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Crosshairs Cut out?

13K views 50 replies 13 participants last post by  neonXonXsteroids 
#1 ·
I'm just wondering how many people actually get this done. I've noticed that in the Photoshop threads alot of people ask to have their cars photoshopped with either the crosshairs cut out our blacked out. But when I look through pics there actually isn't that many cars with it done. I'm personally doing it to my car and actually I've done a few other things to the bumper. I'll post pics up a little later, cause I'm at work. If any of you have this done can you post pics please?
 
#2 ·
Ok, here are a couple of pics. It is not done yet, but I hope that is obvious.





The grill insert that is in the opening is one that I made, and is currently at the powedercoater right now. It will be black. The bumper its self will be color matched blue. Just to give you an idea of what it will look like.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Cause of this pic, http://www.srtforums.com/forums/f69/how-bondo-fiberglass-414644/ , and I thought it looked pretty tight, so I did it. I can't stand any of the after market front bumpers made for our cars. I think the stock one looks really good, but everyone has stock, so I just did that to modify the stock look a little and make it a little differant.
 
#7 ·
Thanks man. It's almost ready for paint. I'm picking up the grill that I made from the powdercoater tomorrow, then I'm going out of town for the rest of the week. Hopefully by the end of next week it will be done.

I think the only thing its missing is a bfmic, but the grill should kinda hide that until I get one.
 
#19 ·
If you actually look at the pics you will see that I only covered one of the nostrils, so it doesn't look like the concept. Also with one nostril open it still lets air in. Plus there is a huge hole in front of the IC to let air in. I have been watching my temp, and it hasn't changed a bit. These changes are purely cosmetic, that really have no affect on anything else.
 
#14 ·
What kind of grill do you have? Are your crosshairs cut out? Show me pics.

I don't think I'll sell mine, cause then I'll have to make another one. Lol... I like it alot.

Theres a ton of cars on here with the crosshairs out. Theres very few clean ones however. Most people just cut the crosshairs out and dont touch any of the other area around it which just leaves a big gap in the middle of the bottom and one on each side as well. I can't stand that. I didnt do any fiberglass work, I just trimmed mine out so it doesnt look like its missing something. There was a yellow car on here with one nostril shaved, maybe thats the link you post, I dunno, I didnt click it.

Heres some different angles of mine.









Did you just cut extra out of the bottom the bumper when you cut out the crosshairs? I just filled in those spots.
 
#12 ·
Theres a ton of cars on here with the crosshairs out. Theres very few clean ones however. Most people just cut the crosshairs out and dont touch any of the other area around it which just leaves a big gap in the middle of the bottom and one on each side as well. I can't stand that. I didnt do any fiberglass work, I just trimmed mine out so it doesnt look like its missing something. There was a yellow car on here with one nostril shaved, maybe thats the link you post, I dunno, I didnt click it.

Heres some different angles of mine.









 
#16 ·
Yeah I trimmed around the whole inside of the bumper so no missing spots were left and yes I cut the upper holes out to be different. The intercooler is large enough that it goes from top to bottom so I knew it wouldnt be a black hole if I did it.
 
#18 ·
^^^ I think it looks good. I'm a little partial though cause I'm doing mine like that. Just so you know though covering that nostril up was a bitch. It took me forever to figure out how to do it right. I kinda like the blacked out front lip like that, but i decided I'm not going to do it cause of the black grill and I also have an APR Front wind splitter thats going on it, so I think it will look good with the blue lip.
 
#34 ·
^^^ Yeah, I hear ya. I was afraid that after I did it that I wouldn't like it, especially with the nostril cover, but I really like it. Once it gets paint than I think I will really like it. I've been getting lots of good feedback from it, and not just on here. People are always asking me if I bought that bumper for it and that it looks tight. People telling me stuff like that makes me like it even more.
 
#36 ·
well how was it done then and tips and tricks you learned that i can pass along because the only body work ive ever done is sanding and prime.i think that is what makes it look the most unique yours was th 1st ive ever seen with that so i know its rare...
 
#37 ·
Ok here is kind of an explination of what I did. First off it should be obvious that you can't use bondo or Fiberglass to cover the whole because the bumper flexes, and bends. I used this SpaceAgePaint - Au-ve-co Flexible Epoxy Compound but there are lots of products that does the same thing. This stuff has lots of flex to it. It actually has too much flex (i'll explain this)

-First I took a piece of cardboard and cut it to the exact same shape as the nostril. Then I taped it from the inside of the bumper so that it was a little inset from the edge. This will give your bumper repair stuff something to kind of mold to and also some thickness.
-Then I popped out the dodge emblem so that I could fill that in. Mine had a dime size hole behind it so I had to use some mesh they make for this kind of repair (you buy it the same place you get the repair stuff).
- Then I took a dremmel to rough up the edges around the nostril to give the filller something to hold onto.
- Then I put a thick layer of filler onto the cardboard. The filler will be a little heavy for the cardboard, so it will create a flat surface that doesn't go with the curve of the bumper.
- To make it curve around the same as the bumper I lined the back with fiberglass. That will give it lots of strengh and you can shape it to that curve. Of course you want to wait for your filler to be completely dry before you do this. That should be obvious. How I shaped the fiberglass was: before it dried I wedged a socket ( I don't remember the size. Just one big enough to give it the right curve) between the top of the now dried filler and the top of the bumper that screws to the car. Now with that done, I just let the fiberglass harden.
-after the fiberglass hardened I put another layer of filler over the layer that is dry. This layer I extended it down towads the bottom of the nostril, and out on both sids of the nostril so that I could feather it out really good.
- From there it was just lots of sanding to shape it and get it smooth. Shaving the dodge badge is easy. Just fill in the space with the filler then sand smooth.

That is a pretty simple explination of what I did. It will still be trial and error I'm sure, but that is what I did. I will post up a few pics of the things that I couldn't explain really well when I get off work.

There may be a better way to do this, but this is what worked for me, and I had never done any body work before in my life. I'm actually going to paint it myself too, and I have never done that either. So it has all been just learning on my own.

On a side note. The notches that exist where the crosshairs once were was also filled in with this filler for a clean look. ask if you have any questions.
 
#38 ·
good write up hope it hold up for a long time i might wait till after winter time and give it a go next spring...then ill ask ya hows yours is holding up just to make sure.but ya i think mine would look good when done with black roof and painted mirrors.cant wait to see yours painted eith alwas been a fan of the blue.
 
#39 ·
Yeah... The only problems I had with it was that it kept cracking and seperating from the bumper right where it met up with the edge of the nostril. That is the weak area. So you have to make sure you feather it really good, and the Fiberglass should keep it in place good enough to stop that from happening anymore. I think those are the 2 main things you really have to get right in order for it to be good. Once I get it painted I'm kinda interested to see how long it will last. I hope a long time, cause stock bumpers keep getting more and more expencive.
 
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