That is very cool and the text was extremely informative. Maybe this could be a winter project since my bumper could use a repaint.

 

Question is, how does it hold up over time (and the first time you or someone else dings it). I've done a fair amount of bodywork on different Vettes and stuff like this looks great for a while then shrinkage of materials happen and you can see the patch eventually.

 

I would almost say you're crazy but after seeing the finished result it looks amazing. Very nice job

 

great write up and awesome outcome!!

 

That is awesome

Tagged and Bagged for future - if I didn't use my License plater surround for cooling I would do this in a Heartbeat

XLNT Work!

Thanks,matt

 

That looks beautiful. It would look even better without the emblem.

 

The reason I did this mod was because I wanted something custom and didn't want to pay tiger shark prices. Doing the labor myself I came out just fine but if you are paying someone to do the labor it might be more costly than you think. Think anywhere between 10 and 20 hours of labor at roughly $50/hr and you will start to see a huge bill piling up. You should talk to Norcalzosix because I think he paid a shop to do his and he could give you a better idea on what the cost would be to have this done.

I must of had at least five or six coworkers ask me the same thing, except they were serious. When I told them there would be no plate they all gave me a concerned look and said "that's illegal you know?" My favorite was the parts manager to which I responded: "drinking and driving is illegal too but that hasn't stopped you from getting 2 DWI's has it?" He shut up.

 

Very nice and great write up, what state tag is that, I wish Maryland had the option to have the C5 emblem on the tag?

 

Great job! I love the look!

 

Awesome write up, thanks for sharing!!

 

next time i need body work man... i am coming to you!!!!
EXCELLENT job on your front end man, congrats! hope to meet you next season and check out your ride!
Aj

 

two duis!! now that was priceless great job I am hugely impressed!!!

 

Nice work!

 

Excellent write up. Been thinking about doing something like it myself.

 

Excellent idea and work, Very nice write up, For diving into the deep end

 

Great write up and first class work!

Really good to see an inventory of actual materials you used.

 

That's the best body work I have ever seen by a stockbroker!!!

I love these types of subtle changes. Great job.

 

 

Looks good!

 

This is a great question. I am somewhat skeptical myself as to the shrinkage of materials. Like I said in my tutorial, even though the products are the best to use, they still aren't designed to fill/patch huge holes. It is a question that only time will answer.

I didn't mention this in my tutorial but before getting into this I did a "test" panel that consisted of two squares of plastic cut from the old Vette cover to roughly 3" by 4". I prepped them just the way I did the filler plate and bonded them together on one edge. After allowing the full cure time I then tried to break them apart. I'm not the strongest guy around (6'2" 190lbs) but I could not break them apart with my hands, not even close. I then locked one of the pieces into a vise on a bench and latched onto the other piece with a locking pliers and proceeded to bend the test piece completely in half...nothing. I continued to bend back and forth several times and about the tenth time of doing this I had finally weakened it enough to break it apart.

After doing this test I am not worried about the structural integrity of the bumper cover at all. I'm pretty sure I will be fine in this category. Plastic repair is kinda like welding in that if done properly, the repaired area should actually be stronger than the rest. I am worried about shrinkage of materials though, I didn't bake the bumper for that very reason. I won't drive the car much/ at all for the next 5 months or so due to winter, so there will be an update in the spring as to what it is looking like.

If it does fail I will be the first to report it in this thread. I wanted to do this tutorial to help people out and if the job I did doesn't hold up I will absolutely inform the forum as to what happened. I want this to be a "tell all" write up that gives a prospective modder everything they would want to know before getting into this, durability included. Hopefully everything goes well and I will let you all know good or bad.