The end result of five peaceful hours in the garage. It was a bit of a challenge handling the bumper install without another set of hands, but it rested nicely on the crash bar albeit a bit low of final position. The crash bar ultimately had to be removed as it interfered:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1495303984.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1495303984.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1495303984.jpg

and, in an unusual happenstance, no blood was drawn!

Okay, so I need to come up with a bracket for the bumper- and fender-to-chassis support. I also want to beef up the bolt head areas to spread the loads with fender washers or doublers. And I need to split up the horns and mount one on each side behind ...wait for it...the horn grills. I think I can use the threaded receptacle that the bumper shocks bolted into for this purpose. A little wiring will be needed to make this happen.

Looking at the second picture up from here, I wonder why no one has come up with a fiberglass or sheetmetal filler panel for these backdate projects so that the original hood can be retained. Done right, I think it could be installed and adjusted for a tight seam fit at the lid to minimize the line. It would be real easy to install. Hmmm, I feel a new thread coming on.

I know what is looming is the purchase of a new longhood lid and then the inevitable attempt to make that work somehow without too much modification.

i'm right there, mike, and thinking about ditching the FG bumper and going steel. at this point, everything else is steel, so i may as well go all in. i'm definitely interested to see how this goes for you.

interesting, i have a 3.2 in my car and the same cooler as you, and while the fit was tight, i didn't have any clearance issues between the cooler and the fender. my car is a '76, so the cooler was added later obviously and must be in a slightly different spot. i have a similar idea for the horns, but haven't tackled that one yet.

also, i notched the fender, not the bracket on the body. i didn't want to cut anything on my car.

let's chat when you get the bumper bracket situation sorted, i might like to piggy back off of your efforts.

good work!...

The interference at the lower edge of the cooler was pretty minimal - it just kept the lower valance lip pushed out when I tried to tighten the gap at the the bumper end near that tire. I was easily able to bend the thin metal at the cooler out of the way.

I debated cutting the fender vs cutting the chassis. I realised that the cut I made to the chassis was really structurally minimal. That area had been reworked in my accident already and an attachment can be rewelded for much less than the $2600 I have into the fenders. If my car had been unmolested to begin with, it would definitely affect my decision making.

I have an idea in mind for the bracket...I need to mock it up and try it in aluminum first. I will post results.

Looking good Mike. Hope to follow in your foot steps soon

David

Thanks David....it really is just a series of small-ish projects. This site and all of the knowledge accessible here really helps.

Had a little time today so I pondered how to support the fender at the headlight bucket (like they did in 1985) and the bumper at the point which, in a 1972, would be attached to the chassis at a L angle support off the battery box. I also wanted the option of attaching a horn on each side somewhere in there. It would be pointed forward and down.

After sketching several ideas, I chose one and hunted down some scrap L channel metal I had laying around to use as a template. I used some snips and cut a flat in one end. I bent it to go from the 1985 bumper shock rear attach point to the flange off the bumper that I want to support. Low and behold, when I looked down through the headlight bucket, I could see that the piece of angle was in view and not far out of alignment. I found a piece of 1-1/2" L 6160-T6 aluminum I had laying around and made some brackets.

Here is the rough bracket and the original template:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1495333939.jpg

another hour or two fitting, bending, cutting and sanding I made a mirror image pair and got them closer to being dialed in:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1495334006.jpg

There is more to do, but this is close. The top one is the Driver's side. The idea is that the flanges on the left attach to the bumper shock bolt location and the opposite ends mirror the curve of the fender to give clearance. I will use adjustable standoffs - one going up to the headlight bucket and one down to the bumper flange. They are off in axis by inches, but the effect should be to tie everything together and make a stiff assembly once snugged up. That is the theory anyway, we will see.

I have nearly finalized my brackets. These are intended to fix the fender to the bumper to the chassis out where it is somewhat floating. I spent more time tweaking them and getting the standoffs the correct lengths. I also spent time centering the bumper as close as possible. I have one interference point I need to deal with (red arrow). It should be easy to alleviate.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1496278426.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1496278426.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1496278426.jpg

I received my metal hood, and, with the help of my wife and an abandoned pack of Coors Light (only used for the zombie apocalypse when the good stuff runs out), I got it installed and aligned in about 15 minutes. Pretty easy actually. The fit is great. I used one spacer on each of the rear attach locations.

The hood has one flat spot that will have to be dealt with and some superficial scratches that were touched up - it came from Porsche that way I think as there was no evidence of tampering with the box.

After taping off the mating body edges that could be damaged and using some towels in the vulnerable areas, I was able to do it unscathed. The beer box helped raise the hood so that I could fasten the screws. I used the same arrangement to remove the old hood.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1497132203.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1497132203.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1497132203.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1497132203.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1497132203.jpg

I think I am now needing to remove all of these metal items and send them out for paint !

Oh, and I decided to buy new horns. The old trumpets are too long and a bit of a challenge to find a spot to mount them, so I did some research and bought these PIAA Sports Horns (shown near the original trumpets for size reference). About $49 delivered via Amazon Prime. I tested the horns by watching YouTube videos (people will record anything). They are small and loud. I might split them up - one on each side. If not that, I will put both behind the driver's side fender so they don't block the oil cooler. It should be real easy to split the harness as it originates down the driver's side to the passenger's side.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1497132938.jpg

So, now I need to figure out a latching system for the hood...something interesting. I have a few ideas.

So while I was waiting for my painted parts, several things happened to me, and the only thing I got done on the car was to take car of the spot welds from the rear plate removal. I used a 3M putty filler. I had never done it before, but it was pretty easy actually.

Before - note the spot welds:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503791565.jpg

I sanded those spot welds down with a grinder and then a sander. Then I mixed the spot putty and smeared it into place.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503791580.jpg

I had to fill a couple of times to get one hole just right.

After curing, I sanded and primed:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503791580.jpg

Now I need to shoot the paint - I have a touch up can that is pretty close.

Oh boy, I picked up some restored 16X7 and 16X8 wheels and all my parts are back from paint!

I also bought some front turn signal light boxes and front and rear bumper deco trim. I am going to start out with the narrow trim style.

Time to start the final assembly!!

As usual, Very nicely done Mike

Thank you Dave.

Some pictures of the bits (the hood is safely wrapped and stored in the garage):

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503861861.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503861861.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503861861.jpg

I was asked for dimensions on my outrigger type fender/bumper brackets. Here are some pictures. I made them out of 1.5" T6061 aluminum that was 1/8" thick angle that I had laying around. One seems to be about 1/2" longer that the other - probably because of an interference issue on the oil cooler side or possibly the angle is different between the two. Not much of these dimensions is critical. In the photos, I have the very tips of the brackets at the 1" mark on the tape measure.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503875631.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503875631.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503875631.jpg

So basically, I took 2" off on side of the end that will bolt to the rear bumper shock fastening hole, angle cut the vertical support side the full length to lighten it (you don't really need to do this), and profiled the other end to follow the angle of the fender/bumper. Then I projected up from the bumper attach flange and down from the headlight bucket attach hole to locate the bolt holes.

Here is what I got done today. I used some self adhesive closed cell foam around the perimeter of the interior battery bracket support plate and fastened the battery box inside the smuggler's box. Then I put the wood part in the passenger's footwell and reinstalled the carpet on that side. Then I hooked up the electrical to the battery and put it on a charger:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503876259.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503876259.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503876259.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503876259.jpg

I will be degreasing the wheel wells next and I needed to close up some holes into the frunk, so I put some metal tape inside and outside a battery acid burn through hole:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503876585.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503876585.jpg

and installed some screws through roofing washers (metal washer with neoprene washer on one side) in some screw holes that used to support hose clamps that I will not be using:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503876752.jpg

I then made some horn extenders as I will be mounting one horn per side behind the horn grills. The original horn wires go from driver's side to passenger's side where the both horns are mounted in front of the oil cooler pointing down. There the wire jumpers from one horn to the other as they are colocated there. I just made jumpers from the one horn and ran them back to the other side of the car using some 14ga wire.

When the deco trim comes in, I will start at the back of the car with rear bumpers, center panel, license plate bracket, bumperettes, and then work the front end.

I am still not sure if I will run narrow deco trim at the rockers, forego the trim and paint some fasteners matching white and screw them in with roofing washers, or use white rivets and set them.

The trim is two weeks out, so I continue to prep. I didn't like how grimy the wheel wells were in front:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1504039354.jpg

so I drove the car out onto the driveway and degreased/rinsed them (after sealing holes). What was left was a mix of white, brown and black in the wells. I was painting the rear area where I had filled the spot welds:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1504039354.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1504039354.jpg

and I had a bunch of left over paint, so I sprayed the wells to clean them up a bit:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1504039354.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1504039354.jpg