Making Fibreglass bumper bars...stock & custom

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Martythetrimmer

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I wanted to improve the fit & customize the front bar for my Aussie 1967 Dodge ute. Couldn't find a spare bar to modify so had to take a mould from my factory bar, cast a new fiberglass version. Modify that & make a second mould before casting my new custom bar! A lot of work as these images will show!

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You will never realize how labor intensive this is, unless you've tried to make a fiberglas mold.

Great job Marty and thanks for the step by step visual aids!

Are you going to hand lay the final steps or are you going to shoot it with a chopper gun?
 
next step is to lay up the new bar...Tinmannz asked about this, it's all hand laid matting using Vinyl ester resin. The shape makes lay up difficult because the ends roll over almost back to horizontal so I made caps to fit in the ends to hold the matting while it cures. It worked but not 100% happy doing it this way. I'll experiment with different techniques as I have several people asking to purchase the stock bars. Really don't have time to go into production as it will hold up my ute build, but I could make a few I suppose! Here's the progress through to the final stock bar before modifications.

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next step is to lay up the new bar...Tinmannz asked about this, it's all hand laid matting using Vinyl ester resin. The shape makes lay up difficult because the ends roll over almost back to horizontal so I made caps to fit in the ends to hold the matting while it cures. It worked but not 100% happy doing it this way. I'll experiment with different techniques as I have several people asking to purchase the stock bars. Really don't have time to go into production as it will hold up my ute build, but I could make a few I suppose! Here's the progress through to the final stock bar before modifications.

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Marty, you’re to be commended on your work. Making a plug is very tedious and sometimes takes making more than one plug to get it right. I’m looking forward to seeing the end result.
 
Quite a big update this time, but a lot of work has gone into the bar front bar…here’s the progress through to being in primer.

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Well that was a long process (250 hours plus) but now it’s all but done. Just got the mounts to finish and onto the next job! Won't go through all the mould making process, it's the same as I did for the stock bar. Finished photo's on the ute to come soon!

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Very impressive there Marty! Anybody who has done any type of mold/pattern making and lay-up will surely appreciate all of the hard work and attention to detail that you have done. Well done, thanks for the update.

Tinmannz
 
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