That was funny!!!

Yeah a little body massage just like that

It's surprising how much I have gotten used to just moving panels around with my hands

Here is another "massage" technique from last weekend

So I am blocking on the windshield cowl, which is sort of like trying to block a beer can. It flexes every time you touch it. But the blocking revealed the edges of the first slots were low. I don't want to fill right up to the first slots, so I needed to straighten them. I got a pick out of the box and hooked it under the edge, just a little light pressure and you can pull it up straight. Two or three tugs in a few different spots and it blocks out level 

Cody and I are also working on some support for the Xenon air dam

I want to avoid this

So I am missing the valance support on the front of the car. There were a few parts left, but it was pretty much gone. So we cleaned it back to the radiator support and started templating

Cereal boxes make for great pattern material

Cody hates body work but he likes to weld, so I got him to help me fab

t

It needs a little more dolly work and I plan on adding flanges down the lower edges similar to the original. It would have been nice to have made it all out of one piece but I don't have the tools or the skills to do that. I think if I had a shrinker/stretcher setup I might could have done it. A metal brake would have been nice to have too.

I am working on another bracket that will be mounted to the back of the air dam that will act as a mate and have through bolts so the air dam can be removed. I have some 1/4" and 3/16's rod that is bent to match the air dam shape that will also be added to give some support and shape

 

Terrific,  it seems like all of us have had to fab up something to keep those air dams from snow ploughing. How are you attaching the new support to the dam?

23 minutes ago, grannyknot said:

Terrific,  it seems like all of us have had to fab up something to keep those air dams from snow ploughing. How are you attaching the new support to the dam?

I am planning on using Fusor 411 (?) for skimming the ends of the air dam where I reworked the ends for the bumper slots. The bars I made fit inside the front lip and behind the front crease. So I was planning on using the Fusor to glue the bars to the inside of the air dam. That's the plan, I don't know if it will work or not.

Fusor 401,  egar to see how that works, it's suppose to be great stuff but I haven't tried it yet.

3 minutes ago, grannyknot said:

Fusor 401,  egar to see how that works, it's suppose to be great stuff but I haven't tried it yet.

 

3 minutes ago, grannyknot said:

Fusor 401,  egar to see how that works, it's suppose to be great stuff but I haven't tried it yet.

Fusor 401, Yeah, something like that. I did a lot of research for products that I could use for filling a urethane air dam. A pretty specific task. Fusor was one of the products and I have used them in the past. That's probably what I'll use...

Did some more work on the air dam support

Here is the air dam side bracket

 

Added some flanges

I will drill some through bolts for final mounting.

For those others that have used the Xenon air dam. Do they have this waviness on your install? I used a heat gun on it some today. It got better but I can't get rid of all of it.

If I push the upper bar forward it reduces this waviness but it is sort of frustrating. If it was a TPO bumper and not urethane I would cut it and take the waves out. But that won't work on urethane

 

On 12/20/2018 at 6:48 PM, grannyknot said:

Fusor 401,  egar to see how that works, it's suppose to be great stuff but I haven't tried it yet.

The one I printed off was Fusor 114

Very slick, I like the frame. I can't believe I didn't take any pics but I made a template of the top wavy part out the same aluminum sheet I used for the splitter and cemented and bolted it in underneath with decorative smooth heads on them.

Absolutely crazy that this much work needs to be done to make them work.

12 hours ago, grannyknot said:

Very slick, I like the frame. I can't believe I didn't take any pics but I made a template of the top wavy part out the same aluminum sheet I used for the splitter and cemented and bolted it in underneath with decorative smooth heads on them.

Absolutely crazy that this much work needs to be done to make them work.

Thanks

Yeah, I was a little disappointed that I needed to do this much tweaking. The waviness comes from the sugar scoops being further apart than the xenon mold expects. I don't know if this is always a problem but so far the two of us have had to deal with it.

I am hoping the Fusor will bond the frame tight enough to the air dam that if I want to tweak the shape near the wheel wells I can reshape the bars slightly to change the shape.

I don't really like the transition from the fender to the air dam. The lower fender edge drops pretty much vertically near the marker light but at the air dam connection it turns outward at a slope almost immediately. I would like the transition to be smoother. I might need to add a picture  to make this more understandable...

Fascinating fabrication!