Honda Beagle Bull-bar installation write up
Charb
Administrator
Took some pics of my restoration and installation of my bull bar I purchased from ragenasian. Thought I'd do a little write up and share, since I took a few pics along the way. Sorry these are with an iPhone.
Firstly, obtain bull bar
Second, I decided to tear everything down. For 20ish year old lights and chunk of aluminum, I'd say they're in pretty good shape. But needing a really good clean up/resto. I tore apart the lights and started with them. Cleaned up with a bunch of sanding (in and out) and painted with rustoleum.
Then Thursday I went out to my buddy's house, out near Mt. Spokane.
We needed to cut a small portion to fit the bar. You can see the straight cut, which was then cut 90* to basically take a notch out for clearance.
Not measuring, we thought we could weld in a couple bolts (nuts were there originally, but were rusty and removed) to the factory brackets. Of which bolt into the same location as your tow hooks. Drinking Kokanee as always, not to mention it was Canada day.
Factory bracket, with welded in bolts, then primed.
Well, we were about an inch short (the stock brackets). So we had to fab some up.
Mounted where the tow hooks used to be. Both the bull bar bracket, and the tow hook line up and actually click into each other. I'd like to get some longer bolts in the future, and reinstall the tow hooks next to the bar mounts.
This bracket bolts to where our license plate should be. It mounts to the bumper. Then, the bull bar mounts to this bracket. The bolts were nasty, and one broke off when trying to remove a nut. So we cut them out and welded new ones in. We had to install some bolts to match the US license plate holes too. Then it got a fresh coat of paint.
Durability test lol
We started late Thursday, so I didn't have time to paint the actual bar. So Friday I spent the day prepping and painting the bar.
All painted up and installed. Saturday I'm planning to do the wiring for the lights.
In all, I'm not happy with the paint job nor the quality of the light housings. But I am pleased with the quality of the bar and our fab work (as little as it may be). I plan to have it sandblasted and powdercoated eventually. And someday I'll upgrade the lights (maybe). But for now- I think it's fucking bitchin!
Firstly, obtain bull bar
Second, I decided to tear everything down. For 20ish year old lights and chunk of aluminum, I'd say they're in pretty good shape. But needing a really good clean up/resto. I tore apart the lights and started with them. Cleaned up with a bunch of sanding (in and out) and painted with rustoleum.
Then Thursday I went out to my buddy's house, out near Mt. Spokane.
We needed to cut a small portion to fit the bar. You can see the straight cut, which was then cut 90* to basically take a notch out for clearance.
Not measuring, we thought we could weld in a couple bolts (nuts were there originally, but were rusty and removed) to the factory brackets. Of which bolt into the same location as your tow hooks. Drinking Kokanee as always, not to mention it was Canada day.
Factory bracket, with welded in bolts, then primed.
Well, we were about an inch short (the stock brackets). So we had to fab some up.
Mounted where the tow hooks used to be. Both the bull bar bracket, and the tow hook line up and actually click into each other. I'd like to get some longer bolts in the future, and reinstall the tow hooks next to the bar mounts.
This bracket bolts to where our license plate should be. It mounts to the bumper. Then, the bull bar mounts to this bracket. The bolts were nasty, and one broke off when trying to remove a nut. So we cut them out and welded new ones in. We had to install some bolts to match the US license plate holes too. Then it got a fresh coat of paint.
Durability test lol
We started late Thursday, so I didn't have time to paint the actual bar. So Friday I spent the day prepping and painting the bar.
All painted up and installed. Saturday I'm planning to do the wiring for the lights.
In all, I'm not happy with the paint job nor the quality of the light housings. But I am pleased with the quality of the bar and our fab work (as little as it may be). I plan to have it sandblasted and powdercoated eventually. And someday I'll upgrade the lights (maybe). But for now- I think it's fucking bitchin!
Comments
Hmmmmm now you've got me thinking...... just cant see a way to make one work with a J's Lip
Usually helps to read the whole thread and not just look at the pictures
Be easy on the guy, he lives in Arizona LOL
(I can say this, I have an AZ license still.... doesn't expire until 2046 lol)
You guys are dicks! LOL The bull bar just looked way to good, so Rage what's it gonna cost to get you to find one and ship it to me?
HA HA you just don't know how many times Charb and I are called that same exact thing!!
Next year our family vacation home in Okinawa will be finished and I will be going there to do some more wagon shopping and wheel shopping. Might be able to have a couple shipped in from the mainland if I have time.
It's wired straight to the battery. Ran wire for the switch through the fender (for now, until I pull my motor and do my wire tuck).
the beagle is not very popular here in norway, so hard to get a bull-bar from it=(
No other OE pieces.
There's an S10 and a Ram in my neighborhood that have bull bars with similar profiles as mine. I would imagine you could retro-fit almost any bar if you're willing to fabricate some brackets.
I believe Wagodizzle retro-fitted a Kia Sportage bull bar at one point. But you'd have to sift through his thread to find it.