Viniati Fierce front lip DIY........... COMPLETE
06-16-2009, 01:18 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Chicago SW Suburbs
Posts: 538
Viniati Fierce front lip DIY........... COMPLETE
Well, I got my Viniati fierce front lip a week ago and now I have some time this week, and maybe the next, to work on it. This is the second time I'm dealing with the ppl in Viniati, and once again... they've satisfied me and were expedient with the whole transaction. There were no defects of the product when receiving it. I know a few on SL had bad experiences with them, which I don't doubt, but Viniati has been very polite with consistent e-mail replies and followed thru at my request. No problems with the company so far and hope everyone else who decides to deal with them gets the same treatment as I did, kow.
Reasons why I think there should be a DIY on this is:
1. I see quite a few with this lip and the RS1 front lip which does not line up correctly, no pun intended. Not mentioning names, but there is always room for improvement.
2. there is no DIY for this simple type of work that I know of
3. the opportunity for me presents itself
4. to spare you from install labor rates, which in turn vvv
5. saves you guys/gals more money for other mods doing one project yourself with some sort of instructions.
6. to help understand ways of making things work when you purchase these kind of products.
Just to let you know that I'm not a professional body shop technician, so anyone with the wealth of knowledge in this field may feel free to jump in a word of advice. I'm open to any suggestions.
Now for the good stuff... Enjoy to me and good luck to everyone interested.
I'm not going to discuss how to take the front bumper cover off. There possibly is a thread for that somewhere on the forums if you search. This is just for my front lip install. I'll be taking care of all the fitment issues and installation of the front lip myself. However, I'm gonna get it professionally painted. For now, I will start by covering the fitment/gap issues of this front lip. Then, later, I'll update my progress.
Materials and supplies I bought in total of $40:
1. surgeons mask or respirator
2. gloves
3. fiberglass resin jelly
4. fiberglass cloth
5. 60 coarse sandpaper, 320 fine grit sandpaper, & 2000 grit wet sand paper
6. painters tape (all I had was electric tape)
7. Galvanized steel wire (10 feet)
8. glazing/spot putty
9. wire ties
10. can of primer
Tools:
1. spreaders
2. quarter inch drill bit and power drill
3. cutting wheel
4. ruler/tape measure
5. metal wire cutter
6. needle nose pliers
7. safety goggles
6/15/09 day one
Phase One: Test Fitment & Issues
Cell phone pic of the product. Made of flexible Fiberglass
Right out of the box, some major gap issues at the bottom corner area of the bottom center air dam on both left and right sides.
At the outer bottom corner of the right side vents it had fitment issue. But not the left side.
All around test fitment checks needs slight corrections on the side areas that wrap around the bumper to the wheel wells.
On the front lip, sanding down the high point edges of the inside portion of side vent areas of both sides will set back the front lip closer to the bumper - reducing the gapness, as mentioned, and improving fitment on the sides.
Stay tune for phase 2 - reinforcements
6/17/09 day two
Before I continue on, I want to first discuss some alignment issues with this front lip and also the Racing Solutions (RS1) front lip. I can't guarantee if the Fierce lip and RS1 lip has the same dimensions, but most of us know that they are basically the same lip in terms of shape, size, and the similar ways it sits on the front bumper. From time to time, I check up on SL and CSTC and I happen to notice quite a few ppl who has the RS1 lip or fierce lip installed with alignment issues. And I ask myself why most have them installed somewhat decent and why some I see just don't line up on the same level of the sideskirts from the side shots of the car. Well, now that I just got one, I know why and I may have a solution. My explanation of the issue below with pics.
As you can see below, the front lip does not line up throughout with the sideskirt. Take notice of the flared or humped surface of the stock front bumper cover on the bottom where it meets the front lip. With the front lip in this position on the bumper, the top edge of the Fierce lip rests on the highest point of the stock bumper's bottom flare. The gap and fitment issues of the lip is near perfect around that top edge on the sides, but unfortunately front lip alignment is compromised. In the second picture, if you align the front lip accordingly, perfect fitment decreases and then gaps starts to show up between the lip and the bumper... all because the surface of the flare on bumper dips in as you go higher in position with the lip. I thought of some ideas around this and I'm gonna try it out so that I will have both correct fitment and alignment.
I believe I've explained most of the issues, so it's time to move this along. After the preliminary check with fitment, the next thing I did was measure the position of where I want the lip to be mounted. The front of the lip is pretty much limited to one position on the bumper, but the sides allows different angles and positions on the bumper. I've found that the best angle and position of this portion of the lip is 1 inch below the scribed mark which can be found on the back side of the bumper near the wheel well edge. Then, position was marked with tape to left and right sides. This needs to be established first before beginning body work as this will be the foundation of working around the overall fitment.
Phase 2: Reinforcements
The picture below is the back side of the lip that sits on the bottom section of center air dam. You can also refer to the 3rd and 4th pics from the top and see that the bottom corners of the lip in that section on both ends were hacked. (Note the marks I've made in those particular pictures.) Anyway, that missing section of the lip that I have to work with has many bends and curves starting from the air dam towards the side vent. What I wanted was those areas to have a strong and ridged body. So I started off by making reinforcements for the structure of the body work out of the galvanized steel wire. I cut about 4 inches of it and bent it to shape the corners on that end. In addition to bending the wire to shape, I also bent the ends of the wire at 90 degrees. This provides a good base for the wire to keep it from moving around too much and prevent it from getting loose. The marks that you see in the 3rd & 4th pics is used to position that wire.
Next is securing the wire down with sparing amounts of fiberglass resin. The fiberglass resin jelly includes a tube of hardener. The pic below demonstrates the amount of hardener to mix with the size of fiberglass resin batch shown in relation to my ign. key. With this batch, I estimate about 5 minutes of working time before it starts to gel up and then harden.
After positioning the wire, I spread the resin over the wire like so and waited til it harden. Then, I reinstalled the lip back on the bumper to check how it fits with the wire on. I, then, adjusted the wire to precise shape on the bumper. The adjustment is mainly lifting up on the wire to level it flush with the top surface of the lip and also for clearance on the bottom of lip between the bumper surface. I also had to consider the possibility of that wire from being to high above the outside lip surface because it may be exposed or sticking out from the surface when doing the sanding job of the body work. So I had to compensate for that aspect and lower the wire slightly for a smoother surface of the body filler.
Next thing I did was go overkill on the frame work and added more steel wire in the middle section of the outer frame work. Though, I forgot to take a pic of that.
Phase 3: Body Work
I cut two pieces of fiberglass cloth to begin the body work around the reinforcements.
I mix up a batch of body filler and spread it over the fiberglass cloth.
I lift the cloth up from cardboard and turned it over to do the other side.
I folded at the width of the cloth in half.
Then, I draped the cloth over the middle wire like bathroom towels over the towel racks.
On the back side of the lip:
-I spread body filler evenly over the back side surface.
-I sway the cloth on the wire over to the freshly applied body filler.
-Using gloves, I work the air pockets out the cloth with my fingers.
-Then, I spread more body filler on the cloth on both the inside and outside of the lip.
-I, then, wait until that hardens. Once it hardens, I start to sand down the body filler
on cloth with 60 coarse sand paper to make the back side of lip less bulky in the corners.
After thinning out the back side, I do the whole procedure again with a newly fresh resin batch for the outer frame work. This is what results....
I'm calling it a day for now. I still have to contour it and smooth it out. I still have the others issues to do, too. Stay tune.....
6/21/09 Day Three
From where I left off in the last pic above, the next step is working around the area toward the side vent with more body filler. This does not require a lot of body filler like the previous step, so I mixed a smaller batch. Frame work is also not necessary for this as well. Referring to the pic above, I began by filling in that unwanted sharp 90 degree corner which was the result of the last body work or step. To blend that corner surface, I spread another layer over the top surface where I had the reinforcements installed and also a layer going toward the side vent. Waited until that hardened for the sanding. The harden layer was kind of rough and thick, so I started sanding with 60 coarse.... being VERY CAREFUL that I do not sand too far down to the main surface with that. Once I removed all the chunkyness, I smoothen it out with 320 fine grit sandpaper, and also contour the curvy surfaces as well as shaping the edges with it. Ofcoarse, shaping the edges requires multiple lip installation and removal to checking and adjusting for fitment. (Remember to install it with the sides 1 inch below the inside scribe mark). After all is good with fitment, I mix a smaller batch to fill in any pits left behind in the surface. These are the results of the right side lower air dam....
I not going to continue with a DIY for the other side, and for the other issue on the right outer side vent, because it is essentially the same steps and procedures. Though, I did finished the other issues.
Left bottom center air dam....
Right outer side vent....
6/22/09 Day Four
Phase 4: Mount and Installation
I start off by temporarily installing the front lip into position. I mark the top edge of the lip on the sides with tape onto the bumper. Then, I remove front lip for bumper drilling. Ofcoarse, the lower edge of tape on bumper is the median for lower section drilling. I begin drilling 1/4" holes on the sides along the natural bottom flare of bumper, 4 on the top flare and 4 on the bottom flare 1.5" apart from top to bottom. The space or distance between each set of drilled holes is not important. Refer to pics for general locations of spacing.(please note that the black tape shown in the picture is not the actual front lip edge median. It just an example mock up that I've done for the pic). Then on the front, I drilled 2 quarter inch holes directly below the lower body line of side vent and 2 more below those holes near the bottom edge of bumper. Two more holes were drilled near the bottom corner of center air dam below the median. Total of 14 holes drilled for the right side... the same is done to the left side. Then, 2 more holes in the same pattern as the sides were drilled in the center below the center air dam.
After all the holes were drilled, the front lip was reinstalled to position, marks were made on the back side of front lip using the drilled holes on bumper as a guide for marking, and then I cut 15 pieces of the steel wire to length.
I bent all pieces like so.
That's all for today.
Phase 4 to be continue'd.
6/24/09 - Day Five
Phase 4: Cont'd
These wires that were bent to shape with needle nose pliers are the tethers for the plastic wire ties. Both these items are used to fasten the lip to the bumper. The tethers are positioned around their respective marks on the backside of the lip. They are secured down on the lip with sparing amounts of body filler. But before doing this, all the accumulated residuals from the hand sanding was washed away from the back side surface with soapy water using a scrub brush, then air dried with compressed air. That should help a little with the adhesive strength of the body filler securing these tethers because these tethers will have some tension on them when the lip is fastened down. The rough textured surface on the back side promotes the adhesive strength a lot, which is one of the features of this lip I can appreciate during the install. You can barely see it in the pic below, but in person, it is kind of like a grid pattern to the surface.
Close up of tether with wire tie. I'm not sure exactly what size the wire ties are, but I'll assume that they are regular size. The plastic wire ties that I used has integrated metal locking tabs instead of plastic locking tabs.
Tether Install Theory
The position of the tethers on the lip is important to the overall fitment and mounting on the bumper. Some areas of the lip require that the tethers be positioned between the upper and lower marks of each set on the lip while other areas of the lip require the tethers to be offsetted to the outside of each set of marks. The picture below with red marks, simulating tether positions on bumper as if the lip was installed, shows this theory.
If you happen to notice their positions, they apparently all follow along the flare on the sides and continue along the rest of the flare in the front below the side vent. The tethers on the side of the bumper is pretty straightforward and eventually will get pulled inward towards the bumper with wire ties. However on the front, the tethers will get pulled DOWNWARD from the bumper. This will result in downward pressure in areas of the lip where it sits inside the side vents and the center air dam. Reasons why I made reinforcements that make the bodywork around those areas durable for this application.
Once I got all my tethers into position, I spread lots of body filler to the left and right of tether at their base to fix them down on the backside lip. No body filler should be around the middle section of tether as these are the access areas for the wire ties. These are the results with 15 tethers installed....
Right backside
Left backside
Right Quarter Front backside.
Notice that #12 is on a horizontal surface while the other tethers are vertical on lip.
Left Quarter Front backside.
Same conditions with #13
Center backside
I'm gonna give more time for the body filler to fully cure and call it a day.
I will try to have the install procedures in the evening tommorrow.
Phase 4: to be cont'd
6/25/09 - day Six
Mount & Installation cont'd
After the body filler for the tethers has fully cured, I began moderate sanding of any high spots of the body filler to a level below the top bend of the tethers. Not much was taken off. Ofcoarse, it shouldn't be sanded down to the point where the wire end of the tethers are exposed. This was only done to the tethers that are on the sides. The front can be left how it is. Once everything has been flaten out, I checked all tethers for looseness by wiggling and pulling on them. Everything all good.
Now I begin the install.
I start the install by placing the bumper cover on the headrest of my lazyboy recliner with the front fascia facing up. Definitely not a good idea using your own furniture for that, but using 2 folding chairs should be fine. I apologize for that in the pic below. Next, I begin to feed wire ties into the drilled holes from the inside of the bumper cover. The top drilled holes throughout the bumper are the ones to use to begin the install.
Inserted wire ties all around the bumper like so.
Next, I rest the front lip only on the center air dam area, and not into position on the sides. The sides of the front lip should be hanging down to allow more space and movement of the lip when feeding wires thru their tethers on the sides. Once I have everything setup, I begin to insert wire ties thru all tethers starting from the center air dam area working towards the sides. I do one side at a time. It does not matter which side is done first. Just remember that if you do the right side first or vice versa, you gotta put on a protective wrap on the other side of the lip. This is important because when you are moving one side of the lip during installation, the other side will follow and end up scratching the paint surface on that side.
The pictures below shows the right side being done first with all ties inserted from the top of the tethers. The pics looks deceiving as if all wire ties were insert from the bottom of the tethers, but actually it is the top of tethers because of the angle of the picture.
After all tethers have been fed thru, the wire tie is inserted into the bottom drilled hole. I began at the center air dam working toward the sides. Keep in mind that the sides barely has any space to work with and it makes it a little tougher to access the lower holes than the ones in the front. Somehow, I managed to get them all thru by adding more slack to the wire tie around the top portion of tethers. That allowed for more movement of the lip while the other end of wire tie is still looped at the bottom of tethers.
Once all wire ties are fed through the bottom drilled holes, the side end of the lip is installed around the wheel well into position, one inch below the inside scribe mark. Then from the inside of bumper, all wire ties are shifted with its head close to the top drilled holes. Then, all wire ties are fastened into its locking tabs. They gotta be fully locked down with no slack with the head close to the top hole like in the pic below. The wire is pulled tight enough to close any gaps along the top edge of the lip from the outside of bumper. Once all of them are tight, I decided not to cut the rest of the wire tie as this will enable me to adjust tightness over time. For now, I'm gonna duct tape the hanging ends to the backside of bumper.
This is how it looks from the bottom with the right side completely fastened into position.
After I finished the right side, I begin with the center tethers... pretty simple. Then, the left side is done the same way as the right side. At this point, the front lip is being flexed around with the right side fixed into position. So it took me a little more time to work with being careful not to develop any stress cracks anywhere on the lip. I managed to get it on with no problems and then check overall fitment.
Following next will be prime-n-prep. DIY almost done.
6/28/09 - Day Seven
Before I began prepping the surface for painting, I had to cut 1/2 inch off the center air dam edge for fitment of the factory lower grill. So, I cut all wire ties and dismounted the lip from bumper for cutting.
Using eye protection wear, I used a high speed cutting wheel and guided it along the edge of the electric tape. The tool you see is air powered which has a 3" diametered silicon carbide cutting wheel. A household electric dremmel tool with a heavy duty cutting wheel can do the same job, but may take more time cutting.
Phase 5: Prime & Prep
This step is basically blending the body work surface with the rest without showing any signs of repairs to the surface. The areas where I did bodywork to also left behind some scratches in the surface caused by the 60 coarse sand paper. The can of primer I used worked pretty well in blending and concealing the scratches.
I began by wiping down the repaired areas with isopropyl alcohol. Next, I made 4 smooth passes with the spray can to only the bodywork areas and let it settle in for 5 minutes. Then, I sprayed another coat until the repaired areas are all covered. Waited for 30 mins to let dry before beginning to wet sand the primed surface with 2000 grit paper. The pics below were taken after I finished wet sanding the areas. The end result to the primed surface should look like a smooth waxy layer.
Next is sanding down the entire lip surface evenly. The product came out of the box with what I think is a gel coat brushed on to the surface of the entire front lip. There were runs and brush strokes in the gel coat that had to be smoothened out. So, I hand sanded the entire front lip with 320 grit paper.
After I completed the sanding, I take the front lip into a dark room and spot light it from the top, from the sides, and from the bottom to look for deformities anywhere on the surface. I've found a dimple in the center of lip that needs fixing. I mixed a small batch of body filler, laid it out on the affected area, and sanded down with 320 grit paper. Then, I prime-n-prep'd it the same way. Now, my front end won't look like it has a clef chin...
At this point, the whole lip gets primed. First, I washed it down with soap-n-water, dried it down, and sterilized with isoprophyl alcohol... not beer... Ha! Then, it gets primed resting on a folding chair.
Sun dried...
I let the primer cure for an hour, then reinstalled the lip back on the bumper to take this pics.
Look'n waxy... sweeeet!
I removed the lip off the bumper for the second time, and tethers are still intact. Tomorrow morning, I'll be taking in both the bumper and front lip to have them painted separately from a good friend who is hook'n me up with his labor and on professional grade PPG automotive paint. Depending on his schedule, it'll probably be done within this week, or sooner. It's no hurry on my part.
More pics on the way of the finished product.
7/01/09 - show-N-tell & DIY Closure
In for the finished product.
I picked them up yesterday from my buddy's paint shop and reinstalled the lip onto the bumper 5 hours later. Today, I installed it on my car. Too bad the sun wasn't out today in Chicago. But I snapped a few for some Before-N-After shots.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
More....
teaser
DIY Final Thoughts
From my experience, the fabrication process of this front lip was not as extensive as the work I've done with my other body parts. I've worked on it ON and OFF during the past 2 weeks. So, I estimate about 6 to 8 hours of work from beginning to finish. I think the difficulty level of this type of work is simple, but my friend who did the paint job says it's moderately difficult. IDK, I just like to compare this type of work to overhauling an engine and think this was way easier. I know this DIY was approached differently than other ones on the forums, but I thought it would be best to update it along day by day just to make sure the organization of each step of the DIY coincides with my progress as I went along with each phase. Had I done it straight after from finishing my project, I probably would have forgotten some steps in between. This is my first time doing these DIY threads. I hope everything I discussed in here is understandable.
Importantly, this DIY was not meant to discredit a company or a product. It was mainly acknowledged on my own to help anyone with ideas on improving lip alignment of this lip or the RS1 front lip. I know some of these pics may mislead poor representation of a company or a product, but in reality, almost the majority of aftermarket products require fabrication just like turbo setups. With the help of professional installers or DIY instructions, anything available for our cars can have potential. These last pics of the finished product are the example of that. But, I realize these products are not for everyone, so then this DIY is not for everyone.
.
Reasons why I think there should be a DIY on this is:
1. I see quite a few with this lip and the RS1 front lip which does not line up correctly, no pun intended. Not mentioning names, but there is always room for improvement.
2. there is no DIY for this simple type of work that I know of
3. the opportunity for me presents itself
4. to spare you from install labor rates, which in turn vvv
5. saves you guys/gals more money for other mods doing one project yourself with some sort of instructions.
6. to help understand ways of making things work when you purchase these kind of products.
Just to let you know that I'm not a professional body shop technician, so anyone with the wealth of knowledge in this field may feel free to jump in a word of advice. I'm open to any suggestions.
Now for the good stuff... Enjoy to me and good luck to everyone interested.
I'm not going to discuss how to take the front bumper cover off. There possibly is a thread for that somewhere on the forums if you search. This is just for my front lip install. I'll be taking care of all the fitment issues and installation of the front lip myself. However, I'm gonna get it professionally painted. For now, I will start by covering the fitment/gap issues of this front lip. Then, later, I'll update my progress.
Materials and supplies I bought in total of $40:
1. surgeons mask or respirator
2. gloves
3. fiberglass resin jelly
4. fiberglass cloth
5. 60 coarse sandpaper, 320 fine grit sandpaper, & 2000 grit wet sand paper
6. painters tape (all I had was electric tape)
7. Galvanized steel wire (10 feet)
8. glazing/spot putty
9. wire ties
10. can of primer
Tools:
1. spreaders
2. quarter inch drill bit and power drill
3. cutting wheel
4. ruler/tape measure
5. metal wire cutter
6. needle nose pliers
7. safety goggles
6/15/09 day one
Phase One: Test Fitment & Issues
Cell phone pic of the product. Made of flexible Fiberglass
Right out of the box, some major gap issues at the bottom corner area of the bottom center air dam on both left and right sides.
At the outer bottom corner of the right side vents it had fitment issue. But not the left side.
All around test fitment checks needs slight corrections on the side areas that wrap around the bumper to the wheel wells.
On the front lip, sanding down the high point edges of the inside portion of side vent areas of both sides will set back the front lip closer to the bumper - reducing the gapness, as mentioned, and improving fitment on the sides.
Stay tune for phase 2 - reinforcements
6/17/09 day two
Before I continue on, I want to first discuss some alignment issues with this front lip and also the Racing Solutions (RS1) front lip. I can't guarantee if the Fierce lip and RS1 lip has the same dimensions, but most of us know that they are basically the same lip in terms of shape, size, and the similar ways it sits on the front bumper. From time to time, I check up on SL and CSTC and I happen to notice quite a few ppl who has the RS1 lip or fierce lip installed with alignment issues. And I ask myself why most have them installed somewhat decent and why some I see just don't line up on the same level of the sideskirts from the side shots of the car. Well, now that I just got one, I know why and I may have a solution. My explanation of the issue below with pics.
As you can see below, the front lip does not line up throughout with the sideskirt. Take notice of the flared or humped surface of the stock front bumper cover on the bottom where it meets the front lip. With the front lip in this position on the bumper, the top edge of the Fierce lip rests on the highest point of the stock bumper's bottom flare. The gap and fitment issues of the lip is near perfect around that top edge on the sides, but unfortunately front lip alignment is compromised. In the second picture, if you align the front lip accordingly, perfect fitment decreases and then gaps starts to show up between the lip and the bumper... all because the surface of the flare on bumper dips in as you go higher in position with the lip. I thought of some ideas around this and I'm gonna try it out so that I will have both correct fitment and alignment.
I believe I've explained most of the issues, so it's time to move this along. After the preliminary check with fitment, the next thing I did was measure the position of where I want the lip to be mounted. The front of the lip is pretty much limited to one position on the bumper, but the sides allows different angles and positions on the bumper. I've found that the best angle and position of this portion of the lip is 1 inch below the scribed mark which can be found on the back side of the bumper near the wheel well edge. Then, position was marked with tape to left and right sides. This needs to be established first before beginning body work as this will be the foundation of working around the overall fitment.
Phase 2: Reinforcements
The picture below is the back side of the lip that sits on the bottom section of center air dam. You can also refer to the 3rd and 4th pics from the top and see that the bottom corners of the lip in that section on both ends were hacked. (Note the marks I've made in those particular pictures.) Anyway, that missing section of the lip that I have to work with has many bends and curves starting from the air dam towards the side vent. What I wanted was those areas to have a strong and ridged body. So I started off by making reinforcements for the structure of the body work out of the galvanized steel wire. I cut about 4 inches of it and bent it to shape the corners on that end. In addition to bending the wire to shape, I also bent the ends of the wire at 90 degrees. This provides a good base for the wire to keep it from moving around too much and prevent it from getting loose. The marks that you see in the 3rd & 4th pics is used to position that wire.
Next is securing the wire down with sparing amounts of fiberglass resin. The fiberglass resin jelly includes a tube of hardener. The pic below demonstrates the amount of hardener to mix with the size of fiberglass resin batch shown in relation to my ign. key. With this batch, I estimate about 5 minutes of working time before it starts to gel up and then harden.
After positioning the wire, I spread the resin over the wire like so and waited til it harden. Then, I reinstalled the lip back on the bumper to check how it fits with the wire on. I, then, adjusted the wire to precise shape on the bumper. The adjustment is mainly lifting up on the wire to level it flush with the top surface of the lip and also for clearance on the bottom of lip between the bumper surface. I also had to consider the possibility of that wire from being to high above the outside lip surface because it may be exposed or sticking out from the surface when doing the sanding job of the body work. So I had to compensate for that aspect and lower the wire slightly for a smoother surface of the body filler.
Next thing I did was go overkill on the frame work and added more steel wire in the middle section of the outer frame work. Though, I forgot to take a pic of that.
Phase 3: Body Work
I cut two pieces of fiberglass cloth to begin the body work around the reinforcements.
I mix up a batch of body filler and spread it over the fiberglass cloth.
I lift the cloth up from cardboard and turned it over to do the other side.
I folded at the width of the cloth in half.
Then, I draped the cloth over the middle wire like bathroom towels over the towel racks.
On the back side of the lip:
-I spread body filler evenly over the back side surface.
-I sway the cloth on the wire over to the freshly applied body filler.
-Using gloves, I work the air pockets out the cloth with my fingers.
-Then, I spread more body filler on the cloth on both the inside and outside of the lip.
-I, then, wait until that hardens. Once it hardens, I start to sand down the body filler
on cloth with 60 coarse sand paper to make the back side of lip less bulky in the corners.
After thinning out the back side, I do the whole procedure again with a newly fresh resin batch for the outer frame work. This is what results....
I'm calling it a day for now. I still have to contour it and smooth it out. I still have the others issues to do, too. Stay tune.....
6/21/09 Day Three
From where I left off in the last pic above, the next step is working around the area toward the side vent with more body filler. This does not require a lot of body filler like the previous step, so I mixed a smaller batch. Frame work is also not necessary for this as well. Referring to the pic above, I began by filling in that unwanted sharp 90 degree corner which was the result of the last body work or step. To blend that corner surface, I spread another layer over the top surface where I had the reinforcements installed and also a layer going toward the side vent. Waited until that hardened for the sanding. The harden layer was kind of rough and thick, so I started sanding with 60 coarse.... being VERY CAREFUL that I do not sand too far down to the main surface with that. Once I removed all the chunkyness, I smoothen it out with 320 fine grit sandpaper, and also contour the curvy surfaces as well as shaping the edges with it. Ofcoarse, shaping the edges requires multiple lip installation and removal to checking and adjusting for fitment. (Remember to install it with the sides 1 inch below the inside scribe mark). After all is good with fitment, I mix a smaller batch to fill in any pits left behind in the surface. These are the results of the right side lower air dam....
I not going to continue with a DIY for the other side, and for the other issue on the right outer side vent, because it is essentially the same steps and procedures. Though, I did finished the other issues.
Left bottom center air dam....
Right outer side vent....
6/22/09 Day Four
Phase 4: Mount and Installation
I start off by temporarily installing the front lip into position. I mark the top edge of the lip on the sides with tape onto the bumper. Then, I remove front lip for bumper drilling. Ofcoarse, the lower edge of tape on bumper is the median for lower section drilling. I begin drilling 1/4" holes on the sides along the natural bottom flare of bumper, 4 on the top flare and 4 on the bottom flare 1.5" apart from top to bottom. The space or distance between each set of drilled holes is not important. Refer to pics for general locations of spacing.(please note that the black tape shown in the picture is not the actual front lip edge median. It just an example mock up that I've done for the pic). Then on the front, I drilled 2 quarter inch holes directly below the lower body line of side vent and 2 more below those holes near the bottom edge of bumper. Two more holes were drilled near the bottom corner of center air dam below the median. Total of 14 holes drilled for the right side... the same is done to the left side. Then, 2 more holes in the same pattern as the sides were drilled in the center below the center air dam.
After all the holes were drilled, the front lip was reinstalled to position, marks were made on the back side of front lip using the drilled holes on bumper as a guide for marking, and then I cut 15 pieces of the steel wire to length.
I bent all pieces like so.
That's all for today.
Phase 4 to be continue'd.
6/24/09 - Day Five
Phase 4: Cont'd
These wires that were bent to shape with needle nose pliers are the tethers for the plastic wire ties. Both these items are used to fasten the lip to the bumper. The tethers are positioned around their respective marks on the backside of the lip. They are secured down on the lip with sparing amounts of body filler. But before doing this, all the accumulated residuals from the hand sanding was washed away from the back side surface with soapy water using a scrub brush, then air dried with compressed air. That should help a little with the adhesive strength of the body filler securing these tethers because these tethers will have some tension on them when the lip is fastened down. The rough textured surface on the back side promotes the adhesive strength a lot, which is one of the features of this lip I can appreciate during the install. You can barely see it in the pic below, but in person, it is kind of like a grid pattern to the surface.
Close up of tether with wire tie. I'm not sure exactly what size the wire ties are, but I'll assume that they are regular size. The plastic wire ties that I used has integrated metal locking tabs instead of plastic locking tabs.
Tether Install Theory
The position of the tethers on the lip is important to the overall fitment and mounting on the bumper. Some areas of the lip require that the tethers be positioned between the upper and lower marks of each set on the lip while other areas of the lip require the tethers to be offsetted to the outside of each set of marks. The picture below with red marks, simulating tether positions on bumper as if the lip was installed, shows this theory.
If you happen to notice their positions, they apparently all follow along the flare on the sides and continue along the rest of the flare in the front below the side vent. The tethers on the side of the bumper is pretty straightforward and eventually will get pulled inward towards the bumper with wire ties. However on the front, the tethers will get pulled DOWNWARD from the bumper. This will result in downward pressure in areas of the lip where it sits inside the side vents and the center air dam. Reasons why I made reinforcements that make the bodywork around those areas durable for this application.
Once I got all my tethers into position, I spread lots of body filler to the left and right of tether at their base to fix them down on the backside lip. No body filler should be around the middle section of tether as these are the access areas for the wire ties. These are the results with 15 tethers installed....
Right backside
Left backside
Right Quarter Front backside.
Notice that #12 is on a horizontal surface while the other tethers are vertical on lip.
Left Quarter Front backside.
Same conditions with #13
Center backside
I'm gonna give more time for the body filler to fully cure and call it a day.
I will try to have the install procedures in the evening tommorrow.
Phase 4: to be cont'd
6/25/09 - day Six
Mount & Installation cont'd
After the body filler for the tethers has fully cured, I began moderate sanding of any high spots of the body filler to a level below the top bend of the tethers. Not much was taken off. Ofcoarse, it shouldn't be sanded down to the point where the wire end of the tethers are exposed. This was only done to the tethers that are on the sides. The front can be left how it is. Once everything has been flaten out, I checked all tethers for looseness by wiggling and pulling on them. Everything all good.
Now I begin the install.
I start the install by placing the bumper cover on the headrest of my lazyboy recliner with the front fascia facing up. Definitely not a good idea using your own furniture for that, but using 2 folding chairs should be fine. I apologize for that in the pic below. Next, I begin to feed wire ties into the drilled holes from the inside of the bumper cover. The top drilled holes throughout the bumper are the ones to use to begin the install.
Inserted wire ties all around the bumper like so.
Next, I rest the front lip only on the center air dam area, and not into position on the sides. The sides of the front lip should be hanging down to allow more space and movement of the lip when feeding wires thru their tethers on the sides. Once I have everything setup, I begin to insert wire ties thru all tethers starting from the center air dam area working towards the sides. I do one side at a time. It does not matter which side is done first. Just remember that if you do the right side first or vice versa, you gotta put on a protective wrap on the other side of the lip. This is important because when you are moving one side of the lip during installation, the other side will follow and end up scratching the paint surface on that side.
The pictures below shows the right side being done first with all ties inserted from the top of the tethers. The pics looks deceiving as if all wire ties were insert from the bottom of the tethers, but actually it is the top of tethers because of the angle of the picture.
After all tethers have been fed thru, the wire tie is inserted into the bottom drilled hole. I began at the center air dam working toward the sides. Keep in mind that the sides barely has any space to work with and it makes it a little tougher to access the lower holes than the ones in the front. Somehow, I managed to get them all thru by adding more slack to the wire tie around the top portion of tethers. That allowed for more movement of the lip while the other end of wire tie is still looped at the bottom of tethers.
Once all wire ties are fed through the bottom drilled holes, the side end of the lip is installed around the wheel well into position, one inch below the inside scribe mark. Then from the inside of bumper, all wire ties are shifted with its head close to the top drilled holes. Then, all wire ties are fastened into its locking tabs. They gotta be fully locked down with no slack with the head close to the top hole like in the pic below. The wire is pulled tight enough to close any gaps along the top edge of the lip from the outside of bumper. Once all of them are tight, I decided not to cut the rest of the wire tie as this will enable me to adjust tightness over time. For now, I'm gonna duct tape the hanging ends to the backside of bumper.
This is how it looks from the bottom with the right side completely fastened into position.
After I finished the right side, I begin with the center tethers... pretty simple. Then, the left side is done the same way as the right side. At this point, the front lip is being flexed around with the right side fixed into position. So it took me a little more time to work with being careful not to develop any stress cracks anywhere on the lip. I managed to get it on with no problems and then check overall fitment.
Following next will be prime-n-prep. DIY almost done.
6/28/09 - Day Seven
Before I began prepping the surface for painting, I had to cut 1/2 inch off the center air dam edge for fitment of the factory lower grill. So, I cut all wire ties and dismounted the lip from bumper for cutting.
Using eye protection wear, I used a high speed cutting wheel and guided it along the edge of the electric tape. The tool you see is air powered which has a 3" diametered silicon carbide cutting wheel. A household electric dremmel tool with a heavy duty cutting wheel can do the same job, but may take more time cutting.
Phase 5: Prime & Prep
This step is basically blending the body work surface with the rest without showing any signs of repairs to the surface. The areas where I did bodywork to also left behind some scratches in the surface caused by the 60 coarse sand paper. The can of primer I used worked pretty well in blending and concealing the scratches.
I began by wiping down the repaired areas with isopropyl alcohol. Next, I made 4 smooth passes with the spray can to only the bodywork areas and let it settle in for 5 minutes. Then, I sprayed another coat until the repaired areas are all covered. Waited for 30 mins to let dry before beginning to wet sand the primed surface with 2000 grit paper. The pics below were taken after I finished wet sanding the areas. The end result to the primed surface should look like a smooth waxy layer.
Next is sanding down the entire lip surface evenly. The product came out of the box with what I think is a gel coat brushed on to the surface of the entire front lip. There were runs and brush strokes in the gel coat that had to be smoothened out. So, I hand sanded the entire front lip with 320 grit paper.
After I completed the sanding, I take the front lip into a dark room and spot light it from the top, from the sides, and from the bottom to look for deformities anywhere on the surface. I've found a dimple in the center of lip that needs fixing. I mixed a small batch of body filler, laid it out on the affected area, and sanded down with 320 grit paper. Then, I prime-n-prep'd it the same way. Now, my front end won't look like it has a clef chin...
At this point, the whole lip gets primed. First, I washed it down with soap-n-water, dried it down, and sterilized with isoprophyl alcohol... not beer... Ha! Then, it gets primed resting on a folding chair.
Sun dried...
I let the primer cure for an hour, then reinstalled the lip back on the bumper to take this pics.
Look'n waxy... sweeeet!
I removed the lip off the bumper for the second time, and tethers are still intact. Tomorrow morning, I'll be taking in both the bumper and front lip to have them painted separately from a good friend who is hook'n me up with his labor and on professional grade PPG automotive paint. Depending on his schedule, it'll probably be done within this week, or sooner. It's no hurry on my part.
More pics on the way of the finished product.
7/01/09 - show-N-tell & DIY Closure
In for the finished product.
I picked them up yesterday from my buddy's paint shop and reinstalled the lip onto the bumper 5 hours later. Today, I installed it on my car. Too bad the sun wasn't out today in Chicago. But I snapped a few for some Before-N-After shots.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
More....
teaser
DIY Final Thoughts
From my experience, the fabrication process of this front lip was not as extensive as the work I've done with my other body parts. I've worked on it ON and OFF during the past 2 weeks. So, I estimate about 6 to 8 hours of work from beginning to finish. I think the difficulty level of this type of work is simple, but my friend who did the paint job says it's moderately difficult. IDK, I just like to compare this type of work to overhauling an engine and think this was way easier. I know this DIY was approached differently than other ones on the forums, but I thought it would be best to update it along day by day just to make sure the organization of each step of the DIY coincides with my progress as I went along with each phase. Had I done it straight after from finishing my project, I probably would have forgotten some steps in between. This is my first time doing these DIY threads. I hope everything I discussed in here is understandable.
Importantly, this DIY was not meant to discredit a company or a product. It was mainly acknowledged on my own to help anyone with ideas on improving lip alignment of this lip or the RS1 front lip. I know some of these pics may mislead poor representation of a company or a product, but in reality, almost the majority of aftermarket products require fabrication just like turbo setups. With the help of professional installers or DIY instructions, anything available for our cars can have potential. These last pics of the finished product are the example of that. But, I realize these products are not for everyone, so then this DIY is not for everyone.
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06-23-2009, 05:16 AM
#11
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im sorry but anything...and i mean anything, that you pay full price for and still have to do that much work to just to have it look decent is just flat out stupid.
dont get me wrong, props for doing the work yourself and everything but those pics should be embarrassing for viniati.
dont get me wrong, props for doing the work yourself and everything but those pics should be embarrassing for viniati.
06-23-2009, 05:21 AM
#12
I can see the passion behind your work and it is coming along nicely but the fit and finish of their product is terrible. I hope you got a good deal on it, but it seems like you know what you are doing and what you want done. I can't wait to see the finished product!
06-23-2009, 06:58 AM
#13
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Originally Posted by yellowxhoodie
im sorry but anything...and i mean anything, that you pay full price for and still have to do that much work to just to have it look decent is just flat out stupid.
dont get me wrong, props for doing the work yourself and everything but those pics should be embarrassing for viniati.
dont get me wrong, props for doing the work yourself and everything but those pics should be embarrassing for viniati.
FYI, Viniati gave me a deal on these because they know I do the install myself. I did fitment of my sideskirts which I also purchased from them. In the end, it's all about the pride you put into your car, right?
06-23-2009, 03:03 PM
#14
X2... Not to take sides but some people actually like making things work that normally wouldn't and putting effort into modifying their cars. "To each his own" is saying that some people (kinda like me) like parts to fit perfectly out of the box because I don't have time to mess around with putty and glass, while others don't mind a challenge to make the part they really really want fit perfectly. Stand back and enjoy when you are finished SCIONOSIS.
06-23-2009, 06:57 PM
#16
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Originally Posted by rangerryda
X2... Not to take sides but some people actually like making things work that normally wouldn't and putting effort into modifying their cars. "To each his own" is saying that some people (kinda like me) like parts to fit perfectly out of the box because I don't have time to mess around with putty and glass, while others don't mind a challenge to make the part they really really want fit perfectly. Stand back and enjoy when you are finished SCIONOSIS.
Thanks for the input SL.
06-24-2009, 03:11 AM
#17
I enjoy watching DIY's no matter what the project is because I can learn from others mistakes! hehe jk but really, I have learned alot from just trolling through DIY's on forums. I have never taken a car from non-turbo to turbo before and on my first attempt, I single-handedly accomplished it in one day and drove it home from the shop that night. It's just nice knowing you put your own blood sweat and tears into your car instead of popping the hood and consulting your shop receipts to explain what you have done! lol Keep up the good work, I'll be watching for the finished product.
06-24-2009, 03:27 AM
#19
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Thats exactly how my viniati front lip looked. Fitment was horrid, if you want to call it a type of fitment at all. They're R&D department must be a joke there if they havent improved anything over the years. Goodluck with fixing what should of been correct "out of the box"
