Hello brethren, My 71 Comet (71 Mav front end conversion) has a crunch in the very center of the front bumper and I'm going over options to fix it. The dent isn't too bad, but it's already rusted where the chrome is chipped off. Additionally, it's had bumper supports installed so I'd have to fill in the mounting holes once they're removed. If I were painting the bumper it would be no problem since I could use bondo. However, I want to stick with the chrome bumper since I'm going with the Brazilian GT silver/black paint scheme. Of course, EVERYBODY who has a Maverick is looking for a 71 bumper so these fetch a pretty hefty fee. I'm no panel beater so I wouldn't even attempt to bang this dent out myself, especially since it's right at the point. I know if the dent were banged back out, it (as well as the support mounting holes) could be filled with solder so it would take plate. Question is, would this repair be worth it or should I just try to get lucky and find a straight 71 bumper for a reasonable price? Anybody knowledgable on bumper repair that can tell me exactly what this repair process would involve? Thanks folks, Vince PS. I'm the guy who bought the comet with the 3.8 V6. I am currently planning on doing a port/polish on the intake and heads, cold air intake, and headers with flowmaster 40s. I don't want to go too radical with this engine, since I bought this car as a cruiser and don't want to make it too complicated to be fun anymore. However, with this improved power/weight ratio I am very curious and eager to get this thing to the track and see what it can do. This was a 302 car, so the 3.8 might bump the curb weight down to 1800 (if I was told correctly). I know a lot of you have been curious to see how this thing will do with the 3.8. I'll take good pics of the port/polish job while it's in process and good pics of how this engine is shoe-horned in there. I like the idea of making this car fast enough to be fun, but still somewhat economical. (not to mention the "ooh" factor of having this EFI V6 in it) That's why i'm trying to avoid increasing the throttle body and injector size, but I may stroke the engine to a 4.2 since I'll have it apart anyway.
Almost every bumper chroming place will straighten bumpers. I can recommend Tri City Plating. They do an excellent job.
dont know about the bumper but about the wieght of your car, i really doubt that it wieghts less than 2500 lbs. that motor cant be more than 100 lbs lighter than the 302. goto a dump and drive onto the scale find out the wieght then bust a u-turn out of there. i would be interested in knowing the wieght.
I'll be darn, you're right. I was looking on carfolio and the 72 with a straight six had a 2600 curb weight. The title said 1900 lbs curb and I remember reading somewhere else it was dead at 2000 lbs. Just goes to show there's a lot of bad data out there. When I get it back on the road i'll hit the junkyard and get the weight. I have a moving company down the street that has a certified scale...I think it's free for military, so i may hit it up.
