Help, I don't want foglight openings, on a fiberglass bumper, what to do? Options

[DougC]

I asked several weeks a go if anyone knew a source for fiberglass front bumpers that omitted or excluded the square openings for the foglights. The only answer I got was that I could "glass" that area in myself. I remember seeing a thread on this forum a few months back that showed a track car in purple (aubergine) with this set up and a GT valance, it's exactly what I want to do but can not locate the thread now - can't remember anything else about the thread. But if I could find it I could contact the cars owner for some info. Anyway if there's not a supplier for these, can someone give me some fairly straight forward instructions on how they'd go about glassing in those foglight openings? I've worked with resin & cloth before but there's quite a large area and I assume some effort could be saved by using a couple of premade F/G panels cut to the right size.

Doug C

[Mueller]

have you called any of the bumper manufactures and asked them about doing a one-off??

the GT front bumper (middle of page) is the closest I could find

914 'glass parts

premade panels wouldn't buy you too much since they more than likely will be flat and not have the curvature of the bumper

[JmuRiz]

I'd go with Mueller's suggestions. Are you going for the /8 look. I must say I was looking at it the other day, VERY COOL.
(IMG:http://www.motorbase.com/pictures/contributions/991202/std_69porsche-914-8-a1.jpg)

[Mueller]

I plan on ordering front and rear bumpers from Rennspeed this week, I'll ask them for you if you want.

[TC/914]

You might want to make your own bumpers out of fiberglass. Take a mold off of the original and rework the mold a bit before splashing the bumper. Then do the finish work on the fiberglass repro.

Not really difficult to do at all!

TC

[DougC]

Mueller check with Rennspeed for me if you don't mind.. I can't really call from work, which is why I haven't called any of the glass places but I'm taking off this Friday and will be calling all that I can think of. As far as making my own, it's probably more work than I want to put into it but I'll give it some thought. I'm just surprised that f/g manufacturers of racing bumpers haven't had a demand for this in the past. Most race cars don't really have a need for the fog lights and seems that drag reduction would be a nice bonus from the flatter surface. Guess I could market them if I did make my own.. btw, not going for the 914/8 look per say but I just like the cleaner lines.

Doug C

[East coaster]

Just fill them in.......it's easy!

[Mueller]

I just got off the phone with Rennspeed....they will have a new front bumper without the cutouts...however, it will have a recess for the foglights so that you can cut out the openings if you wished....they have no plans on making completely smooth front bumper....

I also asked about 'glass rubber top replacements...he admitted that they do get a few requests for them, but not enough for them to justify the tooling costs (what would that be, less than $50??? )

[Carlitos Way]

If you're interested... I've got a pair of non-fog-lamp grills in decent (somewhere between good and fair) condition. No fog lamp opening, but air goes through.

[campbellcj]

I went thru the same thing w/ Hank @ GT Racing. He said he doesn't sell 'em w/o the openings. But, when I got the bumper the openings were clearly cut out after the fact, not part of the original layup process.

I just made covers out of sheet aluminum. Someday I might have lights there (no need now as the car barely gets driven in the day let alone the night), so I have a nice set of foghorn grilles in storage.

[Eric_Shea]

Just glass over the openings... couldn't be much easier than that.

On the backside, grind the lip flush. Tape a cover (light cardboard and cellophane wrap) over the front side with a release agent on the back. Flip it back over and lay in the glass. When it dries remove the front covers and fill/finish with MarGlass. Paint. Enjoy.

[scotty914]

QUOTE (Mueller @ Jan 4 2005, 03:50 PM)

I also asked about 'glass rubber top replacements...he admitted that they do get a few requests for them, but not enough for them to justify the tooling costs (what would that be, less than $50??? )

50 bucks ... ya right if you did the molds in rubber so they would last more than 10 to 20 pieces the rubber alone would cost almost 300 bucks. if you made a real tight fitting box to make the mold in you might get it down to 1 gallon of rubber, per bumper cover. thats the reason why i would not be able to make money on grp bumper tops.

but i think i will be doing a grp engine lid and light weight race top between both about 40 lbs of weight savings. if the roof comes in at 10 lbs and the engine lid with rain tray at 15 and if i remember what the stock ones weigh