I have an 1980 style fiberglass bumper on my 74 C3, I would like to replace it soon. I have a few questions:

One or Two peice bumper ?

Fiberglass or Flex Fit-EZ Fit?

What exactly is Flex Fit or EZ-Fit ?

Who's bumper did you buy ?

Thanks Bill

 

I went the fibergalss route front and rear on my 74 from Ecklers. I also have a 80 rear bumber sitting on the garage wall that was on the car when I bought it. Wanted to make the car look like it was suppose to with the two piece rear bumper.

 

I would go for the Two piece for sure...That is one of the unique styling characteristics of the 74 SPLITTAIL :D

 

Bill,
I bought a split fiberglass bumper for the rear of my 74. I purchased it for Lengendary. It did not fit well and had a hard time of it. When it was time to do the front bumper I purchased one from Eckler's and had a friend of mine install it. The fit was much better with the Ecklers.
Ed

 

I have a front end and the fiberglass front bumper Ecklers, it looks like the fit is good . not too much work. I liked it well enough that last week I ordered a 2 pc rear from them. Haven't received it yet .they said "they had to make it"

rod

 

Two piece; Eckler's or ZIP. "Flex" means it will bend a little further before cracking/breaking. A little more forgiving. Just the same, whack 'em hard enough and they break.
:)

 

I went with a fiberglass front and split rear bumper from Eckler's. The rear fit well without any major problems. The front was much tougher though. As it turns out, it wasn't the bumper but the fender. The left fender was a little shorter than the right. I know that the fender has never been replaced but the original urethane bumper was much more pliable (sp?) and was able to stretch to fit the car. I had to have the edge of the fender extedned to accept the 'glass bumper. I guess tolerances weren't as tight at Chevrolet after going to the rubber bumper. :crazy:

dl

 

....I replaced mine with a one-piece rear bumper. I know that the two piece bumper is unique to '74, but I just didn't like that crack down the middle. I'd only go back with a two-piece if I was concerned about originality. Regards

'74 Turbocharged 350, "Molested to Perfection", class of '71

 

Guys,

Thanks for the advice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a couple more questions.

Did you prepaint the bumper before installation, another words to it final finish ???

Does a flex bumper require a flex agent like a polyurethane bumper????

Bill

 

....... I just finished re-painting the front bumper on my '74. I guess I would have to say if the bumper is already off the car, go ahead and paint it before you put it on. You'll get a cleaner looking job and you won't have to worry about masking tape pulling off your clear-coat on the hood (yes, it can happen). And you won't have to worry about overspray either, which is a big probem with base-coat clear-coat painting no matter how good you tape things off. I'd go ahead and add that flex agent, that way you don't have to worry about it one way or another. Whether it works or not I can't honestly say, since I haven't driven mine much since it was painted. Don't even worry if the new bumper paint doesn't even perfectly match the old body paint. MIne doesn't, but I kind of like the way it looks. Regards

'74 Turbocharged 350 "Molested to Perfection" class of '71

 

Bill, right now I am fortunate enough that my 41,000mi '74 still has it's "original" bumpers on it, but it is also only a matter of time before they will need replacing. This past Winter I put new "TruFlex" front and rear bumpers on my '75 and it came out good-not great(it's my driver with now 140,000mi)but it still looks good.

Here is my opinion on painting the bumpers. On my '75, since I not concerned about "originality" on that car(but want to keep it stock appearing), I had the bumpers painted "on the car". Originally, bumpers were painted before installation on our C3s. But, here was what "can happen". If you paint the bumper "BEFORE" installation, by installing it you can "restress" or put "new stress" on it. I have seen many bumpers painted OFF the car, then installed, and less than a year down the road the paint cracks-sometimes even with flex agent added. My point is this, and you do decide to go that route, DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN the painted bumper. I know this sounds funny, but the paint on original bumpers almost does'nt seem like paint-almost "seems" the OEM bumpers were colored or dyed? instead of being painted. I think the Eckler's bumpers even though fiberglass, are supposedly made with "the original" bumper molds they bought off of GM. They seem to be the best, especially the '74 rear bumper.
http://www.corvetteforum.net/c3/anth...1974bowtie.jpg


[Modified by Paul Borowski, 5:16 PM 12/19/2001]

 

one piece flex with split line down the middle looks like 2 piece and goes on a lot easier. :smash: