Smoothie bumper

[81hvychvy]

Whats up guys...

Well, with my new found love for welding, I was thinking about making my own smoothie bumper. The original bumper that came on my truck was painted, and i plan to paint it again. But what i was thinking about doing was welding the bumper bolts on from the inside and grinding down the head on the outside. Using filler to smooth it all over, and repainting.

Let me know what you guys think. Let me here your opinions.



Thanks, stephen

[shortbed454]

that sounds like a hell of an idea. i have a good bumper and i just might give that a try. thanks for the idea.

[44gmcnewf]

you would probly want to weld the out side to and then grind that down before you put your filler on it.

[Ivan D.]

you would probly want to weld the out side to and then grind that down before you put your filler on it.
Yep, that's a good idea - don't forget to sand the bumper down to bare metal, then weld the bolts on the inside, cut the heads off, weld on the outside (use a slightly higher voltage so that the weld looks like the two parts melted together), grind and sand that, fill and paint, and ya're done :D

[81hvychvy]

My only concern is safety issues, but if done right i wouldnt see any problem. Right?

[44gmcnewf]

as long as your welds penrate and are good and strong i dont see a problem. Just wondering can you take the bumper off undo the botls and weld the brackets on the inside of the bumper. Just use the bolts to line it up and then fill the wholes.

[yellowfiero88]

I took and welded 3/8" x 1" bolts on the inside of the bumper. carefully centered them over the holes and welded all around the head of the bolt. Then on the outside, I filled the hole with weld and ground them smooth finishing it off with a metal file (no bondo!!!) Here is the minor problems with doing it on this style bumper the way I did it- the bumper is moved out 3/16" (or the thickness of the head of the bolt) and also however you do it, you are going to have to modify the bumper brackets so they will go on. Both problems are minor in my book for the final look. Sides if this was easy everyone would be doing it!!

[81hvychvy]

how did you have prbolems with the brackets? I havent looked at mine yet, so i'm not sure what you mean.

[Ivan D.]

how did you have prbolems with the brackets? I havent looked at mine yet, so i'm not sure what you mean.
there are 6 bolts for the bumper, top 4 are parallel to each other, but the bottom 2 are angled upwards, so it'll be kinda tricky to slide the bumper in with the bolts welded to it. An easy solution would be enlarging the bottom holes vertically so they become slots, this way you can just put the top bolts of the bumper in the brackets and then just swing the bottom so the 2 remaining ones slide in the slots you just made - you'll need some washers behind the brackets and before the nuts obviously, but that's about all.

[81hvychvy]

Hmm. Sounds simple enough... Add this to the list of crap to do...

1:smoothie bumper
2:reverse tilt hood
3:chop frame for shortie bed
4: c-notch
5:shave handles
6:air bags



crap... i gotta lot to do!
Thanks for the help everyone!

[44gmcnewf]

lol your list is short. Im up here in the rust belt. Show us some pictures of what your working with.

[yellowfiero88]

there are 6 bolts for the bumper, top 4 are parallel to each other, but the bottom 2 are angled upwards, so it'll be kinda tricky to slide the bumper in with the bolts welded to it. An easy solution would be enlarging the bottom holes vertically so they become slots, this way you can just put the top bolts of the bumper in the brackets and then just swing the bottom so the 2 remaining ones slide in the slots you just made - you'll need some washers behind the brackets and before the nuts obviously, but that's about all.

Exactly what he said!!!!! Oh yea by the way Ivan D, I likey stripper chicks 2!! :D !!

[Ivan D.]

Exactly what he said!!!!! Oh yea by the way Ivan D, I likey stripper chicks 2!! :D !!
Haha, well actually there's a reason for that to be there - my ex was a stripper at some point, my current kinda-girlfriend and soon to be official one used to be a stripper too :tongue: By the way (to make this post completely off-topic) I have a friend who is crazy about Fieros, he'd drool all over the place if he saw yers, lol :D

[bigblock73]

A classic mod that has been around for decades...one of the best things anyone can do to clean up their ride.

Here is how I am doing mine, and have seen it done by several.

1. Cut off the heads of the carraige bolts, leaving the square peg.
2. Tack weld stud to inside of bumper, being sure square peg is flush with outside of the bumper.
3. On inside of bumper, place washer over stud and completely weld outer ring to bumper itself, and completely weld inner ring to the stud. You may need to bend the washer to match the contours of the bumper.
4. On outside, fill in the very small gaps and grind smooth. No filler needed.

This is a good method to doing this, as the welded washer gives you back your strength and clamping force that the original carraige bolts heads gave you.

[bob308]

if you take your time and fill the welds right then you don't need the bondo. i narrowed the step bumper on my stepside so that the ends were even with my tailights.