I own a nice '75 4-door V-8. I would like to retro-fit the small front and rear bumpers and required sheet metal from an early '70s model. Is this possible?What is required?
Some where on here is an article I wrote. I know I posted it sometime within the last week. The hardest part is finding the small bumpers.
What Mavaholic said! I just accumulated all the parts I need to do it. All in all figure $300 - $400 in used parts and another $300 for chroming which the bumpers will probably need. I also have a small bumper car parked next to my big bumper car which will also makes things easier since I have a reference.
Oh well, I cant find it. While Stefan aint looking I'll post it again. Hope it dont use up too much bandwidth. First thing you need to do is gather all the parts. Its best if you have a donor car near by but you can just go to a junk yard & take measurements when you get your parts. For the front you will need the following: 1. Bumper 2. Brackets. There are 6 brackets, 3 on each side, 2 go to the bumper, 1 goes to the valance. 3. Stone guard. This is the panel that goes under the grill & fills the space between the grill & bumper. 4. Valance panel 5. Valance support, center bracket. This is the bracket that bolts on the center front of the core support. The hood latch bolts to it & it also supports the grill, stone guard & valance panel. It is different from the 73 to 77 cars because it extends down to support the center of the valance panel. The 73 is unique to 73 only so your donor car should be a 70 to 72 car, unless you're converting to 73 bumpers 6. Front license plate bracket (if needed) 7. Parking light / turn signals (if desired) For the rear you will need the following: 1. Bumper 2. Brackets. 1 on each side 3. Inner trunk supports. There is 1 on each side. These pieces are welded to the trunk floor & to the tail light panel. You must cut them out or easier yet is to order the same part for a 67 Mustang coupe from any Mustang supply house. They are the same. 4. Quarter extensions & small filler part at bottom of each extensions 5. Valance panel Also get all the hardware of course After you remove all the parts from the donor car you will need to take the following measurements. (1) The front fenders have a notch in them to allow the stone guard to come out to the ends of the bumper. 73 & up M's & C's do not have this notch. You will have to cut it out of your fenders. (2) You need to make a template of the bolt hole locations for the front bracket bolts. The front of the frame has an arrow shape to it so use that as a reference. (3) Measure for the rear bumper bracket holes or make a template. (4) Measure for the lower valance mounts. Now on to attack your car!!! Always measure 5 or 6 times before you cut metal or drill holes. I'll start on the front. Remove your bumper, filler panel, brackets, grill, the vertical support on the front center of the core support (the one that your hood latch is bolted to), & headlight doors (not necessary but don't want to ding them up). After the front is stripped down you need to fabricate a mounting system for the brackets. There are a number of ways to do this. I cut an access hole in the front of the core support to get to the inside of the frame. You have to cut out the old internal mounting bracket. It is spot welded to the inside of the frame. I used a cutting torch & sawzall. It was not an easy thing to do. If you can locate the dimples on the outside of the frame you can drill the spot welds out. I couldn't. Perhaps a better way would be to cut out the outer frame rail on the donor car. You would only have to go about 4 inches past the rear mounting hole. Then mark & cut out yours & graft in the needed section. This is the way I would go if I did it again. Another way is simply to weld the bumper brackets to the frame rail. I talked to a guy who did this. While it is much easier & faster, I don't recommend it because you will have no way to adjust the bumper once its on. That may not be a problem if done with great care, but I prefer to be able to make adjustments. Still another way is to drill through both frame rails & put a bolt all the way through with a nut on the inside. The only problem with this method is you have to take care not to over tighten the bolts because you can crush the inner and outer rails together. If you could find some steel pipe just big enough for your bolts to slide into, you could enlarge the holes in the frame rails, weld the pipe on both sides, and grind the welds flat. That would prevent crushing the rails together. I made an internal mounting bracket with a piece of 1/8" steel, approximately 2"X12". I marked the distance between the mounting holes. Then drilled the holes & welded nuts over them. Then I marked & drilled the frame for the mounting hole location. Now draw a straight line between the holes & drill 2 more smaller holes on this line. I spaced mine about 1 " from each mounting hole. Make these holes around 1/4 to 3/8". They will be used to tack weld the internal bracket to the frame rail. Now you can slide the internal mounting bracket in the frame till the nuts line up with the outer frame holes. Run the bracket bolts on them to hold them in place. Now you can spot weld the internal bracket to the outer frame rail through the 2 smaller holes. Grind your welds flush so they don't interfere with the bumper brackets. Once this is done, you can remove the bolts, & close up the front of the core support. Repeat for the other side. Once this is done, the next step is to cut the notches in the fenders. After you have marked the notches, add 1/2" to the section being cut out. You do not want to just cut out the entire notch, you need to make lips for the stone guard to bolt to. Cutting out 1/2" less will give you these edges. Just bend the last 1/2" 90 degrees to the fender surface. You will need to make a relief cut at 45 degrees between the horizontal & vertical cuts before you bend them. Study the notches on the donor car & you will see what I am talking about. Its a lot easier than it sounds. You could just change fenders too if its feasible. Once the notches & mounting brackets are done, you just bolt on all the stuff. If you use the lower lights for parking & turn signals, you need to wire them up accordingly. The grill lights can then be wired so both parking & turn signals come on at the same time with the parking lights. They are now officially sport lamps. They will need to be run through a relay or they may overload the internal circuit breaker in your light switch. Relays like these can be found at Radio shacks or some car parts stores. Now for the back. Remove the bumper, filler strips, & quarter extensions. The bumper shock mounts need to be removed. Mine were so rusted that I couldn't get them out. I used my torch to cut them off flat to the back of the frame. Either way will work although I believe the shocks my have pressure on them so be careful if cutting them. Next, all those little holes in the tail light panel that the filler panel bolted to will have to be filled. The big ones down on the quarter panels will also need to be welded closed. These will be visible so do a good job or have a body shop do it Once all the holes are filled, the only modification is to locate the 4 bracket holes. Once drilled you can line up & weld the trunk braces to the floor & tail light panel. Careful, there's a gas tank nearby!!! You need to drill holes in the back of the quarter panels (one on each side) where the lower valance panel mounts are. Get the location from the donor car. Mount the top of the valance panel with self tapping screws. Now bolt on all the rear stuff. If you have a 74, you should have the tapered gas tank & everything will fit fine. I believe the 75 & up have the bigger squared off tanks & the bottom of the valance panel will hit the tank. All you have to do is pull out gently on the bottom of the valance, putting a bow in it, till it clears the tank. This will not even be noticeable if done carefully. Make sure you get some good self etching primer on all the bare metal to prevent rust. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Dennis
Wow ... didn't realize the front was such a chore ... I was just gonna run bolts all the way through the frame rail ... Anyone else just run the bolts all the way through?
dan, m.a.v. and i did the front on chris' '73 grabber . i would say if you have all the parts and m.a.v., you could do the front in about two hrs. it took me longer to read the directions than it took to do it. maybe when you get ready to do it we can have a work day at my house and get the guys together and do it. me, chris, m.a.v. earl and you....frank... p.s. and a bucket of chicken
Terry already volunteered to help with the welding of the back supports and closing up the holes. I suppose we could all have a small bumper conversion party! I'll treat all the chicken and beverages! I'll just have to figure out how to fit all the parts in the car and bring them down ...
Dan, I ran the bolts thru the frame, worked fine. If I get hit any harder than 5mph, maybe they will break. I didnt want to get to involved with mine cause I will eventually restore my car back to bone stock. Someday, when I am old, Hell, I am old lol. Dan
Cool ... THanks .... was there an issue with crushing the frame when tightening the bolts like Dennis mentioned above? I assume you were able to tighten them enough to keep the bumper in place?
I didnt run mine thru the frame, only 1 wall of the frame. Here is what I did. I assembled the bumper with bumper brackets. Slid entire assy onto car, clamped for the fit I wanted. Then I drilled the holes for the bolts. I then taped a bolt at an angle onto a screwdriver and stuck it in a hole in the bottom of the of the frame. Snuck it thru the newly drilled hole and stuck a washer and nut on it. Then did the remaining 3 holes the same way. I had no desire to run a bolt all the way thru the entire frame for a bumper that wouldnt sustain anymore damage than a Missouri mosquito at 70mph lol. Dan
dan, i did the '73 all the way through and used large thick flat washers...frank... p.s. you could have "your" buddy terry, weld the thick washers onto the frame rail. there is enough adjustment to allow for them.
i drilled a hole just large enough to fit a nut into the hole then welded the nut to the frame rails, this took about 1 1/2 hours. sure was scared to make the first hole. it all worked out pretty good. dmhines i like the little picture you have under your name
