front bumper differences

[MikeY]

Just wanted to post a picture here to show you what side of the brackets I traced the cardboard pattern.

[MikeY]

Just wanted to post a picture here to show you what side of the brackets I traced the cardboard pattern.

[iceman510]

Well today lo and behold, I found the brackets in my garage attic. Was not looking for them at the time.

Thanks again to Mike for sending the templates, even though I will not need to use them now. They would have worked great to replicate the parts.
I did a trial fit, and other than some slight side-to-side adjustment to get it even, they fit and work.

bumper test small.jpg (683.43 KiB) Viewed 516 times

Hooray!

[Rush]

Awesome!

I have to toss my own front bumper question in the ring. I HAVE to have something all wrong here. I have the bumper slid over as far as I can on the ovaled holes but it's SO close to the fender on the passenger side and like a Grand Canyon away on the driver's side. Have I got the brackets on upside down or on the wrong side? I'm sure it's something dumb but what?

[iceman510]

I can't recall the hole pattern on the set I sent you (frame mounting side), if they were level or offset, but that should only affect the height, not the side to side dimensions. The brackets should only fit with the angled wing going outboard.

New aftermarket bumper, right? I would suggest you find the center point of the bumper and then measure if the bumper mounting studs are equidistant from it. Maybe the dimensional quality is not perfect.

You can probably slot the holes in the mounting faces of the brackets to adjust it, but better determine if there is enough room to get the shift you need.

[Rush]

Thanks, IM! I think you're exactly right. I suspect that the stud plates are off on the bumper itself. Ugh. I'll measure & report back; if nothing else for someone who may have the same issue someday.

[ostaylor]

I have found that the aftermarket bumpers and/or brackets generally require some "persuasion" to align properly. You obviously want to do this carefully but for both front and rear, to get them properly aligned required some pulling, pushing, persuading and the fitment is great for me now and no issues / damage.

[Rush]

Thanks, Owen! If everything measures out ok, I'll have to have a little "talk" with them & see if I can sort it out.

[iceman510]

Maybe 10-15 mm shift needed? The brackets seemed straight, so unless something was tweaked on your car at some point they should be in the right place. Hopefully enough material in them to potentially enlarge the slots.

One thing to bear in mind, is these cars are not as dimensionally accurate as modern cars. I wouldn't think quite that far off though.

[Rush]

Right. They don't seem bent but something definitely has to be adjusted. I don't think my car is tweaked because everything lined up easily and I haven't got any weird panel gaps. I'll update when I get an afternoon to work it out.