BodyGeneral body information and techniques for repairing, restoring, and modifying your car.
Sponsored by ThirdGen Ranch
Welcome to ThirdGen.org!
Welcome to ThirdGen.org.
You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, at no cost, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, join the ThirdGen.org community today!
I love the third gen camaros, but I am not big on the nose clip. I've been wanting to cut it down and bring it in a bit to make the nose flat. The only problem with it is I would have to remove the 'egg crate' in order to move it back enough. Anyone have any ideas that would make it so i wouldn't have to do that? this car needs to be street legal and i'm pretty sure safety laws don't let me modify the safety features........here is a what i want it to look like eventually, maybe with a black grille accross the front to give it a little bit of first gen flavor. (sorry it's rough,had to use the paint program)
This ad is not displayed to registered members. Register your free account today and become a member on ThirdGen!
Sponsored Links
Registered users do not see this ad. Click here to register for free!
In the end if you like it do it, being creative is good and also unique, i would just buy another bumper and hood so that you have them to go back on if you change your mind.
I do plan on buying another bumper, a hood won't be necessary since i'm not changing anything with the hood. I'm gonna do the cut and fit testing with a junk bumper before i do anything to my driver.
wow... if that gets your jollies off, why not just get a mercury capri instead of wasting money to mess up a camaro?
Wow, you act like a front clip is irreplacable. This Mod is just something different that I want to try, and if you didn't notice....I did mention I was buying another bumper to change out if I want to........it's experimentation.
I've actually wondered if theres a way to EXTEND the slope of the nose piece, make it look meaner, one of the reasons i love these camaros is they dont have a pug dog face like the fox-body mustangs, But whatever looks good to you.
I've actually wondered if theres a way to EXTEND the slope of the nose piece, make it look meaner, one of the reasons i love these camaros is they dont have a pug dog face like the fox-body mustangs, But whatever looks good to you.
But yes, extend it out like that, but keep the same style. not turn it into black widow body kit, or something that rolled out of pimp my ride.
yeah, I'm not a big fan of this body kit.............kinda reminds me of a 4th gen...............I don't like the "should be flying thru space" look of them. lol.
that carr looks like it is grinning at me, i mean the rice car thing.
lol, that it does. The front of the 5th gen camaro straight on kinda looks like a face too........don't know if anyone here has seen Jack Frost (the one with Michael Keaton) but it reminds me of the snowman......might just be me though.
yea, sorry bout that last post, lol. To each his own. If thats what you wanna do, go for it. It's your car. (and i'm a stock freak) I'll be watching your thread if you do.
<-------- Also a stock junkie. Not sure why people cut up perfectly good cars. You want a Camaro, leave it a Camaro. You want something with a flat front, there are tons of options, Mustangs and Challengers come to mind right off the bat. I just see alot of cars on here and other places that people hack up and end up spending a ton of money on to make look.... well excuse my ignorance, stupid. And people do it to ALL cars, people of all ages. To each his own only goes so far before its just a waste of a perfectly good car. Yes I commend your intellegence to do it to a junk bumper first but in the end, just like most "odd mods", like the rice Camaro, it will look bad. The lines on the third gen are priceless, don't alter them!
__________________
10 2SS/RS - Silver Ice LS3, M6 with hood/hockey stripe.
89 IROC - Bright Blue Met/black deluxe cloth, 350, 700R4, bone stock original - Owned 89-91 & 08-
67 Camaro - Butternut Yellow/black vinyl, 327 powerglide
NON FBody - 06 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins, 92 Jeep Wrangler, 98 Civic
<-------- Also a stock junkie. Not sure why people cut up perfectly good cars. You want a Camaro, leave it a Camaro. You want something with a flat front, there are tons of options, Mustangs and Challengers come to mind right off the bat. I just see alot of cars on here and other places that people hack up and end up spending a ton of money on to make look.... well excuse my ignorance, stupid. And people do it to ALL cars, people of all ages. To each his own only goes so far before its just a waste of a perfectly good car. Yes I commend your intellegence to do it to a junk bumper first but in the end, just like most "odd mods", like the rice Camaro, it will look bad. The lines on the third gen are priceless, don't alter them!
Again......in no way would this mod ruin a perfectly good car. It requires no alteration to the frame, fenders, or any major area. The only thing other than the clip that would be altered would be taking off the impact absorber (again, easily re-attached. I understand that a lot of Mods turn out bad.....but that's how you make progress.....failure is one more step to success.
I love the lines of the camaro with exception of the nose.....so I choose to change what I don't love and make into something that I do. Look at it this way.......you love the stock look of the camaro....but you don't love the stock engine components.......what do you do?.....CHANGE WHAT YOU DON'T LIKE That's all i'm doing. OK, sorry for rambling......
Looks like your going for the 5th gen look? Yes you would have to remove the impact bar to do this, possibly modify the bracket that mounts the hood latch as well. You would also have to modify the GFX which would be difficult at best I would think. Maybe your best bet would be to cut up the spare nose to use as a mold template and try fiberglassing a replacement piece? I would think that would be stronger and last longer than trying to add filler pieces to the middle part between the headlights, and to cover the tops of the fender ends beside the headlights. Same with the GFX. Interesting idea though, I'm looking forward to see how it turns out.
Also, I attached a jpg version of your pic since some people were having problems seeing it in a word doc.
Looks like your going for the 5th gen look? Yes you would have to remove the impact bar to do this, possibly modify the bracket that mounts the hood latch as well. You would also have to modify the GFX which would be difficult at best I would think. Maybe your best bet would be to cut up the spare nose to use as a mold template and try fiberglassing a replacement piece? I would think that would be stronger and last longer than trying to add filler pieces to the middle part between the headlights, and to cover the tops of the fender ends beside the headlights. Same with the GFX. Interesting idea though, I'm looking forward to see how it turns out.
Also, I attached a jpg version of your pic since some people were having problems seeing it in a word doc.
I shouldn't need to do any work to the body or the hood latch, I believe. Everything that I plan on changing is forward of those components. I do want to fiberglass it after I get it done.......this is all still in the air though because I believe Laws state that no modification or removal can be done to any factory installed safety equipment. I may still try it out for the hell of it
Thank you very much for the JPG attachment, for some reason Word is the only way I could get it loaded, lol.
----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daves03
to be honest with you seeing that last pic you did in paint reminds me of the new dodge challenger concept cars the R/T
But they still beat the mustangs to death so i would say go for it, take your time with a project that large though dont get in a hurry.
Yeah, I always loved the front ends on the first gen camaros and the old Challengers. That's where I got the idea to flatten the nose. I hope I find a way to go thru with this project and not get a fat ticket, lol
Last edited by Guardedsoul; 10-21-2008 at 06:37 PM.
Reason: Automerged Doublepost
I'm not sure where your at(maybe I missed that?) but I think the only thing you need to have is the outer bumper cover in place. I believe the laws lean more towards minimizing damage to the other car than protecting you when it comes to bumpers. You can try your state's website, I know PA has all the vehicle codes and inspections regs and procedures listed on theirs. I don't recall anything in PA's about the impact bar. The only requirements are that the bumper is there and it's at a certain height IIRC.
On second thought, you might be able to keep the impact bar. It bolts to the front of the "frame" right in front of the core support. You could cut the ends off the frame where the bolts are and remove the extra that is sticking out beyond the core support and weld the mounts back on. Basically just remove the metal between the mounts and the core support. That might give you enough room to keep the impact bar and to modify the front bumper.
I don't think there would be any problem just removing the impact absorber and leaving the impact bar in place. That would get you a few inches atleast.
Now for the fine print ... For safety reasons you shouldn't mod the impact bar or mounting points unless you really know what you're doing. I'm pretty sure the bar is high strength steel. Cutting and welding it would change the molecular structure and weaken it.
Having said that I'd whip out my torch and cut the brackets off and weld a flat plate to the back side of the bar with studs that would go thru the original holes in the frame rails. That could get you another 3 or so inches.
Welding the urethane bumpers is pretty easy ... and strong. Damn! Iwanna help!
All the space I would need could be achieved by removing the impact absorber, I wouldn't need to change the bar itself. Unfortunetly, I found the law on bumper modification on street vehicles. RCW 46.37.513
Bumpers.
</B>When any motor vehicle was originally equipped with bumpers or any other collision energy absorption or attenuation system, that system shall be maintained in good operational condition, and no person shall remove or disconnect, and no owner shall cause or knowingly permit the removal or disconnection of, any part of that system except temporarily in order to make repairs, replacements, or adjustments.
Now it's mostly choosing whether I want to risk the ticket, lol. I'm trying to figure out a loophole.
All the space I would need could be achieved by removing the impact absorber, I wouldn't need to change the bar itself. Unfortunetly, I found the law on bumper modification on street vehicles. RCW 46.37.513
Bumpers.
</B>When any motor vehicle was originally equipped with bumpers or any other collision energy absorption or attenuation system, that system shall be maintained in good operational condition, and no person shall remove or disconnect, and no owner shall cause or knowingly permit the removal or disconnection of, any part of that system except temporarily in order to make repairs, replacements, or adjustments.
Now it's mostly choosing whether I want to risk the ticket, lol. I'm trying to figure out a loophole.
Your loophole is:
#1 Don't drive like an *** and attract attention to yourself...
#2 See #1
I don't think a cop would notice/care as long as you weren't acting a fool. You know how many street rods/custom cars are technically illegal but it would take a real piece of work cop to mess with you simply b/c of that.
__________________
10 2SS/RS - Silver Ice LS3, M6 with hood/hockey stripe.
89 IROC - Bright Blue Met/black deluxe cloth, 350, 700R4, bone stock original - Owned 89-91 & 08-
67 Camaro - Butternut Yellow/black vinyl, 327 powerglide
NON FBody - 06 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins, 92 Jeep Wrangler, 98 Civic
#1 Don't drive like an *** and attract attention to yourself...
#2 See #1
I don't think a cop would notice/care as long as you weren't acting a fool. You know how many street rods/custom cars are technically illegal but it would take a real piece of work cop to mess with you simply b/c of that.
but this is Seattle......lots of piece of work cops .
Go ahead... do it! The bar is the strength, the impact absorber is for parking lot bumps. So many cars have just a thin styrofoam absorber now maybe you could find a half inch or so in your design to fit one in. And unless you're in a serious accident it would never cross anyone's mind to even look.
I dont think any cop (even the piece of work ones) is going to get on his hands and knees to look up under neath your front bumper because he see's that it is "modified" to see if the right parts are there. They are more likley to give you a ticket for hanging dice on your mirror (obstruction of view) or a burnt out light bulb on your license plate! Plus like its been said before its only there for small incidents and honestly does it even work? I've seen 5mph accidents where the whole front end was tore up anyway whether it was there or not. Now that you have us all intrigued with this modification I vote to do it and see how it comes out!
I don't ANY cop, Ahole or not taking the time to look up under the bumper for an impact bar. Maybe if you gave him reason to think you were high or running drugs, but I doubt he would see that and say "Hey, thats illegal, I'll have to impound your car and run you in." Where you would be more likely to run into issues with that is inspection time. Any time I contemplate making mods to my car that may bend the law, I check with the guy that does my inspections just to make sure it'll pass. I also have a good friend who was a mechanic at several small garages and local dealerships for many years and I regularly bounce inspection ?'s off of him. I think if you cut frame horns and move the whole thing back you should be ok. You can still keep everything that way and shouldn't have to worry about it since you technically didn't modify the structure.
"no person shall remove or disconnect, and no owner shall cause or knowingly permit the removal or disconnection of, any part of that system except temporarily in order to make repairs, replacements, or adjustments."
I think you will be well within the letter of the law to move it back. It says nothing about modifying it, only removing/disconnecting it. It also specifically allows "adjustments." Making it fit behind a shortened bumper definitely qualifies as an "adjustment" in my book.
Come on guys the 5th gen is based on the first gen. So is this mod! this is an awesome concept. What I would do is look at the brackets that hold the bumper support and modify those. My question is what is the difference with this mod and mods like making a newer T-bird look like an old T-bird. There is no way that an officer would even know enough about it to enforce it. I think that you should maybe consider modifying the hood too. Extend it more and bring the bumper to it. You should go for it!
I think i'm going to make the front end and try it out, if I get a ticket i'll change it back. This project won't start for awhile. I am working my butt off and taking classes for a promotion i've been offered, on top of kids and wife, lol. When I do finally find the time (and money) to start this project, i'll be posting a new thread for it.
to all the people that gave me input on this concept and I when I finally get going on this project I hope it comes out well.
I was thinking too that you could try to build an extension on top of the bumper. This way you would not have to sacrifice the impact absorber and if you ever wanted to turbo the car you still have room for your aftercooler. It looks like a person would have to cut a lot out of the bumper to make it match the hood like that. The first gen actually had the same concept.
The front of the 5th gen camaro straight on kinda looks like a face too........don't know if anyone here has seen Jack Frost (the one with Michael Keaton) but it reminds me of the snowman......might just be me though. 
That's all i'm doing. OK, sorry for rambling......
