Modified Bull Bar

Bull Bar
It was time to work on the front bull bar. In general I was quite happy with the standard set-up we had on our old Delica, but wanted to improve a few things. To clarify it right from the beginning we are not planing to install a winch as well as there is no need for any Hi-Lift Jack points. It don’t have to be a heavy-duty bumper, more a light-weight protection of the front and a mount for fog lights.

The first step was to take the plastic cover off which I was not planing to use anymore afterwards. Unfortunately after the cover came off quite a few big metal brackets were welded to the bull bar. So I spent a whole night grinding everything unnecessary off. After cleaning up I had to figure out a mounting system for the planned fog lights in the middle of the bumper. In the end a metal plate was welded to the middle tube with three brackets attached to it. Also the main mount for the bull bar got a few additional welding spots to make it stronger.

Next step was cleaning, sanding and priming. As the first coat I used rocker guard to prevent any chipping. The second and third coat is white Tremclad.

The two main brackets which hold the bumper to the van were quite rusty as well as all the bolts. I used rust primer and again Tremclad, but I had to find new bolts. Not as easy as I thought. It turned out just one place in Vancouver sells fine-thread metric high-grad bolts: West Coast Fasteners Ltd.
The original bolts are grad 7, which is not very high specially when you use just ONE bolt to tow the whole vehicle. Therefore I bought grade 10.9 to give it more strength and used stainless-steel washers.

Next step: Mounting the fog lights…

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