72 rear bumper chrome question

[47silver]

there is a chrome cap on the front side or the rear bumpers. it has 3 holes and from the parts breakdown it is to be fastened with 3 rivets.
Looking at the bumper what do the rivets attach to? are we missing some pieces?

[dafischer]

It appears that someone has cut off the leading edge of your rear bumper.

[bobolsn]

Silver,

I have 71 and it looks similar. Not sure if it is the same. Mine has 2 rivets, the upper one attaches to the tab I think I see, while the other attaches to the outside face of the bumper. I can take pictures if you would like.

Bob

[47silver]

the bumpers do no look like they were altered in anyway.
the parts diagrams i could find show the bumpers to look like these

[Evans, Marv]

Notice on the diagram, there is a small lip in that area of the bumper. I agree with Dave that it looks like it has been cut off. Also, if I remember right, the holes for the rivets are off center to the side where they attach to the front lip of the bumper. I have some of those I might take a look at tomorrow.

[joefrantz]

The bumper is fine, except there should be a hole in that rectangular tab to correspond with the one on the upper section of the cap face.

There appears to be a second hole in the face of the end cap. It shouldn't be there.

There is (or should be) a second mounting whole on the outside edge of the cap and back towards its tail. There should be a hole in the bumper to correspond with that one as well.

The caps mount with rivets through the two holes that are supposed to be there.
Notice also the black seal along the trailing edge of the cap.

The caps, the seal, and the rivet are items 36,37,and 38 in the parts diagram above.

Part numbers from PET:

Cap Left: 901-508-251-21
Cap Right: 901-505-252-21
Seal: 999-911-084-40
Rivet: 999-190-101-30

One bit of advice: The rivets are a pain. A lot of fine road debris gets trapped between the caps and the bumpers - in spite of the (nominal) seal. You've got to remove the caps periodically to clean up the debris, to prevent rust from forming. A lot of people replace the rivets with sheet metal screws to facilitate R&R.

I really dislike sheet metal screws, so I made faux rivets by grinding and re-polishing a stainless allen head machine screw. I think its an m4. I use a stainless nylock and fender washer on the back side. From a normal viewing distance it looks like a rivet.

Here are a few pictures - sorry for the crappy focus on the first two:

[47silver]

joe
the allen solution is great.
i went over the bumpers closely and cannot find any evidence of anything being cut off.
this car was painted in the late 80's and had sc flares on it (for sale on the parts forum). I will ask the PO if they cut anything off.
if anyone has a photo of their bumper without the chrome piece on it would be helpful.
we are trying to line up the replacement stock fender/flares in order to weld them in and we want to be sure that everything llines up.

[Evans, Marv]

The stainless allen head idea is a good one. Your bumpers are correct and need to use the rectangular tab to attach the end piece. But there are two styles. The one with the tab, which is on my '69 and a set I have that came off of a '72, and the one with the lip on the edge with the chrome piece attached. Here are two pics. The first is from my '69. The second is from a bumper I have with the lip. I have no idea what year that one came off of - maybe a SWB. I have three or four sets. Three have the tab, and one has the lip. The pic with the one that has the lip has the end piece attached and has some dirt on it, but I think you can see it OK. Notice also it has a different type of attachment for the support bracket.

[47silver]

looks like the green bumper
but our tab is not flush with the edge

[Evans, Marv]

In just looked at the three sets I have with the tab. They were all flush with the edge but not perfectly so. Could be they weren't too strict about placement at the factory at the time. I suppose you'll just have to use spacers like washers, rubber pads, or whatever. Since the lip of the end cap overlaps the bumper a bit you have some slop. Nobody will ever know especially if you use the rubber trim piece.

[dafischer]

I spoke from memory, fuzzy I guess, about the leading edge being cut off. I checked my 72 today, and it has the same tab as Marv's 69, almost flush with the edge. Perhaps your tab just needs to be bent forward a bit to make it more flush.

[joefrantz]

Mine looks just like the green one. It's a '73.

Silver, I hadn't noticed the offset of the tab on yours. Also, can you see any evidence that the rivet hole was filled?

Marv, I think the bumper with rounded lip is SWB. You can verify by measuring. It should be slightly longer than the others.

It also looks like the top two holes in Silver's picture of his end cap are similar to the holes in Marv's picture from the back side, leading me to guess that Silver may have an SWB end cap.

I agree with Marv -- best solution is to get the right LWB parts, and shim the tab.

You may want to have an oxygen bottle handy when you look at the price of the end caps.

[Evans, Marv]

Joe, thanks for the info about the SWB bumpers. I will measure them. Maybe a solution to price would be to look for some decent used end caps.

[bobolsn]

Mine (71T) looks like Joe's and Marv's, tab and front lower rivet. I also like the idea of the stainless steel allen head.

Bob

[joefrantz]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

Joe, thanks for the info about the SWB bumpers. I will measure them. Maybe a solution to price would be to look for some decent used end caps.

If you can find them, that would be the way to go - unless you were building a show car.
The aluminum is so soft that after about 1500 miles or so, they look like what one might consider good used ones, which, in turn, makes good used ones hard to find.
I'm considering putting some clear protection over mine while they're still reasonably fresh.