vannmike

So my car is in paint right now. Going with a 81 bumper on a 77. Was told its a direct bolt on. The new bumper is from ecklers. My painter called me sayong the bumper is too wide for the car and it won't work. Any advice? Said he can't seem it cause its overlapping too much

mrvette

My car was born in '72 and was an old mid-atlantic region show car for some decades, I bought it in '95 and some time later noticed that the body was totally modified with mud flap fender extensions in front and back, so even witn 9.5" wheels/tires at just over ten inches, they do not stick out any beyond the fenders.....stock wheel centerline.....

I know that my car is very similar to the later sharks in fender width....I thinking '78 up but just WHEN the change took place, I dunno, many comments over the years on here about the plastic bumpers not changing out well between/among years.....so between repairs, custom work, and maybe just plain old sloppy manufacturing, I dunno, just trying to fill in some facts in my experiences.....

randy ransome

Any body panel part you buy that's not a GM piece will have to be fitted to the body. Even a GM piece would need some fitting.

vannmike

My painter is saying an inch or more

Sacred Steel

I put the same bumper from Ecklers on my 76 that you have and it fit pretty good. Not perfect so I'm still filling and sanding but overall, a pretty good fit. I guess my point is, it's going to take some work, sometimes a lot of work or sometimes not a lot of work. Depends on how well that after market bumper matches up with your car.

76CSRvette

My 76 has a 82 bumper and it has a good amount of filler on it too. End product will look good though

Jason Staley

Regretfully some aftermarket fiberglass parts don't fit too well. My 76 front bumper for my 76 mismatched 1/2". Had to put 1/4" of fiberglass / filler on both ends of the bumper to match up with front fenders.

The 80-82 rear bumper fit almost perfect. Go figure.