73 front bumper seal

[kazooward]

I am putting my 73 Targa back together after replacing the front suspension pan and various other parts and have a question about reinstalling the front fiberglass bumper. I noticed in the Pelican catalog a bumper to body seal part( number 901-505-091-20). I don't remember a seal as described in the parts diagram when I removed the bumper. Does anyone have more info on this part or how the front bumper should be reinstalled?

thanks for any help

John

[mobius911]

Your car has a slot on the front slam panel that runs under the lip of the hood. The slot accepts the bead from the seal. Work that part on first. Then the remainder of the seal is attached to the fender, with the outside of the seal flush with the outside of the fender. The seal should come with tape on it to hold those sections in place. Then install the bumper. The bumper will squeeze the seal between bumper and fender.

[onboost]

Originally Posted by mobius911

Your car has a slot on the front slam panel that runs under the lip of the hood. The slot accepts the bead from the seal. Work that part on first. Then the remainder of the seal is attached to the fender, with the outside of the seal flush with the outside of the fender. The seal should come with tape on it to hold those sections in place. Then install the bumper. The bumper will squeeze the seal between bumper and fender.

^^^ Pretty much what he said except a factory seal does not come with tape on either side. Typically weather strip adhesive is used.

[kazooward]

Thanks
looks like someone was working on this front end before I bought it and left a few parts out!

John

[PeteKz]

I just bought a new front bumper to body seal from Pelican for my 1973 T. It was the OEM brand. It looks exactly like the original, but thicker since it hasn't been squashed down for 45 years. I had to trim two slots at the intersection of the front panel and the horn grille to get it to fit in there. The original had V-cuts in the same place. The new one had a double-sided tape strip, but the side against the seal had gone gooey and would not stay stuck to the rubber. Of course, I found this out after I had stuck the seal in place, and it kept falling off. So, then I had to spend an hour more cleaning off the goo from the seal and the double-stick tape from the underside of the fender. The double stick tape was a good idea, but poor quality. I'm about to put the bumper back on now and will report on the results.

[PeteKz]

Follow up to yesterday: I slipped the round lip of the seal in the center section into the channel on the top front panel, then worked the center part of the seal around the lower front edge of that panel. I put 3M Super Weatherstrip Adhesive on the left and right sections of the seal and pressed it up to the bottom of the fender, let it get tacky, then pressed it into place. Then I installed the bumper. It took some muscle effort and using jacks with a long 2X6 board to push it up to where it had pressure on the seal to hold it in place. After fiddling with the 4 bolts inside the front of the trunk and the brackets on the outside of the battery boxes, I got it aligned reasonably well.

It helps greatly to have a second set of hands during this job. And after going through all this, I'm not sure reinstalling the seal was worth the bother. Sure, if you want to keep it original, go for it, but I think it looks fine without the seal too.