As most of you who have a Stillen lip, most of the times it will start to sag after some highway driving. There is a whole thread about this at:
who else has a saggy stillen front lip?
Unfortunately there hasn't been a DIY for a fix for this yet, therefore, I have taken some of our members' ideas and came up with this idea.
Please note that before doing this, I used a LOT of bolts and nuts and washers instead of the tap screws Stillen provided to install the lip. Those of you who used only what Stillen provided, you might need to add quiet a bit more reinforcement to the lip before doing this... I really doubt this DIY alone will solve the problem.
Tools needed:
Aluminum Angle Rod (from HomeDepot, pictures below)
Spoiler Braces (got them from Summit Racing)
Saw
Drill
Heat gun
Depending on the current shape of your lip, my lip was actually really saggy so I had to use a heat gun to reform it. I basically put some books under the lip while the lip was still on the Z, and heated it up so that it can go back to its originaly shape. If your lip isn't as bad, you may not even need a heat gun.
I went to HomeDepot and picked up a piece of aluminum angle rod to support the bumper. I picked this particular one because it is rigid and will not flex (hopefully).
I don't think it really matters what kind of metal bar you buy, IMO the lighter and the strong the better. Aluminum is easier to cut as well as to drill, therefore it was my choice. It is actually a lot easier to saw than you think!
These are the Spoiler Braces I bought off of eBay:
Now, let's see what we can do... First, remove your bumper, please refer to:
DIY: Front Bumper Removal
After the bumper is removed I put the aluminum under the lip and tried to find out exactly how long I need the piece to be. Turned out it was around 24 inches. So I used a saw and cut it.
With the remaining piece, I cut out extra 2 pieces to support the spoilers braces on top of the bumper (you will see later on).
Then I realized that if I cut the edges off, the bar can actually fit close to the front of the lip where it sags more.
Now this is the trickiest part... You have to figure out where and how you want to put the braces on... I chose to put them closer to the center, because that is where the lip sags the most. And if the aluminum bar isn't strong enough, the closer the braces are attached to them, the harder they are. I used tape ruler and a pencil and tried my best to make them symmetrical.
Now, drill holes on the lip, bumper and the aluminum piece.
It is easier to drill the lip FIRST, then put the aluminum under the lip, use a sharpy to mark the aluminum rod from the whole on the lip, that way you aren't guessing anything!!!
Then put everything together.
I wish I could show you how it looks like when its all put together, however, as you can tell, my bumper looks really beat up.. So I decided to repaint it.... I will update this thread and post pictures of how it looks like afterwards!!
Paint is "dry", more pictures below!!!
