My new custom front bumper cover and side skirts - HUGE POST SORRY
09-18-2007, 01:19 AM
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My new custom front bumper cover and side skirts - HUGE POST SORRY
Hello all,
I finally have a few free moments to post some better pictures of my new custom front bumper cover and side skirts.
First a preamble…
I always liked the front end of my 85 928S. The bumper cover and lower valence had a real muscle car look to it that makes the car look powerful, and gives it a “ready to go” stance.
I love the S4 rear cover and think it a real styling improvement, but always found the frond a little tame. Especially for such a car. From level at dead on front, I thought it looked perfect, but as I moved off dead front to more of a side profile, I thought the S4 seemed pointed, and a little to refined (or civilized).
Looking at what Porsche had done with their cars from the 2001’ish 996 Turbo on, I really liked the front bumper styling with the grilled intake ducts. To me, it was a return to that powerful front stance.
This is what I know Porsche would have done if it kept the 928 on the line.
This is what I wanted.
This is what no one was producing!
Oh well, let’s make **** happen.
I first snagged a beat S4 front cover to mess with. (I had to get a couple of missing pieces for that bumper cover from 928 INTL, and then Roger. Thanks Jim, and Roger!).
I then started to look at the current Porsche line-up to see what would work. I started with a used 996 front cover, but it was not going to work. Looking around I was interested in the Cayenne Turbo cover. I snagged a beat one of those, but the ducts were too huge. Then I sized up a Cayenne S at the stealer, and was quite impressed at its dimensions.
Pricing a new Cayenne S cover showed it to be dirt cheap (in comparison to an S4 cover) so I purchased a new one to cut to shreds.
Then my beautiful daughter arrived so this all went to the back of the garage.
15 months later sleep is back, and mid-day naps provide 3 hours of uninterrupted wrenching.
I built a mock floor on casters so I could put the S4 up 2 feet on stands, and then roll in and out a simulated floor to show actual ride height of the front end. This allowed me good access under the front to build a bumper, and to then check how things were setting-up in height, level, and looks. I pretty much had to do this, as we all know the 928 suspension has to settle off a lift, and this would screw up any work in progress.
I can’t remember, but I think the yellow side pieces are 996 C4S (??).
Once I finished with the cutting and fitment. I screwed everything together for the body shop to work their magic. Actually it is Mario at CFD to work his magic. Mario is the best tin man that I have ever seen, and I have seen a few.
But first there had to be side skirts. I think the only nice side skirts for the 928 are the Strosek skirts. I wanted these, but with the front bumper cover lowered significantly, they were now absolutely required to balance the cars looks.
I ordered the skirts from Strosek in Germany. They were an absolute pleasure to deal with. They gave me my choice of shipping, of which I chose airline cargo, and it was cheap (you must customs clear, and pick up the import goods at the airlines cargo hub/office. No delivery. No biggie if you are local).
The Strosek quality is top shelf! These pieces are not cheap mold pop’s.
Once again…t he Strosek quality is top shelf!
BTW, with the Strosek side skirts, if you want the rear brake cooling ducting, you will be cutting out a bit of metal from your lower quarter panels to accommodate them.
Once at the shop Mario joined everything up just as requested. He also had to cut the center grill down about 18” by cutting the center section out. I also had to have the front toe hock receptacle relocated so I can get access to it through the new Cayenne grills. I also purchased a 4x4 sheet of black automotive 6mm plastic to use to finish the underside of the bumper. Sourcing this simplest of material was for me the hardest part of this project. A lot of leg work here.
Sorry I can’t remember what the products were that the body shop used with bonding the bumper plastics. There were 3, and they can be seen in the pics.
With everything done. I am very happy. I can’t help but pause to catch the new work at different angles, and lighting.
All I have left to do is complete the rad air ducting inside the cover, and put all the OEM wheel well plastic back in.
A lot of fun!
I finally have a few free moments to post some better pictures of my new custom front bumper cover and side skirts.
First a preamble…
I always liked the front end of my 85 928S. The bumper cover and lower valence had a real muscle car look to it that makes the car look powerful, and gives it a “ready to go” stance.
I love the S4 rear cover and think it a real styling improvement, but always found the frond a little tame. Especially for such a car. From level at dead on front, I thought it looked perfect, but as I moved off dead front to more of a side profile, I thought the S4 seemed pointed, and a little to refined (or civilized).
Looking at what Porsche had done with their cars from the 2001’ish 996 Turbo on, I really liked the front bumper styling with the grilled intake ducts. To me, it was a return to that powerful front stance.
This is what I know Porsche would have done if it kept the 928 on the line.
This is what I wanted.
This is what no one was producing!
Oh well, let’s make **** happen.
I first snagged a beat S4 front cover to mess with. (I had to get a couple of missing pieces for that bumper cover from 928 INTL, and then Roger. Thanks Jim, and Roger!).
I then started to look at the current Porsche line-up to see what would work. I started with a used 996 front cover, but it was not going to work. Looking around I was interested in the Cayenne Turbo cover. I snagged a beat one of those, but the ducts were too huge. Then I sized up a Cayenne S at the stealer, and was quite impressed at its dimensions.
Pricing a new Cayenne S cover showed it to be dirt cheap (in comparison to an S4 cover) so I purchased a new one to cut to shreds.
Then my beautiful daughter arrived so this all went to the back of the garage.
15 months later sleep is back, and mid-day naps provide 3 hours of uninterrupted wrenching.
I built a mock floor on casters so I could put the S4 up 2 feet on stands, and then roll in and out a simulated floor to show actual ride height of the front end. This allowed me good access under the front to build a bumper, and to then check how things were setting-up in height, level, and looks. I pretty much had to do this, as we all know the 928 suspension has to settle off a lift, and this would screw up any work in progress.
I can’t remember, but I think the yellow side pieces are 996 C4S (??).
Once I finished with the cutting and fitment. I screwed everything together for the body shop to work their magic. Actually it is Mario at CFD to work his magic. Mario is the best tin man that I have ever seen, and I have seen a few.
But first there had to be side skirts. I think the only nice side skirts for the 928 are the Strosek skirts. I wanted these, but with the front bumper cover lowered significantly, they were now absolutely required to balance the cars looks.
I ordered the skirts from Strosek in Germany. They were an absolute pleasure to deal with. They gave me my choice of shipping, of which I chose airline cargo, and it was cheap (you must customs clear, and pick up the import goods at the airlines cargo hub/office. No delivery. No biggie if you are local).
The Strosek quality is top shelf! These pieces are not cheap mold pop’s.
Once again…t he Strosek quality is top shelf!
BTW, with the Strosek side skirts, if you want the rear brake cooling ducting, you will be cutting out a bit of metal from your lower quarter panels to accommodate them.
Once at the shop Mario joined everything up just as requested. He also had to cut the center grill down about 18” by cutting the center section out. I also had to have the front toe hock receptacle relocated so I can get access to it through the new Cayenne grills. I also purchased a 4x4 sheet of black automotive 6mm plastic to use to finish the underside of the bumper. Sourcing this simplest of material was for me the hardest part of this project. A lot of leg work here.
Sorry I can’t remember what the products were that the body shop used with bonding the bumper plastics. There were 3, and they can be seen in the pics.
With everything done. I am very happy. I can’t help but pause to catch the new work at different angles, and lighting.
All I have left to do is complete the rad air ducting inside the cover, and put all the OEM wheel well plastic back in.
A lot of fun!
09-18-2007, 01:25 AM
#2
Administrator - "Tyson"
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Wow!!!
It does look factory. Excellent work. Let me know when I can order one
It does look factory. Excellent work. Let me know when I can order one
09-18-2007, 02:22 AM
#7
Nordschleife Master
Honestly, I thought you bought that cover from someone. Considering what it must have cost you 2x bumper covers, countless hours of cutting and fitting and cutting and fitting, I think you would have been better off going to a place that pops civic bumpers and had them give it a go with your design.
I applaud your effort, thats a hell of allot of work for a bumper cover. And if its what you really want they its all worth it. If your looking for an opinion then read on, if your not then stop here. But I think it looks terrible, especially from the profile view. Even the deeper side skirts are no match for the depth of that spoiler. It looks like a brick from the front. Also it looks like you will hit every single bump or driveway with that thing. Which then makes it terribly impractical. I had heard it called the cayenne bumper, but i had no idea it came from the corpse of one. Seriously, the Cayenne is the most laughed at Porsche design in history, what would posess you to take design cues from an ugly truck and put it onto a classic 928? Tasteless, sorry, i wont sugar coat it, and i know some people will be mad at me for being so direct, but the entire package as a whole is terribly conceived. It looks like what a 16 year old kid would do to a 928 with honda mag parts catalogs. The only saving grace is that it actually looks finished, if you can call it that. I mean, at least its painted to match the car (and painted pretty well by the looks of it) and not just covered in grey primer. Its very San Fernando Valley. I also imagine that if you do get a bump, or hit a curb to hard, which unfortunately is inevetable, it wont bend, but will shatter as its made from what 5 or 6 different pieces? Did you consider changing the angle of the cayenne portion of the nose, so that its not vertical but perhaps mimics the stock angle? I know that would leave more modification to the sides, but youve already added parts to the sides anyway.
I do applaud your effort though. It looks like a hell of allot of work, i just wish your end result was worth the journey.
However I would love to know how you did the rear qtr panels? Those look nice. Did you pound out your stock steel ones, or did you buy GTS quarters and weld them in?
I applaud your effort, thats a hell of allot of work for a bumper cover. And if its what you really want they its all worth it. If your looking for an opinion then read on, if your not then stop here. But I think it looks terrible, especially from the profile view. Even the deeper side skirts are no match for the depth of that spoiler. It looks like a brick from the front. Also it looks like you will hit every single bump or driveway with that thing. Which then makes it terribly impractical. I had heard it called the cayenne bumper, but i had no idea it came from the corpse of one. Seriously, the Cayenne is the most laughed at Porsche design in history, what would posess you to take design cues from an ugly truck and put it onto a classic 928? Tasteless, sorry, i wont sugar coat it, and i know some people will be mad at me for being so direct, but the entire package as a whole is terribly conceived. It looks like what a 16 year old kid would do to a 928 with honda mag parts catalogs. The only saving grace is that it actually looks finished, if you can call it that. I mean, at least its painted to match the car (and painted pretty well by the looks of it) and not just covered in grey primer. Its very San Fernando Valley. I also imagine that if you do get a bump, or hit a curb to hard, which unfortunately is inevetable, it wont bend, but will shatter as its made from what 5 or 6 different pieces? Did you consider changing the angle of the cayenne portion of the nose, so that its not vertical but perhaps mimics the stock angle? I know that would leave more modification to the sides, but youve already added parts to the sides anyway.
I do applaud your effort though. It looks like a hell of allot of work, i just wish your end result was worth the journey.
However I would love to know how you did the rear qtr panels? Those look nice. Did you pound out your stock steel ones, or did you buy GTS quarters and weld them in?
Last edited by RyanPerrella; 09-18-2007 at 04:20 AM.
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09-18-2007, 02:48 AM
#10
Race Car
Maybe not to everyones liking but a great job none the less, my only thoughts would have been to scale the Cayenne bumper down to the right size and added, again a scaled lower spoiler/valance. If you look at the photo of the Cayenne that you posted it actually maintains a lower spoiler similar to the 928 S4's. It IMO would have given it a nice "tuck" back into the wheels vs just being all out there.
Just my 0.02 It's hard to get past the looks of the car I fell in love with so long ago.
Again it looks great! Good work!
Michael
09-18-2007, 02:52 AM
#12
Nordschleife Master
I can appreciate the effort, but it dosent work at all for me. But there are many here that seem to like it, so maybe its me thats got the messed up wiring in the brain.
09-18-2007, 03:36 AM
#14
Electron Wrangler
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Ahh Ryan's not with it...
I like it ...
I thinks its just a bit too low in front to be fully practical... I hope that never happens though !!!
Overall though I agree with you Porsche would have (and maybe still will) move in this direction on their updated GT car.
Overall - excellent job of blending... It does look a little heavy looking at the front end from the side with the flat lower fenders....
I think from the front though its an excellent look. Quite the modern Porsche. Looks more like a 996TT than a Cayenne in the end to me... (despite the sourcing...)
Good job - I know this was a huge effort. This GTS quarters look really good. I think a slightly bigger wing might work on your car too...
Alan
I like it ...
I thinks its just a bit too low in front to be fully practical... I hope that never happens though !!!Overall though I agree with you Porsche would have (and maybe still will) move in this direction on their updated GT car.
Overall - excellent job of blending... It does look a little heavy looking at the front end from the side with the flat lower fenders....
I think from the front though its an excellent look. Quite the modern Porsche. Looks more like a 996TT than a Cayenne in the end to me... (despite the sourcing...)
Good job - I know this was a huge effort. This GTS quarters look really good. I think a slightly bigger wing might work on your car too...
Alan
