Body Kit Drawing Board

[Myotis1134]

Hey everybody, it's been a while since I've posted anything... aside from my front brake install/front sway-bar poly bushing upgrade (which I didn't finish - sorry). Concerning the brake-job, lets just say it worked out. The weather was approaching hurricane conditions, and my little tarp lean-to didn't offer much protection. I finished the install sitting on the ground, wearing goggles so dirt and trash wouldn't get blown in my eyes, with a huge rivulet of rain water running down the asphalt into my lap, then on to the ditch. Been trying to forget that project.

 

Moving on, I've been thinking about making the car look better cosmetically for years, but there aren't many options out there for doing so. Looking around on cardomain.com, there have been a few "radical" thinkers over the years, who have adapted body kits meant for other cars and managed to have the finished product not look completely awful, although opinions of the work were naturally mixed. The important thing is an alteration was attempted, and successfully completed, in terms of kit adaptation and actual cosmetic changes.

 

Due to my hating the Razzi body kit for the Luminas (total 80's style), and total lack of enthusiasm towards struggling with a kit meant for a different car, I am going to make my own. This project is going to take a while to do properly, and it will most likely involve some expenses to get to a finished product. I am nearing the end of my schooling, and if things work out, the money part of the equation won't be a problem, so it's just a matter of time.

 

My plan is to research until I am making the money to start the development. I would appreciate input from you guys to come up with a blueprint to start from.

 

So far I have only begun doing sketches of the car with altered front and rear bumpers, and wheel-wells. Realistically speaking, the bumpers, and hood are the only parts of the car that can be altered "easily", in comparison with the rest of the body. I'm convinced that a bolt-up solution isn't impossible here.

 

To get a model to play around with, I downloaded GIMP, a photo-altering program, found some pictures of two-door Luminas online, selected one with the proper angle, and turned it into an outline with lines defining the different sections. Erased the bumpers and wheels, and printed out a few. Looked at front and ass ends of newer sports cars, focusing on Chevy cars since I want to stay true to Chevy characteristics (for now). First drawing I turned out is influenced by the 2012 Camaro.

 

I'm posting the picture of the drawing, as well as the starting outline so you can see where it came from. The outline isn't the best, as the lines are not very smooth, so I exported the gimp pic as a jpeg file, loaded it into SmartDraw (a CAD program I got for making P&ID drawings), and am in the process of tracing the jagged car lines with smoother ones.

 

So far I have only done an outline of a side profile of the car. I am working on making a front and rear view now, and will probably have something cranked out by tomorrow.

 

So far my family members have been unimpressed by my work, so I'm turning to you fellow car enthusiasts for support. Seriously let me know what you think of these.

Edited January 6, 2013 by Myotis1134
O.C.D.

[jeremy]

Just get a z34 bumper/skirt setup and call it a day....

[GOT2B GM]

[Myotis1134]

Wow... Thanks for the encouragement guys. But I see now the error of my ways, and thanks to your (obviously well thought out) comments, I will indeed abandon my project and just stick with the ... can't even finish it.

 

If it was that easy for me to do the easiest option and "just call it a day", then I wouldn't have even started the damn thread.

 

Gonna have to check if you guys told Rob to just buy parts from HT Motorsports and "call it a day", when he came up with the idea to build his own suspension parts. Oh yeah, and then called him weird.

 

Still going to pursue this, despite the good advice from Jeremy, and the accurate description from GOT2B. Yes Jeremy, it would be much easier for me to settle for using standard Z34 parts, but I'm not going to. And yes GOT2B, I imagine that to think about things like this, attempt to figure out a way to make them happen, and have the audacity to ask others for their opinions on the idea, one has to be a little weird.

 

Got the official side outline completed with smoother lines, and was screwing around with producing finished sketch ideas on smartdraw. Was having a hard time with drawing the tires, but I assume it will become easier with time. In the meantime, I found a set of tires that didn't look horrible, cropped the car and pasted them to my car.

 

Smartdraw can't do some things as well as gimp, so had to go back to fill in some areas and play with colors. I was going to get the flood fills perfect before posting this pic, but the first posts here I see are people basically telling me I'm a moron for contemplating an idea like this one, so I'm going to post what I've made so far, and go have a beer instead.

 

p.s. Now that I've gotten the official "you're weird, just do the easiest thing" comments, can we just skip posts like those from now on? Really looking for "constructive" comments that will help me make my product better.

Edited January 6, 2013 by Myotis1134

[crunkGP96]

He didn't call you weird. It says "werd" which if you don't understand the lingo means he agrees with the above post.

 

 

Anywho, you seem to have a clear idea on what you want. I personally don't like body kits much but if you get it to make like it "belongs" on the car then go for it!

[rich_e777]

Hardest part is going to be giving the ass end that flip up look, inspired by a Challenger me thinks? They are about the sexiest car to come out in a long time. My reason is that you will have to cut into your rear bump and thebracing and frame behind it. Good with welder? Probably going to need to be. The red sketch looks like the rear of a challenger mixed with a supra at the front.

 

Everybodys got their own taste and i wont start in on you unless i start seeing park bench spoilers then im out:lol: I do like this kind of stuff though and i believe if you kept your designers more angular and sharper vs rounded you will have better results because the car itself has more angles. When i get around to the body i want wheel flares, front bumper valence and im going to do some modifying to the rear bumper and side skirts. Planning on running exhaust out of the sides in front of the rear wheels.

 

P.S. the hood vents and that rear window louvier? vent looking thing both look badass, and would on that red mock-up sketch. Old skool hood pins stand out really nice. Theres a Z34 thats been mated to a WS6 firebird chassis and those guys put the wing from the bird on the z34. oh wait i gots a pic

[rich_e777]

Im thinking circular wheel wells might end up looking misplaced and would be a wasted effort.

 

T Tops?

Edited January 6, 2013 by rich_e777

[Myotis1134]

Thank you rich. I agree with you on the spoilers area totally. I also think that the ass-end on the red car does look challenger-esque. I swear I had a picture of the 2012 Camaro SS up when I was figuring out the lines, but there isn't enough height in the trunk to pull it off, and it turned out like you see. That's why I have to say 'based on' or 'inspired by', because there is only so much room to work with on these cars, so most of what is possible is going to have to be kinda subtle.

 

In my quest to stay true to chevy and especially the car, I will most likely stick to straight lines and sharp angles, since that is what is already there. I absolutely do not want to settle on a design, make it, install it, and then have the car look nothing like a lumina. Totally defeating the purpose. That's not to say that I won't experiment with curves, just to see what's possible, but curves will most likely be an exercise of imagination.

 

My final goal is to make the car look more aggressive. Looking at sports cars in general, this means giving the car a 'about to pounce' stance. I could achieve this through suspension alone, lowering the front end or raising the back, but I live in an area where lots of snow falls, and the roads are shit, and want to keep the car at stock height. What's left to me is the car's appearance. I plan on supercharging the 3.4 that's sitting in a Z34 in my driveway, and dropping that into my dd euro. This means I need more hood, so I'm going to try to come up with a hood scoop that makes the front of the car beefier, is functional, and allows room for the SC. Don't know what's possible yet, but I want to have lots of ideas to try, thus, the drawings.

 

I figure by thickening the front end, and slimming the rear, I'll get that aggressive stance to the car.

 

Out of curiosity, and because I've been thinking about side-exhausts as well, do you suppose that having exhaust blow over the rear tires and rims will have an eventual negative effect on either? reduce the life of the tires due to excess heat or cause degeneration of the rim coatings for the same reason? I think it would look fairly sweet, but would like to find out more about the pros and cons.

 

p.s. If the design looks bad-ass, and requires cutting/welding, then it's on.

Edited January 7, 2013 by Myotis1134

[GOT2B GM]

W E R D not weird.

 

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=werd

[GOT2B GM]

[Psych0matt]

I kinda like that. I would do a few things slightly different, but overall I like the idea

[Disbass69]

I would buy a Lumina just to buy that kit. Ditch the hood scoop and it looks amazing from the side view.

 

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[Myotis1134]

Got it GOT2B. Sorry, was feeling touchy.

[Myotis1134]

sketch 2.3. left off the hood scoop, angled the rear bumper more, left off rocker panel covers, added side exhaust and rear fender vents.

 

getting better with gimp, should be able to put a decent paint job on the cars after a little more practice.

 

p.s. sorry rich, couldn't find a good side view of any window louvers. keep looking for one tho.

Edited January 7, 2013 by Myotis1134

[virtuetovice]

That looks nice! If you're open to alternative image editing programs, give Paint .NET a shot. I use it all the time. It's sort of a slimmed down Photoshop.

[Psych0matt]

I dunno, bu at least from the side view I'm not at all a fan of the rear bumper

[Disbass69]

Can you slap some cross laces on it and make it bright aqua metallic? Just curious

 

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[Myotis1134]

Thanks for the tip virtue. downloaded paint.net, and I'll give it a shot.

 

Yes dis I believe I can. Gimme a sec.

 

K I know this isn't quite what you had in mind, I don't know how to create a glossy metal effect in gimp, and I haven't had time to learn if it can be done in paint.net. Just sampled the aqua color from a image of a corvette, and started to screw with shades before I realized that it would take hours to get it right

[94 olds vert]

It was really starting to bug me what the rear end of this car reminded me of. When I saw it in blue I realized it looks a lot like the back of a Oldsmobile Toronado from 1988-1989.

[Disbass69]

Tint all the lights and throw rear louvers on it?

Maybe a z34 spoiler?

I really like it

 

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[rich_e777]

Maybe the late 80`s early 90`s Mustang bodykits will give you some ideas too. You talking about a "coke-bottle" shape similar in the designs of jet fighters. Wide body kits exaggerate this shape as does Porsche in the long line of 911s

L67 would be easier and cheaper than custom S/C a 3.4DOHC or 3400.

 

Fuel filter and lines will need rerouting and i dont think there will be any negative effect as long as you duct the exhaust down and at a 90 degree angle out. Then it wont be blowing into cars next to you or straight into the tire. Fuel filter for sure but heat wrapping, and over insulation might protect the lines but i dont want to test that, I want to see for myself how side pipes have been ran in other cars.

 

Given road conditions it your area(mine too) i`d be leary of anything hanging down to low. Maybe a design that incorporates that same flip up tail into the front, kindof like the old bad ass muscle cars. http://motoburg.com/images/dodge-challenger-ta-06.jpg

Kind of how the rocker panel area of this Challenger is lower than the nose or tail.

 

eh didnt see the side exhaust on it til after the fact(looks like crap) i prefer running the pipe under the length of the rocker panel, big chrome stacks:thumbsup:

a car like that and i`d be worried about that creep that fucked his Monte showing up in my backyard or becoming him.

Edited January 7, 2013 by rich_e777

[pwmin]

cool project...hope it works out for you. I like the general idea, but something about the rear bumper doesn't look right to me. Don't really like the vents, but that's just me.

 

 

rear bumper reminds me of a 4G 'Vette also

Edited January 7, 2013 by pwmin

[Euro]

Not a fan, the Z34 kit looks great IMO as it is.

[skitchin]

Keep it up! Always interesting to see someone doing something different.

[intern8tion9l]

I'm not feeling the rear bumper either. I think bringing it down further would at least be worth looking at