i'm trying to finish up test fitting the bumper and having horrible luck...


There is no way it would fit using my stock adjustments. my hood wouldn't close without smacking the bumper.. so i removed it and brought the bumper adjustments all the way forward. (to increase clearance. After doing so and tightening the fenders back up i got great clearance.. the middle is a little tighter, but once painted i could live with.. however the problem now is the bumper sits higher than the hood in dead center.

The bumper adjustments are also at the lowest settings... we are talking maybe .2 of an inch high.. it slops perfectly with the hood and the headlights but sits high in the middle... did i get a bad bumper? is this normal for stock hoods? I plan to get a tigershark hood next month or so...


thoughts???????????????????????????????? ???????


oh i tried raising my hood a little... it didn't do me much good but sure did mess the alignment of the hood up around the fenders. so thats going to have to go back down.






oh i did notice on my stock bumper that it has a weird indent in that area... doesn't look like the factory makes it that way but maybe it was melted for a better fit..

 

hmmm

i took a sheet of foam i had laying around. i folded it a couple times and set it between the bumper and the hood... perfect fit..

so how do i get the bumper to do this without the foam?

 

Just grind a little of the plastic edge adjuster in the center so that it does not sit as high in the center.

 

that was my next idea before breaking out the blow torch...

it's late and i'm tired... have drill again tomorrow so i'll post my results after removing/reinstalling tomorrow. ajg thanks for the advice


btw... i haven't checked up on your project in awhile.. hows it coming?

 

good luck, i'm interested to see how it turns out for you.

 

I had the same exact problem with my TS. I adjusted here, there and everywhere. Finally, I ended up using a combination of adjusting the hood stops, the latching brackets, and the hood bolts. It took a tedious tightening and loosening those areas before I was able to get it adjusted correctly.

It's a lot easier when you have a second pair of hands. Doing it by yourself takes forever.

Check out this thread: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1988759

He doesn't have a TS but it still will help a lot.

 

It's coming along nicely, just waiting on some parts to be made. Having ACP do a custom front bumper for me (filling in the front license plate) so that the front of the car looks smooth. I've been up in Canada the last couple of weeks and just got home.

I hope to get up there in the next week or two to see how things are going. My work schedule has just been crazy.

 

I just finished my TS front end a month or so ago and had the same problem. They dont say anything about it in the instructions but i ended up removing some of the foam from behind the bumper area to get it to fit correctly to the fenders. I adjusted the hood at the hinges as well as the hood stops etc. it takes a little time but mine fits as well as the stock one did now. I also went and bought at the local automotive fastner supply some button head stainless bolts to replace to factory push pin retainers. By doing this I could adjust the sides of the front end and make it stay where i wanted it to. I hope this helps.

 

im trying to avoid moving the hood.. everytime i touch the hood i can see my fender gaps change... and not in a good way. .

I kept my old bumper for a couple reasons, i'm to lazy to take the lights out of it just yet and incase i ran into some problems i wanted something to compare with... well tonight i took my old bumper back down and place it on.. amazing how fast it wanted to line up... i guess being bolted up for 10 years will do that.


anyways... i did discover somehting that i found just amazing... The bumper is too thick...

what do you mean it's too thick? well i dont' have a gauge to give exacts but the part of the bumper the bolts up under the hood... it's about double the thickness of the factory one... which doesn't seem like a big deal but it is... just eye balling it... there is more excess bumper (compared to stock) then the amount of lower required to make it line up perfect...


I'm off to buy a better sander... i'm going to remove about half of the thickness from the bottom up... i'm going to take it mostly from the middle as the outsides line up just fine.. by removed that the bumper has to lower...

it's getting too late to be making that much noise here.. so i'll buy the tools and supples tonight and go right to work tomorrow when i get home.



Oh for those wondering what happened to grinding away the plastic bracket... Ya i did... alot lol... so much so that it's not even a factor in lower it anymore... the problem lies with where the clips are that the bumper bolts too... they are either too high still ( can't be lowered any further ). So thats how i've come to the conclusion that it's the thickness of the bumper that is the problem.. i'll try to take some pictures of the difference tomorrow before i start grinding away.

 

Well, wait a minute...what about removing some of the foam as Dave suggested? I think having the thicker bumper would aid in keeping the paint from cracking if too much pressure is accidentally placed on it.

 

I had to shave some of the bumper reinforcement foam to get it to fit right.

 

The way that the bumper is sitting up i'm not sure that removing some of the bumper will resolve my problem... i guess i'm not sure where on the foam bumper i'd remove material to get it to fit.. (pics)?


but heres my thinking:


In the very middle and only in the middle the bumper sits about .1 of an inch to high. If you take your finger and pull it down the hood cross the gap to the bumper it fits fine from the headlights in... from dead center out 3 inches both ways (toward headlights) is where its.1" to high.

the only way i figure it, to change this I either raise the hood which will mess up the lines around my lights and the good parts of the bumper.. or to lower the bumper .1".

I've taken away enough of the plastic reforcement that it's no longer a factor. So the next place would be part of the of that plastic piece where the bumper bolts up under the hood. Because those can't be adjusted/or grinded away, the only way i can see to lower that part of the bumper is to remove some of the bumper.

I'm thinking if i just remove the material around the bolts and some inbetween that should be enough to lower the bumper into fitting perfect.



I'll take some before and after pics tonight.

 

The plastic part that the bumper attaches to under the hood most definitely does have an adjustment, it attaches to a metal bracket that will move forward and aft and the plastic part that actually attaches to the bumper will move up and down.

 

sorry I should have mentioned that I've already lowered that as far as it will go.

 

Did a test fit after grinding away under the right side middle hole.. best fit yet.. .my garage flooded today with the rain so i'm being a baby and not bolting it up to the fender. i'm going to take it off and remove a little more and give it a go after my fans have some time to dry it out.

 

You took before and after pictures, right?

 

of the grinding? yes... couldnt' get a picture of the problem with the hood/bumper.. i'll just paint on the picture to help illustrate where the problem was... i'm happy enough with the fitment to take it in for paint... but i have this nack for perfection... so i'm off to go back into my garage grind a lil more away so that the fitment is just right.. after that i'll put the lip in and take some pics... hoping to be done tonight so i can drop it off tomorrow morning at the shop for paint.

 

it's on now and i think it's about as good as it gets... i'm now going to tackle the lip... why do i have a feeling that will be just another giant headach.