CFD's Build Thread

[CFD]

Sometimes I even surprise myself. Think I came up with a great way to attach the lenses. I've already experimented a bit with what I'm thinking. As soon as I see if I can weld it or find a suitable epoxy I will post a few pictures or possibly a short video of the procedure. Right now I've got to fly and get some more materials.

[CFD]

All is good. What I decided to do was get some abs sheet I/8" thick. I then cut it into strips. I then heated it to where it became pliable and formed it to the opening for the lenses then I trimmed it close to the final dimensions, they will be determined when I make the new lenses. Now, as you will see in the pics, I can epoxy the prism and lens together, then I can epoxy the housings I am making to the lens. I will tape of the prism so that any oozing epoxy will not contact it. You will see in the pics of the prism various blemishes I'm pointing to as well as others, these are caused by the epoxy when I tried to test fit it on the donor bumper. That is why I'm going this route. Tomorrow I will weld in a piece to complete the two inner frames then start on the outer two with the same procedure. This will now allow me to easily line the lenses up in the opening and not worry about the epoxy and I will have a much larger contact area for strength. I trimmed the width down to about 1 1/2", If I decide to go with LEDS instead of bulbs I will add a back panel with them mounted to it.

I made a couple of half assed videos on how I formed the abs strips, I will upload them shortly.

[CFD]

Here's a couple of videos, they turned out a little long so you can skip through them and not miss much

[CFD]

Started in on the outer frames. Because of the many different angles they were a bit more challenging. Got them formed fairly close but where as I had to start out a bit wide with the ABS strips to accommodate the corners they look poor. As you see in the next few photos as I remove the excess material the true shape shows. After a second go round they are real close. I'm going through the process one more time then I will weld in the top piece and have complete frames. I'm hoping to get the new lens material early enough to cut them out but with a snow storm moving in fast mail might be late.

[CFD]

Got the lens frames all welded together and the final shape roughed out. The lens material just showed up so I'm going to lay them out tonight and cut them tomorrow. Then I will final fit everything and start assembling the final lenses.

[CFD]

Did a few test runs on the lenses. Came up with a way that seems to work perfectly. My test lenses were done by heating the lenses with a heat gun or protable heater then bending. This worked ok but the bends did not flow nicely, they were a little sharp. I tried heating them ,then putting them between the two aluminum forms I made but when you clamp them, even lightly, the clamps left small indentations in the lens. I then tried the same thing and pressed the lens onto the form with my fingers but that left indentations in the lens and somewhat distorted the prismatic lens. Then I tried them in the oven with different temps and heating time and came up with this. If I place the lenses, already glued together, on the inside of the form I made, rather than bending them on the outside, then put them in the oven at 300 deg for 30 min gravity allows the heated lens to form to my aluminum template almost perfectly. The bends are now accurate curves that flow nicely and the prismatic lens stays almost perfect. I glued the prismatic and red lenses together and set them between a few pices of aluminum to cure. Tomorrow I will attempt to repeat the proceedure I came up with today and if all goes right I'll have the final lenses formed tomorrow. I'll definately add these aluminum templates to my Camaro specialty tools in case one gets broken, then I can easily make another one should the need arise.The pics below gives a good idea of what the end result will be.

[Firefighter]

Coming right along...

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[CFD]

Originally Posted by Firefighter

Coming right along...

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Yes it is. It's a time consuming process, heating, forming, mixing various resins and cure times between the various procedures. If it was metal shape it, weld it and be on your way.

[Firefighter]

Funny how it would probably be easier in metal...

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[CFD]

Originally Posted by Firefighter

Funny how it would probably be easier in metal...

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It would definitely be easier, at least for me, as it's what I do for a living so I have everything needed. When you think about it, it took about 45 min to cut, shape and smoothen the aluminum templates I made to form the lens over. They are the exact shape the lens will be but I've spent hours cutting, gluing, heating and forming test lenses. The final lenses will probably take several hours not including cure times. Making the pieces for the bumper out of metal would be simple, I could even make a new bumper out of metal, not so with plastic.

[CFD]

While working on the lenses today I learned a very valuable lesson, don't do it again.

[Firefighter]

So doing a set for me is out of the question... lol

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[CFD]

Originally Posted by Firefighter

So doing a set for me is out of the question... lol

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I think you're on your own with that. LOL

I am getting close though but it really has been a challenge and actually costly for such a simple thing. I do this all the time on bikes and have many times on cars but working with metal and some cases fiberglass but plastics are quite different. I've gone through 4 sets of lenses, I do have the inners ready to be assembled, ( I think. LOL) and I'm working on the outer two now. A few of my friends, including a real good friend who does a lot of custom work and also judges several shows in my area seem to think I'm being way to picky. I've come to the realization they won't be perfect but they're going to look great or they're not going on. Believe it or not I've spent about $500. 00 on lenses and the various glues and chemicals needed. Now factor in two bumpers and god knows how many hours of labor then paint and you will realize I'm out of my friggin' mind.

I'll have an update and some pics up later.

[CFD]

Well, gone as far as I can today, again, waiting for glue to dry, man I wish I was welding instead of gluing. Although I already made the aluminum housings because of the changes I've made to better follow body lines I am no longer using them so I made the light socket holders and they're ready to go in when the other housing work is done. The new lens material that came in was supposed to be 1/4", same as the previous ones but it was only 3/16". I couldn't wait. lol so I made a small frame for the lenses to sit against, this serves two purposes, it will allow me to more accurately position the lenses and also solves another small problem. Because the lenses are flush mount and have no trim or moldings if any of the epoxy oozes through it will show when the lights are on, now with the frame it will act as a stop for the glue as well as create a pocket for the lens to sit in rather than rely on a glued edge only. Another problem was where the lens would end, because of the small raised portion on the trunk if I brought the lens up to that there would be a gap on the sides of the lens. So as you will see in the pics I left a large body panel gap, the plan is to add 1"8 of structural adhesive to surround the lens, rather than have two edges of lens exposed and possibly get damaged, this will give it a more finished look, protect the lens, create a nice panel gap and allow me to better match the raised portion of the trunk. I fit the lenses so they protrude further than needed for a flush mount, this is so after the epoxy sets, everything, including the lower portion of the trunk , all gets sanded to shape, then when the bumper is painted ,it, as well as the lenses, all get clear coated together creating a smooth flush mount lens. It won't be blacked out but because they're a dark red they will practically disappear until the lights are on or under various lighting conditions. Once I get the outer two lenses finished the same way, I will paint the inside of the light housings to be more reflective then start assembly. The only problem that I will have is the lower outer corners of the outer lenses cannot match the bumper as it flares out so I will need to address that but I'll figure it out once I can see it.