Chapter 68 Week Thirty-Eight September 3, 2007

Since I am using rally bumpers on the “Bloody Beast” rather than the standard rear bumper, I needed to develop a custom rear license plate bracket. I combined the stock bracket with a later BJ8 bracket that provides a space for the Lucas license plate lamp. All of this was a little heavy to hang on just the two holes in the rear of the aluminum shroud, so I fabricated a small steel plate to mount inside the shroud and sandwiched the shroud with two homemade gaskets of 1/16” black rubber. The assembly looks nice and I think provides a satisfactory solution given the lack of a bumper on which to mount it.

License Plate Bracket 1

License Plate Bracket 3

Having taken the car off the wooden dollies I had made to transport it from my home to Maple Hill Restoration, I was able to get to the lower part of the front suspension and install the Cape International 3/4” anti-sway bar.

Anti-Sway Bar hardware

Anti-sway bar mounted 1

 

Bumpers

Bumpers

Front Bumper

The front bumper is secured to the frame with two inner and two outer brackets and two angle brackets at the ends of the bumper. I media blasted these brackets and painted them with POR-15.

Outer Bumper Brackets with Angle Brackets

Outer Bumper Brackets with Angle Brackets

Front Bumper to Body Inner Brackets

Front Bumper to Body Inner Brackets

The bumpers were straightened and chromed. The over riders had some small dents. They were repaired and chromed as well. I painted the back side of the over riders with silver POR-15 rust treatment/paint. The overriders were mounted to the bumper with a special 3/8″- 16 round head bolt that fits through a rectangular opening in the over rider bracket and is secured with a spire nut.  I used new fasteners. Each over rider had a rubber beading seal one each vertical side. These were glued to the over rider with 3M black trim adhesive and then the over rider was bolted to the bumper. 3M Adhesive Cleaner was used to remove excessive black adhesive from the seals.

Front and Rear Over Riders with POR15 PaintFront and Rear Over Riders with POR15 Paint

3M Adhesive Remover

3M Adhesive Remover

Front Bumper with Over Rider and Rubber Seals

Front Bumper with Over Rider and Rubber Seals

I then assembled the front bumper mounting brackets to the bumper. All new bolts, and washers were used:

Front Bumper with all Mounting Brackets and Hardware

Front Bumper with all Mounting Brackets and Hardware

Front Bumper with all Mounting Brackets and Hardware

Front Bumper with all Mounting Brackets and Hardware

Side Mounting Brackets

Side Mounting Brackets

RH side Mounting Brackets

RH side Mounting Brackets

Rear Bumper and Mounts

I ordered two new brackets, for outer mounting of rear bumper with new fasteners and four rubber bumper mounts. These came with exposed unpainted metal so I primed and painted them to avoid rust in the future.

Rear Bumper Mounts

Rear Bumper Mounts

 

Rear Over Rider Rubber Beading

Rear Over Rider Rubber Beading

Rear Bumper with Over Riders and Rubber Beading Installed

Rear Bumper with Over Riders and Rubber Beading Installed

Rear Bumper Disc Brake Emblem

A round emblem is located in the center of the rear bumper signifying the four wheel disc brakes which was quite unusual at the time. I had the emblem rechromed and I painted the Triangle and the letters red as was original.

Rear Bumper Disc Brake Emblem

Rear Bumper Disc Brake Emblem

Painted Disc Brake Emblem for Rear Bumper

Painted Disc Brake Emblem for Rear Bumper

The Emblem is curved to fit the curvature of the rear bumper and is mounted with a flat and shake proof washer and nut:

Disc Brake Emblem for Rear Bumper

Disc Brake Emblem for Rear Bumper

Trial Fitting Rear Bumper

I cleaned the surfaces around the rear bumper mounts, painted the area with primer and installed the bumper mounts so that the bumper could be checked for fit and alignment. This would typically be done BEFORE chroming but circumstances prevented the normal process from occurring. All new bumper mounts and fasteners were used.

LH Rear Bumper Mounts