Hey everybody. Had my 69 for a little over a year now. Rescued from a barn where it sat since 1986 halfway done with paint and disassembled, the nose has been unsupported for 30+ years now, today I got the hardware in to bolt the front horse shoe bumper bracket up and went to throw on the front bumper to get it fitted to the car "original bumper btw" the bracket hits the front nose and lifted it up which I'm sure the front has sagged over time anyways. So the bumper and the bracket are pretty much miles apart. Any ideas or thoughts are welcome.

 

Give the expert Forum members about 24 hours to reply.

 

There is a support rod from the bottom of the radiator support to the nose; find it. There are support brackets on the tops of the fender skirts which bolt to the outer ends of the headlight bar. You need those. My advice would be to install the hood while you're fitting things.

 

You can see the center support rod which has an elongated hole for small adjustments. The bottom attaches to the core support.
RVZIO

 

Hi T,
I think that perhaps your center bumper bracket /front bumper connection woes may be caused by the position of the 2 forward frame extensions and front crossmember.
That crossmember controls the position of the center brace and also the position of the core support which can contribute to eliminating 'sag'.
Although people now use the 'rod' to 'prop' up the nose that wasn't it's designed purpose… it was designed to stop the nose from 'fluttering'/vibrating as the car was being driven.
You might want to check the extensions, outer bumper brackets, and core support to se if they can be used to adjust the position of that center brace.
You need to get everything loose to begin so you can move things a bit. There will likely NOT be just a single cause for what you're seeing.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

Desired position of center brace to bumper.


Forward frame extension, front crossmember. The outer bumper brackets must be removed to adjust the extensions and position the center brace.


Center brace bolted to crossmember shows how the crossmember controls the center brace. The support rod should NOT be used to position the nose because that stresses the fiberglass and can lead to fractures in the hood surround at the corner openings for the hood. The nose can be raised just a bit by shimming between the bottom of the core support and crossmember at the 2 bolt locations


Shows front crossmember, core-support sitting on it, 2 bumper-ette brackets that can help position the bumper, and 2 of the 4 bolts for the large center brace. All this must be loose as you position the bumper and center bracket.

 

Ok. I figured the lower crossmember may be a culprit,
The other problem is that bracket is behind the the hole for the nose support and the nose extremely resists going any higher, I haven't got the core support in yet or the headlights but I guess I should wait and repair the core support and get the headlights in before throwing the bumper?

 

Hi T,
While I think you can locate the front bumper without the headlights installed, I certainly would attempt to do it without the core-support installed. The core support/crossmember support the nose.
Regards,
Alan

 

What makes you think it sagged besides the alignment issue. How does the door gaps look? Can you step back and post pics from the back of the door to the nose?

 

R.R. .......I have the same problem as the O.P. When I remove Bubba's angle iron radiator support/braces and brackets, the "nose/fiberglass" sagged nearly an inch.....so I supported the entire front with wooden braces........however the front gaps at the doors were not affected, but you could tell the forward three feet of the nose "rose up" when I installed a REAL lower crossmember and temporarily added the wooden braces under the nose until the correct brackets/braces arrive.

Thanks Members fro the advice and pics!

 

Early to mid year 1968 Corvettes, like mine, did not have the nose rod and the hood surround would crack by the front "corners" of the hood. GM then threw that support rod, the triangle reinforcements on the inner fenders and the two twist brackets at it. Trust me, that rod is there to support the heavy nose with the very heavy headlights. Can you imagine paying over $5,000.00 dollars back then and then getting all of these cracks in the front end, in your fairly new Corvette? Lou.

 

No one has mentioned that there are usually special shims between the "horse collar" and the center of the front bumper, but the gap should be a reasonable dimension. Lou.

 

Alan that is the cleanest underside I have ever seen

 

I think he already knows that! Don't make it worse

 

Ive got an early 68 and have been noticing cracks. I think I need to investigate

Thanks guys

 

Thanks......I needed that!

 

I'm wondering if the front horseshoe may be incorrect? The guy had other later 70s vettes, the nose support rod won't even reach that front brace because the nose will not go any higher (easily at least). Maybe it's bent?

 

Ha Ha Ha ...

 

Maybe several members could measure from the concrete up to the lip center of the front fender arch/then measure from the concrete to the center-point of the fiberglass "nose"/ subtract the difference between the two measurements ................this may make a good reference number for you to work with.

(Sample pic with body removed from chassis)

 

I measure 30.5 at the wheel arch and 24.5 at the "lip" on the front end

 

I'm glad I'm looking around here. I am missing that rod!

is this it?

GM # 3974016