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Snowing again. I picked a great week for vacation.

It's actually happening this time. Some of you know this isn't my first rodeo with fiberglass. It's cold so it's taking a while to set up. Alternating sides with the drop light to speed things up. I haven't done anything to the inside of the bumper where the crack was yet. Store didn't have a decent bumper repair kit.

If you're interested in the process. You make a cardboard templates of one side. Flipping that over gives a mirror image for the other side. Trace the first template out and cut the second set. Test fit the other side. I used thicker cardboard so I had to mash the edge down on the side of the bumper before tapping it all up. Took fiberglass cloth and cut out a pattern of what I needed. Apply spray adhesive to the cardboard and lay aluminum foil. Fiberglass won't stick to the foil and doesn't like sticking to masking tape either. I still like putting a light coat of PAM no stick spray on the foil and the tape. Sprayed on and wiped with a paper towel to spread it out and pull up any excess. I used 4 layers of fiberglass cloth per side. Spread resin / hardener mix on the end ( top ). Layed the fiberglass and used moderate pressure with a spreader and worked resin into cloth. When the 4th layer went on I used my gloved fingers to spread more resin and to position the glass as needed. It's easier to cut the edges when it gets leathery to the touch...after that you'll need a cut off wheel.

After this sets it'll get pulled off. The templates and tape gets removed. And the end caps get test fitted. After they get trimmed and fitted the bumper gets taped off again for the filler, shaping, and smoothing. Attachment holes get drilled and the priming and finishing begins.

Here's where I'm at in the process....

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That's all my nitrous stuff laying there on the floor. That crap was expensive and I wish I could find a use for it. I've been thinking about doing a co2 spray ring in front of the intercooler. The fog from it would look cool. Would also help cool things down before cutting the car off.

Maybe I'll do it...maybe I wont.
 
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Popped the fiberglass off the templates and everything looks good. The green frog tape saturated and was a bit of a pain to separated. Some traces of it are still left on one of the pieces but who cares.

Bondo says there is a filler specifically for fiberglass. They're probably talking about Bondo hair reinforced crapola. That stuff is hard as hell to sand. The bondo that smoothed out the wing winglettes is holding up great so regular stuff will be going on these too. I'm super happy to be at this point. These may be done by the end of the weekend...well...it would be any other weekend.

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Trimmed out the end caps. The rest needs to be done with them on the car. Checked my door gaps again and the passenger door is just a hair wider at the quarter. Gotta readjust it....again.

These are my old nitrous solenoids. I checked them and they all work. Kinda wish my current set up could handle it. I miss purging and that rush.

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I tore up some stuff back in the day. That spray nozzle on the far right got to the point where it was stuck in my intake. I just used vise grips on it and the fitting. JB weld held it when it went back in. Man...the days of being young and dumb. I'd spray anything back then.
 
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Trimmed out the end caps. The rest needs to be done with them on the car. Checked my door gaps again and the passenger door is just a hair wider at the quarter. Gotta readjust it....again.

These are my old nitrous solenoids. I checked them and they all work. Kinda wish my current set up could handle it. I miss purging and that rush.

20210212_163506.jpg


I tore up some stuff back in the day. That spray nozzle on the far right got to the point where it was stuck in my intake. I just used vise grips on it and the fitting. JB weld held it when it went back in. Man...the days of being young and dumb. I'd spray anything back then.
I LOVED the juice,I had the popular 75hp NOS dry kit on my notch back in the late 90's. The car just hooked and went and was hard to beat on the street. Won a bunch of $$ playin' around back then,good times.
 
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I LOVED the juice,I had the popular 75hp NOS dry kit on my notch back in the late 90's. The car just hooked and went and was hard to beat on the street. Won a bunch of $$ playin' around back then,good times.

Yeah man ! Those were the days. I took a lot of money too....lost some too. Lol

Makes me want to clean this stuff up and put it in a case with a pic of my old car.
 
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One side almost done. This is about 7 hrs if sanding, spraying, spreading, sanding....

Might have this and the other side done this weekend. It still needs to have the front edge trimmed off. Coming out decent so far. This is a black primer. Lots more sanding and glazing to do. Final step will be sanding it and the bumper and a coat of semi gloss black.

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One side almost done. This is about 7 hrs if sanding, spraying, spreading, sanding....

Might have this and the other side done this weekend. It still needs to have the front edge trimmed off. Coming out decent so far. This is a black primer. Lots more sanding and glazing to do. Final step will be sanding it and the bumper and a coat of semi gloss black.

20210218_221142.jpg


I’m curious..You’ve spent all this time duplicating this contour. It doesn’t match the Fox lines on top. Isn’t that the contour from the donor car?
 
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Sand...sand and more sanding....

The trick will be making this side look exactly like the other one.

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Still the same side....day 2...or 3....

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...and I thought I was done with sanding. Amazing what primer will show you...

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Ok...I'm done for the night. Progress continues tomorrow...

That nasty funky edge will get trimmed off. Just wanted to see it all one color so I could pick the best line. I really hope the passenger side goes quicker than this one. Everything has to be as perfect as I can get it. This is why I couldn't be a body man for a living. I can't turn off my OCD.

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Finished project in primer. I really set myself up this time. No 4 days for the other side...smh

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The right side was a little messed up so I had to add some glass to it.

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There's no way I could be a body man and do this for a living....no way !!!

Had to sand a lot more on the right side....

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Was determined to get it done today. Turned out well. I'm satisfied.

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I've got to get some egg shell black paint for the bumper so I can stick these bad boys on. I see why I procrastinated. Wish I knew a faster easier way.
 
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Not sure if it is even possible but If it were me I would figure out a way to make a quality mold off them before install. Just so if you would ever need to replace one in the future you could cut the time down by a ton.
 
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Not sure if it is even possible but If it were me I would figure out a way to make a quality mold off them before install. Just so if you would ever need to replace one in the future you could cut the time down by a ton.

I like this idea. I know how to make old style plaster molds. Might have to research epoxy molds.
 
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You think it would probably be worth your time and honestly allot of people are trying to do what you've done with that bumper so worst case you could sell one set here and there in the future.

I thought about that too. It would fit the cobra bumper for either year fenders. My issue was the 89 fenders are longer before the wheel opening. The 91 and up are shorter and fit the cobra bumper better. I like the smaller wheel opening though and didn't want to ditch the factory fenders.
 
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Kept seeing a coolant drip under the car. It was dripping so slow the drops would dry between drips not even forming a puddle. When I heat and oil treated the water pump studs some coolant shaped at the gasket so I felt for sure that was it. Nope, the little section of hose that connects to my metal lower hose was seeping. A couple turns on the clamp and that's fixed.

Here's the ( almost ) end result of the spats...

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I still haven't fully decided what color or texture of paint I want to use. For years it's been painted with a flat black paint that's held up well. This car sat outside for a year or two after the flat black before it found the comforts of a garage. Originally I was going to paint it dark cabernet red like body color leaving the trim black. I've wrestled with egg shell or semi gloss black. Still undecided.

Here's how it sits. Wiped down the majority of the dust and vacuumed the floor. I might get time this weekend to pull the car our and actually clean the floor.

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  • Hell Yeah!
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