PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Follow my lead and get your self made some of these little beauties....
http://pronto.customer.netspace.net.au/diamante/ssslide002.jpg

All I did was get a piece of cardboard and trace the foor print of the lowest part of the front bar.
I then took it to a Sheet metal place that sells BULK stainless Steel..
they have a Laser cutting machine to cut stuff....
I then gave him the template and said "Can you please cut me two of these out of your off cuts.. "
He said "No problem I have some 1.1mm scrap... give me a couple of days."
I went back the next day after he called me and I collected them.
$50!!!!!
I SWEAR IT WILL BE THE BEST $50 YOU SPEND EVER!!!!

I was origionally going to get the scrape bits and make them my self... But have you EVER tried to cut Stainless? NO well DONT! it will stuff your tin snips and will take you donky years and it wont be very neat.
The edge on the laser cut was smooth and rounded.

Once I got them home I bought a set of three double ended bits (they go blunt fairly quick on stainless) and a bunch of Aluminium rivits (cheaper then stainless and wont rust either.) Remember to get long enough heads to fit through the fibreglass and the plate.

I ask the guy If I could have some small off cuts from the bin and he just gave me them... I then cut these into squares and used them as washers on the inside of the bar to stop the riverts from pulling back through.

then it was a matter of drilling holes in the washers, a bunch of holes all over the plate and then placeing the plate in positiuon and drilling the holes into the bar..

Please REMEMBER to TURN UP the front lip of the plate to stop if from digging into the road when you leave steep driveways.

I used some sikaflex to stick the plate onto the bottom as well as the rivits.

At the end of the day it has saved me $1000s of $$$$ in repairs and repainting to the bar. it takes about 2 hours all up to drill cut and fit.

So please do it NOW.... not later .. NOW
Once youget the kit on the car you WILL SCRAPE it...
Now I can scrape it all the time (and I do everytime I leave home and return :( ) but the car just skids along and wears the tops off the rivits :D and scrapes the stainless..

here are a few more pics to conclude.

Happy scrapping :D

Haydn

http://pronto.customer.netspace.net.au/diamante/ssslide004.jpg
http://pronto.customer.netspace.net.au/diamante/ssslide009.jpg
http://pronto.customer.netspace.net.au/diamante/ssslide010.jpg
http://pronto.customer.netspace.net.au/diamante/ssslide011.jpg

great idea. Cant be bothered thogh

great idea. Cant be bothered thogh
YOU BETTER BE JOKING!!!!!!!!! :x
You need to protect your investment..
Just as you would put your car under cover if it was to rain... or buy and install an alarm...
This is a MUST if you have a lowered car and or kit.

end rant.

Seriously you will be mightaly pi$$ed when you scrap / crack it ... and you WILL!

Haydn

Looks great man! Good idea :D

I'd do something similar if I had a kit
Are you going to paint them?

true it does protect against scraping.. dont think its gonna help against cracking though. I went for a drive around today to check all the places i usually drive to. Thankfully my car gets in easy into all of them :D

...Are you going to paint them?
No the stainless looks fine..
And given that they are under the car.... and in most cases I cannot even fit my shoe under the front :D there is no real point.
Besides... they are quite sharp ... (I did trim the corners on an angle) so it allows people to see them and hopefully not cut their feet.
but the up turned lip also stops this from happening.


true it does protect against scraping.. dont think its gonna help against cracking though.....

I cracket mine (more ripped the bottom)
I was traversing a 45' gutter ... (the ones that go up on an angle and you can drive up them...) anyway there was a break in the concreate where the driveway finished and a foot path started.. or was it driveway and grass.. .anyway I was coming off the kurb at about 10' and I unfortunatly beached the lower side point of the bar on that join and it put too much weight on it and it cracked and split up into the lower air hole....
I WAS PI55ED OF BIG TIME!!!! but it was my own fault.
I had had the bar on for 3 weeks and it was a place that I went to regulary... it was just a bad fluke that it got at that angle.

Other things like a load of people in the car will effect your height and it doesnt matter where you think you go all the time... you will sooner or later have to go to a place where you havent sussed out before.

Im just trying to save you guys from wrecking a nice kit.

But at the end of the day its your car and your money and if you cannot be bothered then I cannot do much about that.

Haydn

Haydn

good idea are u goign to make staniless steel rocker covers next or dash borads i need oen if u goign to make some :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Neat post, Haydn. For the FAQ I say. Any chance they can do custom badges or lettering with the laser cutting?

Neat post, Haydn. For the FAQ I say. Any chance they can do custom badges or lettering with the laser cutting?
Yes people can do that..
Speek to Megatron about that... he knows someone that does water jet cutting.
Haydn

true it does protect against scraping.. dont think its gonna help against cracking though. I went for a drive around today to check all the places i usually drive to. Thankfully my car gets in easy into all of them :D

Try driving to my place John.... :D Even my S15 can't get through... :p

mmm maybe the developers of teh AM kit could suss this out and offer that with teh kit?

Great Idea, perhaps you can make up for those of us that cant be bothered and make some $$

u wouldnt want the tin bits to stick out and be sharp as u will get severely defected and maybe even get in hell shit when u hit someone and decapitate them

u wouldnt want the tin bits to stick out and be sharp as u will get severely defected and maybe even get in hell shit when u hit someone and decapitate them
They dont stick out and they are not sharp.. the leading edge was turned up about 5mm and when it was laser cut eh edge is smooth and is free from sharp bits'n'pieces..
Haydn

u wouldnt want the tin bits to stick out and be sharp as u will get severely defected and maybe even get in hell shit when u hit someone and decapitate them if anyone is balancing on their head in the middle of the road to be decapitated by these then they desrve it!lol
i think there a great idea tbutcher. only thing is though how flexible are they? stiffening the bar to much may cause it to crack easier if you really thump it on something.

..... only thing is though how flexible are they? stiffening the bar to much may cause it to crack easier if you really thump it on something.
They stiffen it for sure... but Im sure if you "thumped" something that hard that causes the stiffened plates to crack the bar... then be assured that it would have other wise ripped a new a-hole in the bar at least...
I have on 2 times now skided the car on the skirts for around 1meter ... had no choice :( I was stuck in a car park... All I know is if I didnt have them on I would have had myself some new side skirts and rear bar.. as it would have gripped them adn pulled them off and under the car.
Haydn

clever idea.. Do you have them all the way round or just on the front?

Just as per the photos... two bits either side on the lowest part of the bar...
Haydn

I have on 2 times now skided the car on the skirts for around 1meter ... had no choice :( I was stuck in a car park... All I know is if I didnt have them on I would have had myself some new side skirts and rear bar.. as it would have gripped them adn pulled them off and under the car.
Haydn

Someone needs Airbags/ Hydros :lol: 8)

Airbags legal? Hydros not legal?

TBuTcher , mate sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. Good One.
As far as blunt drill bits go, get yourself a Cobalt Drill Bit made for drilling stainless the tips don't burn out.
I'd be fitting it if I had nice front like that.

Thats a top idea and yes we did look into it at some stage, but the front bar would cost some serious $$$ if we did and im not sure that it can be justified. If you hit a speed bump or the kit bottoms out at anything about 20km/h its pretty much all over anyway...

But yes a brilliant idea and works well from what i've seen.

Looks good, but what if those screws or rivets that you can see catch on something....it may rip the bumper off.

Or have they been filed smooth?

...then it was a matter of drilling holes in the washers, a bunch of holes all over the plate and then placeing the plate in positiuon and drilling the holes into the bar...


TBuTcher , mate sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. Good One.
As far as blunt drill bits go, get yourself a Cobalt Drill Bit made for drilling stainless the tips don't burn out.
I'd be fitting it if I had nice front like that.

When you get the Laser Cut shop to do the "Scuff Plates" to your shape - just get them to also laser cut the holes - just mark where you want them on the cardboard template. We have a laser cut shop here in Ballarat - they can laser cut almost anything. One guy who works there laser cut the Holden Lion on his bonnet! Also seen them laser cut stainless and plastic too. - Great Stuff!

TBuTcher, Great idea - had a kit on my old Ford EA Fairmont - lots of scratches!

Looks good, but what if those screws or rivets that you can see catch on something....it may rip the bumper off.
Or have they been filed smooth?
If you are refering to the pic where they are all hanging down 4 cm.....?
That iis beore I used the rivit gun to expand the tips....
In the end photos the rivets are only 1mm lower than the bar.... And if you can snag somethong on that then you are doing pretty good.

Some of the front most rivit heads are mearing off due to it skidding over almost every speed bump :( .. but I wound it up on the weekend for the cruise as we were "heavy" driving and It was bottoming out fairly bad on the twisty corners.

Haydn

...Some of the front most rivit heads are mearing off due to it skidding over almost every speed bump...

I'd keep a watch on them. Too much scraping and the rivet heads may shear off causing the plates to come loose. If you watch them closely shouldn't be a problem as you should be able to drill them out and place new ones in.