JimAtFSU

I got it and it looked nicer than I expected. I also didn't expect it to be so stiff, which is kind of cool.

Need advice for installing the thing, especially mounting and fastener advice. I don't want to try something stupid and end up with a mangled front end or a cracked airdam with ragged holes in it.

I used duct tape to do a rough initial mounting and it doesn't seem to match the contour of the front very well. This is odd as the installed pics show that it seamlessly blends with the front clip. I assume this doesn't detract from the functionality, but is there a way to make it not look like ***?

My choices are seemingly:
-deform the front clip so it matches the air dam
-deform or trim the air dam so it matches the front clip (seems very unwise)
-paint over it and hope no one notices the gaps
-adhesives
-rivets
-bondo
-something I didn't list
-some combination of the above

Advices?

Pics related, it's a car in need of painting:

JimAtFSU

Also, any advice for where to go for paint? Maaco?

Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

Does any of the ISC lip contour away from the bumper? As in if you took off the duct tape on the sides, would it pop away from the bumper?

If I was going to DIY it, I would take the bumper off the car, sand everything, and get to fiber glassing that bitch right to the bumper.

Vash-

94mx5red

iTrader: (14)

Drive down to Ft. Lauderdale and beg Jared to do it.

dynokiller90

two observations.
1) are you sure that you have a genuine mazda bumper cover. I have seen some aftermarket ones that have a slightly different profile.
2) it looks as though it needs to be rotated slightly. the area under the marker light looks like it should be parallel to the botom of the light and the front should be pushed down a bit. I think that would help close up the gap.

so first make sure it is in the right orientation with the car and then use a combination of everything you listed above to make it perfect. welcom to the worl of fiberglass parts.
they all need some fudging to fit right.

boileralum

iTrader: (8)

Is it designed to be used with an oem front air dam?

dc2696

iTrader: (2)

Yes.

JimAtFSU

It wouldn't surprise me if I had a non-oem front. The car was originally salvage title and the color under the paint chips at the front is obviously from another car.

JimAtFSU

Who is this Jared chap? Is he a talented body and paint guy?

What is this fiberglassing you use in the verb form? Is there a technique you know of for joining these two parts together? I know nearly jack **** about fiberglass and body work as I considered it the domain of the ricers, at least until recently. Please educate me.

The material for the miata bumper and for this splitter seem to be made of quite different material. The miata bumper is soft and flexy and this thing is pretty hard.

JimAtFSU

Oh also, I got the 3 braces- the two that hold the splitter from behind and the front brace that holds up the front of the lip.

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

Do you still have the small rods that run from the frame rails down to the base of the nose in the fender wells? Those have a lot to do with the part of the nose contour. If they're still there, you can work with (bend) the rods to reform that contour.

boileralum

iTrader: (8)

I didn't say bumper cover - I am referring to the R package lower front valence/ lip.

JimAtFSU

Yes, and you are a genius. I remember having seen them before but they're not hooked up to anything. I don't know if I have ripped them out or not. I can always make new ones I guess.

Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

I would try and match the two seams as close as possible and clamp them together to hold it while you work. Then I'd start spreading resin and laying the fiberglass to both the front and rear of the bumper. Let it sit, then start on sanding it and smoothing it. I'd probably then leave it to a bodyshop to do the final sanding and paint.

I did fiberglass work on my front and rear bumper to save from bodyshop costs. I googled "how to fiberglass" and used the Evercoat kit to do them.

Sure "ricers" give fiberglass body parts a bad name. I personally don't dislike fiberglass, or carbon fiber for that matter because everyone else does.

I could be completely wrong about this, but thats how I would do it. I wouldn't stand for seams, gaps, or anything fugly. Did you email the company and ask them how they recommend attaching the piece?

Vash-

JimAtFSU

They don't have any specific recommendations beyond the braces. Obviously someone knew what they were doing because their cars look great with the air dam installed and painted.

Right now the passenger side matches up really closely but the driver's side just doesn't seem to match up right. Clamping the pieces together would probably help. I'm really out of my element here.

JimAtFSU

What do you mean by "laying resin to the front and rear"? The resin just spreads on and hardens like glue? You would apply it to the places where the bumpers meet, but where else?

Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

Like when I fiberglassed my cracked front bumper I did both sides for strength. In your case I guess you would only go around the back side of the bumper on the sides. If you google "fiberglass, attaching, lip, bodywork, etc", you'll find hours and hours of reading on the topic.

Some people say its a bad idea to mold the two together, as it will now crack and get fucked. However I have been DD my miata for years now, taken it to job sites off paved roads, etc. I only cracked the front bumper because of my simple stupidity one night. I like looking different than the standard happy miata mouth front end.

Vash-

JimAtFSU

Alrighty, this is slowly coming together.

My handy dandy C-clamps seem to mostly fix the problem of alignment. See pics below.

From the sights and vids I have been looking at, it seems that what I do at this point is:
1) sand the **** out of the stock nose piece. I don't have a dedicated sander, but I do have functioning arms, so I guess we know how this is going to go. Maybe put a sanding wheel on a drill? Dunno.
2) after everything is de-painted, clamp the dam onto the nose and alternate fiber and adhesive over the gap.
3) use body filler and sand after enough layers of glass have been laid and dried
4) put nose back on to car, mount the support pieces
5) get car painted

My biggest worry is step 2 because I realize that these two parts only really mate up properly when they're forced and then clamped in place- whatever I use to join them will have to be strong enough to maintain that same force on the nose/dam.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Please keep sharing the knowledge. I've never done anything like this before and the more tips you guys can give me, the less chance I'll have some sort of catastrophic failure.

JimAtFSU

The fiberglass repair kits don't actually contain fibers do they? They're just a sort of putty. Wouldn't this mean they would be completely unsuited for this job, except for patching any rough spots from where I laid fiber?

Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

The Evercoat kit I got initially (I had to buy more resin and hardener) came with a fiberglass sheet, resin, and hardener. I cut the sheets, wet them in my mix, lay them out and smoothed them, let sit and repeat.

FIBERGLASS EVERCOAT POLYESTER REPAIR KITS - Repair Kits & Materials by Discount Marine Supplies

In my build thread I have some photos of what I'm talking about, I might have wrote down something about doing it but I'm not sure. I cant say if this is what you should do for certain, but its what I would do if I had to join the two.

Vash-