Giving my 2005 c class a 15 year facelift.. gone wrong

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This is what happened when I tried to fit a new c class bumper and headlights to my old c 180 sports coupe.

I paid £44 for a crashed new bumper £30 for the grill and £40 for both headlights hoping to sell the old parts and make my money back. The headlights were fairly simple to rewire as they were halogens anyway and the bumper and headlights were fairly easy to fit.

cutting the fenders was scary but not as hard as it seemed. However the bonnet was a bit of a bitch tried to make something something out of fibreglass but it looks terrible I'm going to try and make the newer bonnet fit my car.

Just sharing what happened and if anyone's got any ideas on how to make it look any better?

The vid
Someone called it a write off, well I think you did very well, brave too haha. You're almost there so either try a new bonnet or maybe get a panel beater fo finish the original bonnet with new metal?
 
So the reason for doing this (in my head anyway) was I bought the car for £1000 3 years ago off gumtree (big mistake) long story short it had a lot of problems mechanically that I fixed but it was also a cat D from a front end crash so the panel gaps were all way off which always annoyed me.

Then UK lockdown happened which must have fried my brain and I thought how much worse can I really make it by bolting the updated bumper... turns out a lot worse
Bloody good for you, carry on the good work..
 
yeh was quite a good experience! Had a couple of mates come and see it, the reaction it gets is pretty funny usually end up having a good chat about modding cars and what I could and should have done differently.

I think if it does pass an mot I will keep driving it maybe get a professional to look at it and see what they say haha

but if it doesn't I wont feel like I have lost much
Can't be too hard for a body shop to chop the front back and beat new metal to match bumper n grill surely..
 
Bloody good for you, carry on the good work..
Thanks! To be honest I expected peoples reactions to be savage, but wasn't too harsh on here!

I think if it passes the mot I will continue to work on it to make it better, but if it doesn't I'm not sure it worth it

Thanks for the support bro 🙏🏻
 
Well at least you tried Buddy so i salute you. You probably learnt some things in the process which is always good.

One thing i did note in your video was your lack of zip ties. These little strips of plastic are invaluable for the dedicated bodger so next time buy a 200 pack from Screwfix and you will have no need for spray foam or filler just use zip ties to fix everything together. Personally i would have modified the grille to fit the bonnet not the other way around.
 
There are plenty of youtube videos from Eastern Europe that show how it can be done with little money and basic tools. Have a search, it might give you some better ideas?
 
Well at least you tried Buddy so i salute you. You probably learnt some things in the process which is always good.

One thing i did note in your video was your lack of zip ties. These little strips of plastic are invaluable for the dedicated bodger so next time buy a 200 pack from Screwfix and you will have no need for spray foam or filler just use zip ties to fix everything together. Personally i would have modified the grille to fit the bonnet not the other way around.
yeh zip ties could have sorted it out!

yeh possibly a better way to do it would have been to make the bumper fit the bonnet rather than the making the bonnet fit the bumper
 
There are plenty of youtube videos from Eastern Europe that show how it can be done with little money and basic tools. Have a search, it might give you some better ideas?
Thanks I will take a look and accounts in particular?
 
Fantastic work Nick - you’ve cheered my day right up!

Joking aside, just see it as scrap now and persevere with the fibre glass and filler. Friend of mine learnt himself how to be a plasterer by plastering his dining room about 50 times, this could be the start of something good for you too!
 
Fantastic work Nick - you’ve cheered my day right up!

Joking aside, just see it as scrap now and persevere with the fibre glass and filler. Friend of mine learnt himself how to be a plasterer by plastering his dining room about 50 times, this could be the start of something good for you too!

I was just thinking the same reading through the replies...

The OP has nothing to lose really and will learn more skills along the way.
 
Great video record though!

Ernie
 

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