High Strength Build - Bumper Cars - Circle Track Magazine

If you've ever had the pleasure of working with an inventive chassis builder or race car fabricator, you know "the look." They seem to get it whenever a chance to bend the rules, upgrade the car, or flat out cheat comes along, and it's usually followed by a quickening of events and a some sort of half-crazed maniacal laugh. When Useless Pete and Editor Fisher have these looks, it's always a good (read: bad) thing and every time they've said the word "bumper" lately, it has seemed like it meant something more. Now, I don't know a lot about anything, especially circle track racing, but here I was thinking a bumper was, well, a bumper. "We need the bumper to be stronger" they said. "We need to fully weld it to the frame so it will be 'extra strong,'" they laughed. "Yes, yes! We can certainly ram people with it now," they exclaimed.

Hold up, what? Ram people with it? That sounds insane! Pete has assured me that it isn't really for "ramming people" but "it needs to be that strong in case…" well, you get the idea. Now, I don't know about all this on-track nonsense, although I am sure I will quickly find out, but pushing our way to the front or not, we evidently need a strong front and rear bumper. All jokes aside, every race car project needs a quality bumper system, whether you're looking to protect the driver, the hard parts, or the lead. And while building a bumper may seem like a complicated task to a novice--like myself--it can actually be done rather easily if you have access to the correct tools and materials. Luckily, both of these things are easy to come by right here in the pages of Circle Track and for this month's project, we were able to team up with both Harbor Freight Tools and A.E.D. Motorsport Products to provide us with the necessary items. In a couple of late nights, we had front and rear bumpers complete and were one step closer to getting out on track. So, follow along and let us know what you think, just make sure you're not out on track with us when we get the idea to "test" these bad boys out!

From Mini Stocks to the big leagues; building high-strength bumpers capable of taking (and dishing out) a beating

Just make sure you're not out on track with us when we "test" these bad boys out!

1 Last we left you, Pete and I (mainly me, that’s important) had assembled our new Mini Stock bumpers (and sheetmetal) and we thought the old Mustang was looking good. Of course, the lightweight, easy-to-install design of our bumpers meant that we would need to add some serious support behind the fascia to keep us safe, and everything in place.

1 Last we left you, Pete and I (mainly me, that’s important) had assembled our new Mini S
2 See what we mean? It’s all air and plastic back here—great for weight and looks but not so good for keeping us safe. Luckily, building a Fox-body bumper is fairly simple if you have a well thought out plan and access to a couple of simple-to-use tools.

2 See what we mean? It’s all air and plastic back here—great for weight and looks but not
3 Similar to our rollcage, our bumpers started from straight ERW tubing, which we obtained from A.E.D. Motorsport Products. Shipped directly to our door for an awesome price, the 0.083-wall tubing is the perfect start to any bumper project, you just need to cut and bend it to length. For the front bumper, we started out at 89 inches long.

3 Similar to our rollcage, our bumpers started from straight ERW tubing, which we obtaine

4 Starting 6 inches from the end of the cut, Pete placed the tubing in our Low-Buck bender and got to work. Easy bend here, just go a full 90 degrees to get the tubing to the correct shape.

4 Starting 6 inches from the end of the cut, Pete placed the tubing in our Low-Buck bende
5 With both sides bent, Pete jumped to the center of the tube, marking off points 10 inches from center on both sides. You’ll only need a slight bend here to help create a soft contour that follows the bumper, which you can see in the following image.

5 With both sides bent, Pete jumped to the center of the tube, marking off points 10 inch
6 Four total bends gave us a really nice starting shape, which both follows the lines of our bumper and gives us much needed frontal protection, for, you know, “ramming stuff.”

6 Four total bends gave us a really nice starting shape, which both follows the lines of

7 Attaching the bumper to the chassis can be done in several ways. You can choose to bolt it on to the frame horns for a quick and easy removable setup, or you can recess it into the horns and weld it in place, which is the way we chose to do it, for maximum strength.

7 Attaching the bumper to the chassis can be done in several ways. You can choose to bolt
8 Did you notice that high quality notch in the frame horn mount? That’s courtesy of our brand-new Central Machinery Pipe/Tubing Notcher, which we acquired from the tooling kings at Harbor Freight Tools. Adjustable up to 60 degrees and capable of using any high-speed drill, this notcher is a major time saver and the quality speaks for itself.

8 Did you notice that high quality notch in the frame horn mount? That’s courtesy of our
9 There isn’t really a set length for this frame horn mount, you just need to assure that it slides in to the stock frame horn hole far enough to properly weld it, and that it positions the main bumper support tight to the bumper cover.

9 There isn’t really a set length for this frame horn mount, you just need to assure that

10a With the bumper almost complete, it was time to weld it to the chassis...

10a With the bumper almost complete, it was time to weld it to the chassis...
10b ...On the left is the factory frame horn, which was spot welded in place to help body shops remove them in the event of an accident. We didn’t like the idea of a flimsy spot-weld holding our bumper in place, so Pete took care of the frame horns in style, seam-welding them for a much more rigid foundation.

10b ...On the left is the factory frame horn, which was spot welded in place to help bod
11 Stepping back, you can see how well the bumper conforms to the rest of the bodylines and you can easily see how much strength and protection it offers. Believe it or not, we’re able to lift the entire Mustang off the ground with this setup, which means it should be ready for battle—uh, racing.

11 Stepping back, you can see how well the bumper conforms to the rest of the bodylines a

12 With the front end complete, it was time to turn our attention to the rear, building a similar bumper capable of withstanding blows from even the most fierce of competitors. Not that we plan on letting anyone get too close to us, but you never know.

12 With the front end complete, it was time to turn our attention to the rear, building a
13 Along with keeping the bumper cover in place and the driver safe, the rear bumper is also tasked with protecting the ATL fuel cell, which sits in its own safety cage. With safety being our number one priority, this wasn’t an area we were willing to overlook.

13 Along with keeping the bumper cover in place and the driver safe, the rear bumper is a
14 Instead of relying on the factory rear frame horns, which simply slide into the body and bolt in place, much like the front, we chose to fully weld the rear bumper, which would provide maximum strength and rigidity. First step: remove the weak factory junk.

14 Instead of relying on the factory rear frame horns, which simply slide into the body a

15 Unlike the front, which features a significant amount of overhang, the rear bumper is quite tight to the body, which means we needed to create a bar with tight 90-degree bends and incredibly short legs. Start long here, to fit everything in the tubing bender, and then trim to length once you have your bends in place.

15 Unlike the front, which features a significant amount of overhang, the rear bumper is
16 Mirroring the front, Pete cut a length of tubing and notched it using our Harbor Freight tubing notcher. Nothing fancy, just a straight notch using the drill—easy as can be. Notice how perfectly the tubes slide into the factory body holes, no need to enlarge them at all if you’re using 1.625-inch tubing like we are.

16 Mirroring the front, Pete cut a length of tubing and notched it using our Harbor Freig
17 After tacking the main structure in place, Pete took a step back, inspected the bumper to ensure it was level, and began construction of the lower bumper section. This serves to protect the fuel cell and to hopefully keep would-be agitators at bay…we don’t need anyone coming up under our rear!

17 After tacking the main structure in place, Pete took a step back, inspected the bumper

18 The lower bumper section is built from a straight piece of tubing and two well placed 90-degree bends. If you’re noticing a theme here, we’re all about the easy to replicate 90-degree bends, in the event that we have to produce additional bumpers in the future or cobble something together trackside in the event of a nasty wreck.

18 The lower bumper section is built from a straight piece of tubing and two well placed
19 All welded up, the rear bumper looks fantastic, and will serve us well out on track. For now, I am going to focus on using the front bumper to “persuade” racers who get in our way and hopefully we won’t feel any similar taps to the back…that means we’re going way too slow!

19 All welded up, the rear bumper looks fantastic, and will serve us well out on track. F