My bullbar's custom underwear

ScubyRoo · Post by **ScubyRoo** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:26 pm

For the last year and half I've had a bullbar with no 'bumper' or guard underneath. The one attached to the bullbar when I bought it was a PIA fibreglass thing that maintained the original factory shape - useless! What's the point of having a bullbar if you don't gain some improvement in departure angles... so off it went and ever since the front end has been a little 'naked'.

I've finally found the time (and skill) to get started on this little project. It started about 2 weeks ago with lots of things getting in the way.

I started by mocking up the panelling with cardboard:

Then it was time to clean up the old sheet metal I had lying around:

I did the rust removal with an abraisive wheel that connects onto a power drill (you can see it in the top RH corner of the pic below) - very effective!

From there it was time to cut to shape:

After that it was time to try out a few different techniques for bending and folding. I don't have an oxy torch, nor a folder, so it was time to experiment with different methods of shaping. I'll come back to this point later with some photos as I forgot to take them, but essentially I either scored a line with the angle grinder cutting disc in the thick stuff (2mm), or bent the thin stuff (1.6mm) in the vice, starting with the hammer and then moving it onto a peice of angled steel that was 10mm thick and clamped to the edge of the bench. This worked really well and after about half an hour of work I started to find the sweet spot with the hammer and things started to take shape.

From there it was bend, check, bend... check... tack tack tack and onto the next peice.

A few days hiatus with other stuff getting in the way and today saw some good progress. This morning it fitted up nicely and all tacked up. It took me a few hours to seam weld it all up and grind the edges nice with a few little extra bits of metal here and there to box up some gaps.

Here it is after sanding with a flap disc on the angle grinder, ready for paint:

And with the first coat of etch-primer:

While it was drying the first coat of etch I removed the bullbar and modifed the mounts so that it now sits a bit higher - before it was about 20mm too low and there was an ugly gap between body/lights and the bullbar. That's closed up nicely, however I feel it still needs to move back about another 30mm so I need to modify the other mounts for that to happen... this'll occur when I mount up the new bottom facia.

I'm very happy with how it's looking. I've learned lots of tricks doing this little project which will help with both final appearance and time needed when building my rear bar... which will hopefully happen next week!

Cheers,
Owen.

Davidov · Post by **Davidov** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:35 pm

Looking fantastic!

Before i saw anything other than the first picture i thought you were going to leave it with the cardboard. I laughed so hard.

revmax · Post by **revmax** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:37 pm

Nice please show it fitted

thunder039 · Post by **thunder039** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:38 pm

Davidov wrote:Looking fantastic!

Before i saw anything other than the first picture i thought you were going to leave it with the cardboard. I laughed so hard.

i thought the same thing!

B00sting · Post by **B00sting** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:55 pm

Very nice I admire you learning how to do this yourself!
Well done.

woody.t · Post by **woody.t** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 2:17 am

exactly what i was considering doing.. what thickness sheeting did you use? eagerly awaited finished pics

ScubyRoo · Post by **ScubyRoo** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:57 pm

Davidov wrote:Looking fantastic!

Before i saw anything other than the first picture i thought you were going to leave it with the cardboard. I laughed so hard.

Thanks mate! Hahaha, I used 'extra strong' masking tape and waterproof cardboard

revmax wrote:Nice please show it fitted

Of course! In due time...

B00sting wrote:Very nice I admire you learning how to do this yourself!
Well done.

A bit of a learning process and pretty happy with the finished product! It's the learning that I like most and the best part about learning fabrication is that you see the results take shape as you go and finally have something to show for it at the end.

woody.t wrote:exactly what i was considering doing.. what thickness sheeting did you use? eagerly awaited finished pics

2mm directly in front of the radiator, 1.6mm next too it and 2mm on the sides at the wheels.

Just another coat of primer on today as I spent the day drawing up my rear bar design and getting the peices cut - very happy with the CAD image will be interesting to see if I can pull it off as I hope too! I got most of it cut by the steel supplier as I don't have a drop saw, just a few bits here and there that I'll have to cut so it should go together pretty quickly. I still need to make the pivot and find a good latch, but otherwise I have most of what I need for the frame... panelling will come later down the track.

Cheers,
Owen.

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:48 pm

Looking very good there Owen

NachaLuva · Post by **NachaLuva** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:11 pm

Great work Owen, very inventive!

Cant wait to see the finished project

ScubyRoo · Post by **ScubyRoo** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:38 pm

Cheers Matt! You should see how the rear bar is coming along then! I ran out of mig wire unfortunately and have a few days of work in a row so will kick into it again next week.

2 coats of primer are done at it's looking good! The problem now is I can't decide on what colour to make the top coat. I'm going to wait until I've finished the rear bar and see how it looks then.

Cheers,
Owen.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:09 am

How heavy is the front bar Owen? Just out of interest more than anything!

I'll be keen to see how heavy the rear bar is too, mine's super heavy! I'd even go as far as saying too heavy, but it holds everything I want it to so it's all good.

Cheers

Bennie