Current progress so far
Links to parts and information websites
Where I will be building my diablo
Where most of the important bits come from
The stuff it all bolts to
What makes it go
What makes it pretty
The cars nervous system
Where you sit
The gubberment bit
 
Who really cares?
Stuff that will not fit anywhere else
Other diablo replica websites
 

Front bumper

You can click on some of the images here and link to a high resolution version:



 If you are building a 6.0 version of the Diablo, you will undoubtably have had the bumper at least clamped to the car to determine wing alignment. And for mounting the bumper, its the first step you need to take. There will likely be a small amount of fettling required to get it to fit exactly. In my case the drivers side wing is about 2mm out, even after taking care with mounting the wings.

Mounting the bumper correctly is also the first stage to accomplish before bonding the bottom parts of the wings to the front boot liner. once it is clamped into position, drill through the bumper and front wing to make your mounting points.


I am bonding the centre panel which goes between the two front wings here. The panel has three six millimetre bolts bonded into it to provide mounting points for the bumper. At the moment its not fixed in, and requires some more work as the front boot cover is bonded in.

I have bolted the front bumper to the wings with 8mm bolts, and have bonded the bolt heads into place to prevent movement. This will also mean I can fibreglass over the top of them without fear or obstructing anything I will need to get to later.


Started lifting this section up with some filler to match the passenger side. This is the first rough coat of filler before the lines are refined and the gaps evened up.

I have not fitted the drivers side headlight for two reasons. One I have run out of the stainless steel I use to make up brackets. And two, Its a lot easier to sand this section if the light is not fitted.


Here I have fitted the side lights to the front bumper.

Not shown in this photo, is the work I have needed to do to sort out the ducts at the bottom of the front bumper. The PD demonstrator I saw has these areas simply blanked off with the fog lights protruding through them. On the original, a piece of ducting behind the inlet, guides air through onto the brake area to maximise cooling. The entire section is covered with a wire mesh. I had decided to reproduce the original in this respect, as I have the lower spec brake discs and they could do with the additional ccoling.


I have installed the ducts I made in this picture. I made some patterns up from some shiny thin aluminium, and used them as plugs which I then layed with fibreglas. The ductwork is not particuarly aerodynamic but does prevent you seeing the road through the front of the bumper.

The foglights are not the same type as those on the real Diablo, but are close enough that it doesnt really matter. I need to fabricate some small round trims to go around the foglights, as the trimmed wire mesh, although neat as I could make it, still looks a bit raggedy.

I finished the bumper in grey primer so that I could see if there were any glaring errors in my rubbing down. The primer will be rubbed down completely before painting which will help show any low spots before a final coat of yellow primer is applied.


This view shows the inside of the bumper. This would not normally be visible with the front wheels fitted. You can clearly see the fibreglass boxes I have built, and the brackets securing them to the bumper themselves.

I used aluminium this time, as there are no welds and I wanted to keep the weight to a minimum.


The Bumper here is fitted to the car, and you can see its a pretty good fit.

The sidelights beneath the headlights are a pain to get fitted correctly. The small brackets that are moulded into the bumper leave the light pointing in the wrong direction. I used extra nuts to space the bracket out correctly. There are slight gaps visible when the bumper is viewed head-on, so I will probably run a bead of black sealant around the inside once it is painted.

This is the end result, and very smart it is as well. You can see the foglights nice and clearly here, as well as the box behind the bumper just like the original. It took two days to get it looking this good and I have to say, at the moment I am pretty pleased with it.

I think my headlights might be a little proud of the front wings, but as they are both have the same amount of protrusion, I am not going to change them.

 

 
Got the front bumper back on the car now. I need to adjust the latch for the front boot to stop it bowing down slightly, I will probably put a small shim under the latch ring to just bring it out a couple of millimetres.