Hotrodders.com Hot Rod Search • Bulletin Board • Free Newsletter • Photo Album • Project Journals • Tech Article Wiki • Hot Rods for Sale • Company Reviews • Knowledge Base • T-Shirts • Advertising Got a hotrodding question? Get free help on the world's largest hotrodding discussion community. click here to check it out  We have thousands of experts: mechanical engineers, custom car builders, machine shop owners, mechanics, welders, body techs, interior specialists, drag racers, and many more.

Hotrodders.com Project of the Week
To see our Project of the Week archives, click here.

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


Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Record your hotrodding project in our Hotrodders Project Journals. Add photos and information as your project progresses. Easy to use, and completely free. Click here to check it out.

---