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Encounter with a Chupracabra, or an alien

So after having finally just installed my brand new (freshly painted OEM) front bumper cover after the light run-in with a guard rail, I installed a new Z-Speed aluminum under-guard/splash-guard.

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Old 06-21-2023, 05:03 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Default Encounter with a Chupracabra, or an alien

So after having finally just installed my brand new (freshly painted OEM) front bumper cover after the light run-in with a guard rail, I installed a new Z-Speed aluminum under-guard/splash-guard. My first one got lightly bent in the guard rail incident.

I take a 3 hour trip from Southern Maryland down to Virginia Beach, on the way back, 10-11pm rural, wooded area, I crest a hill and there it is! I’m not sure what “it” was, but it was definitely there. Stretched across almost the entire lane, trying to scurry out of the way. All I hear is “THUD” as it hits the aluminum undershroud.

Too long to be a possum, raccoon or other nocturnal rodent, marsupial type animal, and long enough that if this were Florida I’d say definitely a gator. Could have been a large fox, or even a coyote, but it was low-slung.

My reason for posting isn’t to start an Area-51 hype about rural Virginia roads on Route 17 just north of Tappahannock (about 17.5 miles North to be exact if you want to see if there was a carcass left). But I want to ask how to fix the damage. The Z-Speed undershroud did it’s job, but the impact bent the shroud back and tore all of the ABS plastic mount holes in the front bumper cover and ripped a tear in the bumper cover all the way up and into the left center of the lower part of the bumper. See pics.

I know I’ll need some repair there, but how do I repair the torn mounting holes? I have a larger Greddy oil pan that hangs lower and with the slight drop I have in the suspension I want to get a new undershroud installed ASAP to protect the expensive parts hanging down.

And if anyone finds the dead alien, I want pics.
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Old 06-21-2023, 05:04 AM   #2 (permalink)
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More pics of the Z-Speed undershroud. These aren’t thin aluminum, they are stout. So this creature had a SOLID skull.
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Old 06-21-2023, 05:06 AM   #3 (permalink)
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Here’s the damage to the bottom of the bumper cover, first shot is from inside the driver side wheel well looking into the back of the bumper cover.
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Old 06-21-2023, 05:09 AM   #4 (permalink)
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Here is from the front center-left of the bumper (ignore how dirty she is, it was nasty last night before I brought her in to get the undershroud off, I’ll get some clean pics and post this week)

In second pic notice the undershroud mount holes, all torn out. Also not sure why, but that pic rotated 90 degrees ccw when I posted it, so apologies for the weird viewing angle. It’s not how it looks in my photo album…

What’s the best way to fix those?
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Old 06-21-2023, 09:05 AM   #5 (permalink)
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I've bent mine up doing a track day. I used a hammer and beat it back into shape.
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Old 06-21-2023, 10:54 AM   #6 (permalink)
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ET will not be calling home.
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Old 06-21-2023, 06:47 PM   #7 (permalink)
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I'm guessing either use a plastic welder.
Or some kind of fiber mat and resin to repair the bum mounting holes.
Or perhaps you can drill now holes through the undershroud wherever there might ba a good enough overlap between the two.
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