September 5th, 2023 - Mugen Replica Bumper Update

September 5th, 2023 - Mugen Replica Bumper Update (ViS JDM Techno R)

I haven't updated the blog for a while with build updates because I didn't think much was happening really, but now that I've finished the outline for this post I realize more has happened than I'd realized, and now that I've typed it all out, I realized that a lot has actually taken place this year! So much so that I've decided to split it into 2 posts.

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Due some staffing issues at the body shop, they weren't able to get to my car and the owner and I decided the best course of action was to return the car to me for the summer and we would try again in the Fall. In the meantime, I would continue working on the car, getting her ready for the bumper installation. 

I removed the bumper and the fog light brackets and discovered why the fitment was so much poorer on the bumper than it had been initially. It was the EDM headlights. The different shape of the lenses were affecting the fitment of the bumper! When the bumper is fitted without the headlights installed the alignment is near perfect, and all the tabs can be bolted down without alignment issues... There's just a small "overbite" on the hood/bumper area. 

I determined after reinstalling the bumper with the EDM headlights in place: The fiberglass will need to be sanded a bit under the headlight to keep it from butting up against the bottom of the lens. One more thing for the body shop to help me sort out, I suppose!

Since I wasn't able to properly re-fit the ViS bumper, and the CR-X was temporarily sans fascia, it seemed like a perfect time to try and bring the headlights into a little better adjustment. On a test drive one evening, I noticed that they were badly out of alignment, and I didn't want to drive the car in the evenings without the headlights being aligned at least somewhat properly. You might be wondering why I still need to adjust the headlight after swapping to the LHD German glass lenses. As I've said before, with the LHD glass, the direction of the beam is now correct for right-hand-traffic. No amount of adjustments on a set of RHD lights would correct that, however no matter whether LHD or RHD, there are still some adjustments that can be made to the reflector via the screws to tweak them.

The only problem I have with the headlights now is that the UK rear housing adjuster screws don't line up with the holes on the EF8's bulkhead. That means that I have to completely remove the headlight, make the adjustment, reinstall and test. Rinse and repeat until the headlight adjuster beams are aligned perfectly. I was able to get them looking decent but they still need further adjustments. But they are much better than before and are good enough to allow me to drive in the evenings without issue. 

Again, with the Mugen (replica) bumper off the car, I removed the grill and sent it off to get powder coated black as well as some replica Mugen spoiler brackets to save me a trip to the shop I use. It's about 40mins away and is only open during business hours, no evenings or weekends. 

Speaking of Mugen brackets, I finally found a part that I've been hunting for about 15 years. A pair of lower brackets for the Mugen front bumper. Listed only about 2 hours prior, they were listed for sale with a Buy It Now on Yahoo Japan. I snapped them up immediately upon seeing the auction, knowing that I may not find another set. They rang it at about 9900¥ plus shipping. Heck of a bargain in my opinion.

Funny enough, once I bought mine the same seller listed another pair in slightly worse condition than mine, but still in decent shape, and then about 3 months later, a brand new, never used pair showed up for auction. I bid on the new pair but sadly lost the auction :(

Once my used brackets arrived, the condition was really good! The material was the same as the genuine Mugen mounting brackets for the front and rear bumper so they are definitely genuine brackets.

I reinstalled the replica bumper and test-fit the brackets. Even with the bumper not lining up properly because of the headlights, I lined up the brackets with the holes I'd drilled for them. I had drilled those holes based on the casting marks from the mold ViS took from the original Mugen bumper, and as expected, they lined up beautifully! 

Interestingly, I noticed something on the cross member that I'd not noticed before. At exactly the place where the brackets mount to the front subframe, there were wear marks on it consistent with those brackets being previously installed! The OEM front bumper would not leave marks like that so I believe that coupled with the evidence on the tailgate, and the side skirts that came with the car, means there's a very very strong possibility that my car was outfitted with a Mugen PRO.2 kit at some point in its previous life in Japan! I feel so happy that I chose this route for the build - that I'm not only restoring this car but bringing it back to a state it was in when she lived in Japan. I wonder how long she was wearing the Mugen when she was in Japan... more questions to try and answer about her previous life/history. 

My plan for the lower brackets is the same as with the other genuine Mugen mounting brackets I have; to have it replicated and use the replica on the car to ensure the original is safe and secure for the future. Sadly, though, it proved very difficult to find a company to help me replicate them. Most of the companies are only open during the hours I'm working and they wanted me to bring it in despite me providing measurements. Other companies wanted a commitment to a minimum quantity, and still others didn't want to do the work at all.

After the new brackets appeared on Yahoo auctions and I lost the auction, I thought about it for a bit. Weighing all the options and considering the economics of it, I had made a decision to see if the 2nd set of used brackets was still available on Yahoo. 

Sure enough, the 2nd set that the seller listed after I got mine was still available for about 16,500¥. It was a no-brainer. Taking the time off work to travel all over the city to different machine shops to have the brackets replicated, plus gas and the cost of the work/materials all adds up. I decided to snap up the second set of brackets since it would be cheaper than having my decent set replicated... I know that I have no reason to, but I would have felt badly if I'd bought the second set immediately after winning my set. I don't much like the folks who buy up all the stock of parts to hoard and/or gouge people, but this 2nd set had been for sale (with a Buy It Now) for 3 months so I didn't feel like I was being unfair to other CR-X owners out there. 

The brackets arrived and other than a little bit of thread clean-up on one side, they were in excellent shape, arguably a wee bit worse than the 1st set I bought, but I'm happy that I have a set to send off to the body shop and without having the hassle of driving all over the city and spending a fortune to have them replicated.

I haven't made a post about this yet, but I've also been having issues with the fitment of my fog lights. The driver's side bracket isn't fitting the way it should. This summer I received some photos that will help me greatly to figure out the issue. I need to say a big thank-you to Paul Moloney, aka "CRXPaul" for sending my some photos of his fog light brackets on his EF8. They will go a long way to helping me sorting out my issue. I'm grateful to him for remembering me when he removed his front bumper and snapping some pics. 

I think I may have finally figured out the solution to my problem of how to mount the signal light covers onto the bumper. I don't want to use just a self-tapping screw to attach them because I want to be able to swap between the smoked and clear covers without worrying about excessive wear on the fiberglass. The solution that I think will work the best are: blind rivet nuts.

I ordered a blind rivet nut tool with some sample rivet nuts. I measured the holes in the signal covers and it looked like 4mm screws would work fine. When I checked the size of the face on the rivet nuts, the 4mm was just a little larger than I liked once I lined it up on the bumper. It would still work fine; it was just a personal preference thing for me. 

I tried the 3mm screws left over from the rear bumper mesh and they fit into the signal covers decently, but still would need a small flat washer to be safe. I checked the 3mm rivet nuts that came with the rivet nut tool I bought from Amazon and they were the size I was looking for. So back to Amazon I went, picking up a bag of 3mm flat washers, a bag blind rivet nuts in zinc plated black, and a bag of stainless steel. 

My only concern with the solution is that when the rivet nut is compressed, that the stress on the fiberglass could cause it to crack. I'm hoping that if I go slowly with the tool and don't use too much force, I should be able to attach them without damaging the fiberglass. I hope. 

Remember, this blog was written in chronological order so, you will need to click OLDER POSTS to move forward in time, and click NEWER POSTS to go backwards.