#1 I thought that there was a complete tech article on doing the small bumper swap somewhere on the board. Please excuse my poor search skills, but I don't seem to be able to find it. Could someone please post the link? #2 Can someone tell me if I need to change the brace for the grille and hood catch on my '73 if I'm doing the small bumper swap? (A list of all of the needed parts would be appreciated, if that tech article doesn't really exist). Thanks for any and all help. John B.
John, Dennis Martin AKA Mavaholic wrote the tech article and ususally emails to who requests. On a 73 I am uncertain if the brace needs changed. I did the swap on my 76 and think you will have a much simpler time. Really all you need for the rear is the 70-72 bumper brackets. On the front, I am uncertain on your particular year. Also, I dont know if you will need 70-72 qtr caps? Dan
I've never taken apart a 73 so I dont know what the bracket looks like. I know the 70-72 valance is supported on the top center and comes more to a point than the 73 so I'd bet you will need the early support bracket. Dan is right about the rear, you really just need the bumper mounts to pull the bumper in closer. The quarter panel extensions are the same. You will have to remove the filler panel on you valance which will leave some holes to fill. One more thing you will probably need is the little filler brackets that go on the bottom of the quarter extensions. They just fill the gap between the bottom of the quarter extension to the top of the bumper. Send me your email and I'll send you my article. Mavaholic@aol.com
john, when i did my 73' i changed the brace. here is a print of the holes to be drilled if you want to put the bolts through the snout like i did. i got these mesurements from dennis . p.s. sorry john, i can't get the pic. to load...frank...
Hi Maverick73, Thanks for your input. With a name like Maverick73, you're obviously a fan of that specific year, so I want to be careful not to offend you, BUT... ...when I first started to build my car, I decided that the '73 bumpers weren't that big, and in fact offered some real protection to the front of the car. I still believe that to be true, and would have kept them, but THEN I decided to build a Shelby Mav phantom, (in the manner that I think that Carrol Shelby would have built Shelby Mavs, had he done them himself in L.A., alongside the Mustangs, instead of as they were done in Mexico by one of his parts distributors). At this point I looked at the fact that production of Shelby Mustangs ended in the U.S. well before the first impact bumpers came along, and so having the larger bumpers (even the '73s) on my car would be like a Roman warrior wearing a wristwatch in a movie--- a bit of an anachronism, if you see what I mean. That's why I'm switching. I can afford to lose the weight too! John B.
Ok I see that's cool. it's your car so whatever you want to do. do it. I dont know why some people on here refer to the 73 bumpers as big bumpers. 74-77 are big 70-72 are small and 73's are medium size.
