Raptor pro armor nerf bars on Blaster

[C-H55Blasty]

Now that I've got the long travel arms on I can finally get these on with a lot less fabrication.

So these are what I started out with. Pro armor nerf bars off of a Raptor 660. They were in pretty rough shape when I got them (dirt cheap because of their shape). So I've been pounding the rest of it back into shape.

Way to big to fit but they have enough room in the back and the foot pegs bolt right up so all the modifications are going to be done up front shortening the original brackets.

So I started by just shortening the brackets up front by cutting it into sections and going from there.

From there I chopped the tab off the left pipe and the netting loop to be reused. Then cut more off the ends of the other two pieces. Then I cut a different piece of pipe that can be slide on the inside of the two pieces.

This is how they sit right now and will get welded up tomorrow. I'm still figuring out the best way to make the bracket that bolts to the blaster but we'll see what I come up with. I also cut off the tabs on the heal guard part that is supposed to connect to the plastic, they were just too far off to be useful. As for connecting them to the subframe, I think I should be able to connect them in a few places with U-bolts and that should work fine.

As for the brake pedal, I hated to cut up the right peg but I guess thats just how it goes. I also cut off the wire frame that used to cover parking brake cable since it was never going to serve a purpose anymore. So after I cut off the foot peg I then cut off the section of the stock out that has the bolt holes. I'll then weld that to the top of the new nerf bar bracket

And here is just a picture of it bolted up so far and how it'll look and fit.

 

[bummer981]

Nice work, Looking good so far.

 

[pudvah]

Wow those are awesome, good job man thats gonna look sweet when finished

 

[Awk08]

nice work so far, very similar to the zuki lt450 pro armor nerfs I fabbed to fit mine.
although I cut mine and removed 5 inches of the straight section right in front of the pegs, then cut the nets to fit.
one thing I wished I'd done different was cut/weld them so they pass thru the frame behind the pipe/under the engine mount, but the rear lower a-arm mounting bolts were a perfect mount for the flanges already on the nerfs.
(longer a-arm bolts)

as I have it, and you're about too, it traps the pipe in, and the nerfs must be removed to get the pipe off.
say for resealing pipe/flange, leakdown tests, or swapping in different pipes to test.
all of which I've done numerous times, and had to remove that side nerf everytime to do so (sucks)
I just swapped in my other engine w/ stock carb and wanted to use the Toomey pipe it is tuned for, but the toomey would not fit with the nerfs on at all, so i ran my right bend on that engine and rejetted the stock carb for it.

just some things to ponder from someone who has done this same cut/fab swap


colors = arrows below.............
cut out 5" and rewelded with internal sleeve
in front of pipe traps the pipe and cannot be removed with nerf on (but it does protect my pipe from damage)
where I should have ran it thru the frame

 

[pudvah]

Woah where did you get that KOR graphic Awk?

 

[C-H55Blasty]

Thanks guys! Hopefully I can get them done and painted this weekend!

I think Ken used to have the stickers up on his site but I'm not seeing them when I look now

Awk, thats going to save me a lot of potential headaches so thank you!! I had thought about cutting the nerf in the same location you did by the green arrow but the tire fit so perfectly in there when turned that I'd rather mess with the bracket up front.

As for the mounting bracket I'm still trying to figure that out and you experience is probably going to save me a lot of trouble later on! Because of the location where I removed pipe, the part with the original bracket that bolted up to a-arm mount is now outside of the frame. What I was originally going to do was stick a separate piece of pipe through the pipe ends on the nerf bars and add two tabs to that pipe that then bolt up to the a-arm mounts. Sorry that might have been a little confusing and I can always get pics. But since the ends of the nerf bar pipes are now like 10inches apart I'm pretty free to do what I want for a bracket. So I'll probably mess around and see what I can get made and still slide the pipe out.

 

[Awk08]

stick a separate piece of pipe through the pipe ends on the nerf bars and add two tabs to that pipe that then bolt up to the a-arm mounts

that should work good.
have you checked the clearence that left bend pipe allows you between it and the a-arm box mount ?
my toomey would not go on with the nerf running thru that area.

 

[C-H55Blasty]

that should work good.
have you checked the clearence that left bend pipe allows you between it and the a-arm box mount ?
my toomey would not go on with the nerf running thru that area.

There is a few inches of clearance between it and the pipe so it should be good to go. It still might get in the way when taking the pipe off but I think I can fix that by just making it so I only have to take off the bracket and the rest of the nerfs.


And I got the pipe welded back together and the tabs welded back on and they turned out pretty good or at least better then I was expecting lol.

Also had to cut a few inches off of the side of the heal guard just to make sure theres enough room for the master cylinder. Just a rough cut for now and I think I'm going to re-locate the reservoir maybe that hole on the top that was the heel guard bracket.

And finally got some of the smaller parts prepped for paint. All of these will be orange and the rest will be flat black

 

[79 bronco]

Looking awesome!

 

[jus_me]

Looks great. Nothing like saving some dough and making them work for your needs. I did similar but with a 700 raptor.. My nerfs seem smaller/shorter though ?? On mine I thought of either adding to the length or to shorten because the front mounting location was smack dab in the middle where the pipe was. I even moved my rear pegs back a bit,,, Luckily the ones I got had a round tube welded to a tab. So I welded the tab directly to the frame. Pics somewhere in my build thread.. If you have a welder than that might be an option for ya..

 

[C-H55Blasty]

Thanks Bronco!

I had remember seeing that your build thread and that was something that I have honestly considered doing. I still might but only if and when I strip everything down and paint it afterward. Were yours tusk or alba? If these were any bigger they'd be too much trouble to make work lol! I really had to put a lot of work into getting them ready because they were all bent up but because of that I paid less for them then I did my itty bitty tusk nerf bars!!

As for mounting I the easiest thing to do and what I'll do, for now at least, is have a pipe going between the two sides and bolted to them and then I'll run two U-bolts up from the bottom that go through my mounting pipe. Nothing fancy.

All that I need to do now is sand down the actual nerf bars and get them to paint!

And the paint I used is almost spot on but its just a little bit glossier.

 

[jus_me]

I believe there tusk. I am pretty sure the Alba and Tusk are the same exact thing just diff names.

 

[C-H55Blasty]

Yeah I forget they can sometimes be the exact same thing!

The previous owner had repainted them 3 or 4 times at least and every time he did, he didn't do any real nice preparation and just painted over all of the chips and flakes. After doing that a few times the it looked terrible. So I decided the best thing to do was take it down to bare metal.

After I got the paint of I was really tempted to leave them like this. I just thought it looked so cool and unique!

And got the first coat on. Nothing beats hanging parts for paint like an old swing set !

 

[C-H55Blasty]

Finally done and back together.

And this is how it got mounted in the front.

 

[jus_me]

They turned out well. Those pegs are mean looking.

 

[Awk08]

lookin good !
nothing wrong at all with that front mount, does the pipe come off with them on ?

 

[C-H55Blasty]

Yeah they are! My feet one be slipping off those anytime soon!

And the only thing I will need to do is take the left side U-bolt out. The nut on top gets in the way. But if I do got to a different pipe like the Toomy I might have to take the left side off.

 

[C-H55Blasty]

nice work so far, very similar to the zuki lt450 pro armor nerfs I fabbed to fit mine.
although I cut mine and removed 5 inches of the straight section right in front of the pegs, then cut the nets to fit.
one thing I wished I'd done different was cut/weld them so they pass thru the frame behind the pipe/under the engine mount, but the rear lower a-arm mounting bolts were a perfect mount for the flanges already on the nerfs.
(longer a-arm bolts)

as I have it, and you're about too, it traps the pipe in, and the nerfs must be removed to get the pipe off.
say for resealing pipe/flange, leakdown tests, or swapping in different pipes to test.
all of which I've done numerous times, and had to remove that side nerf everytime to do so (sucks)
I just swapped in my other engine w/ stock carb and wanted to use the Toomey pipe it is tuned for, but the toomey would not fit with the nerfs on at all, so i ran my right bend on that engine and rejetted the stock carb for it.

just some things to ponder from someone who has done this same cut/fab swap

The mount has ended up working great. I can put the fmf on without touching it and when the F7 goes on I just need to take the nuts off the right side U-bolt and push it down a little. Really easy to still swap pipes and for leak testing and such!