thnikkamax

iTrader: (2)

It was a long time ago... a fella named max002 tried to muster together a group deal on inexpensive bodykits in a more subtle r33 style. He had little experience in those matters and there was little interest.

Now behold... lack of sleep led me to come up with this photochop...



Some obvious things:

- inspiration: silver Maxima/R33 photochop by MaximaZero
- molded to a 97-99 front
- lack of stock turn signals / side markers
- lack of stock 97-99 grille

Now, the story. I wanted to get the M-style front bumper.. but I can spend that same amount of money (M-bumper + shipping) and get my own custom front made locally. I'm not making this to be sold in large quantities....... yet I'm pretty much buying the R33 front bumper replacement for the 95-99 Sentra (compare THIS with photochop above). The bumper cover will then be custom molded to fit my car.

Other details:
Yes the bumper is made of fiberglass and NO it will not be made in poly-U. Fiberglass can go through some punishment... so consider that a stock bumper is about 12" tall from the base of the grille to the bottom. This bumper will measure 13" tall at the nose, and measure 14.5" to 15" towards the back part (at bottom edge of wheel well). Using cardboard pieces we checked to see how that styling would look, and we were satisfied. This should also keep the fiberglass from becoming victim to steep driveways. NOTE: the nose measurement is smaller than stock bumper + stillen lip which equals to 1'3" (thanks to AnGe for that piece of info).
I have a steep driveway

I will try to make the bottom/outer edges styled so that they go well with the Stillen side skirts. No fancy lines and curves.. as you can see it's pretty simple and looks kinda stock.

Grille - the front bumper has a built in grille... attach grille mesh to your heart's content.

Stock turn signals/side markers - Yes they are gone, but I have my clearance lights wired so that they blink in amber color. The photochop also illustrates aftermarket side markers that can easily be installed. You can get an amber reflecting set (if you want to stay legal). You can use the harness from the stock side marker. If kit is to be made available to you guys, I will photocopy a "how2" guide for wiring and send it along with the bumper if requested, but a write-up can be found here in the forums.

As far as my side skirts and rear. I am going to get a custom mold similar to Stillen side skirts but with some type of duct or something subtle. The rear will be valences similar to the Stillen ones as well, except they will be rounded in towards the bottom of the car instead of creating that weird angle where the valence meets the bottom edge of the rear bumper

For now this is my own personal project... but if there's enough interest in this style then I can get it made in larger quantities. Expect to get it for $275-$300 shipped to your door anywhere in the US. And maybe $390 + shipping for a whole kit. I'm not taking orders or anything.. at least not until I have my own actual finished product.



That's pretty much it for now, I'll answer questions as they come along.

My questions for those knowledgable on this...

#1 Are the screw and bolt mounts the same on 95-96 and 97-99 front bumpers?

#2 Assuming you get to throw out the grille (and that the answer to #1 is 'yes,' would this bumper match up even with the headlights on 95-96's as well?

In other words, if the bumper cover comes with a built in grille, then can it be used for all years 95-99?

Thanks,
Mario

Maxima95Tuner

Looks like a great project. I would definately be interested in the kit if you think you could get a whole kit for 390 + shipping. Hope it turns out well, and keep us posted.

thnikkamax

iTrader: (2)

since it's fiberglass.. maybe easier to get the R32 headlights put in???

max1ma97se

iTrader: (1)

that looks like my car b4 i put on my new shoes

Kashoggio

iTrader: (11)

that is ugly

max95q

iTrader: (10)

Did you photochop that off of an altima? The bumper you have looks similar to those. I know they have the r33 bodykits and the one you have looks familiar. It looks good on them Im sure it would on the maxima. Its a photoshop so guys dont expect it to actually look like that.

Ramius83

The screw and bolt mounts on the side fenders and on the front bumper support are dead even. Only the bolt holes underneath the headlights are somewhat different. But, you can just cover those up with the fiberglass and if they want, they can drill it out and use the bolts.

If your front bumper came with the built in grille, it will work for all 95-99 Maximas. Now, if they had to use there own grille, you would probably have to mold two slightly different front bumpers. If you look closely at the 97-99 front bumper, the bumper wraps up a little on the inner portions of the headlights. And the grille then meets up with these portions. Now, the 95-96 front bumper extends more upwards to meet up with the grille. So, if you had a 96 vehicle with the stock front grille and you made this kit to exactly fit the 97-99, there will be a 1/2" or 1" gap in between the grille and the front bumper.

I hope this helps. I am pretty knowledgeable in this stuff because back in the day, I was one of the first to pioneer the front bumper conversion for the 95-96 vehicles such as my 96 to the 97-99 front AND rear end.......

thnikkamax

iTrader: (2)

It's photochopped from a 200SX. I'm thinking it doesn't look so attractive because I scooted the bottom up a bit. As you can see the holes for the stock R33 GT-R's foglights are les taller than the actual ones. I did this to make the nose higher off the ground but that angle makes it look too high.

max1ma97se: I remember getting that photo off of eBay when I wanted to buy the 5th gen SE wheels... sorry for not asking permission but I couldn't find the owner after frantically looking through sigs.

Ramius83: Thanks a lot! I think for now we'll keep the built in grille though. I'm looking into making it as an attachment grille so that I can use my 97 stock grille... and maybe some kind of spacer in there that can be hidden good enough for the 95/96 guys.

Rufus

i dont like it, looks too much like the kit i have now. but with out the nice lip extending out at the bottom. and fiberglass sux for all you who think it is strong, it sux a fat one, i am replacing my whole kit with the poly-u kit. it is shipping now.

araffio

iTrader: (9)

Ugly!!

thnikkamax

iTrader: (2)

wow a lot of you think it's ugly...

I'm still going for it since it's relatively inexpensive for me at this point.

Here are other photochops from others on this board ...

The silver ones were highly liked when they were posted back in the day (better chops)





w/ grille


w/ grille + eyelids

thnikkamax

iTrader: (2)

hmm.. i'm seeing that the kit i photochopped is pointy from the nose... unfortunately i have to buy an existing R33 kit and custom mold it. most if not all of them are pointy and not straight down like the MaximaZero pic.

I'm still gonna go for it because although there could be something more elegant or classy done, i just want to get the out of my system