shock holes are slotted to allow for the proper mounting height:



The rear bumper is bolted up loosely to judge roughly how much needs to be cut off:



The ends of the bumper are cut off using a pneumatic cutting tool with a cutting disc, just in front of the trunk vents:



Driver's side section of the bumper cut off:



The bumper is bolted back up to determine the exact amount of material that will need to be cut out:





Test fitting of the driver's side end piece after cutting out of excess material:



Now comes the bonding together of the cut sections of the bumper, using hand-laid fiberglass. The areas of the bumper where the fiberglass is laid was roughed up using the cutting whee, to create a textured surface for the fiberglass resin to bond to.

The 2 sections are lined up perfectly, and held in place by wood strips and pinch clamps:



Immediately after laying the 2 sheets of fiberglass mat over the seams. A layer of resin was applied, then the first section of mat laid down and saturated with resin. Then the 2nd sheet was laid over it crosswise, and again saturated.



Same procedure carried out on the other side, using the same method to keep the 2 pieces aligned:



We used a piece of masking tape to better hold the 2 pieces together while applying the resin, so they woulnd't move around as much.



The 2 sections successfully bonded together, solid as a rock, with no flex at all:



Shot of the outer skin of the bumper, showing the alignment of the 2 sections:



The trim was modified and shortened in the exact same method, and also re-bonded using fiberglass.

Section of trim after cutting:



Cut (not yet bonded) sections of trim attached to bumper to be sure that the length is correct:



The driver's side and passenger side sections of trim cut and rebonded, immediatley after laying fiberglass.



The section at the curved part at the end was a spot that cracked, we simply laid a piece of fiberglass over the crack, fixing it the same way we bonded the pieces.



On Thursday, we will be filling in the gaps in the bumper as well as the trim with Bondo, and sanding it down to a perfectly smooth finish, and prepping the bumpers for paint. With any luck, we will start painting this weekend. More pics will follow at that point!

[Teaguer]

Josh you are doing great work, keep it up . :up:

If you ever wanted Euro trim in the future now is the time to make them yourself .
Just fill in the holes with the FG and clean up the outside with filler and putty as you will be doing on the cut sections .

[Jand3rson]

If you ever wanted Euro trim in the future now is the time to make them yourself .
Just fill in the holes with the FG and clean up the outside with filler and putty as you will be doing on the cut sections .

It's crossed my mind...

[nando]

good work!

I'll be doing some fiberglass work soon here, I banged my faux reiger lip up pretty good the other day.. knocked it off and ran it over, and amazingly it's still in one peice :D

[MR 325]

Looking good Josh and Andrew, keep it up.

[Mike325]

Very, very nice work. I am happy to see that the fiberglass is working out easily as well as good. I need to do the same to my bumper as bondo sucks balls as everyone seemed to know but me How are you going to now fill the cracks in?

[trent]

You did it almost exacty how I did it, except I used a specfic auto plastic epoxy, with extra backing and dowels.







This method was way easier than Jordans. I am glad you went thay way.

[Jand3rson]

That looks really good, Trent. I think what we did using the fiberglass is going to work really good also, because we used so much. We used 2 sheets laid crosswise over the top of each other, over the seam, and really saturated them well with resin. The sections dried hard as a rock, and they'll be even stronger once we fill in the gaps with Bondo.

[Mike325]

That looks really good, Trent. I think what we did using the fiberglass is going to work really good also, because we used so much. We used 2 sheets laid crosswise over the top of each other, over the seam, and really saturated them well with resin. The sections dried hard as a rock, and they'll be even stronger once we fill in the gaps with Bondo.

Yes, no flex FTW:D

[Bill 84 318i]

I really like how it's turning out so far.

All this slotting of the rear holes is wierd to me. I didn't even touch mine.

[RobertK]

Looking good so far.

You might want to use that Bondo-Hair I mentioned instead of regular Bondo. The Bondo-Hair is flexible and much better for cracks in plastic. Its like fine long fiberglass strands in resin. Just add hardner and spread. Regular Bondo has a better chance of cracking after paint then Bondo-Hair does.