Thinking about making something like the pic below for my car for weight reduction. The one in the pic is made out of mostly 1" aluminum tubing. I'm thinking about making one out of rolled steel tubes instead so I can weld it. Also would be using triangles braces more in the design to increase strength. I can get a conduit tube bender from a hardware store in 1/2" or 3/4" and I can get rolled steel tubes in 1/2" or 3/4". Should I go with 1/2" tubing to keep the weight down and hope its enough strength or go with 3/4"? I can bend by hand the 1/2 tubing in a section of 3ft fairly easy... Source: http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/fa...umper-bar.html (Aluminum rear bumper bar.)

This is what i'm aiming for. Either the design in blue or in green. Probably the green cause its more simple

I remember that pic!What ever became of "jerrywho" & this bumper support?Anyway how legal/light/strong would this be?I think the larger dia tubing would be better, as far as strength is concerned anyway.What about price?

The tubing is not much difference in price between the sizes. In 4ft section its under $10. The conduit bender with a handle runs $30. Already have the welder so price depends on how much tubing would be needed, maybe 20 feet per bumper. I'm not looking to make extras and sell them though because my welding is kind of ugly.

The aluminum version was 5 pounds. I think 1/2" tubing would be close to that. Stock rear bumper support weighs 26 or so pounds.

Nice design. Look's like something I should do myself!

I use 1/2" (and 3/4") electrical mechanical tubing (EMT) everyday in my business as an electrician. I would think that the 1/2" conduit with proper triangulation (bracing) would be strong enough for what you need it to do. It also bends easily with a conduit bender giving you a minimum bending radius of 6". It comes in 10' lengths too.
Interesting project.

EMT is weak as hell, it will support the bumper, but will not protect you in a crash. Not sure what the car will be used for, but if its used on the street you can forget using EMT.

isnt it a 5" radius for 1/2, and 6" for 3/4"?

I would be using rolled steel tubing instead of electrical tubing. Rolled steel is a lot thinner, like 16-18 gauge thickness.

EMT is quite thin, about the same gauge you listed.

What diameter are you looking to use? Something that thin will still be quite weak.

I stand corrected. I just bent a 180 in the shop and it is 10" outside diameter.

I wasn't implying that it would be crash protection.

i didnt think you were, i was just throwing it out there in case the OP was thinking about it.

Not sure what you're using the car for

Racing why not leave it off completely or build a very thin cage using 1/4-3/8 tubing

If used on the street the design shown will have ZERO benefit, even if made from steel. The impact bars keep the frame rails from spreading during a crash. The first thing that would happen in an impact on the above design is the mounting stumps would snap at the welds making the remaining bits useless for protection

A better design would use some heavy bar or tube running between the mounts and a lightweight cage to support the bumper. A 1 5/8" - 1 3/4"roll bar tube, channel iron, or large angle iron should do the trick

So, if this was to be built for street use it would probably be no lighter than the stock one. With a huge bar going across and a cage for bumper support or very low speed collision.

It will likely be lighter than stock, but nowhere near a 5lb replacement

Didn't the early 3rd gens have aluminum rear bars? Or was that only the front?
Why not run one of those? Seems the cheap/easy way.....

My 84 has an aluminum Fr bumper, but the Rr is steel.Never seen a alumy rear.

A little bed frame angle and some 1/2 electrical conduit. Weighs maybe 2-3 lbs. - I have had no issues with it, even when pushing the car via the bumper.

I like the design - taking weight off that part of the car is an overwhelmingly excellent idea.

Not like the stock impact beam offers all that much protection...

There is always Styrofoam. It can be shaped anyway you like and is very light. It is used in Mazda to form bumper support under the cover. Was working on one yesterday. They had a fiberglass bar and molded around it was a styrofoam support which the cover mounted over. I figure a simple steel tube bar and a formed styrofoam support would be the way to go.

When I removed my steel bumpers before I made my aluminum ones I drove around for a day to see what the car felt like with out them and it was scary. The rear wasn't such a big deal but without the front one on the car felt very uneasy. Almost like a wet noodle. So I just made some bracing out of some 1/8inch square tubing from the metal store. Car felt alot lighter and better after that.

From a drag point of view, you should never encounter and impact that would require the stock front/rear bars

From a street point of view it is critical. I have NEVER seen a 3rd gen impact bar not remain connected to the frame rails post collision. They do their job quite well. If in doubt, remove it and have an accident.

From a suspension point of view, the front bar acts somewhat like a wonderbar. Without a bar connecting the left and right framerails, they move independently, and since your suspension is bolted to each side respectively, they also move independent of each other. I.E. bad

It's still on my Drag car and after that picture I mini-tub it, installed a very custom 9 inch rear and some 15 X 12 wheels with 315 MT radials on them with the car lower then stock.

Jerry

Jerry, do you have any pics of the fabrication? I would really like to see how it turned out. your work is always top notch.
Kory

check out the attached pictures... you can see the impact mark on the side of the bumper, and the whole assembly landed like that about 150' down the road.

These are some good ideas. Does anyone have pics of a front bumper support?

I'd put more effort into reducing front end weight, before reducing rear end weight. Unless total weight reduction is the goal.

In the end, less weight over the rear = Less traction, unless the suspension is tuned for that.

Threadnecro

Heres a pic of JERRYWHO's front tubular bumper on the car:



From the same thread that the OP posted.

I'd like to see a front tubular support more "pointed" to follow the urethane noses shape. I'd question how much the nose would flex inwards under air pressure at speed, without some support closer behind it & cracking the paint.

it looks like he used all the stock mounting locations so it would flex no more than stock

Never taken a nose off before, huh?

On the stock steel mount, there is a plastic "cardboard" piece mounted on the front of the steel piece.

I currently have the nose off my maro. The honey comb or egg crate piece your talking about is just for slow impacts, it doesnt actually sit on it.

I know exactly what you mean. I just know I pulled my honey comb off after a small hit to the front a few months back. Maybe the Camaro pieces are different?

I also know I had no paint cracks before, but now I do. You do the math on that one......

...double post