I have a 74 C3 and am trying to attach the front bumper to the car with the retainers from "Mid-America" (13 or 15 piece I believe), but this just isn't working!! Is there a trick to this or does anyone have one??? Probably one of my other major problems is that since I am in the process of putting the car together, I haven't got around to getting the headlights up and running so they are stuck in the down position. This may give me a little more access to the bolts, but thus far, the instructions in one of my manuals for disconnecting the hoses to the accuators and manually pushing them up from the bottom has no worked and they feel pretty stuck!!! Nightmares here!!! :U If anyone has an idea on any of these problems I'd really appreciate the help!! Thank You Much!!!

:flag Supporting the Troops!!!
Supporting Bush!!!
Supporting America!!! :flag

 

Here is the problem. 1) I assume that you have one of the reproduction rubber bumber covers, or maybe a fiberglass? You didnt say, but the reproduction cover is rather thick in the inside corners where the brackets go. 2) I also assume that you have the reproduction brackets, which unlike the originals have the studs in the center of the bracket. If you look at an original, they are off set from the center line and allow the bracket to go farther up into the corner.

These two things in combination are a disaster. You will never be able to get them to work together. I grind off on the top edge of the brackets enough to allow them to be installed. Another pain in the butt caused by poor quality reproductions.

If those HL assemblys are that stuck, you should pull them out as a unit and work on them outside of the car. You can do it easier while the bumper is off.

 

Wombvette,

I have the fiberglass reproduction bumper and yes, the new reproduction retainers just don't seem to be long enough. On the other hand, once you get the bumper on, there's no way of getting the retainers from the inside of the bumper into the body as the inside of the bumper is no longer accessible. Trying to understand the way you're suppose to use these together is just ending up in headache after headache. The new retainer brackets look like a "T". I'm sure you've probably seen them. I tried some C-Clips that are threaded on one end, but still linning those up with the original holes in the body just ain't working either. :nono:

I managed to work three of the upper bolts in a little more than hand tight, but the rest just won't work. Tomorrow I will remove the bumper and start again. I think I will try the retainers with a very thin retainer washer on the stud between the bumper and the body. This may hold them in long enough for me to get the nuts on the other side. I will also try to grind down the inside of the bracket flat as they have a concave shaped. I figure this may give me another 1/8 to a 1/4of an inch to work with.

About the Headlight Assembly, do you thik that a little WD-40 could fix this "Stuck" problem?? Do you know if this is common?? Thanks for all the help!!!

Joe


[Modified by MrAzz74, 9:50 AM 4/3/2003]

 

MrAzz74 can you let me know how you make out with the bumper and where you bought it because i have a 74 and want to know what problems to look out for when i do mine. Dave :auto:

 

74BBcherryred,

I will let you know as soon as I get these problems squared away. I can tell you that I got a reproduction fiberglass bumper cover from "Mid-America" that cost about $390.00 plus shipping. The retainer reproductions cost about $33.00. The reproduction bumper cover seems to be a tighter fit over the actual rubber bumper. To get it to slide on and close the gap between it and the body, I had to smooth out small sections of the actual rubber bumper, not mentioning having to sort of notch out a small section of the bumper cover underneath the passanger side signal light where it joins the body. I will try to take pictures of it so that you can see what I'm talking about as soon as I re-find my digital camera. Thank You, and I hope I'll be able to help you with some information in the future??

:flag

 

I went through the same problem your having. I had to grind the fiberglass where the retainer goes and I cut of about 1/4 to 1/3 of the rectangular retainer in the long direction. Both of those modifications allowed the stud to come through the hole in full length and allowed me to get the nut on the other side. Getting the retainers to sit properly was a time consuming task. After you play with one of them, you'll see what needs to be done. :thumbs:

This is where the dremel tool came in very handy. Otherwise I have no idea what you could use to grind out the fiberglass or for that matter, cut the retainer with such precision.

IM me if you don't understand. :cheers:

 

The fiberglass bumpers are stiff enough that you could just use bolts and nuts to hold it on. The retainers were designed to hold a flexible rubber bumper in place. I used the old retainers when I replaced my bumper. I opened up the notches all the way to the edge (instead of holes I had slots) so I could just slide the retainers into the slots and attach them that way...some of the holes I was able to leave as is. There is some risk that the bumper will pop away out from under the retainers, but I think I got them tightened down good enough and have not seen any sign that the bumpers were trying squeeze out.

 

Wow!! That grill just Kick some serious butt!! Where and how did you get something like that?? Looks like it came off of a RS Camaro or something of the sort!! I've seen simillar ones on camaro's in Chevy Hi Performance Magazine. Let me know???
:cheers:

 

Thanks for the compliments!!!! :D :D It's homemade from raw T6 6061 aluminum. Send me an e:mail and I can send you the steps I took to build everything with a couple of pics.

boles@cowtown.net

If 81Vettom's full tilt hardware is as good as it sounds, I'll be cutting my front clip free and I'll have to make another grille that'll mount to the body and not the frame . . . So my nose, grille and brackets may be for sale down the road. So I can do it all over again! :cool: :cool: :cool:

 

74-Roadster,

I am sending you my email address so you can send me those steps you took on making that grill!!! Awsome!!! I'll post my email just incase it doesn't go throught: JMAcosta1@msn.com

As for now, I did manage to get the bumper on by making the holes in the reproduction bumper longer for easier adjustment. Then I used 1/4 inch bolts that are 1 1/2 inches long to fasten it. I used a tooth-lock washer and passed each bolt from the inner bumper cover's lip to the outside, simillar to what the old ones looked like. To hold the bolts in place and keep them from backing up on me while I lined them up with the original holes, I used NAPA Auto Parts Fastener Washer #665-2358 and I pressed them over the part of the stud with the threads that extended from the bumper. Make sure not to fasten these to tight as you will need to nudge them side to side and up and down to get them into the mounting holes. Afterwards I used a slip washer and a 1/4 in nut to tighten them all up.

Please send me those step by step pictures or instructions. If you have anymore pictures of your car, I'd love to see them too!! Very Nice Work!!! :flag :thumbs: :cheers: :seeya

 

Thanks for the reply i a looking forward to you pictures and the final out come . :hurray: