Since 56 smoothies aren't available yet...and may never be, I have resorted to building my own. I'm sure Danchuck will come out with them as soon as I'm finished.
I wanted to show the process I used to build one, and a few tips and tricks since our self-proclaimed resident expert (streaker, or slacker??) smoothie builder wouldn't divulge anything a couple years ago. :sign0020:
I started by selecting good pieces from the bumpers I had, and separating them from the brackets and from each other by removing the rivets....
Then I removed the chrome and ground the nickel and copper back for welding. It's not easy to remove copper any other way, I have found, and a local plater wouldn't even do it for me. Next, I bolted the pieces to the brackets that I had bolted to the car to check for fit. I found that the bumper was anything but straight at the joint as this picture shows....
So I had to make some cuts in the bumper to get it straight on both sides of the joint. I hammered on it some, then I used a thick straightedge that I clamped to the bumper for tacking the pieces together. I checked for fit again, and you can see it's much straighter....
Once I was happy with the fit, and straightness of the bumper, I welded up the gap on front with a TIG welder and ground the welds some.....
Then I trimmed back the overlapping flange on the back of the bumper...
Then I continued to weld and grind on the front and back of the bumper, and "bodywork" it smooth. This is the result....
I'm leaving the two bolt holes unfilled until last, so I can use the bumper brackets to continue fitting it to the car until I'm happy with it.
Next steps are to modify the brackets on the fender and shorten the diagonal brace to fit the brackets that will be welded to the back of the bumper. The bolt holes will be filled later too.
I wanted to show the process I used to build one, and a few tips and tricks since our self-proclaimed resident expert (streaker, or slacker??) smoothie builder wouldn't divulge anything a couple years ago. :sign0020:
I started by selecting good pieces from the bumpers I had, and separating them from the brackets and from each other by removing the rivets....
Then I removed the chrome and ground the nickel and copper back for welding. It's not easy to remove copper any other way, I have found, and a local plater wouldn't even do it for me. Next, I bolted the pieces to the brackets that I had bolted to the car to check for fit. I found that the bumper was anything but straight at the joint as this picture shows....
So I had to make some cuts in the bumper to get it straight on both sides of the joint. I hammered on it some, then I used a thick straightedge that I clamped to the bumper for tacking the pieces together. I checked for fit again, and you can see it's much straighter....
Once I was happy with the fit, and straightness of the bumper, I welded up the gap on front with a TIG welder and ground the welds some.....
Then I trimmed back the overlapping flange on the back of the bumper...
Then I continued to weld and grind on the front and back of the bumper, and "bodywork" it smooth. This is the result....
I'm leaving the two bolt holes unfilled until last, so I can use the bumper brackets to continue fitting it to the car until I'm happy with it.
Next steps are to modify the brackets on the fender and shorten the diagonal brace to fit the brackets that will be welded to the back of the bumper. The bolt holes will be filled later too.