CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

tapered front clip and headlight options

stan1688

Weld-it-yourself bumpers
 Premium
GMOTM Winner
Joined
Sep 13, 2006
Posts
1,061
Reaction score
709
Location
Independence, KS
I'm doing some planning ahead here. I'm slooooowly building a crew cab that will be my DD/wheeler. Since a lot of the trails I wheel are tight, I'm wanting to taper the front clip. I'm not looking to just hack-away at it. I'm looking for it to look good and be somewhat un-noticeable. Also, since this will be my DD, I would like to retrofit HIDs projectors for the better light output and the cool factor.

I've been collecting pics of tapered front clips that are good.


These fist two have the same front clip that my truck currently has. I don't love the way it looks with the headlights this close together.

13227210004_1a407af534_b.jpg


13227234494_7d28de9475_b.jpg


13227212804_22f20b2c87_b.jpg




Next are stacked headlight rigs.

13227041633_7aaf6762f6_b.jpg


13226897815_8bf6943f79_b.jpg



I really like the next two as they look stock at a quick, first glance.

13227229304_6bb8b1fab2_b.jpg


13227059093_34bdf00e28_b.jpg




And just for the heck of it, rigs without headlights/with offroad lights.

13226895425_3214415915_b.jpg


13227223904_d3c4bb1c75_b.jpg


13227053993_9bcecb8202_b.jpg


13227064003_4328b77cbe_b.jpg






For the most part, I really like how all of those were executed. But my ultimate goal is to do something similar to the following:

13227242054_40345acec3_b.jpg



The blinkers have been narrowed and some light pods have been put in place of the headlights.
I absolutely love the way that looks. My goal is to have something similar to that. The only problem with it, is that the headlights aren't actual headlights.

Some small light pods like those with HIDs projectors would be ideal with maybe a LED pod next to it with. LED blinkers would be nice, too.





All that to say this:

Anyone have any good advise for doing a clean looking front clip taper? Not looking for a huge taper, maybe just to the body line on the hood at most. I know you have to either lengthen the fenders (which is what I plan to do) or shorten the hood to get everything to line up right.

Not sure how many folks here will have experience with HIDs, but anyone see a problem retrofitting HID projectors into pods like that (maybe besides size limitations)?
 
Last edited:
Something that I don't quite understand, if your trails are tight, why would you want to choose a crew cab for a wheeler? especially if its your dd too?

You've got some real nice pics of taper jobs. Most of them I have seen here before and Im sure most of the members are so hopefully they can help.

Ive done one before, but my trails are tight too so I didn't worry too much about how nice it was. 6 months of wheeling and the doors wouldn't open without a sawzall. Tapering helped but eventually I cut it all off and narrowed the whole body 19", still wasn't enough to keep from hammering the body on the trees.
 
I'm building a crew cab because I have a little one and need easy access to the back seat on a regular basis. It's going to pull double duty mainly to save money. I know it's going to get beat around, and that's okay. But I'm also not going to be doing the most hardcore trails, either. By the time it's "done", it will be the same size, or a bit smaller, than a suburban.
 
My truck actually has the newer 91 grill you have

The side pieces work if you cut them in half

Just haven't gotten around to it

 
Oh, okay. Cool.

I went back through your thread a while back looking at your taper job. You lengthened the fenders, right?
 
Mine:



Pretty much as narrow as you will get it, without going to a smaller radiator.

I was going to try and use the quad headlight bezels, but they nearly touched each other and didn't leave enough room for me to save enough of the grill to keep the bowtie emblem.


EDIT: that last truck you posted, looks like an 88-98 chevy, not a tapered squarebody rig
 
Oh, okay. Cool.

I went back through your thread a while back looking at your taper job. You lengthened the fenders, right?

Shortened the hood, came out pretty decent but probably wouldn't recommend it for something you want to look nice
 
I'm feeling the stacked for the narrow front end but love re 89-91 for a dd.
 
Top Bottom