Project : BluePrint

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I have a couple videos of me plastic welding on this thing that I will put together and add to this thread for anyone interested...

More updates...

Had a little time this afternoon and the weather was nice so I started working.

Lined everything up on the truck so that I could weld in the notches I made on the corners of the bumpers. Also marked what I needed to cut off to weld in the center lower bar. Logan wanted to come out and help...




Everything back off the truck and tacked up together...



On the truck to test fit





And lastly, back off and in the garage so that I can pull the cover and finish up the welds from the inside to strengthen everything.



Also need to modify the sides one day with the cover on the truck. Need to make sure they line up well with the side skirts.

[Red_Arrowheads]

Sub'd.

This is a super clean truck, man. Really diggin it! Keep up the awesome work!

[royalife]

such an awesome build! keep it up.

[P78]

a whole lot of awesomeness has happened since my last visit in this thread

[lublub]

I love those BBS's. Your truck is awesome.

[blurred]

Appreciate the kudos guys... And I have an update as well to share...

3/30/2014

drilling out the brackets that I am building for the brake ducts/bracing for the bumper...



This photo shows the back side of the bumper. Mainly wanted to show the fact that I was able to recreate the edges where the bumper cover mounts, but also gives an idea about the cuts and whatnot.



It's finally come to the shape of a proper bumper cover. I am not able to mount it to the bumper without any part of the Xtreme cover mounted on there. It bolts to the brackets now. I just have a little bit of cleaning to do as far as sanding and whatnot for the thing to be final.

Also, will be bending and cutting the final brackets tomorrow hopefully for this thing to be fully braced. Then I'll finish up the backside of the cuts with some epoxy for strength.

Then.. off to paint.

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4/5/2014 - 4/7/2014

Okily dokily... time for an update since I won't have one for a bit now...

backing up to Friday...

My wife is sick of seeing the constant project in the garage with me working only a couple hours every now and then on this project (as she requested I do) so she told me that my deadline to finish everything was Sunday night. That gave me Friday night, Saturday and Sunday...

Friday we were busy.

Saturday I was able to work on it a little in the morning, then we gave our son his cool low-rider tricycle so he had to play with that...

Then we went to buy a gun and go out to eat for our son's birthday.

So now I am to Saturday night and able to dive into the truck head first.

Got the grille complete around 330 am.




Mounted the bumper in there to finalize the grille and make sure everything fit.




And this is the final bracket that I had to cut/drill/bend for the bumper.



Finished making and mounting the brackets for the bumper so that everything was solid to make any last modifications for this thing to fit.



Took the truck for a spin and had no issues with it.

Tonight I picked up the paint and dropped everything off at the painter's place. Now we play the waiting game...

Now, while I wait for this thing to be complete, I have to pick up a couple bolts and the grilles that I will have to cut and shape once I get everything back.

[Red_Arrowheads]

This front-end work is looking beast!

I can't wait to see the finished product.

[244Brick]

Wow!

[blurred]

Yeah, I am pretty stoked too. Body guy should have everything done by the end of this week or next week. Still need to get the grilles though.

[TransAmPlaya7]

This looks good man, I can dig a good truck build

[bostongrnM3]

love every diy aspect of this build. much respect for that

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As you can see by the time stamp of these posts... a week or two didn't happen.

But I have the bumper back

5/17/2014

Woot Woot...

Picked it up this morning.




Then I cut out the grille and bent it up to fit. Then mounted it up.




Bumper mounted up...




And the final product...








Still need to work on the grille before it gets painted. You can see it sitting in the background of one of those shots.

Will take some better photos tomorrow in the sunlight.


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5/18/2014

Alright, here are the daytime shots..

Took the truck this morning to get donuts and coffee....








Then did some yard work and went for a walk with the family. After that, my son and I came back and washed our trucks. I was able to get a quick wax down on it before going to get pizza...








The bumper does look a little big, especially head on. However, you don't notice it from a normal standing view. I n person, it looks damn good. Exactly how I had hoped it would turn out.

Once I get the grille complete, the lower gap will be filled by it and hopefully the bigger opening up top (Chevy grille with the center section completely removed and recessed) will help tie the bumper into the top portion of the front end. Right now, the definitive line going under the headlights messes up the lines to me.

However, that will be a project for another day. Have a lot of stuff coming up and little time to do it...

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This is the idea behind the grille..





Might not be pulled off exactly as depicted, but will be damn close once all is said and done..

[DutchStance]

Looks awesome, but the right brakeduct is crooked.

[blurred]

You are correct... and it bothered me for a while lol...

Finally was able to get under there and fix it. Yesterday I was also able to get these snaps of the truck.