XJR-S bumper install

I bought these from the Canoe Warehouse in Sydney thinking they would need some trimming and modifying to fit - but I did not expect to have to cut them into bits and totally rebuild them. These bars cost me $1200, if I knew how much effort was I was going to put in the fix them I would have returned them and looked else where.

I didn't take a picture of the rear bar on the car before because it would not go on at all.

The rear bar I cut into 7 pieces and tacked it back together on the car. I was astounded at how much gap there was between some of the parts. There is NO WAY these were going to anywhere near fitting without major surgery.

The front bar was almost as bad. I had to cut the top off and make a new top. Although I didn't have to cut into pieces. You can also see the ripples in the top of the bar. This was not going to do.

The top of the bar rolls downwards so it did not fit over the sill properly. this should be straight back to under the headlight.

Not trimmed properly. I need to fix this as well.

New top made and ready to cut to size then install. Notice the repairs in the middle of the top, this helped with the ripples but did not completely get rid of them.

New top installed there is another one on the other side.

Looking much better. The water level on the guard was used to make sure the bar was symmetrical both sides. To get to this point took an enormous amount time and effort. I guess I would have spent 50-80 hours on the front bar

Mounts were made with zinc plated bolts and aluminum. I will epoxy the bolt heads so the top of the bar will be smooth.

To reduce the front weight I have removed the lower panels as they serve no purpose. I made a stay to hold the lower edge of the front guard, this is very strong and you can move the car by swinging on the guard. The angle is an aluminium bracket that the side of the bumper bolts to.

Much straighter than when I bought it. Still a bit of finishing off before I can prime it but basically it now fits.

Layed a thin film of metaltech fiber polyester filler. This will be sanded to ensure the top of the bar is nice and flat. This is good stuff and very strong. It is strong enough to build up the edges of the bar to get the contours correct.

12 months later and the bars are now finished and painted I ended up making more modifications to both front and rear bars.

Front bar I made a new top insert from fiberglass as mine was brittle and kept cracking in different places. This was then fixed to the bar and fiberglassed in.

Rear bar I ended up closing in the foglight area to make a symmetric exit for the exhaust.