!!!severe bumper fitment issue. please help.

7173Mustangs.com

Help Support 7173Mustangs.com:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mikepasquale1

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 17, 2011
Messages
370
Reaction score
1
Location
Pittsburgh
My Car
73 Mustang Mach 1
Just got my fiberglass bumper from crites yesterday and went to fit it today. Look what happened!!

Where did i go wrong? Is it the bumper?

Fenders and valance are dynacorn reproduction.

I swear its one thing after another with this car.

The bumpers rear brackets are almost mounted on an angle and cant fit flush and the bumper sticks off one side of the car at least and inch amd a half.

The distance between the top inserts on the fender where the bumper rests against one the side of the fender is 59.5 in

IMAG1855.jpg

IMAG1856.jpg

IMAG1858.jpg

IMAG1859.jpg

 
Not sure and you have probably already looked into this but looks like you might have 71-72 fenders and a 73 bumper. Does your front frame have the compression parts for the 5 mph impact bumpers?

 
Yes correct fenders and the 5mph compression brackets. the fenders actully still have the dynacorn stickers on the back side of the fender indicating it is 73

 
Yes correct fenders and the 5mph compression brackets. the fenders actully still have the dynacorn stickers on the back side of the fender indicating it is 73
Well..who knows how your body guy lined things up..Considering he was spraying paint with a dust respirator:whistling:

Just because there's stickers on the fenders means nothing..I've seen parts mislabeled before..You need to measure & CONFIRM you have the correct fenders..If in fact they are correct then you need someone (or if you have the original bumper) to measure the length of a O.E.M. bumper..To verify the fiberglass bumper is correct..Or does it matter? Your not going to replace the fenders if they are incorrect..So you need to make that bumper work..In order to do that it's going to require some cutting & sectioning..Your going to have to take a section out of the center to get the correct length..& your going to have to cut the mounts out & reposition them accordingly. Just what you wanted to hear.

 
Lol. Ya exactly what i wanted to hear. Body guy was terrible. First the doors now this. I compared the oem to the fb bumper and its an exact match. What do i measure and look for to determine if they are the wrong fenders?

 
Lol. Ya exactly what i wanted to hear. Body guy was terrible. First the doors now this. I compared the oem to the fb bumper and its an exact match. What do i measure and look for to determine if they are the wrong fenders?
It dosn't matter if they are correct or not..Unless you plan on replacing if they aren't..

So bite the bullet & find a good quality shop who can mod the glass bumper..It's not a big deal to do that job for a body shop ..It needs to be painted anyway..should run about $850.00 plus materials to do it including painting the bumper.

If you want to attempt yourself..Figure out the how much longer the glass bumper is vs what you need it to be..Lets say 6 inches too long..Find the center of the glass bumper..Cut it in half..Remove a equal amount from each side..so that would be 3" on each side..Bond the bumper back together with glass matt / resin..Do your body work on the exterior seam..For the mounts..cut them out..bolt onto the bumper brackets..Use 5 minute epoxy to tack glue the bumper to the mounts..Make sure the bumper is positioned correctly..Remove..then final glue the mounts using 3m structural adhesive..

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well i just checked and they are definately 73 fenders. So your saying theres no way to loosen the fenders, adjust, etc? This is the reason im having issues with the chin spoiler as well.

 
Well i just checked and they are definately 73 fenders. So your saying theres no way to loosen the fenders, adjust, etc? This is the reason im having issues with the chin spoiler as well.
Forget it then you will throw the hood to fender gap off also the fender to door edge.. One adjustment affects multiple others.. It's a whole process..You do have the hood on ?

 
Well i just checked and they are definately 73 fenders. So your saying theres no way to loosen the fenders, adjust, etc? This is the reason im having issues with the chin spoiler as well.
Forget it then you will throw the hood to fender gap off also the fender to door edge.. One adjustment affects multiple others.. It's a whole process..You do have the hood on ?
Q, it looks like he does in one of the pics above, you can see the hood/fender gap

 
Well i just checked and they are definately 73 fenders. So your saying theres no way to loosen the fenders, adjust, etc? This is the reason im having issues with the chin spoiler as well.
Forget it then you will throw the hood to fender gap off also the fender to door edge.. One adjustment affects multiple others.. It's a whole process..You do have the hood on ?
Q, it looks like he does in one of the pics above, you can see the hood/fender gap
I see T:D Well it's slice & dice time..

 
Man this suxxxxxx! Theres gotta be another solution. Whats causing this? Bad repro fenders?
Hard to say..I would need the car in front of me & would have to tram out (measure) a bunch of stuff to figure it out.. I gave you the easiest solution.. Maybe the valance is pulling the fenders in..Try removing the valance to see if that helps the length..

 
I'm no expert on this and the question may sound stupid, but....: Are you sure that the car's measurements are correct. When I got my chin spoiler that thing would not fit as it was much too wide.

Eventually I was able to make it "fit" (read:"Stay on the car") but it never lined up correctly. Then when the car was being restored we found out that the car was too narrow up front due to an side impact long before I got it.

Only after the car was straightened, the spoiler fit like a glove.

So, in my case the spoiler wasn't too wide but the car was too narrow.

Just sharing my thoughts, as that was the last thing I would have thought about.

 
Ya the original fenders were removed and were intact. No signs of collision damage anywhere. I just talked to a mustang restoration shop about an hour from me. Im going to remove the valance and see if that makes a difference. If not, its going to the experts.

 
Back
Top