Thrifty McGassaver this is your life!

[Canary5_0]

Welcome!

[TomO]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

Thanks for these pics. That aero front bumper you made is perfectly cool. How did you make it? Must have required quite a shop, or are there techniques that bring it closer to the reach of those of us with fewer skills?

No problem, happy to share pics.
I used an OEM bumper and filled the fog light areas with "Great Stuff" expanding foam, then shaved them down with a hacksaw blade and used Fiberglass Resin to build it up and feather the edges. then lots and lots of sanding, then painting. Same thing happened for the middle grill. No shop involved, just sweat and tools. I eyeballed everything so it wasn't perfect by any means.

Originally Posted by hmong337

thanks tomo.

vx manifolds are near impossible to find. will a 96-00 dx/lx manifold work?

I know the 96-00 will bolt up since they have the same pattern to the head, but the oil dipstick on the VX might need to be pushed towards the block to make some room. The 96-00 Civics have their oil dipstick off towards the timing belt.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by TomO

filled the fog light areas with "Great Stuff" expanding foam, then shaved them down with a hacksaw blade and used Fiberglass Resin to build it up and feather the edges. then lots and lots of sanding, then painting. Same thing happened for the middle grill. No shop involved, just sweat and tools. I eyeballed everything so it wasn't perfect by any means.

I see my summer in these words.

[TomO]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

I see my summer in these words.

Just make sure that if you use the "Great Stuff" brand of foam to allow it to fully cure the 24 hours it requires before cutting/shaving/shaping it. That way the foam is consistent and will not expand further once you cut it. Ask me how I found this out the first time I made this bumper and only waited 2 hours

[jedi_sol]

Originally Posted by TomO

Just make sure that if you use the "Great Stuff" brand of foam to allow it to fully cure the 24 hours it requires before cutting/shaving/shaping it. That way the foam is consistent and will not expand further once you cut it. Ask me how I found this out the first time I made this bumper and only waited 2 hours

Oh, NOW YOU TELL ME.

[caeaves]

Originally Posted by TomO

Just make sure that if you use the "Great Stuff" brand of foam to allow it to fully cure the 24 hours it requires before cutting/shaving/shaping it. That way the foam is consistent and will not expand further once you cut it. Ask me how I found this out the first time I made this bumper and only waited 2 hours

How is it holding up?

Also, the CX manifold has the same design just with a single wire 02 sensor.

[Christ]

I have a manifold that's either a cx/vx, or hf... The difference is the bolt pattern for the cat, but dimensionally, the manifold are identical. If anyone needs it, pay shippingand I'll send it out. Shipping via usps will be close to $16.

[TomO]

Originally Posted by caeaves

How is it holding up?

The first bumper I did suffered a little adhesion problem along the bottom of the grill area and detached. I ended up ripping the center section out, using a new foam and then used all fiberglass jelly on the second version.

The second version was doing really well until a Stupid SUV Driver backed right into me, splitting the entire bumper and causing multiple cracksin the fiberglass jelly.

The bumper will be rebuilt once again, but this time I'm going to plastic weld panels in place.

[OG VX]

This was a great build! Wish there were more updates since last post in 2011. Bumping for any current VX owners who haven't seen this gem of a build/thread.

Love the block heater plug. Was thinking about looking for something similar for next winter.

Any updates? Still own? FG bumper was awesome! Any process pics you can share of how you built that?

[TomO]

Thanks for the kudos!
I sold the car a few years ago to a member on here.

The External plug that I used is a Marinco plug that can be found on Amazon for under $20 still.

you can see all my bumper iterations and some progress pictures here: AeroBumper for Thrifty