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

well, for the longest time i have wanted to put fog lights (or in this case they are "driving" lights into my 98 sport. the problem was that i don't like the newer style bumpers (to me they look like a big plastic lump, sorry if i offended anyone), and i didn't like the square ones that are in the lower valance, so my solution was CUT THE SUCKER!!!!
i stared by marking my bumper by using a template of the tub i was using, then drawing it onto the bumper.







then the point of no return! i used a zip cut wheel on a hand held grinder.







i used two four inch I.D. 1/4 inch tubes (i know a little overkill, but hey...)





then mounted the bumper back onto the truck to see how every thing looked. according to the ol' eyecrometer, it was good.





pulled the bumper back off the truck, and finished wielding it up and grinding. put the lower valance back on, and cut it to fit around the tubes, and left about a 1/4 space between the valance and the tubes, bolted the valance back on, and mounted the "driving" lights. i then mounted every thing back on and wired it up. i wired the angel eyes to come on if the park lights come on, and the "driving" lights to come on with the factory switch (witch i got from a explorer that i parted out a few months back.







looks like i will have to get a set of H.I.D.'s for them as well, cause it looks goofy from the outside, but when they are on, and you are stilling inside, they almost look like they are amber. i have to pull it off to get the bumper sand blasted, and do the body work to them. then i am going to paint both bumpers, and the ground effects back. give me your options. remember, only the bad ones will be deleted, so speak your mind! just kidding about the deleted part, but let me hear your opinions?

Cool!!!! I like it!

nice job, round lights always looks awesome. get it painted and show us a finished picture.

looks good how many k hids r ur lights

i am hoping to get them painted by late next week. we are trying to get a barracuda that i am helping out with on the side, then i can do them. this winter i am also going to try and make a rear roll pan like ExplorerSport77's. she was nice enough to send me some pictures of hers. its a little more involved then what i first thought, but hey the winters are dam cold here, so i will have the time.

Sams01XplrSprt said:

looks good how many k hids r ur lights

Click to expand...

they are 8000k, that i got last year from

http://shop.3bspecialties.com/main.sc

in euro head light lens (not diamonds).

i have some spare ballasts from a H.I.D. kit that i got off ebay, only for the bulbs to crap out after 9 months. i will get bulbs from

http://www.vvme.com/catalog/list-s-10145-10146.html

well i got my bumpers back from the sand blaster the other day.


if anyone has a good set of brackets, let me know.




BUT the bad news, i was (am) painting the bumpers and the ground effects the same color as the body, so i went to pull the ground effects off and found this





i am glad for three things, 1, i am a body man by trade, don't do it for a living anymore, but i know how to do it. 2, last year a deer hit the drivers side, and when the body shop fixed it, they told me that there was rust on the rockers (i never knew it would be this bad however!). 3, i had a 4 door that i striped for parts, and sawed off the rockers from it. looks like it may be awhile until i have the bumpers painted, but now i can paint it the color i want (black with blue pear), and if i have time to, make the roll pan. if i knew it was going to be this bad, i would have never done any of this.

I can't believe all the rust I've been seeing on here lately. Let me ask you guys something who live in the rust belts...do you see this in all makes? Does it seem to be more prevalent in Ford's or any brand in particular?

yup, I'm in the rust belt, and it has no favorites. toyota's honda's are the worst, but they all have there issues. it all depends on how it has been taken care of. if you never wash them, there going to rust way faster, or if there are a lot of places that build up with salt and slop in the winter that you cant reach (good example here) they will rust faster.

on my 95 X the rockers were HORRID, and it was oil sprayed every year, my 1996 monte carlo was never oil sprayed my the last owner and there is barely any rust, what rust there is, is just surface rust on the rear 1/4 panels.

the X


the monte

I'm glad Alaska doesn't use much salt on the roads in winter
they've gotten smart and are using some other nifty chemical.

barely any body rust on my Sploder

well its weird, cause i got the rockers from a 00 xlt, that had factory running boards, an they are spotless on the outside.

Damn that looks good

That looks great, Excellent work!

thanks, give me a few weeks and i will post pictures of it, and the truck painted.

Front bumper reiminds me of a 97 Cobra front bumper. Looks good! I was thinking of grafting a Cobra bumper onto my Mountaineer front when I got the bottom half painted to match the rest of the truck.

The bumper looks good, do you think it would look better with the tubes ground down to match the contour of the lower valance? Just an idea.

Its a shame about the rust though. I think here in a week or so I am going to hit my quarter panels with some truck bed liner to prevent them from getting beaten up. Hopefully it will help some, but luckily the rockers haven't started to rot yet.

dislexiclawyer said:

The bumper looks good, do you think it would look better with the tubes ground down to match the contour of the lower valance? Just an idea.

Its a shame about the rust though. I think here in a week or so I am going to hit my quarter panels with some truck bed liner to prevent them from getting beaten up. Hopefully it will help some, but luckily the rockers haven't started to rot yet.

Click to expand...

i was thinking of cutting the tubs to match the contours of the bumper, and valance. i did that for a friends s10, and i didn't like it (he did, and that's all that matters, its his truck). that and if i did that, i don't think i would have much meat left at the bottom. as for the rust, i just came back from starting the first one. lets just say the the "good side" of the truck, starts now at the bottom of the doors!

Man, dang! Excellent work... excellent!

well, it's been awhile (more like forever for me) but the truck is now in primer. the bad news, for what ever reason, the bottom coat didn't dry correctly, so we have to sand most of off (the primer is gumming up the sand paper, and not feathering) and start all over again (great). so here are some pictures of the front bumper. luckily i don't have to take all the primer off the front one.







also with the help of Tara (ExplorerSport77) i managed to build one of these!





i realy have to thank her, she was very helpful with some pictures of her truck, as well as phone number of the shop that helped her, thanks again Tara!

i will put up more pictures of it when i get paint on it. i was hoping to have it painted and back together before new years, but with the little snag (and the brutally cold weather that we have right now) i don't think it will be done until the middle of january. :thumbdwn: