odurandina

i wish they had built the 968 for a few more years.... (scroll down the page)...



on my 968... i've had this crazy idea of installing a 997 or GT2/GT3 front bumper/splitter going on for a while now,

but this deal ended up starting a little sooner than i expected when i did some damage to my batwing and snapped the lower bar of my front bumper... after hitting a tree branch on a windy road in western Mass, shortly after a thunderstorm last summer... the minor damage hastened my plans to attempt this install.

i will post photos as i can imagine some of you must already be thinking: Allan [that's me] is really gonna screw his 968 royal by attempting to install the lower section of the front bumper of a 2008-911 Carrera to the car.

i am including a few photos of the new bumper previous to cutting the large top section off. i was lucky enough to get this OEM bumper/air dam for less than $500 off ebay... the owner of the Carrera had put a little gouge into the center part of the bumper [a part of it that i would not be needing] and he decided to replace it rather than patch it. MY GAIN... and checking almost every day for about 2 months, i was finally able to locate this nice piece. i went slowly because these bumpers cost about $2,000, and you can all imagine that i didn't want to cut off too much and really end up with a problem...

but here's where it really gets weird... after cutting enough of the bumper, i decided to put it up on the car to get an idea of what it might eventually look like and... i got a very pleasant surprise...

it actually looks good, and the fit is good too ! i may end up making very few mods to this piece going on the car.


my first question is for you guys who have a basic knowledge of the substrates that i am working with and the adhesives that will make these two pieces bond properly... i am trying to determine if Devcon can be used as a substitute for 3M Duramix/Automix [automix is it's new name]... why am i asking ?? because Devcon adhesives come in larger tubes and cost LESS -- much less than Duramix which costs about 180 dollars per litre, and you all can imagine, that i am going to need quite a lot of this stuff... like, maybe 2 or 3 litres.

i am going to do a good job on this install and you will be able to hang from this bumper when it is completed, because i have a pretty solid plan in place overall. here's a few photos... i will try to get photos of the cut bumper up tomorrow. enjoy the pics.


answer to the other thread:

here's the car that the vette was chasing... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9wbe...eature=channel





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centerpunch

This site has a lot of info on repairing plastic bumpers in their "how to" and "step by step" sections:

http://www.urethanesupply.com/index.php
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Po924S

This is crazy! I can't wait to see it! Ha. Good luck!

Damian in NJ

Measure twice, cut once . . . and I guess the idea isn't so crazy, after all Porsche did the reverse, grafting the 968 nose onto the 965 to create the flachbau.

ernie9468

Take your time & like Damian said measures are very important in that kind of project you don't want to cut twice beleive me each bad cuts will be hours of work to fix,good luck .

87 944 C

it's a cool idea i like it, only one question, wouldn't a new 968 bumper and associated parts needed been cheaper, or is it on of those, i don't care bout the money part?

Marcquito

Don't you get it yet? When you own a 944, there is no such thing as a "budget"! I think buying a 968 bumper would be too easy. This is one hell of a project! Very unique once finished, that's for sure!

Joel8005

Wurth has 2 products... 1, is a 2 part bonding material for joining parts together and the other is a 2 part sand-able finishing product.

Cheers, Joel

Joel8005

I just finished up opening up my 968 front bumper cover to allow more air flow through the intercooler. Using the Wurth products and Carbon fiber mesh tape the job way easier than I expected. I now plan to take off the rear bumperettes and convert the rear Bumper to a ROW look.
The only advise that I can give is before you apply any bonding agent or filler to your bumper is prep it with an aggressive grit sand paper to allow the materials to bond better. Nothing sticks well to the bumper material.

Cheers,

odurandina

thanks all of you... Joel, Centerpunch, Damian, Marquito, Ernie... all the positive comments from you all is so much appreciated...

i need a lot of input here as to help from really screwing this up.

the bumper fit almost perfectly once all the lips were cut... next up, scuffing all the surface areas that will be exposed to the new plastic... then clamping the two pieces down... next, i will be drilling about 100-110 3/8" holes on both sides through the entire works in a honeycomb pattern [but not locating the holes too close to each other and thus weakening the structure]...

here the new plastic will be able to ooze through the entire works and set [not skimping on resin]... at this point i will need to do the same in the center in much the same way i did at the sides... now the new lower bumper will be firmly attached to the original bumper of the car...

next -- installing the splitter that runs under the new bumper... this piece functions as a CRADLE for the new, lower bumper from being pushed down into the tarmac [and backward as well] -- thus being stripped off the car -- and will be braced to the car by means of 2 threaded rods [about 10 inches long] running up and down into connections in front of the radiator at the steel bumper...

and by three additional points [where the plastic batwing had been attached just forward of the belly pan]... once again, the splitter [not shown in the photos] will prevent the bumper from moving backwards and being slammed down by the wall of wind that will strike it.

at this point, the cosmetic work will be able to begin and i will be able to smooth everything out... the not so fun part is that i haven't done any of this kind of work before and i am learning about plastics and other than [knowing] that 3M Duramix 30 minute resin is the one of the best plastics to use, i am basically clueless as to finding an acceptable substitute.

Duramix comes in 200 ml resin/cat tubes and costs about 700 dollars a gallon...

there are resins that are even more exotic used in the aircraft industry that i might be using because i have a good friend at ______ who wants to help... he mentioned that he can easily get me about 40-50 200 ml tubes if i need it... i forget the name of the stuff but its very toxic, runs close to $2,000 per gallon, must be dispensed with a gun, kept off hands, good ventilation, etc...

try to get more photos up very soon.

ilikemy944

Sit that piece up on your car so we can get an idea of what it will look like.

Damian in NJ

Cross post on our board, some 968 guys don't visit here please!

JimV8

That quite an ambitious project. I got this urethane adhesive from a local body shop supply house when I had to fix a tear in the front bumper cover. The first try didn't work because I didn't rough up the sides of the cut well enough and also didn't use enough stuff. The second time I covered the back with fibre glass mat and feathered the adhesive back over a larger area. Good outcome. I will be opening up the mid slot as the oil cooler is going just behind the bumper and using the same method. The tube, which is two part cost about $ 30.00.

odurandina

well, it looks like i procrastinated a bit too long. lol. somebody beat me to it. lol.


thanks goes out to Ernie for finding the site... http://hvtm.hu/index.php3?ID=0031&chID=42





and the discussion on the "68" forum... https://rennlist.com/forums/968-foru...-end-look.html


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86 951 Driver

Did you ever end doing this or not?

You have more posts than anyone I know. Half of them don't really make sense either.