Custom Bumper Project

[Marlin]

Don't take this the wrong way but... what you have created is liable to be just as rust prone as what you removed except it's more exposed to salt and also hopefully washing....not to mention it would drive Simon Cox (original VX designer) to drinking. Again, don't take me wrong, we have two '99's that I powerwash each week snow or shine and I do flush that bumper area extensively. So far no bad rust, yet. Stay tuned.

No offense taken, you are one of the lucky few that do not have the rusty bumper problem.(I have no salt problems here in Charleston ) The scary part is that most people will never remove their cladding and check their bumper, which means they have nothing for low speed fender bender protection and they don't even know it.

Isuzu is notorious for making vehicles that are very susceptible to corrosion. Not their strong point. My bumper on the other hand is enameled and primered, and soon the openings will be capped. But since it is accessible, I can see any rust early on and take care of it.
As for Simon, although he designed an amazing vehicle, there are some significant design flaws: No drink holder, no way to open rear door without a key, stupid plastic front end with no "meat" to it. Donut spare, hard plastic arm rest on door. These are design problems, things like the window problems and what not are later on, and I don't fault those as design issues.
The lesson being there is always room for improvement, I don't care too much if people like the look of my bumper, I am the only one with a real, functional setup, that I did myself, not store bought.
As for mods, I am an electrician by trade, so I don't really enjoy electrical mods but here is what I am doing now:

I got some H3 driving lights with blue LED halo around the housing. I am going to wire the blue LED with the new LED turn signals. It looks pretty sweet, when I am done, I will post night video. The driving lights will be wired via the factory driving light switch. I will upgrade the H3s to HIDs sometime soon, that would be a total cost for my lighting project of 90 bucks. 20 for the LED turn signals from Hong Kong, (driving lights on clearance, and I had 10 bucks off and 10% military discount), so I only paid 27 dollars. The HID kit is around 40 from Hong Kong. SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tomdietrying]

I'm sure it will look sic. I can't wait to see the pics!
Peace.
Tom

p.s.
I wasn't intentionally trying to ryme.

[Ldub]

I'm sure it will look sic. I can't wait to see the pics!
Peace.
Tom

p.s.
I wasn't intentionally trying to ryme.

But it happens all the time...

[Marlin]

I just finished drilling the new holes for the 5/8" pins. That will NEVER be the fail point now. The drill bit cost 20 bucks!!!! I did get an order for another skid plate, so I will use that money to get a new corded drill with a 1/2" chuck. I used my cordless Hitachi Li-ion 18v drill. It made it through 6 of the 8 holes before the battery died. That is pretty amazing for a cordless drill to drill 5/8" hole through 8gage hardened steel.

[pbkid]

nice, hey marlin where did you pick up the driving lights with halo rings??? ive been searching high and low for some...
do they "fit" in the factory fog light spot???

[MSHardeman]

Jack, check these guys out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/97-01...Q5fAccessories
They are similar to the ones that I have on my VX, but better. You can change the color of the LED ring on these and the ring is behind the fog light lens.
I had to cut the flange out of the holes that the stock lights twist into to get the new fogs to sit back in the holes. If you don't cut the flange out then the new fog lights would stick out of the holes.

[Marlin]

nice, hey marlin where did you pick up the driving lights with halo rings??? ive been searching high and low for some...
do they "fit" in the factory fog light spot???

I got mine at Pepboys. They have two styles, the 3.5" light with blue ring and glass lens, normal price is 39.99. Then they have a bigger 5.5 " light that has 7 LED colors, for 59.99. Both use H3 bulbs which you can get the HID kit off of Ebay for around 40 bucks from Hong Kong if you are willing to wait. I use the same HID kit for my headlights, been 7 months, no flicker, no spotting, no problems

The ones in the link form Ebay didn't say anything about the LED ring?

I just checked fit of the 3.5" They fit. You may need to do some minor trimming, or remove the mounting hardware, put it in and then put it back on, but it is a tight fit, so no gaps or vibrations I would think.