68 firebird front bumper help

[benloibl]

Hi I am a long time lurker on lateral-g and wanted to see if someone could help me out with a couple of questions. I have noticed in a couple of rendering by cars by kris and a couple actual pictures of some finished cars that they are somehow narrowing or modifying the bumper of the 67-68 firebird. I would appreciate it if someone could explain to me how they are doing that or if they could provide a link or even the name of a company that I could contact regarding that.

thanks in advance

[Tuske427]

check out my thread. I'm doing it now. Mind you- this isn't the only way, but it's one way...

http://www.lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=26338&page=24

[bloibl]

Thanks that help but did you change the bumper as well ?

[Tuske427]

In my case I actually made the bumper I'm using by combining two undamaged halves together. I did this in an attempt to make use of the damaged bumpers I already had, and, if I need to modify it that I didn't destroy an original "good" bumper.

FWIW- my "new" bumper is the same size as original.

However, I think this could be done without modifying the bumper itself. The overall width of the bumper is fine. The trick I'm learning is to get the bumper to sit further back. This is why I shortened the brackets. Perhaps you won't need to. the production tolerances on these cars vary greatly.

You might have to bend the bumper to make sure the angle of it is the same as the engine hood. None of the bumpers I had (I had 4, now I have 3) would perfectly align with the sheet metal. When the bumper is unattached from the car, it's quite flexible can can move relatively easy.

[geberhard]

To add to that, even factory did not have a perfect fit for the bumpers to fenders as far as I know. The gap between bumper and fender was normally about the siuze of a dime, to account for teh "misfit" as well as to help prevent damage to the fenders, valance etc on minor bumps.

Getting the bumper to fit nicelly requires massaging like Brendon is doing.

Note, in my experience, factory bumpers actually fit worse than aftermarket and thinner bumpers.

For the poster, do you have any pictures of the bumper narrowing you have in mind or link to the Kars by chris birds you referred to?