Krack

I took my license plate holder off when taking my bumper and fenders off and half of the fasteners were too rusty to try to re-use...
So I decided to throw that in the pile and decided to finally make my plates offset using the tow hook.

I was inspired by https://www.miataturbo.net/general-m...ount-na-59838/
and put my brain to use on this complex engineering challenge to improve upon that idea.

The only tools I used were 2 wrenches for making bends and a hammer for making a clean fold on the main strip.
to cut the strap... I bent it back and forth until it broke lol, I could have used a tool but too lazy.

so I got some of that metal "hanging strap", tried to get the thickest I could find... 22 gauge was the thickest there was at the store, it would take longer for 20 gauge and any thicker seemed to only be available in higher priced quantities and take longer to ship.... and I was trying to drive later that night... so 22 gauge it is! bought 10ft for <$3

Since it was not quite as strong as I wanted, I doubled it up on the main strip on the right side of the plate. You have know how to deal with the hole alignment problems that come with bending metal, or just force it somehow with bends in random places lol
The strip going from left to the main strip is the stabilizer strip, it twists a quarter turn and that also helps a bit with the stiffness. I made it a bit tight so that it kinda bends the plate concave, which goes perfectly with the contour of the bumper.

Even with the main strip doubled, I found it not as strong as I'd like because it would not hold the exact position I wanted from before to after I mounted.
It required a bit of custom bending after mounting to get it exactly how I wanted, which was super easy and made it pretty nice in terms of final fit.
If I could I would switch to thicker metal, but its fine for now.

Initial layout of the main strip and stabilizer strip:

Before test-fitting onto car:
Note, I use 2 bolts but you could probably get away with just 1. Using 2 makes it way more complicated for washer sizing.
I used 1 small and one big washer so they can fit level with the spacing. I ended up putting the big washer on the bolt in the back (back as in general front/rear direction of the whole car) as opposed to what's pictured since its easier for the backside to go through the tow hook with a small washer than it is for the front side.

Before final mounting, right: with foam tape where contact with paint is probable. the foam on the stabilizer strip is on both sides, with half of it hanging off the edge of the metal towards the side where contact will happen, so adhesive sticks to adhesive to create a nice solid foam block on the edge of the strip.
left: amazon offset license plate that did not work out even after custom bends and such.


Mounted




this was very fast from inception to finish and very very cheap. strong enough tho I prefer a little more stiffness and very customizable.

2manyhobyz

iTrader: (4)

Not too shabby. I like that its kinda matches the curve of the front bumper.
I came up with this idea a few years ago. There's nothing that says you have to use the whole front plate.