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Part 2: The Bumper
Jim Weimer

I liked the look of the Toyota bumper on an S10, but I wanted it to be different than your normal S10/Toyota conversion; so I hunted the wrecking yards until I found one about 1 1/2 hours away. None of the local yards had one and if they did they wanted an arm/leg for it (@ $200...yikes!). Also, I liked the look of the newer S10 grille and it just happens that the same yard had a grille also. Bumper: $40, grille: $20.

I got my bumper home and decided that I wanted to give it the smooth look, so out came the welder and I welded all 4 pieces together solid and ground everything down. I mocked it up on the truck and didn't like what I saw...it looked too much like a Mack truck in the front. So back out came the cutoff wheel and welder. I cut 3" out of the bumper down the center both horizontally and vertically. Welded everything back together and liked the look a lot better, but it was still not what I wanted.

My original plans were to put slotted LED taillights in the rear rollpan, so I thought the same look would be cool up front also. I searched until I found exactly what I was looking for -- Hagan Products makes a slotted front turn signal kit, but the price was $185 -- no thanks! So I made my own out of some sheet metal that I had laying around. I welded studs to the back of the plates and drilled out the factory Toyota lenses to mount from the rear. Total cost for these: $0.


      
(Click photos to enlarge)


A friend of mine had some nice little projector-beam driving lights laying on the bench in the garage that he said that I could have (freebies!). They were brand new and small enough for the look I was after. I used exhaust pipe couplers for the light tunnels and made brackets out of (get this one) the tailgate straps that I had laying in the bed of the truck!

I mocked up the bumper once again...getting there, not quite yet. I cut a piece of scrap sheet out of an old hood and filled the center section of the bumper with it. Ground everything smooth, and: voila! the look I was after. I still have the bodywork to do on the bumper and primer but it is ALMOST there.


      
(Click photos to enlarge)


Click here for Part 3: The Hood


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