Rear Bumper Fitment

[hnichols]

Hi guys,

I am doing a chrome bumper conversion on my '76 (Blunt's kit).  The front bolts on nicely, but the rear is giving me trouble.  I just want to confirm that the bumper should fit all the way under the 'lip' on the rear, such that it will come forward all the way to the indent on the body (first pic).  The second photo is taken from underneath; the flat back is the inside of the chrome bumper.  You can see that it isn't low enough to slide under the ledge. 

 

Assuming that the answer is yes, does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might finesse things to lower the bumper 1/8" to 3/32"?  I've ground down the bottoms of the mounting brackets a bit, but I don't know if I want to grind these down too far.

 

Thanks in advance!

[esty]

it should come forward to the start of the indent...i can only guess that your brackets which i have never seen before are too long and/or not inserted far enough in the big bumper hole

[02Les]

If you have original bumpers and the associated spacers, then, as Esty said, the bumper ends should be a lot closer to the start of the indent. If you have the new fangled ss bumpers then all bets are off - I believe people have had fitment issues with those.

Like Esty, I have never seen these brackets in the flesh, nor do I know what is included in the kit. The fact that your bumper sits high then something is off, or missing.

[tech71]

That flat strap bit is not welded to the tube "on center" It's offset . Rotating the tubes 180 degrees  and swapping sides should lower the height...Right? Maybe improve the angle as well. Have you tried that?

Edited November 16, 2020 by tech71

[hnichols]

Thanks, everybody -- so I know I have to lower the brackets.  The length of the brackets isn't the problem; it's the height.  If I can lower things 1/8" or so the bumpers will tuck right in.

 

I already tried tech71's suggestion, but that didn't work:  then the bumpers ride way too low.  The brackets are clearly intended to be in the upright position.

 

I wonder if there's anyone who has had the same issue with this kit.  I still think my best bet is grinding more off the bottom, but once I do that there's no going back.

[tech71]

Bummer, you know it may not be the bracket. Cars get bent, especially the bumpers and bumper mounting structure. Repairs can restore the appearance and sometimes still leave underlying structure tweaked.

How did the old bumper look? Right height? Level?

Edited November 16, 2020 by tech71

[hnichols]

22 minutes ago, tech71 said:

Bummer, you know it may not be the bracket. Cars get bent, especially the bumpers and bumper mounting structure. Repairs can restore the appearance and sometimes still leave underlying structure tweaked.

How did the old bumper look? Right height? Level?

Actually the old bumper looked fine -- although the fitment of the big bumpers might be more forgiving.  But who knows what secrets my old car is hiding.  I once bumped the left corner against a wall at about 1mph -- compressed the shock absorber on that side, but I'd be surprised if that was enough to tweak the structure of the car.  Then again, that side is harder to fit. 

 

Anyway, I'm hoping some grinding and finesse will get me there.  It wouldn't take much, as I think my second photo above shows.