[mike mueller]

I'm 99.9% sure that the tabs that are removed would be covered by the new steel bumper.

Of course you'd want to primer the area, but that too should be under the new bumper and not visible.

I did this conversion a few years ago. I could take pictures of my current '75 to show you the tabs.......I removed the bumpers to remove the shocks and heavy steel insert in the bumper.

I'm reattaching the bumper "skins" with aluminum brackets.