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What do you guys think about the alignment and look of the front bumpers? These are the original bumpers and I want to send them out for chrome, but wanted to make sure that they looked good before the chrome process. Should I tweak them a little more? To me, the centers are still a little low, but I only have about 1/4 inch space between the upper bracket and the headlights when opened.
This is a body off total restoration into the 4th year. It was my late brother's 63 that he had owned since September of 64.
I just rechecked the bracketbrackets to the headlights open. I have more than 1/2 inch. Also running a string from the back bumper to the front they line up fine.
I would try a 1/16" shim on both rear bolts on the center lower bumper brackets. I am talking about the brackets that bolt to the cross member. Make sure to loosen the other bolts when you install the shims, then snug everything up and see if the front looks better.
I agree but you may need to loosen the bolts securing the brackets to the frame slightly so the shims can raise the inside bumper edges without binding. But what you have looks good enough to me to take them to the plater. You will have to loosen everything up and align everything when you put them back on anyway.
You have something going on on the left side.
Not the best photos however the cross par looks to sag too, implying lower attachments. What is the condition of that brace and is it original to the car?
Thanks guys, I'm in the process again. The left side now looks good, now for the right. And then I need to make sure that the sides are horizontal to the rocker molding and back bumper.
Thanks 76redvet, I do have the aim. Kinda funny but I was so interested in the hardware that I didn't notice the image of the front end and the explanation of the bumpers to body. I did do a lot of tweaking to the lower center brackets to eliminate the droop and not use any shims. To be honest, I never paid much attention to the front bumpers as long as they were on. Now I'm looking at the fit on every car. I guess once you know, you know.
I’m curious how you tweaked the lower brackets if you didn’t shim them.
The center brackets were lower than needed. The suggestions were to add shims to the rear mounting bolts, between the cross member and the bracket. That would move the the brackets up. What I did was add shims to the front of the brackets, lowering the front of brackets. I did add a couple of 1/8 shims to the rear of the brackets, but that was between the nut and the brackets. I did that to have a larger area of support versus just the nut. Than with the front of the brackets being lower, I used a porta power to push the front of the brackets up. I needed to do it a few times to achieve what was needed. You can see the porta power in the pictures. Then there was an issue when I looked down at the back edge of the bumpers to the body. The bumpers had a wider gap in the middle. I needed to tweek the lower bumper attachment area. I heated the bumpers and pushed them up to basically roll them closer to the body, making the view from the top even.
Very good. I’ve got one I have to shim. I’ve thought about putting it in my hydraulic press but haven’t followed through with it. The porta-power worked well.
Front bumper alignment
