I'd like to hear more about what you know that makes you think the front end would be more difficult

 

Thanks Ray

 

another bolt on front bumper conversion option. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...nt-bumper.html get a 75-79 rigid glass bumper cover for 200 bucks. you got resin. you got mat. you got saws. and you ain't afraid to use em. you already have the bumpers, brackets, hockey sticks, etc. and you can start on this while driving the car with the current rubberbabybuggybumper on the front. another thought. much as you hate it, get a quart of that brown and match the tail panel to the car. drive it brown for a couple of months.

 

Side view warren sent me when i contacted him about this swap.

 

It's because the front clip at the front is much more complex, lots of components crammed into a small area. I haven't read everything on your plans and am assuming your plan is to change the entire front clip, a big job in itself. Alignment to surrounding body panels and so forth. I haven't done this conversion so I speak from ignorance, keep that in mind. It appears to me to be the bigger job, an opinion in hindsight I should have kept to myself . You having done the rear should help in getting it done, you got your feet wet. I have just now compared, because of this question, front frame horns between the soft bumper cars and chrome cars. not as different as I thought, maybe not at all. I had the image of that monstrosity that's hidden behind the soft bumper in my mind, I mistakenly assumed more of it was actually a permanent part of the frame. I defer to your more thorough investigation on which is more difficult. In any case I think you should go for it, we only live once. If this is your only project car, it would be sad to bail. Personally I would be bored out of mind without the excitement of ongoing projects.

 

Priya...since I am attempting both mods it seems to me there is an "easier way" to mod the nose for a chrome bumper, and have it well-braced also. (The hard way which I am doing now involves three times the work).

I originally was going to "shorten the nose" several inches until the corners of the chrome bumper fit fairly closely to the fenders/nose. The mod was going along well (no experience with fiberglass). I had the nose trimmed back in 1" increments to avoid cutting off too much. All I needed to do was "piece together" fiberglass to get the nose shaped to match the bumper/build up the "low areas" with fiberglass so a minimum amount of body filler would be needed. Working aa few hours a day or on weekends it should have taken me/rookie about a month.

BUT...I decided I wanted a more original factory look which doubled the time to do the mod. Forum members gave me great advice...I NEEDED it. The plans changed on a weekly basis as to how I would get an original look.

The worst part of the problem I created was finding Bondo/screws/rivets/cracks/voids that needed correcting. I never would have needed to deal with all that if I had continued with the "Easy Mod". THEN...one day...the entire clip needed removing to "do it right".

So...back to the Easy Mod...I took pics (see my table of Contents to find them faster) of the Easy Mod (up to the point I changed my mind) and also of the Original-look Mod.

I probably would have been driving the modded/painted car a year or more ago had I stuck with the Easy Mod. Still. I am glad I learned so much from Forum Members by doing the nose the hard way.

Below are a few pics of the Easy Mod...…"roughing in the bumper and changing the grill angles to match a '68 nose...…......








I hope the above made sense.

 

I discussed this with my husband this morning and we figure I'll finish off the rear end, and then install the Kiesler 5 speed, new exhaust, and new rear and front springs. We'll paint just the rear end the factory brown colour,get it on the road and see how I feel about doing the front later. In looking at front end kits, this mod by dtamustang is starting to look pretty good to me:

 

Nicely explained, thank you. As you say, the front frame horns are identical between the 79 and earlier chrome bumper cars, with the exception that they need holes drilled in them for the chrome bumper mounting brackets. I can't say I haven't enjoyed doing the work I've done so far, so in that way doing the front end wouldn't be a problem. My husband has $3500 set aside to finish the car and we have an estimate of $3500 to paint it. I'm 59 and I suppose since my thirties I've been thinking I could kick off any day so, I'm not really expecting a whole lot more years left, but who knows. I have a complete Vortec TPI setup for my L82 that's going to need a few sensors, an electric fuel pump, cam, and the heads are bare so would need to be completed. I also have a Kiesler 5 speed manual transmission that would be real nice to have in the car as the factory 4 speed is pretty clunky. So, we're short of money to buy the 68/69 front clip and for getting the vortec tpi engine mods done. The car doesn't run particularly well now so it would sure be nice to make the fuel injection conversion. The number one cylinder is down on compression compared to the other 7 so unless that's a valve on that cylinder we're probably needing to do the short block even though the engine was claimed to have been rebuilt when I bought it (they had receipts for a build). So, in a way I have to choose between getting the drive train the way I want it, or converting the front end to the 68/69 style.

 

Don does some nice stuff. He even made me a panel to allow me to put a short hood on my 79. That may finally be happening soon.

 

Don does some nice stuff. He even made me a panel to allow me to put a short hood on my 79. That may finally be happening soon.
Just a thought, you could do a chrome vinyl wrap on the fiberglass bumper..

 

the dtamustang setup has one major issue. bumper is way too far forward. if you put it right up against the flange the bumper bolts to, it would be major improvement over that kit. 3/4 inch in front of headlights instead of 68-73 3/8ths inch. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...nt-bumper.html read how he modded the 73 bumper in post 22. look at pic of modded bumper in post 28. the one sitting on the floor in front of the car. you probably have more glass experience than whoever made that. you already own real bumpers and trim. and you can be messing with it while the car is whole and running.

 

Yes, looks nice to me considering it's not a chrome bumper car.

 

I've actually seen that kit in person and it looks much better than it does in the picture

 

Are you referring to the kit dtamustang does shown on the red car, or the orange car that dereckdereck referred to?

 

I kind of think I like the look of the one dtamustang does better. The factory bumper looks too longish to me on the sides on this 73:

 

Dta mustangs kit. He lives down here in Florida and I've seen it at the winter meet several times it's a good compromise. The only other way to do it is a lot of work as you can attest.. Don is a really good guy to work with he will answer any question you have. He just lost his wife this last year and he's just getting back up to speed.

 

if there were no kit available I think what I would do is find an old front bumper section it to fit the late model re-welded and then have it chrome plated

 

I'm sorry to hear about his loss.

 

That kit would save lots of time!

 

Yes, then I (my husband) could get onto building that tpi vortec engine I've been collecting parts for. The factory L82 runs a bit choppy and the carb chokes off at 5500 rpm.