'74 front bumper removal

[7173bmw]

Hello,

I've removed the front bumper shocks from my '74 and would like to install an earlier bumper. I removed the 2 top bolts but can't figure out how the shock sleeves come out. Any ideas? Also, is anyone familiar with an adapter setup for this?
Thanks,
NRD

 

[Gary Knox]

NRD,

My '74 already has the diving boards replaced with European bumpers. I think you will need to remove the bumper mounting hardware that is bolted to the frame (bolts on either side of the engine), and replace the whole mounting frame.

Anyone who knows differently should certainly chime in here!!!!

Gary

 

[rsporsche]

that would be correct, you have to change everything including the mounts and replace with all of the pieces from the 'pre '74 stuff ... and you have to fill the holes. the big question is going to be the holes in the fenders for the side mounts ... i've never heard anybody talk about those

 

[7173bmw]

ok....you guys lost me. The front section of the frame rails get replaced?
NRD

 

[rsporsche]

no, you don't replace the frame rails - or any part thereof. you DO replace the bumper mounts that attach to the frame rails. this will (probably) require drilling some new holes in the frame rails to attach the new bumper mounts.

 

[tmason]

Hi 7173
I'll send you a pm on what I did to convert.
Tim

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

There is another way where you remove the shocks that connect the bumper and insert tube steel and just weld a plate on the end of the tube to mount to the new (old) bumper. I had it years ago on my initial build, and this is the only link that came close- I would take a picture but the car is at home today-

http://www.e9coupe.com/forum/threads/re-assembly-the-nasty-bits.13631/

 

[PaulinPa]

By "shock sleeves" are you referring to the block of rubber still in the hole the shocks came out of? If you removed the large bolt that went thru the frame rail the rubber block should just pull out.

 

[7173bmw]

Do/are the rubber sleeves supposed to just pull out? Is there a trick?

Thanks

 

[PaulinPa]

I'm pretty sure mine just pulled out but after looking at this one there is a little metal plate with 2 holes in it that may have had screws/bolts. But it was all pretty rusty and had been pulled out before

by PO so maybe the screws/bolts were missing?

 

[7173bmw]

Ok, thanks. I've removed the 2 bolts PLUS the rear bolt. Still stuck in there. I'll keep at it.

NRD

 

[Bmachine]

Do/are the rubber sleeves supposed to just pull out? Is there a trick?

Yes there is. The "tunnel" that the rubber sleeves fit into is not perfectly square all the way. (Probably due to the fact that these bumpers were a retrofit for the US cars.) About 3 or 4 inches in, that tunnel widens a bit. Over the years, especially if the car has been in hot weather, the rubber starts to reshape and fill in this wider area. The result is that the sleeve feels loose and does not seem to be attached by anything but half way down its length it is stuck in its tunnel.

The only solution I could find is to take a long hacksaw blade and cut a quarter inch wide channel out of the bottom of the length of the sleeve. Then I inserted a long screwdriver on the side of the tunnel to push the rubber side inward enough that could pull the whole sleeve out past that wider area with the help of some pliers.

Hope that makes sense.

BTW, try not to butcher those sleeves too much bc you will need them again to insert the new adapters for your early bumpers. (Search "pamp brackets" for details.)

Crappy photo of the sleeve after being wrestled out. You can see that the back end (closer to camera in this shot) is wider than the front which made it hard/impossible to get out easily.

 

[7173bmw]

Thanks! That makes sense....I'll work on it tomorrow!