making a wise lip hella strong
02-21-10, 06:28 AM
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making a wise lip hella strong
Bought the fiberglass Wise lip for my SC300 afew months ago. I live in the sticks so no roads are flat, alot of them arent paved, and the local wildlife like to run out infront of you on the road. (my county got its first and only traffic light 5 years ago) Anyway, all I could think of is "what am I gonna hit with this thing to shatter it into splinters?" I don't think it would take much for this thing to crack. I don't want to have to buy another after the unthinkable happens. So after mounting the lip with small bolts and rubber washers, ect. I wanted to make this thing less of a flimsy shell and more like...a snow plow
I started by laying down a layer of fiberglass mat with some resin on the inside of the lip. I then cut strips of sheetmetal (maybe 1"x6") and staggered them along the length of the bottom inside of the lip. Just the thought of knowing "I got some steel in there" made me feel good. I then added afew more layers of fiberglass over the metal strips. After that cured I purchased some cans of "GreatStuff" expandable foam and filled up the rest of the shell. Let it dry overnight and trimmed the excess off with a sharp knife. Then I cut strips fiberglass and pinned them to the foam with small nails to hold them in place so I could brush on the resin. This made me feel alot smarter since trying to hold that stuff in place while brushing on resin a *****. I put the last layer on at my buddy's shop last night and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Gonna have to do some clean up and some sanding later on. But this sucker is SOLID. I think it could survive an impact with a possum.
Please excuse the cell phone pics.
I started by laying down a layer of fiberglass mat with some resin on the inside of the lip. I then cut strips of sheetmetal (maybe 1"x6") and staggered them along the length of the bottom inside of the lip. Just the thought of knowing "I got some steel in there" made me feel good. I then added afew more layers of fiberglass over the metal strips. After that cured I purchased some cans of "GreatStuff" expandable foam and filled up the rest of the shell. Let it dry overnight and trimmed the excess off with a sharp knife. Then I cut strips fiberglass and pinned them to the foam with small nails to hold them in place so I could brush on the resin. This made me feel alot smarter since trying to hold that stuff in place while brushing on resin a *****. I put the last layer on at my buddy's shop last night and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Gonna have to do some clean up and some sanding later on. But this sucker is SOLID. I think it could survive an impact with a possum. Please excuse the cell phone pics.
02-21-10, 04:58 PM
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I have to disagree. Yes, if there is a great enough impact there has to be a fail point somewhere. My goal was to make the lip less likely to be that fail point. I believe the lip itself is now strong enough to stay in one piece during an impact. For all we know if the lip itself is strong enough to not flex and crack during an impact with an object than that energy will be transferred to the more flexible ABS plastic of the bumper that the lip is bolted to. Ideally, the bumper itself will flex and the lip would move in one piece instead of pieces. Even if all of the fasteners are ripped clean out of the ABS bumper, if the lip stays in one piece, it can be reattached. You can't convince me that a solid structure isn't stronger than just a shell.
02-21-10, 05:01 PM
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well, they're point is probably meaning that if it breaks.. it will most likely break at the fastening points. Those points are usually where it fails anyways, and hoping you don't drive too fast, lets hope you do't run over it..
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02-21-10, 05:14 PM
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when I hit the lotto I'll invest in a WRX.
If I hit something and it gets ripped off completely and I manage to run it over, I'll still be happier than if I hit something and it stays attached in splinters. I know I'm screwed if I hit something hard enough, I just don't want a small impact to ruin the lip in the first place. That's my only point to this.
If I hit something and it gets ripped off completely and I manage to run it over, I'll still be happier than if I hit something and it stays attached in splinters. I know I'm screwed if I hit something hard enough, I just don't want a small impact to ruin the lip in the first place. That's my only point to this.
02-21-10, 05:45 PM
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I'm loving the enthusiasm! Believe me, if (god forbid) I do hit something with it I'll post pics of the aftermath. But until that day comes I'm gonna have a handful of confidence that my lip is stronger than the it was when I first got it.
