Not sure if the one on Andy's car is what we call the 916 style but it is the one I am referring to. My question is 2 part. What is the benefit of the 916 bumper? Surely Porsche designed it to improve performance, no? Secondly, does that bumper improve the air flow thru the grille because of it's shape? Just thinking ahead for this summer since I have installed AC. I might need a little extra air flow. TIA, Kent

I think Sir Andy has the 916-style bumpers. I have no clue if it improves flow etc, but at least there is a cutout area for a cooler.

Thx for that bit of advice. I will change the title.

Mine are 916 style FG reproduction bumpers. Unfortunately, even the nicer ones are a crappy facsimile of the original.

The original 916 bumpers added more downforce to the front and allowed for a front mounted oil-cooler.

The repros suck. All of them.
I have never seen any aftermarket ones that were an exact copy of the original.

They are all so bad that i firmly believe none of them were actually molded off a original bumper.

That's OK. I can re-work FGlass. Was the OEM design about increasing air flow as well or just the downward thrust that you mention?

Good luck trying to re-work them. The overall shape is completely off. Not even close to the original.
You'd be better off starting from scratch.


What air-flow are you talking about?

Buy a used one for $50. See if you like it on the car. There are a lot of used ones floating around. Many were used to replace the front steel bumper after a hit.

Hmm, no. Wasn't planning on re-working the entire piece. I thought you meant it has fitment issues which isn't unusual. Re:air flow; In your case it would be across the oil cooler. For my application; the radiator. Another question. Is your front hood metal or fglass? If metal, do you have any info on the louvered hood? TIA

Check page 15 of Andy's build thread (top one). Looks like three simple slits in the hood. See the air duct underneath. That's the good part. Bob was playing with the idea of using a Mustang GT500 hood grill. It fit pretty well on the 914 hood. He spent several hours at the Ford dealership measuring it IIRC . Didn't end up needing it for the LS car.

Click to view attachment

My 914 came with FG 916 bumpers and I can say that the fit of the front bumper is not good. The top of the front bumper sits about 1/4 to 3/8-inch lower than the edge of the front hood.

I think he is reffering to the "splitter" like design on the bottom.

The biggest issues with the cheap knock off's are the fact that they flatten the face of the bumper really really badly and look horrible.


Real...


The worst fake's I have seen..

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/a/(KGrHqMOKoYE...3;~~/s-l500.jpg
The best fakes I have seen


Most are somewhere in between.

That best one is from an ebay auction. Its not perfect, but it looks like someone is making a decent replica now.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131274212532

They're ugly bumpers anyway.

You negative, cranky assed old Fart. What'da you know anyway? How ya been?

And here it is on my car. Its not even bolted down just setting in the hole I cut. I may use this when I add AC this summer

Bob
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Kent, a buddy down here has one that he'd part with for cheap. Come grab it and see if it fits. haha

I wish I had known. I just threw my old one out!

I seen a scoop/ vent on a new camero,..just yesterday,.it looked like it would work fine also,..I wouldn't mind trying to use the style that Mike Bellis used as his side vents,..on the Audi powerd 914,..just less dramatic for hood use...FM

See if you can find the pictures of the reworked steel bumper McMark did with a large cooler opening in the bottom, and a matching valance with a large opening in the top.....really a sharp setup, and functional.

So many guys throwing these out makes me wonder. Rich, I'd love to see that but even on a good day my 914world search results usually return four to six hundred threads. Ethan, can you can get info on condition, location, cost? Bob, your hood vent looks great. Be sure to share your AC work with us.

When AA began selling the 916 bumpers, were they a copy off their real 916 ?

FWIW, Even the factory 916 bumper was far from a stellar fit. I have a LOT of pics I took of one i can post later when I have more time. As far as the aftermarkets, they all fit like shite. Supposedly there are 3 different manufacturers, each fitting better than the other. This is the one from Dr. Evils car I cut and re-glassed to make it fit nicely. IIRC I have close to, possibly over, 40 hours just in the 2 bumpers

start at post #148

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...2781&st=140

I changed mine from a rectangular cutout in a painted bumper to a non-flared GT valance and smaller bumper cutout. It doesn't look like it should but it's cooled great in >100 degree days driven hard through the mountains. The car isn't air conditioned and my thinking was that I'd add new holes between the existing ones if I ever need them, but it hasn't yet. I like it because it's in the style but still relatively discrete.

There is also the renegade hybrids front valance: http://www.renegadehybrids.com/914/SBC/Pictures/Pic05.jpg

That's some nice work Scotty. Thx for the heads up. I'd bet that the molds are correct but the material choice isn't. That styrene based resin shit shrinks. What became of that car? Paul: I've got that same cut out except that I square cut the area out that has the holes. And yes, it has been adequate to this point but I suspect that will all change this summer with the addition of AC. I'm simply looking ahead so I will have some plan of action when that day arrives.

I have that one on my car. It really scoops the air in.

It's not a fitment issue, they can be reworked to fit.

The issue is that the overall shape is nothing like the real thing.

I actually compared my bumper to the real thing side to side. I already knew mine wasn't right but to see the difference in shape closeup when looking at the real deal was sobering.

And to answer another question asked earlier, no, even the ones AA used to sell in the early days were *not* molded off the original.

I'm quite pleased with my 916 bumper...

Click to view attachment

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Yours looks just like mine with that huge ugly dimple along the front.

Whoever made that mold must have been drunk.

real deal car

Yepp, notice that there's NO DIMPLE along the front ...


Someone needs to take a mold off one of the real ones and offer good reproductions.

I was going to suggest making a prototype from craft foam; I've seen some interesting custom parts developed from craft foam mock-ups

I'm just glad mine is black. Hides the dimple in the shadows a bit better than other colors...like red!
I'll admit I've never seen a good one. At least mine fits better than the others.

FYI all that guys stuff on ebay appears to be from QRS
http://www.qrsfiberglass.com/porsche-914-9...e=1&Items=6

The QRS stuff I have and have seen is much nicer than a lot of the other stuff out there.

The one on my car I purchased used in 1993. It had 4 different paint jobs on it si it was quite old. I always thought it was either pulled off the original or a very good copy. No dimple.

I'm better than I deserve. And those ARE ugly bumpers.

Damn, I'm getting old. I can't see the dimple! Is it that obvious?

Look at the bottom picture of post 27. You can see the distortion on the reflection from the ground.

It's on the front of the bumper just above and on either side of the oil cooler opening.

Click to view attachment

This one has two.

Also, I agree with Elliot.

Mine was as old as Ricks - 1992. No dimple, and the bumper top was the same size from the edge of the hood all the way across (it did not get narrow in the middle like 99% of the ones you see today). PO filled the body seams. I was just waiting for new paint job time before breaking it off with a hammer. Click to view attachment

I had a GREAT reproduction rear 916 bumper when I first got the car - same 1992 era. I caught the edge on a parking block and it could not be repaired. Got stuck with the new crappy one. There is a massive difference in the real/old reproduction rear bumper verses what they sell now.

Real/early repro (notice the body line around the license plate):

Click to view attachment

What they all look like now:

Click to view attachment

I don't know who initially created this, but it is like they didn't even try....

OH, and to the op regarding cooling, I used the stock GT fan shroud vented under the car. Worked great.

This was the work I did to my rear bumper to make it work better with the body... I only did a fraction of this to the front bumper and in reality it still needs a lot more work.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...4780&st=143

Hey DB! Your car is looking good! I am doing the exact same thing to my car for the Build-off challenge. I ordered the same non-flared valance a few days ago. I'm happy to finally see a picture of a narrow body car with this setup. Yours is the first I've seen. I'd love to see pictures of your oil cooler installation. Are you running an auxillary electric fan in the front trunk? What oil cooler did you install? What size motor and what size oil lines are you running?

The only additional thing I'm thinking of adding is a screen of some sort. Thinking of fabbing one by using metal from an extra engine decklid so it all matches.

DB is running a water pumper, like me!