thanks guys,
i am happy with the way things are going on the car. all my work gets finished up to a stage (like pre-chrome), and waits patiently until the glorious day when the body goes in for major surgery and everything gets finished off. anyway, i kinda like that 'in-progress' look.... i am teaching myself as i go, so i like to do the little things first. it is getting to the stage though, where i am going to have to start cutting the body. fingers crossed!
alex - the hardest thing about welding the bumpers together was the fact that the factory pressings of the seperate pieces are very dodgy alignment wise due to the over rider hiding the join. you don't notice this too much when they are bolted together, but when it comes to making it look seamless it is bloody hard (for a novice like me anyway).
i had to use the persuasion of a big hammer and strong clamps - welding in stages. i found it is very important to put the bumper back together on the car and tack it together to ensure it fits! if you try to follow the curves of the bumper when joining, it turns out nearly straight and won;t fit the car. (found that out the hard way)
my joins require a little lead filler to make the curve absolutely perfect, but i am happy to say, not too much. should be easy when its chromed.
as for mounts, i used two nuts for each of the mount points, welded them together, and then welded that to the inside of the bumper, this actually gave just the right space from the body. then just put the bolt into the nuts from the car. with the big brackets, i actually welded them to the bar, seeing as how they don't protrude further than the wrap around bits of the bumper anyway.
i am pretty good at filling huge holes with the welder now!
after all that, a coat of clear and its serviceable until that expensive trip to the chrome platers.
harko - the car does have a rake. i hate it. but at the moment the tailshaft keeps slamming into the floor tunnel so i can't go any lower. this occurance has gotten more frequent since i took the rear stabaliser bar off (had a custom made one fitted, but the damn thing was wearing away the diff filler plug!). next on the list is making a new tunnel. got to do it for the eventuality of airbags anyway!
by the way i still have all that trim stuff if any of it will help you
ed - horay! satin black! or i reacon; satin chroma key blue, red steelies and whitewalls.
ret - i can take a closeup photo of the number plate surround for you, but it was no biggy, just ground the back bits away till it fitted where i wanted it to. much slimmer though and i like it. i really would like to attend the christmas party, but unfortunately, i have something i can't get out of that night. this always happens
sorry for the length of this post by the way!!!
