Where to get bumper impact strip retainer pieces?

Bmachine

Bmachine

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Coupeguy used to sell very promising stainless impact strip retainers. I recently tried to order a set but unfortunately he informed me that he no longer has any and was not planning on having more made.

A set of new ones cost about $240 which seems pretty high for something you don't even see.

Does anyone have a set of the Coupeguy ones that they are not using by any chance?

Or is there a way to make those using shelf brackets for example?

Thanks for any help.

Bo
 
I'll look, but if I don't I can walk you through making some; you need a hammer, a vice and some round stock to mold the channel and some flat bladed vice grips help.... but let me check fires- I may have used only half of the pieces he sent me.

I made them for my blue coupe- it's easy, cheap and allows you to get your frustrations out by beating on something with a hammer!
 
I just made one and the pictures are attached. It's really easy, just save a piece of your rusted one to get the dimensions. I would suggest making them in 4-5 inch strips instead of one continuous strip, when you're done just drill a hole in each piece, get some good machine screws, washers and lock washers you may have to grind the screw heads down a little and have at it. Smaller pieces will hold the rubber perfectly so don't worry about the continuity, it also makes attaching them easier. I have done it both ways and you can't tell the difference. You may want to paint them as well before attaching them. I would make one strip for every screw hole and it works for both front and rear :) Also, sorry the pictures are not good.
 

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That's what I thought Peter, this is not rocket science. Thank you for those pictures and great that you got it to work. I was thinking of using existing brackets but this would work great as well.

Is there any reason not to use aluminium for this? It would take care of the rust issue.

Also, is there a reason you screwed them in rather than riveting them?

The last thing I need to figure out is the profile. Mine were so rusted there were no piece left to model from...
 
Not sure about aluminum except that it would have to be rather thick to be strong enough. I had a 74 big bumper, so I found a pretty good set of year 72. When I took the rubber off the front pieces were held on by cut up strips of license plate (California I believe). They were screwed on so, not knowing better I made the strips a bit longer, definitely stronger steel and used screws. BUT you could use rivets (probably much easier) and the contour does not have to be perfect but the width should be correct and the groove deep enough to hide the screw or rivet cap You can make one, put it on, "drape" the rubber around and see how she fits. the strip you make should be centered on the bumper for an even fit (where the rubber edge meets the chrome). Good luck- let me know if you need any more "hack" (sorry Rob) ideas.

Peter
 
Shelf brackets work very well. You have to drill them in various spots to line the holes, no big deal. Also, you'll need to "flatten" the brackets a little to get them to hold the rubber strips firmly.
 
IMHO
Any body shop that does a lot of fabrication of sheet metal will have a beading machine.
Most likely they'll have a roller that can approximate the cross section of the strip we need. Said shop is also very likely to have a stretcher-shrinker and other devices that would help make our strips. Personally, I think a pair of strips could be made in 30 min, once the setup is dialed in. Setup time, maybe a couple hours of fiddling around. I'd suggest the strips be made without holes so owners can drill to match their bumpers and select the fastening method (I used alloy rivets).

Therefore, it doesn't seem like you'd need many people to setup a group buy at around $150 a set. I would ask my local custom metal fab guy but he is pissed at me about something and not taking my calls.
 
Actually, I was talking to Dan (Coupeguy) about that and if we can get 10 orders he will be able to get another batch of stainless ones made.

This warrants a separate thread so I will start one now.
 
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