I took a front oem bumper, backplated and molded the licean plate holes and put a mugen lip on, i used double sided tape and screwed/cut the screws in the sides, then threw bondo over the seam.. sorry the pictures kinda suck.. well the bumper is almost done, all thats left is a final skim coat of bondo,

should i gelcoat it, or will a final skim coat / premier be a smooth enough look..



i made a fiberglass defuser on the bottom of the mugen lip(not pictured) and will then make a 2ft by 4ft(width of bumper) fiberglass panel.. that extends from right under the bumper to the oil pan. I was going to support the extra weight.. all of maybe 1-2lb's..with steel wire. It should make for smooth air flow, trick look.

next is the doors.. it's an ek sedan so i made some lexon windows for the rear doors. This was actualy pretty easy.. i removed the side window pillar that splits it where the vanity mirror part is, made a template out of cardboard, and then had the lexon cut at a local glass shop. Fits perfect and saves a little weight from the car up top. I then removed my side moldings and filled the holes in, molded the door handle, and began smoothing out the door/fixing any inperfections.






Couple questions, i shaved off a most of the body filler, and went 36 / 80 / 400 / 1200.. 1200 should be fine for a last skim coat sanding right... should i move up to 1600/1800 or is that overkill...

 

I'd do the final layer with 2000grit, just to make it really ultra smooth, because all the scratches and swirls will show after paint is applied, even if it looks smooth when its still bondoed up. Happened to me on my cornerlight covers on my car, thought it was smooth, but theres few bumps. I'm too lazy to redo them at the moment, maybe this summer

 

There is no reaon to sand filler with 1220 or 2000 grit sandpaper.
I use 80-120 for finel sanding even with glazing putty and then primer then feather out with something in the 200's and you will be good
Anything else is awaste of time, how smooth do you want it? with 2000 sanding you wont leave much for the paint to grab onto.
When filling bumper holes try plastic welding, its real easy, its just like soldering.
For a final coat use glazing putty.
Make sure you use some plastic prep primer for the bumper and add some fleaxblizer to the clear so it dont crack.
Here are some pics of a properly shaved plastic bumper I just finished.
The fog holes by the headlights, the plates holes and the side reflectors were all plastic welded and smoothed over.



Look at that smooth paint and I havent even wet sanded or buffed, damn I am good in the backround you can see the 00 Si lip I also painted to put on this bumper.


For anybody who is interested I will post pics up of before and afters of the whole car later(the whole front end was totalled and I am welding a new front clip on)

If you got any questions just ask

 

what did you use to fill in the clip holes on the door molding? If you just put body filler over it it will crack. I tac weld small metal squares behind them, then bodo.

as for the bumper it looks good.

like kid-honda said Its a waste of time to sand bondo that smooth and it makes painting a pain in the ***. I use the same method...80-120 grit for filler and spotting glaze, then a good primer surfacer, i sand the primer up to 600 grit then the top coat. the top coat is where I start to realy surface the paint. then of coarse the clear coat, and some rubbing compound.

hey kid-honda...post up some before and after pics of that car...looks pretty good.

 

I did plate them and then sanded over them, so it was well bracked..





and damm dood your bumper came out so good,... what did you use to premier it, and sanded the premier with what, cut it 80 grit, then 200/400 - 1000 -2000?


Modified by menkio at 11:30 PM 2/12/2005

 

Thanks for the words
Yea I competly forgot about you doors, hopefully you welded behing them or they will fall out.
A buttom weld works real well, dont just tac the metal in.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by menkio &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">and damm dood your bumper came out so good,... what did you use to premier it, and sanded the premier with what, cut it 80 grit, then 200/400 - 1000 -2000? </TD></TR></TABLE>

I used a plastic prep primer that you should always use on plastics, I forgot what the name was but I could check on monday.
You cant really sand the plastic prep primer case when it sets after about 60 minutes you must paint right over it.
I sanded all fillers with 80 grit and smoothed with 220 I believe.

 

i used a **** load of jb weld, there dead solid, and i made it so not moister was in it. Covered the entire plate..

ohh yea, can you post thoose before and after pics

 

ohh yea if you can find out the name, my email is operationone@gmail.com

 

JB Weld????


WTF??

Nice work Jaime - shoot me the pics.. Send me the pics of the EK wire tuck too biotch - you haven't sent them yet..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Drag_On &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


Nice work Jaime - shoot me the pics.. Send me the pics of the EK wire tuck too biotch - you haven't sent them yet..</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks alot.
Yea I am trying to get pics of the EK bay.
He is supposed to be free today and then I can get some and maybe finish up the GSR.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Drag_On &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">JB Weld????


WTF??

Nice work Jaime - shoot me the pics.. Send me the pics of the EK wire tuck too biotch - you haven't sent them yet..</TD></TR></TABLE>

and ?

 

that paint looks smooth

 

can you elaborate more on this plastic welding?? where? how? how much?

 

if i remember correctly, plastic weld is simply jb weld

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wantboost &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if i remember correctly, plastic weld is simply jb weld</TD></TR></TABLE>

And this is were misinformation starts

You have a heat stick and plastic rods just like welding hence the name plastic welding.
It is the exact same pricipal as metal welding.

 

do you have a link to the plastic weld stuff?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by XxslayerxX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do you have a link to the plastic weld stuff?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Just do a search on the net you will find them or go to any local auto body supplie shops, they should have them or be able to tell you were to get them.

 

yea when i use bonda my last grit is 220. No need for more.