DIY low budget lip version 2

[carps13guy]

ok, i know ive seen a DIY thread somewhere but could not find one when i searched. so i have been looking at my 240's front end and hate the way the bottom of the bumper was executed. the bumper just ends and then jets in like six inches and there is a little lip at the bottom. i had seen a 240 with the home depot lip the other day, but he had the molding flush with the bumper, covering up the ugly part. i knew that is what i wanted to do.

MATERIALS:-1x4 piece of wood, i used a 10' piece and cut it in half in case i had to re-do it.-base board molding -5/8" self drilling screws-can of black paint-2-4 bolts and nuts to mount the wood to the bumper

TOOLS:-jig saw with wood blade-screwdriver-drill and drill bits-sharpie

ok so first off get some cardboard to get the shape of the corners of the bumper.

then cut a piece of wood to the length of the mouth with an inch or 2 of excess so that you can screw it to the wood corner pieces. heres what it looks like when the corners were bolted to the car, and the middle piece was screwed the the corner pieces. notice that it is painted black to make it less visible

i took the molding and cut an inch of height so that it would be 3" instead of 4". then i took the paper off of the back and applied it to the wood so that i could start screwing the molding to the wood support.

i drilled holes three inches apart from each other on the sides and in the front. but not in the middle. to support the lip in the middle i bought some inexpensive pieces of angle supports from the hardware store and mounted it to the wood behind the lip. i do not have any pics of this, but trust me you'll need em, or the lip will sag in the middle and not look very attractive. then i cut an inch of the molding where the mouth is to open it up a little bit. oh yeah, save the excess that you cut from the molding. i used a couple of pieces to hide the wood on the inside of the mouth.

the last thing i did was borrow a black paint pen and cover the shiny screws to make them less notable. i think it turned out pretty damn good for my first try. and for 25 bucks in materials (which is enough to make two) its not a bad bargain either.

thanks for reading.



Modified by carps13guy at 5:38 PM 1/14/2009

Modified by carps13guy at 1:53 PM 1/15/2009
Modified by carps13guy at 5:30 PM 1/19/2009

[leesredgt]

You know to me it actual looks pretty decent.at first i was like *ehh* but the more i look at it,it looks pretty good.

[turbo2nr]

wow!......

[ZX88]

omg gross take that off.

[leesredgt]

Do you have anypics of it from the side?

[breadbox]

It could look better with the same materials and more effort in making it look like a lip, not base board.

But thats just me.

[ddgsxr504]

[roadboy240sx]

i like it, but do you have any pics that show the whole car with it on??

[presidential]

That is full of no.

[supreamS14]

I Dis-like how it looks. I think You should of made a splitter with that plywood.

[Justin35ll]

Why can't people make good looking low budget lips? No offence man I appreciate the hard work put in though.

If you want a good looking front lip that is subtole and doesn't hang down 4 inches go the home depot any buy the 9 foot garage door molding. Double stick tape it to the bottom of your bumper

[Gabes13]

i liked it better when it was just the wood.sorry

[EfiniRX7]

I think if you cut the lip to follow mouth like opening in the bumper it would look much better.

[leesredgt]

I think if you cut the lip to follow mouth like opening in the bumper it would look much better.

X2

[Gabes13]

I think if you cut the lip to follow mouth like opening in the bumper it would look much better.

nah.

[red240sx90]

I think if you cut the lip all the way off it would look much better.

fixed

[slow40]

[adrianfromthecastle]

fixed

haha you win! LOL

[carps13guy]

ya i kind of knew that i would get bashed on a little bit for posting this. the main reason i posted it is because i kind of liked the way it looked, but knew that it could be improved. so i figured what the hell, post it and see what others think. you get some bad with the good. i agree with EFINIRX-7 about making the mouth bigger. i think im gonna cut some new wood up, cut the painted portion out of my old wood and screw it so it is 1" lower and then cut the molding accordingly. i did this because i really like that xenon lip, but cannot afford it because i am a broke college student. i dont have a lot of money, but am off of school and had some time on my hands, so i gave it a shot.

thanks for the advice from those who liked it. i knew that most people were not going to like it but, to each his own. cheers

[leesredgt]

did u delete the pics? for some reason there not coming up on my computer?

[carps13guy]

ya man i took em off. your like 1 of a million people who thought it actually looked ok. im going to make another one tomorrow and cut the molding where the mouth is to make it look a little better. i am also going to cut the height about an inch so that it is only 3" tall. i will post pics of my finished product tomorrow. i was just getting bashed too hard. i can take some criticism, but it was only my first attempt, not the finished product. i will create a better one!

[KLYPH]

Put the pictures back up please, I never go to see them. Im always interested in home made work. And I like wood on the outside of a car. If it looks good inside. why not put it outside if it functional. lol... old school... not realllyyyy, yeaaaaaaahhhh. You could always fiberglass it so the haters think it is pretty. and then put a plywood splitter on the bottom. yeahhhhh

[carps13guy]

thanks for the interest klyph, i have put the pics back up of when i redid the lip today. also thanks to all for your opinions, good or bad. i was able to come up with a revision that i like better than the first lip i did.

[supreamS14]

I think now that you changed it, It don't look bad.

Good job buddy

[leesredgt]

I wonder if like pop-rivets would look any better then the big screws? Not saing that it looks bad,just giving suggestions.

[fiznowler]

I think it would look good if you found some good doublesided tape and did away with all the screws. But looks pretty good for a cheap DIY

[EfiniRX7]

I think that when you get the look you like, you could use the lip to make a fiberglass version. I dont think fiberglass is to expensive at advanced auto. I think if you keep messing with the design and make a fiberglass copy, it could turn out real cool.

[keith0486]

not liking this 1 at all sry man

[carps13guy]

thanks for the comments/ideas guys, i still think i might revise it one more time, but for now it is ok. it served the purpose of covering up the huge curb scrape mark the previous owner (old man) put on the right side. but does any one know of any gnarly glue that i could use to do away with the screws? because the molding on the sides of the bumper hold on ok with the sticky backing, but up front i used screws because it is mounted only to the wood which is 1" tall. i could use a 2x4 and hope that the extra surface area would be enough for the molding to adhere to, but i used the 1x4 to cut down the weight of the wood as much as possible. any ideas would be appreciated, thanks :

[chukidrifter420]

its not too bad, but imo the bottom of the center opening lip could be set up to end at a less harsh angle

otherwise good job though, lookin forward to see waht you do