Front bumperettes done. Whuddya think?

[3nSahalee]

Just a few minor adjustments left to make.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

Let me know your thoughts on them.

-sorry for the poor cellphone pics.

Next project is swapping out the rear bumper to a chrome one. It just may get some special treatment, too.

-steve

[MrNvgtr]

Very interesting bumperette solution. I wouldn't even call that a bumperette. More of a custom bumper. I like it because it looks factory. How did you make it, or is that a secret right now?

Great job!

[Swiftus]

Looks to me like the tails of a early rear bumper that would normally come forward... Pretty snazzy work man!

[Meintii]

I like it... You can tell people it the rare 74 1/2 split bumper 2002 option

[DUDONLY]

I like it alot !!!!!!!!

[BigDog]

Nice work! Ping me to come check them out!

BD

[tony2002]

VERY COOL! it looks period correct, reminds me of the early 70's Camaro.

[TonyHavana]

"Whuddya think?"

I think you need a new cellphone....

Interesting idea, but I think you need to cover up the old bb holes.

[3nSahalee]

Thanks for the positive responses!

I wasn't sure how it'd go over, some purists might be appalled at such a revamp of the bumper. But, considering it uses actual '02 parts I thought it would fly.

I had been considering which route to take for some time: big bumper tuck, big bumper trim & tuck, or standard early bumper swap. I had an epiphany and came up with this. It seemed to be the easiest project, and the option that would result in the cleanest end result.

It was a fairly straight-forward job.

-used some 1-3/4" OD galvanized conduit to replace the shocks- fits perfectly in the rubber sleeve, chopped up the old big bumper mounts and welded them to the new tubes. my mounting bracket angle is a bit off, but it's ok, and very secure.

-i had some spare rear bumper side pieces that were missing the mounting tabs. these were trimmed down quite a bit, and i created new mounting tabs by bending some of the excess material into place.

-a lot of test fitting and grinding & trimming to get em right... i still need to work on the contours a bit more.

-took a chopsaw to the rubber strip.

-i need to fab up some endcaps for where they meet the airdam.

All-in-All, i think it's a great, new and updated, yet retro look that was a fairly brilliant (patent-pending) idea, (surprised no-one had done this previously in 40 years) and a pretty clean & well executed install for a hack like myself!

at some point, (waaay down the road), i'll strip her down, eliminate the side markers & knee trim and fill in all the extra holes. i've got a few black plastic trim-plugs in the extra front bumper holes for now.

Thanks again guys! LOVE this place.

-steve

[midnightmotorsport]

I have to know if you saw those around before you started...

I did the exact same work on my buddy Jon's '02 about a month ago here at the shop in Seattle. Same long-tail ends, but we trimmed and contoured them to the body so they didn't stick out so far, removed the rubber trim (left some allen bolts to fill the holes), and frenched in a set of PIAA fog lights that I had sitting around. His air dam is one from an e21 320is that we cut down and mounted as a joke, before realizing that it looked pretty good. Also please note the old-skool hang-down side mirror. Useless as hell, but it looks good on the car.

Attached are a couple of pics of Jon's car from May. I just had to laugh when I saw this post, because either you guys crossed paths early on, or else great minds think alike, Washington state rules, and everybody else can suck it!

What's really funny is that the exact same "70's Camaro RS look" was the inspiration... Anyway it happened, nice looking bumperettes! You should swing by the shop if you're ever in Seattle; your car would fit right in. Screw the purists!

[3nSahalee]

CRAAAZY!

I had not seen this treatment before, I just had an inspiration late last year, it actually came from my buddy's 60's-era ferrari, and after months of toiling it all finally came together for me this past weekend.

Where's your shop?

I'd love to come check it out and meet some other '02 knuckleheads.

-steve

[midnightmotorsport]

I'm in the industrial South end of West Seattle, in a crazy house/shop conversion-in-progress off of West Marginal way. If you check my profile, it has a link to the shop webpage, which has a map, etc. Haven't updated the customer gallery in a long time though! Lots of cool new '02 stuff to add!

I'd love to see the car and chat... We're thinking of putting together another Seattle drive soon, so it would be great to get more people together.

[mtriple]

I like what I'm seeing here. Looks stock-ish and not over done. Nice work

hamada

[Chamonix72]

I have to know if you saw those around before you started...

I did the exact same work on my buddy Jon's '02 about a month ago here at the shop in Seattle. Same long-tail ends, but we trimmed and contoured them to the body so they didn't stick out so far, removed the rubber trim (left some allen bolts to fill the holes), and frenched in a set of PIAA fog lights that I had sitting around. His air dam is one from an e21 320is that we cut down and mounted as a joke, before realizing that it looked pretty good. Also please note the old-skool hang-down side mirror. Useless as hell, but it looks good on the car.

Attached are a couple of pics of Jon's car from May. I just had to laugh when I saw this post, because either you guys crossed paths early on, or else great minds think alike, Washington state rules, and everybody else can suck it!

What's really funny is that the exact same "70's Camaro RS look" was the inspiration... Anyway it happened, nice looking bumperettes! You should swing by the shop if you're ever in Seattle; your car would fit right in. Screw the purists!

I thought the same thing - it's even green like John's. All that's missing are some overpriced PIAAs and yellow headlights.

[MrNvgtr]

They even use the same camera. The second one is freakin perfect. I love the creativity. It's a rare instance around here that something like that can be pulled off and not look out of place.