Me and my brother bought a welder (Lincoln 100) together and were dying to weld up something. I have been wanting to build a bullbar/bumper bar for my car for about 2 years now. I am of the "Utility" school of thought. Which is why I refuse to lower any car I have ever owned. I will make a larger post about the goal of my car overall, probably after I finish my motor swap. But, that is neither here nor there.

I bought ALL of the materials from Lowes. $80ish total:
-NPT (?) pipe: 3 inch for the lower hoop, and 2 inch for the upper hoop
-3-4 feet of 1 inch square tube
-2ish feet of flat iron

1) We welded the square tube across the tow hooks on the bottom of the car, so that the entire roll bar can be bolted on and off if needed.
2) We welded the two 3 inch 90 degree pipes together to determine the distance for the support pieces.
3) We welded on the 2 pieces of flat iron to the underside of the square tube at the length of the newly welded pipe pieces.
4) We cut the bottom of the two 90s, now a single "180" hoop, at an angle so that it would angle to the front of the bumper. I trimmed them so that, in the event of a serious impact, the main bottom hoop would contact the front bumper on its foremost edge, as preferred by those who engineered the car.
5) Next, we welded the two 2 inch 90 bends together to create the "upper" hoop.
6) We trimmed the edges of the upper hoop to match the curves of the lower hoop. This was the most dificult part. I am not sure of how one determines the proper angle to match a length of tubing to another length of tubing. I'm sure that all the experienced fabricators out there could do this in their sleep. I haven't welded anything in 6 years and have never done anything like this before, so, we did our best to just "figure it out".
7) Once both hoops were attatched to the supports which are attatched to the tubing, we remounted it on the car. There was a little too much flex in the support pieces, so we used more of the 1 inch tube to gussy up the supprt brackets.
8) Primed and painted- all done. "Yeah come on!"

-For those "nay-sayers"... eat me, and then tell me how you think it can be improved. This is our first time doing somthing like this. We did not use gas to do our welds so they were kind of messy. We ground them down some, but I WANTED kind of a "rough" look. I did not want it to be pretty. It's a bullbar... it should be prepared to be used. It is tough enough, with a SMALL bit of flex, which is desired so that it will return to form after minor impacts.

-My brother has the "In-Progress" pictures, so these "finished" pictures will have to do. If any of you SERIOUSLY wants to see the in progress pictures, let me know.

-Final thought, "Be different. Quit being a sheep."
So... Come and get me! -Ridge

 

While I admire the attempt, I do not admire the execution. That thing looks hideous.

 

Should of made a roll cage instead...

 

Blownef9: I never said it looked good. It is a first attempt. I only care that I can hit stuff with it. How would you suggest it be improved? ... and, "remove it" is not an acceptable response...

Cnile1: Are you implying that I should create a death-trap and then put myself into it?

 

What exactly do you plan on hitting with this?

 

Your hatch looks to be in great shape which is becoming less and less common, why would you wanna hit stuff with it? Not knocking you, just trying to understand what you are saying.

 

Wow, you read people the wrong way.

Yes! I want you to put yourself in a death trap.
You caught me! Muahahaha

 

If you run into something and impact towards the upper portion of the bar then I imagine the bar will fold over into your hood and you will never be able to see your engine again.

Maybe some triangulated gussets in the bends at the least. If you really do intend to utilize the upper portion then I think you are looking at bracing through the hood to the shock towers or something along that line.

 

To each his own I guess. I don't understand why you would want to "hit stuff" in a civic. What are you planning on hitting?

Also if you are going to have a "bull bar" get rid of the huge curves. Make it look a little meaner.

 

hey, at least you can weld!

 

Let me rephrase, I don't plan on "hitting" anything (maybe the occasional shopping cart). I consider it some extra defense that happens to look cool (in my opinion). The gussets are a good idea. This was our first try at something like this, it is by no means "optimal". I consider it almost tongue in cheek, because of the fact that it is so unusual to see on a car such as this.

 

If you're thinking about shopping carts, then I would suggest making it wider, to protect the whole front of the car. Those carts are unpredictable.

 

If you are looking for utility then why are you driving a civic. get a truck or something. if you gusset it and make it srong enough to take a real impact it will just bend the frame at the points you mounted it. to each his own but seems like a waste of money and time to me.my secon uestion is if you build your cars for utility why are you running any wheels besides steels wheels?