April 6, 200620 yr Looks great! A real inspiration I must go buy a welder and a pipe bender now, plans are forming in my head
April 7, 200620 yr andy,it's lookin awesome:headbang: did you have any problems with the impact sensors for the airbag? great,now i want a bumper even more....but first things first-(strut lift)
April 7, 200620 yr Author it's still sitting on my bed, i'm awailting access to a welder funny thing.. the girl gets angry that the bumper gets the bed, and we sleep under the bed... heh but yeah, the other day i cut up some pieces so i can have directionals! fancy aye? it's getting there slowly.. i'm not sure about the airbag stuff.. because the battery was disconnected when we built it on the car... you know.. welding on a car w/ your battery connected can be interesting but yeah, hopefully tomorrow i can get into the shop, either that or next week sometime... i'm still not sure what color i'd like to paint it, maybe grey.. maybe black.. hmmm
April 7, 200620 yr it's still sitting on my bed kinda like having a transmission sitting in your bath tub i'm still not sure what color i'd like to paint it, maybe grey.. maybe black.. hmmm if your gonna do a rattle can paint job,walmarts got this paint that looks like hammered steel (could look cool)
April 8, 200620 yr I was in a wreck with my Mudrat Baja bumper... T-boned a tracker while going about 25-30... No airbag deploy... The framerail where the airbag senesor is mounted didn't buckle enought to register EXTREME decelleration. The bumper ate the tracker, and I got away with barely a scratch... Slightly bucked fender and about a half-inch buckle in the hood.. The bumper took the impact, sponging into the tracker... The plate (1/2 inch steel) where the bumper attaches to the mounts in the frame rail, got a little bend. I think they would deploy at higher speed impact, but they need to register the extreme decelleration, usually amplified by crumple zones.. If you unclip the plastic fenderguard and pull it down and back from the front part (attaching near the rear of the bumper skin), you can look up in the fender well and see the airbag sensor (with bright yellow wire shroud) mounted on a little frame on the unibody... If looking at the passenger side, while you're there, unbolt and rip out that big plastic box, its an annoying intake resonator/air slower-downer... You'll get better flow and performance w/o spending money... That's my recent story on tube bumpers and airbags... (in the offroad forum, The thread was hijacked for Trackers and Sidekicks, LAME!!) The bump looks good Andy!! I'm psyched to see one on an Imp...
April 8, 200620 yr kinda like having a transmission sitting in your bath tub if your gonna do a rattle can paint job,walmarts got this paint that looks like hammered steel (could look cool) Deffintely powdercoat it.. Spraypaint comes of too easily.. I think they can colo-code match paint in powdercoating...
April 14, 200619 yr Author So i got to use the school's TIG last night, for about 4.5 hours, and got some things tacked together... it's not the prettiest thing ever, but i've never TIG'd before... so it was an experience Anyhow, my liscence plate is the most overly welded piece on there... (the holder, not the plate)... we must have spent a good 45 minutes just messing around w/ the TIG with that, lol.. oh well here's the pics you've all been waiting for: As you can see the liscence plate mounts have blobs above them.. that was the completely over-welding... i'm going to head back sometime & clean it all up (i love TIG welders ), but the tacks on the vertical parts came out pretty well, we only fried the tip once Sometime this week i'm going to get some 1.75" round tube and bend up my basher/push bar
April 14, 200619 yr wow dude, for not ever using TIG before you picked it up pretty fast... I havent used that process yet but I've heard its REAL interesting when you first start and a pain in the rump roast to learn. I love your bumper, totally beats my fugly square tubing I speant maybe an hour and a half all total welding together with stick... great work [qoute=superu](in the offroad forum, The thread was hijacked for Trackers and Sidekicks, LAME!!) [hijack]sorry bout that, didnt mean to [/hijack]
April 14, 200619 yr more pics!! pics on the car!! (my ob struts are coming soon, and the mud is plentiful..)
April 16, 200619 yr Author Almost done!! i spent a good 8.5 hours on the TIG today... a few minute on the MIG.. then i realized that i suck at MIG... Gonna pick up some paint tomorrow, clean it up real nice... good times... phew.. i need a shower
April 16, 200619 yr are you going to use rattle can paint? if so, go with engine heat paint, its WELL worth the extra few bucks. that stuff dries rock solid, really good stuff, and if you get gloss black, it goes on real nice too. just an fyi, it will last and look better alot longer NICE work btw, that imp is going to look mean:headbang:
April 16, 200619 yr dude,it's lookin awesome.....you ever think about making and selling them?i'd wanna be your first customer:brow: BTW-i'm amazed someone's still playing with a old nintendo system:D (i see the controllers in the upper left corner)
April 16, 200619 yr Author dude,it's lookin awesome.....you ever think about making and selling them?i'd wanna be your first customer:brow: BTW-i'm amazed someone's still playing with a old nintendo system:D (i see the controllers in the upper left corner) I don't think making & selling them would be much of a good thing for me 1) I talked to John (mudrat) and he was very excited about me making my own bumper, but said if i was 'copying' his design, he's appreciate it if i didnt' duplicate them too much. 2) I spent 8.5 hours welding TODAY 3) I spent 4.5 hours welding, YESTERDAY, all together i think i've spent well over 48 hours, cutting, welding, bending you name it (Like john told me it would)... AND it's not done yet I'm going to get some 1/2" plate, and cut out the inside part of the square tube there, and weld the crap out of it, and mount my shackles there, and then i'll have to make my push bar So, if you want to pay for about 120 bucks of steel, a plasma cutter, a TIG welder, and about 48 hours of labor, sure.. but... i don't have that kind of time on my hands :-\Hopefully i can make a phone call and get that 1/2" plate up here on monday.. but if not it'll be a while till i get the shackle mounts made. The push bar should be next week sometime... And yes, we play original Nintendo, ALOT, Dr. Mario all the way, we crank the volume, and play it for HOURS... yes.. we're nerds, and love it. Also, I'll have to look up that 'engine paint' sounds good to me, do you run a coat of primer under it? or just straight on the metal?
April 16, 200619 yr spray the paint straight on bare metal, primer would only weaken its hold. you will like the results, especially if you do 2 or 3 coates, and let it dry all the way. its some tough stuff
April 16, 200619 yr Hopefully i can make a phone call and get that 1/2" plate up here on monday.. Where do you get your steel? I get mine from Jeffords Steel in Plattsburgh. They've also got a branch office in Potsdam. They are a huge mill, but they have a walk-up counter where they don't mind getting you a single piece of tubing or a scrap of plate for $20 etc. At least that's how the office in Plattsburgh operates. Might be worth looking into if you haven't already. The bumper looks great BTW, can't wait to see it on the imp.
April 16, 200619 yr Author Jeffords sucks, they're WAY over priced... they wanted 200+ for all the steel i got... i got it from Capitol Steel in Monpielier VT. I got: 20ft 2" round tube 6ft 1.5" round tube 8ft 2x2 square tube 15"x24" 1/8" plate all for $117 they have funny hours, so it's good to call them ahead of time. But they were pretty cool, i walked up to the office, and the guy just told me to head over to the warehouse, tell the guys what i needed, and they cut it right up for me. I can't wait to get it all done Oh yeah, it's weighs 48.83lbs
April 16, 200619 yr Author Here it is! on the car.... it didn't want to go on... because when i welded it up the mount got closer to eachother.. by about 1/8" of an inch.. so a little grinding, and some rapidly spinning 1/2" titanum (the bolt holes were off too...) and everything was good. So there it is... no shackles or push bar yet.. but.. whatever i'll get paint sometime too.. it'll have to come off tonight, since it's supposed to rain! eek!
April 16, 200619 yr Looks like it could use a third horizontal bar down lower just above where the tow hooks are...
April 17, 200619 yr Author Looks like it could use a third horizontal bar down lower just above where the tow hooks are... Nice job at the photoshopping there! i didn't even notice it the 1st time around! i was thinking i'd just cut off the tow hooks, and then throw in a gnarly skid plate
April 17, 200619 yr BTW-i'm amazed someone's still playing with a old nintendo system:D (i see the controllers in the upper left corner) i just sold my NES toploader for 150 bucks.....i have sellers remorse....
April 17, 200619 yr i just sold my NES toploader for 150 bucks.....i have sellers remorse.... wow $150!!!! I have like 5 of them
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