Toyota Celica - TRD Front Bumper Project

TRD Front Bumper Project (12/08/2008)

I purchased a replica TRD front bumper.

Original Pictures

As can be seen in the pics, fitment is very poor, so it was a pretty involved task to make right, but I thought that I would give it a go to put right, as things that come easy can never be fully appreciated. I intend to use everyday materials where possible throughout this project in order to minimize expense.

I purchased specialised foglights for the TRD front bumper to fit. These are a 2 way light, that shine either the fog light, or a blue daytime running light. Also, I wanted to make this bumper look slightly different from the norm, so I decided to install white LED daytime running lights into the front face at number plate level, underneath each headlight unit. I didnt just want to make these look as if they were just bolted on as an afterthought, so I cut slots into the bumper itself to fit these into in order to make them look an integeral part of the kit.

The bumper has the following major issues:

1. Fitment at the top side by each wheel under the front wings very poor.
2. Fitment to passenger side wheel too tight, so the bumper goes into the bodywork and is not flush with the wing.
3. Extra width to the bumper means that it jolts out at the bottom edges (as seen in the first 2 pictures) so that the back of the bumper (including any foglight units) can be seen and looks extremely messy from behind.
4. The foglight holes are much too big even for the specially made 3½ inch diameter TRD Fog Lights.
5. Very poor provisions in the kit to mount the TRD fog lights.
6. Unneccessary holes for side indicators, as I intend to keep the indicators already mounted on the side wings.
7. From the profile, the bottom edge turns up, and not straight out. This is one thing that I cannot rectify.

To rectify the above, I have done the following:
1. Much filing and sanding!
2. Fix a wood block to the inside so that it will butt up against the framework and will push the side out to the correct position.
3. Fix mounting brackets along the inside edge, top to bottom, and to these I will cut wheel arch plastic to fit and attatch to the brackets.
4. Fill the gap with a layer of clear polycarbonate, and for effect behind this, a layer of tinted perspex. To these I will make a bracket to house LEDs so that they shine down into the perspex when the DRL's are illuminated.
5. I fibre-glassed a bolt either side of the fog light hole, and use corner brackets on the fog lights to attatch to the bolts.
6. Filled before spraying.

I will make a switch panel cut to size in the ashtray compartment for the additional fog lights and DRL's. This will contain:

a 2 way rocker switch for the dual fog lights with a red LED to illuminate when the main fog light bulbs are on and an additional blue LED for when the fog lights blue DRL bulb is on
An on/off style switch for the DRL's to include a red LED to illuminate when turned on. This will also illuminate the perspex surrounds of the fog lights.

31/05/2009
After nearly a year of pottering on the preparation of the bumper (not full time work may I add, as I am a lazy git!!), it was now finally at a stage where I thought it is ready to fit. After a 12 hour job, the bumper is now fitted and complete. It is far from perfect (eg. the line from the side skirt to the bumper is out, wheel arch plastics are not 100%) but it is acceptable in my opinion.

Here are some "behind the scenes" workings on the bumper:

	Here you can see the 2 layers of polycarbonate and tinted perspex used to fill the gap around the fog light and fog light hole. I also made a frame which to house 4 LEDs that come on when the DRL's (below) are switched on. As I don't intend for this bumper to look chavvy, I am placing the LEDs discretly just along the edge of the hole.
Here is how I fixed the DRL's. After carfully cutting the slit in which to place the unit, I used 2 small blocks of wood and made a plastic brace which to screw into the blocks. These are now housed very tightly and securely. Also notice the paper file spine which I used to clip wires back into.
	The drivers side DRL.
Here are the brackets I fixed along the inside of the bumper in order to hold the extra wheel arch plastics to cover the unsightly gap.

Now onto the switch panel:

	Its a bit of a "spaghetti junction" but here are the working of the switches. I wanted to do all of this from scratch, so I cut a perspex panel to shape and sprayed it to match the console, and devised 3 LEDs to illuminate when each set of lights are switched on.
Front view of the switch panel. Right switch is for the main fog lights/blue side lights, and the left one is for the DRLs/foglight LEDs.
	Main fog lights switched on.
Blue fog side lights switched on.
	DRLs/foglight LEDs switched on.
Here are the 3 wires of the fog lights (white yellow and red) and the 2 black wires of the DRLs going through the engine firewall into the cabin. The fog lights are powered directly from the battery, the DRLs from the iginition with an in-line fuse and 12V regulator installed for safety and resilliance.

And here are the lights from the outside:

	Here is the TRD foglight, and you can plainly see how much bigger the hole was to house them into, hence the plycarbonate/perspex frame. You can see the LED strip along the top.
Here is the drivers side DRL cut into the bumper to give it a more integrated look.
	Here are the blue fog light's side lights.
Here are the main TRD foglights
	Here are the DRLs.

And now, for the completed look:






Outside my office after its first run.
	Another outside my office.
Here is the grille (one of the main reasons I like this bumper in the first place) together with the TRD badge.
	I was unhappy with the way the bumper stuck out at the side, which revealled the workings of the fog lights, so I cut some plastics to shape to fill the gap.
Here are all the lights, updated to clear DRL LEDs.
	Passenger side lights.

Unhappy with a few small points, I made the following changes:

	I wanted a more complete look of LEDs around the TRD Fog lights, so I installed an LED strip. Unfoutunately I could not find a strip for the correct length to fit the circumference of the foglight, so there is a gap at the top, but due to the gap at either side caused by the fixing brackets, this doesn't look too bad.
Passenger side fog light/LEDs.
	This is how I fixed the strip to the foglight assembly.
I was unhappy at the DRL light output of the LEDs after the tint, so I installed the spare set I had untinted.
	Made the wheel arch plastics a better fit.
Driver's side wheel arch.

Some night time shots:

	Here is the blue "side light" within the TRD foglight units. The colour doesn't come out particularly well in this picture, but they shine a nice deep blue colour.
These come on for the DRLs.
	DRLs on with side lights (halos come on with the side lights)
Close up of the drivers side DRL/Side lights.
	Close up of the passenger side DRL/Side lights.
Close up of the DRL and blue side light of one of the TRD foglight units.
	Both sets of foglights (TRD and stock) on.
Side lights with DRLs and stock foglights (which I have fitted yellow bulbs)
	Side lights, DRLs and both sets of foglights on.

I updated the ashtray switch panel, as I was unable to see the switches in the dark. I went for very soft-glowing LEDs so as not to distract when driving, and also to ensure the warning lights that I fitted for the switches are more prominent when on.

	Fitted a row of 5 soft-glow LEDs in right-angled holders to shine light across the ashtray panel.
Picture of the LEDs when the ignition is turned on.