Emmick Express Build

[sam bennett]

The lower front bumper wasn’t bent entirely straight, and it had some collision dents. Unlike the side nerfs, it uses a 3” bend radius and 90* bends. I’m deviating from the factory bumper by making it a slip-on instead of directly welded to the frame. I prefer this approach because I can replace it without further altering the chassis.



In order to make a slip-on lower front bumper I attached the upper to approximate the location for the bungs. The bungs are made from ¾” and 5/8” tube welded internally. Then notch the bungs to conform to the front axle. Then it’s a matter of cutting the lower bumper to size so that it has zero gap and sits squarely under the upper bumper. Drill the 2 holes for the bumper “teeth” and check the fit. 





Emmick used a steel tube with a bronze bushing insert for both gas and brake pedal anchors. It’s nice, but a properly sized steel tube will offer the same fit. So I whipped up some bushings, profiled to conform to the bumper, align, and weld. The entire process of making the bumper and polishing took every bit of 6hrs. 

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I'm going to switch gears and focus on the spindles and come back to the rear bumper later.



I threw them in the burnisher for an hour to see how they would clean up.



I decided I wanted a bright chrome finish on the spindles, so I began with Satin-Glo. I usually don't polish down welds, but in this case I figure it's o.k. The weld deposit is massive and some grinding won't affect anything.

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Here is what they look like after polish and color. This took 4-5 hours.