Project "Therapy Sessions" 1972 Maverick

I've been eying up my bumpers, the front is way too wide, and I like what you did to the rear.

 

That is not copying. Everyone on ProToring.com does it. Go for it. Good thing is you can see by my pictures what I did and just follow suit.

The rear bumper really bothered me, but for some reason the front isn't that bad. I would love to tuck it a little closer the the fenders. But I think I will leave it alone. The way the outer bracket bolts are right near the corner of the bumper make it hard to shorten the ends.

 

Another thing you might do that I did to my Sprint is to weld the bumpers to the brackets to eliminate the bumper bolts. I welded the holes closed on the brackets, then plug welded the bumper to the brackets. Its a subtle change that most dont notice, but makes it look much cleaner. Also do you do all the finishing to the bumpers yourself before plating or do you let the chromers do that?

 

For now I am planning on just having them chromed as is. As nice as I am trying to make this car, I am trying so hard to draw a line and stop myself at some point from going too far. I am having all the brackets powder coated black, and then will use new bolts on the bumpers. Of course I have been known to change my mind.

In all honesty, I have never gone this far with my bumpers other than just getting them plated. Someone in my group of car guy friends knows of a plater near us that will do all the work and then copper plate the parts, then give it to you for final fit and inspection. Once approved he will take it back and final plate it. I am planning on going that route.

Most platers I have spoken with over the years don't like it when people strip bumpers themselves. Most people grind all the chrome off and it actually creates more work for the plater. They would rather dip them to strip it all off.

 

A clean way to get rid of bumper bolts that I have seen done is to cut the head off of them. The shank of the bolt has a square section to keep it from turning, and is placed in the square hole in the bumper and welded there. This can be left high and ground smooth by the plater. Platers tend to prefer that they do the finishing. A lot of folks grind too deep.

Doing it this way,the bumper can still be bolted and unbolted to the bracket.

Doing this is on my "Someday" list of things to do.

 

Because the rear bumper bolts are almost at right angles to each other between the top and bottom bolts, I dont know that that method will work.

 

Good point .... never have seen this done to a Mav bumper.

Just looked at a rear bumper that I have here. It might be possible if the upper hole in the mount was slotted toward the taillight panel and then a washer was added. Don't know if slotting it to the side would gain enough wiggle room to get the mount on the lower bolt.

 

Cowl panel......

Like I said in previous posts, I have been a little shocked by all the hidden surface rust on this car. Not only that it existed, that wasn't a surprise, I was shocked at the extent of it. This was a southern, mostly rust free car. So I decided I had better take the cowl off and have a look. Better safe than sorry, right?

So this morning I went out to the garage and started drilling out the over abundance of spot welds.

First, here is my starting point:


I did cut out the vents first just to have a quick look, not bad in there. I was pleasantly surprised.





Here I finally have the entire panel off. Very happy with the condition in there. Just some light surface rust, nothing too difficult to deal with.





And the inside of the cowl panel itself:




After cleaning and prepping the area I painted everything with DP90 epoxy




Lastly, I welded up the vent area of the cowl panel. This is a personal choice as I know many of you like the stock vents. But if you haven't noticed I lean towards the smooth clean look.



This was a pretty busy six hour day. Tomorrow I plan on seam sealing everything under the cowl and then hope to get it all welded back in place.


Stay tuned!

Glenn

 

Very Nice!! Do you brush the epoxy on? seems easier than cleaning out a gun every time. I was out working on my car, till I got something in my eye (even with safety glasses)

 

when you weld it back together, i would install the wiper linkage to get everything aligned. i had to learn that the hard way...

 

Looks like it's nice and solid on the cowl area.....

 

Typically I would spray it on. But in these hidden areas I find it easier to brush it on and get in all the nooks and crannies. Plus now I don't have overspray and fumes everywhere. It works for me, right or wrong.

Good idea, I will have to do that.

I was happy. You never know what you will find in there.

Glenn

 

I like the idea, and I've been told to just brush it on.

 

Very nice job and only 6 hours into it - impressive

All this is giving me flashbacks but your cowl area was in so much better shape than mine to begin with

 

Love the filled in cowl! Dennis did one of his cars that way and I have always liked it also. Very clean look, definately one of those mods I want to do.