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Got bored, built a rear bumper


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ADDED THE FRONT BUMPER TO MATCH!

 

I recently relocated after graduating and am temporarily down to just my 87 gl sedan and my 07 sti sedan.  My girlfriend wouldn't be caught dead driving the 87 so for now its my main squeeze.  I've been getting irritated that I haven't been able to use my hitch mounted bike rack or haul around my little moto trailer, so a few days ago I got bored and built a rear bumper.

 

I decided to use 3/16 wall 2x2 steel and 1/4 inch plate for the sides and attach points to the car.  I have a tube bender, but decided that since the car is pretty square, square tube would compliment the car well and provide a subtle look.  And frankly I have done plenty of tig welding but haven't spent much time with a mig so the square would be easier to work with . 

 

I wanted the overall height of the bumper to be 6 inches, so I notched the top stick of 2x a  bit so the receiver would fit in the allowed 2 inch space ( picture 1 and 2).  Got ahead of myself and tacked the receiver on with the pin hole going vertical so that was my one big mistake lol.

 

I cut a couple of 4x6 pieces and drilled 7/16 holes so the bumper could use the existing holes that the stock bumper used.  I welded a couple pieces of 1/4 in wall 2x2 cut to 2 inches together and then welded them centered up on the 4x6 plate.  The 2x2x2 pieces would fit right between the gaps allowing me plenty of room to weld them to the bumper and have the bumper centered. Got the bulk welded up.  Was finishing some of the harder to reach welds ( picture 4).

 

Got the bumper bolted up cut the angles for the side plates and welded them on.  They aren't perfect but they are pretty close to being even all the way around.  The bumper sits nice and tight to the car.  There is a 1/2 inch gap from the top of the bumper to the body line on the car.  In ( picture 5) the side plates look a little off, the bumper isn't fully bolted up so its a bit crooked looking.  After about 6 hours she was all bolted on with most of the visible welds ground down to be flush ( picture 5)

 

The next day I removed the bumper and sprayed it with a couple of coats of nice and durable... and expensive Imron black.  Spent a few minutes to mount the light and the plate and she was done (picture 6).  Overall I'm pretty damn happy with how it turned out.  Nothing real fancy, and I wouldn't hook to it to pull someone out but for what I wanted I think it turned out well.  You can see half inch holes drilled in the 2x2x2 blocks that hook the bumper to the car... I fabbed up some mounts to attach my high lift just above the receiver. 

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Edited by LucasP
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  • 4 weeks later...

Well I finally got to the front bumper.  I went much along the same as the rear but I angled the front a bit and spaced it away from the grill so I can add a 30 inch light bar or a couple fog lights.  Here's the run through.

 

I used quarter inch wall 2x2 for the attach points to the car.  Since the bolts are such a pain to get to I decided to weld them in... in hindsight this was a terrible idea, I realized right after I welded the bumper on that I can no longer take it off since the damn bolts are welded in.

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There she is just kinda laying there so I had an idea of how it would look.

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Got most of it together and welded up.  It took me a little bit to figure out how I wanted to angle the side plate and cut all the angles.  One side was cut here.

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The side plates are welded on, was just working the flap wheel to make all the visible welds smooth and nice looking. 

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Got it all welded on and painted.  Fits better than I anticipated but I am pretty unhappy with a couple of the welds.  

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Had to hunt around for some marker lights that I could use as turn signals that would fit what i wanted.  Had to tack in a couple of brackets, was really more of a project than I wanted but I think the lights turned out really slick.  For the license plate I cut a piece of 2x2 to fit in the hitch and welded a plate to it and then bolted the plate on.  So the plate mounts like any receiver would, which is nice, so I can take it out quickly if I need to.  Overall I'm happy.  Its a bit heavier than i wanted but now I can justify lifting the front a bit more anyway. 

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Nice clean look. You do awesome work!!

Thanks man that means a lot. Looks good from afar, but far from good is what I feel like. Couple of the welds are kinda boogered and ugly but like I mentioned up above I'm not great with a mig welder. It's strong though, I hooked a hitch mounted jack to it and lifted the front end five feet off the ground to pressure wash underneath.

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looks great but way over kill in my opinion it dosent need to be that heavy the body isent strong enuff to justify that kind of steal and thats alot of wait out in front of your wheels your gona loose alittle power and economy and handeling but if your gona tie the front bumper to the rear bumper it wouls make a hell of a sub frame then ej it upgrade your springs/struts and wheel it it would be sweet but if nothing else it will ride nice and smooth as it is and it looks good home made stuff is always cooler than bought stuff the license plate reciver is nice to i have a big magnet on mine so when i have my winch or hitch on the car i can just stick my license plate to any metal part on the car and it stays

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looks great but way over kill in my opinion it dosent need to be that heavy the body isent strong enuff to justify that kind of steal and thats alot of wait out in front of your wheels your gona loose alittle power and economy and handeling but if your gona tie the front bumper to the rear bumper it wouls make a hell of a sub frame then ej it upgrade your springs/struts and wheel it it would be sweet but if nothing else it will ride nice and smooth as it is and it looks good home made stuff is always cooler than bought stuff the license plate reciver is nice to i have a big magnet on mine so when i have my winch or hitch on the car i can just stick my license plate to any metal part on the car and it stays

Overkill? The mounts are 1/4 inch 2x2... The rest is 1/8 wall 2x2. The bumper is 8 pounds heavier than the stock bumper. I politely disagree that it will affect handling. It sits 4 inchs closer to the car than the stock bumper. So if you do a pretty simple weight and balance calculation... I'm a helicopter mechanic...

 

Stock bumper 40 pounds x 24 inches equals a balance moment of 960 in stock form.

My bumper 48 pounds x 20 inches from the wheels equals a balance moment of... Oh my, 960 also.

 

So you arguement against the weight and handling is kinda mute. I don't just build stuff. I do the math.

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Overkill? The mounts are 1/4 inch 2x2... The rest is 1/8 wall 2x2. The bumper is 8 pounds heavier than the stock bumper. I politely disagree that it will affect handling. It sits 4 inchs closer to the car than the stock bumper. So if you do a pretty simple weight and balance calculation... I'm a helicopter mechanic...

 

Stock bumper 40 pounds x 24 inches equals a balance moment of 960 in stock form.

My bumper 48 pounds x 20 inches from the wheels equals a balance moment of... Oh my, 960 also.

 

So you arguement against the weight and handling is kinda mute. I don't just build stuff. I do the math.

  

 

HAH, that was a beautifully crafted burn sir

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im sure you factored in the fact that the first 3" of the factory bumper are plastic and foam and have no real wait to speek of when you did your math i wont tell your hilocopter buddys if you dident and im sure you fixed those bolts before you welded it all together or its gona be real hard to remove from the car with out cutting something and at only 8 lbs over stock you wont notice any difference its just that it looks alot heavyer and it looks bigger than 1/4 stock it looks almost the same thickness as the bolts welded in to it the box tube in that spot makes getting to the nuts vary hard unless the nuts are welded in nuts not bolts c channel or flat stock works better in my oppinion and how much dose the licsence plate reciver wheigh what anothe 1-2lbs so maybe 10 lbs overstock out in front of the wheels still probly not noticable it looks alot heavyer than your sayin but the camera can do that sometimes not tryin to take away from anything you did a awsome job i might even steal that side plate idea some time i just think your fudgin the #s alittle

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im sure you factored in the fact that the first 3" of the factory bumper are plastic and foam and have no real wait to speek of when you did your math i wont tell your hilocopter buddys if you dident and im sure you fixed those bolts before you welded it all together or its gona be real hard to remove from the car with out cutting something and at only 8 lbs over stock you wont notice any difference its just that it looks alot heavyer and it looks bigger than 1/4 stock it looks almost the same thickness as the bolts welded in to it the box tube in that spot makes getting to the nuts vary hard unless the nuts are welded in nuts not bolts c channel or flat stock works better in my oppinion and how much dose the licsence plate reciver wheigh what anothe 1-2lbs so maybe 10 lbs overstock out in front of the wheels still probly not noticable it looks alot heavyer than your sayin but the camera can do that sometimes not tryin to take away from anything you did a awsome job i might even steal that side plate idea some time i just think your fudgin the #s alittle

Have you ever even pulled off a stock front bumper? They are heavier than they look. Why would I fudge any numbers?... To impress the Internet? Should I take it off and post pics of all the weights for you, so you can sleep happy at night? The license plate part weights less than a pound. It's a 2 1/2 piece of 1/8 wall 2x2, welded to a 2x3 piece of 1/4 inch plate. With the license plate bolted to it.

 

Also when I measured it, I measured from the back of each bumper, so once again you typed a bunch of almost incoherent, badly punctuated run on sentences for no reason. Thanks for the compliments on the bumper tho. If you want one I'd glad build you one so you can inspect if for yourself.

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LucasP its a great job , looks great, won't attract officious attention and will protect from badly driven car park bumper cars, but you need to stop feeding the smaller ancient mythological tribes  currently roaming free on the internet.

 

Like my mum told me "if you feed it and it follows you home -- then you will have to clean up ALL its messes"

Edited by Henpecked
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Very neat looking and practical bars you have constructed and designed there Lucas well done, Oh and by the way how is the Girl handling walking everywhere or using public transport seeing as she refuses to drive such an awesome piece of automotive royalty and such an attitude does not get readjusted by the allowance of STI goodness as a means of transport.

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Very neat looking and practical bars you have constructed and designed there Lucas well done, Oh and by the way how is the Girl handling walking everywhere or using public transport seeing as she refuses to drive such an awesome piece of automotive royalty and such an attitude does not get readjusted by the allowance of STI goodness as a means of transport.

The lovely girlfriend is now driving her own car. My insurance that she used to be on just renewed and low and behold my insurance went up 40 dollars a month... Turns out she got a ticket for doing 92 in a 55 safety zone on the freeway. Her excuse, was that she was doing 75 and a car came speeding up on her so she sped up so the car wouldn't be tailgating her. That car was a state trooper. So she doesn't drive the sti anymore, and now pays her own insurance as well as the difference on mine.

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Ouch thats a Big jump on Insurance, I take it the Safety zone is like ours where they put restrictions on for when Road Maintenance is underway or is the safety zone more like our School Zones is so yeah they punish you here bad too I got ticketed on a long weekend for "Towbar Obscure Number Plate" thankfully it was not a driving offence just a $385.00 Fine, If I was speeding on the Holiday weekend that it was that would have been double demerit points on my Licence and one can see a licence go away for doing 15 MPH over the speed limit on those weekends with double demerits meaning you lose all your points in one hit.

 

Then you also get nailed much like you did with Insurance jumping up when you have points on your licence that add's another $200.00 a year for the three years it takes to get your points back, So in the end it cost almost a Grand, Ouch!!

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