added fog lights IN TO a steel 95-98 front bumper

[vroomzoomboom]

did you ever get around to painting the bulbs? if you did could you post a pic of the front end again?

that probably wont happen until about april, or may. it's still to cold out right now.

 

[CDW6212R]

Excellent work, all around. I can't see flames or much odd stuff for myself, but I do love the real flames look.

What kind of Pearl did you use, heavy, light, small etc? I'm about to try a base/tint/clear paint job, and the tint coat is what I want to play with. So far I want to begin a test with 1/2oz. base, 1/2oz. blood red concentrate, and 30oz. of clear. I want a slightly new red color, but still close to the original. If it ends up having no metallic affect at all, I may need to add a small amount of pearl to it. Regards,

 

[vroomzoomboom]

this is the peal that i used

i can't remember what it was mixed at, all i can remeber is that there is two coats of clear with it on the truck, then another two coats of just clear with no pearl on top of that. what we did was pointed a flash light on the truck to see if i wanted more pearl on it or not. imo, there isn't enough because you can barely see it in the sunlight, even though the pictures with me using the flash on the camera make it look like lots.

 

[CDW6212R]

Yes I understand that, thanks. I spoke with a paint shop today about possible pricing. My red will run well over $300 for a gallon alone. I gather that the mid coat usually uses a special blending paint, not actually the normal top clear paint. There is a large range of pricing for all of those, so I will have to figure out how important each is for wear and UV resistance, lifespan etc. Having a trusted painter and paint supplier is really important.

So you basically have four thicknesses of paint beyond the base coat. I figured I'd try leave the base and clear coat as normal as possible, playing with the middle tint coat.

How many layers of the base coat did you spray? Typical body shops I'm sure only do one coat(given same under layer color/sealer). Lastly did you by chance see the truck with just one coat of clear, versus the two coats that you have now? If another coat would be useful I'd consider it of course. My concern is that my painter will be doing it in likely cooler temps in his shop, not a paint booth. I want him to be paying close attention to the paint mixture, laying it on evenly for the metallic or pearl in it. Thanks for the help.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

red is a expensive color, and if you start adding pearl, or metallic, it gets even more pricey. what ever you do, don't cheep out on clear. if you go for the cheep stuff, it my dull faster, and turn milky over time. i HAD four coats of clear on it. we sanded it down with 1000 grit, and then 1500, then did a three stage polishing to it using 3M polish. the reason why we did 4 coats was the top two, if they were sanded away, you wouldn't go into the pearl that was in the bottom to coats of clear. as for the base, i do believe there is 2, only because there is a black sealer under it. 2 to 3 coats of base is normal, with two coats of clear on top. as well, if you think we used a big fancy shop, with a down draft booth, think again. it was painted in a one car garage (well he has two other spots on the other side, but where my truck was painted it is a one car) with a fan that sucks the air out in the wall in front of where the truck was sitting. all he uses for heat is a old diesel burning furnace, and a electric construction heater. that and when it was painted it was about -35C (for you guys it is -31). that and we had to leave a door cracked open to let air in from the outside, because the fan would suck all the air out while he was painting it.

i was going to add, if you watch the video that i made, you might be able to get a idea of the size of the garage that it was painted in. that and if you look towards the back of the truck, it is backed right up to the overhead door that has a bunch of masking tape on the edges of it to keep the cold breeze out. yup total old school! LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3tmxJG3RA8&feature=channel_page

 

[CDW6212R]

Thanks, and that shop sounds close to what my friend used to have, before the ex got it all. He has another diesel burning stove to install, but right now all he has is a kerosene blower. That evidently is okay with lacquer, but not for urethane. He loves lacquer, he did a lot of show quality paint jobs for drag cars long ago.

I'll try to plan for two clear coats then, and the one tint coat. With as little metallic as the Toreador red has, I may try a small pearl to start testing with. The blood red concentrate that I will use is just a color made for use with other candies, pearls etc. Regards,

 

[vroomzoomboom]

if you can, paint a few test panels of metal first, then take them outside in the sunlight. fluorescents give off a different effect then the sun, even if they are supposed to be daylight fluorescents.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Truck looks amazing vzb! Very well done! Love the rear bumper too- on both trucks!

 

[PAH2000]

the roll pan on the back looks incredible
great lookin X

 

[91ROKKRAWLER]

truck looks amazing! i love the bumpers. maybe you could somehow mold the flares into the body a lil more, shave a lil... looks good keep it up

 

[GRNMACHINE]

WoW-reread entire thread. Awesome. Do u have any pics of how u mounted the foglights? I really want to lose the valance on my Sport yet retain fog lights. The pics of your bumper mods would definitely do the trick.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i will take a pic of it later. if you would beleive, i welded a chuck of bed frame on the back to the round tube. i know it sounds butcherish, but it was the smallest piece of angle iron i could find.

 

[po-po 5.0]

Is the bottom portion of the bumper painted too? The portion thats rough plastic? If so, how did you do that? I'm thinking of doing something similar, but painting rough plastic always seems to look like **** in the end.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

as you asked, here is how the fogs are mounted. pretty simple. sorry for all the crap, i don't wash the underside of evil!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Is the bottom portion of the bumper painted too? The portion thats rough plastic? If so, how did you do that? I'm thinking of doing something similar, but painting rough plastic always seems to look like **** in the end.

yuppers, the plastic valance is painted. the only thing i did was us a red scotch brite pad, and scuffed the hell out of it. if you go back and look real close, the top corners did peal, but that was because we re-masked it to soon when it was flamed, and has not spread since. it looks good, and most people haven't noticed that it is painted. good call!

 

[CDW6212R]

I've still got my painted valance to install. I learned recently that the flex agent is temporary, it only lasts a number of days, or weeks. It's just to allow you to flex the part a little while installing it.

 

[dk14]

I plan on doing this same type of deal but with square fog lights!

 

[GRNMACHINE]

vroom--Thanks! There is absolutely nothing and I mean nothing butcherish to me on your Ex. I am really impressed/amazed/jealous and a little overwhelmed in attempting this. I am assuming if I could even find someone to weld it etc the cost would be astronomical. Have no metal skills yet, hope to change that. Again, Great Work!!!!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

GRNMACHINE, no problem, and it isn't that hard to do. as long as tubes your putting in are level, its a snap.

dk14, why would you want to do that. they came stock with square lights. just wondering thats all.

 

[dk14]

I prefer square ones more. And im putting 4 2 ontop of each other, there pretty brite so it will work. Im just not into round lights at all,although it looks bad ass molded in there.