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Hi

Does anyone know of any fibreglass front gaurds (or the moulds to make my own) for a L - series???????????????????

Maybe a bonnet too. Has anyone ever done this. Otherwise I will do my own. Maybe even consider a 1 piece front clip that I can remove to make it it easier to wash down after play.

Anyone??

And if I did end up making moulds (not that I want to go that way unless I really have to) would anyone else be interested in buying them?

I haven't heard of anyone running a fiberglass front end. It wouldn't be too hard to make up your own - dad did for his rally car - a VW fastback with 4 inches chopped outta the side of it, the guards -front and rear - were custom fibre glass done in the carport...

You just need to know how to use fiberglass and you're set, no pun intended.

Personally I'm happy with my stock guards and have no need for fiberglass units.

Cheers

Bennie

I'm sick of mine rusting out. That's all and it's time for a new set again.

We have a fibreglass shop at our work and I do alot of plug/mouldmaking anyway (used to v8supercar bits too) so it's no biggie for me to do it. Just the material cost and the time. I though that I'd ask first and if I went to the trouble maybe someone else would be interested in buying some panels to help offset the cost. I don't think it would be more than a few hundred bucks for the mould materials anyway. So I'll probably attack it soon regardless.

Then I'll be set (pun was intened)
Cheers

We looked in to it years ago for our MYs. No one did it then and we had no idea how to so nothing happened around our way. I haven't heard of any one doing them.

I think you would sell a few and recoup your money. Had you done it 5-6 years ago you would have sold a lot more of them. They are getting to that age where they are becoming scarce and early Libertys are taking over.

It would look cool a full clip off front, or tilt front.

It would be very cool.

Especially if it was in one piece, was flared out 4" wider each side, had a forward facing bonnet scoop and incorporated some big bulges over the strut towers........ Oh and suited the MY

Brumbyrunner, seem to be thanking you for everything including maths lessons.

I looked at the tilt idea but if I do that, the headlights would have to tilt as well. More work but still do-able. Where as if I make it a removable clip the lights can be fixed and it will give more room around the front to work and hose down. The plan was to fab an alloy bar that returns back to the wheel arch (similar to alot of 4x4's like hilux) and have the gaurd sit on top of that instead of going right under and connecting to the front radiator panel as it does now.

Scoops are easy to glass on but there is a little more work in flairing the wheel arches. Easier to just put rubber flairs on. Have to bolt them or use special fibreglass rivets to attach them. Really cool ,they are longer than normal pop rivets and split into 4 curly strips so they won't pull through.

This is the sort of stuff we do at work. See pic. See ya.

whatcharterboat wrote: This is the sort of stuff we do at work. See pic. See ya.

sorry,maybe OT,but
what sort of vehicle is that? can you tell us more, more pics?

Hi I know it is OT so just go to http://www.atwarrior.com.au for our website or their is a bit of a thread on that particular truck in http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/s ... hp?t=16345

It's a 4x4 Mitsubishi Canter with a one piece fibreglass body over the top. Just
one of those tyres was the same as I paid for my L series.

I don't want a flip or tilt front but I could handle something like this front guard for a Tacoma.



Or better still, a full removeable front panel like this Ranger. All products courtesy of Glassworks Unlimited in the good ol' US of A.

Awesome. Yes that concept is exactly what I had in mind but the arches don't even need the rubber flairs which looks better. But seriously their would be weeks of patternmaking involved to make the plug for the Ranger mould. All of those scoops etc have to be fabbed out of MDF or foam. In the states they would probably sell heaps of those to recoup the tooling cost. Actually something that complicated is best to be drawn with something like CATIA and cutout with a 3D CNC router by someone like Mouldcam. Big bucks or if you do it yourself > time. Very, very slick though. I'll definitely be looking at those pics a few times.

What about the lights. No trouble to put a waterproof multipin plug on and wire the lights into that but I think they would be best left were they are and the clip go over the top of them.

First thing will be to do the front bar.

Hey Brumbyrunner, did you notice the Hankook RT01's on the Ranger. They are the same style as I just put on the L. I'm pretty certain that's what they are from the pics. Tread blocks are identical.

I thought they might have been Toyos? Toyo is very big in offroad racing over there now.

What about making the mould out of genuine steel body panels that have been modified to suit? Wouldn't have to be very solid, lots of bog or foam thats easy to scuplture. It still has to resemble a Suby or you can't race.

I've been running between the computer and the car comparing the pic and I'm pretty sure they are the same. Have another look at the pic below

Yer if they have to look similar to the L then start with the original panels and add to them . Depends on what shape you want to add. The trouble with using soft foam (although it easy to shape) it is hard to sand right next to something hard like bog. So if you add foam, you sometimes have to glass over that and then add bog to get the final shape. MDF is much harder to shape but can be shaped with routers,etc .After you get the whole shape right you can 2pak it and take a mould off.

Normally you aren't looking for a perfect finnish on a panel anyway cause you can give it a quick sand and cover with a primer/surfacer before the final paint. Whereas a boat for example has to be perfect from the mould. SO instead of making the plug look smick and waxing it you can just get it OK and spray it with a PVA release agent. I've even done this over masking tape and its worked OK. If it's only a one off you don't have to get to caarried away with the moulds.

Had a look at the pics on the Crossbred site of your Brumby last night. I see what you are on about now.

To make gaurds like the ones in the pics you would have to glue a piece of foam over the whole side (backcut it so it will follow the shape)and taper it back from the wheel arch to the edges of the original gaurds. If you get it 50mm thick double it up around the wheel arch so that it ends up 4" out. Also make a template of the inside of the wheel arch from the original panel out to the out side of the foam and use that to check both gaurds end up the same shape.

Make sure you use Polyurethane foam and not Polystyrene. Unless you've got epoxy resin lying around. Go to a fibreglass shop that does eskys or boats for some scraps cause the full sheets cost heaps. Then cover the whole thing with surboard type fibreglass cloth so it's not so bumpy to sand. We then use a hi build primer thats a whopping 3000 microns so you hardly even need bog but you probably have a few options there.

Are you in Queensland?
If not do you think you could tackle this job yourself with a little direction or would you have to pass it on to someone else?
For a race truck like yours (now that I've seen the pics) the one piece removable clip would be the way to go and if you go to the trouble of making a mould, a replacement or a spare would be easy enough to do later if nessecessary.

Thanks for the fibreglassing tips. If I ever get to the stage where I need to build some custom panels (which may not be too far off) you'll be first on my list.

If you liked the photos on the Crossbred site, you better take a look at this.
showthread.php?t=4919

And I'm in far,far, far north QLD but most of the car stuff happens in Brisbane.

Unbelieveable. Saw some clear pics of the your gaurds on P44.

BTW my family are all in the Daintree/ Mossman area. I was just up there. I'll email you next time I go up. John at Hooker Dorys in Cairns would be able to steer you in the right direction when you get around to the glassing. He's a good guy to get your materials and first hand advice from.