Fitting my rear bumper

[mach2andy]

Having partially refitted my rear lights, I then had a Homer Simpson dohhh moment and realised that I really should have fitted my rear bumper first. So, how do I go about this? Do I loosely assemble the 3 bits plus the overriders and then fit it to the car? Or is there an easier way? And I'm thinking that the long side of the bumper to body seal sits uppermost?
As ever, your thoughts and suggestions most welcome.
Andy

[Jeff Cecil]

Andy, I can tell you how I went about it, but it may not help you much. I bolted my bumper together and bolted it to the car when I was doing the bodywork to the rear of the car ( not really necessary to mount the over riders). At this point, I leveled the bumper by installing extra washers in the rear bolt areas. The left side is usually high on series 2 cars, so adding washers will level the bumper. The bumper inner edge was not consistent to the curves of the body ( keep in mind these cars were hand built and parts were not produced with the same accuracy of cars today and most of the cars varied somewhat). I marked the furthest distance from the inner edge to the body with tape. I then ground the inner edge to have the same distance from the body from sides to rear. Clear as mud, right? In other words, I made the gap the same between the body and the bumper from the forward most point to the rear bumper bar continuing on to the other side. Having the same distance gap all around makes the rubber strip straight when installed. I then sent my bumpers to be chromed. After paint, I installed the bumper and then the rubber with 3M weatherstrip adhesive and all was well. If your bumpers are already re-chromed and the car is painted, you can still grind the gaps, being careful to grind DOWN on the bumpers as to not "peel" the chrome up at the edge. I would then coat the edge with silver paint to prevent rust. This edge is coated with the adhesive when the rubber is installed, so the adhesive will help prevent rust too. I mounted the bumper by myself after paint and re-chroming but an extra hand would help. I used tape on the edges of the bumper and the body while installing the bumper to keep from scratching the paint. Hope this helps.

[johnetype]

On my car I fitted the lights first for easy access and iirc I had no problems fitting the bumper afterwards with the lights in place.

The long side of the bumper seal does sit uppermost. If you use the Series 2 seal it's a very long side to sit anywhere and looks ugly in my opinion so I used the Series 1 seal which is much narrower. With the Series 1 seal you need the three sections of the bumper together off the car (after a trial fit and with the overriders still off for now) to superglue the seal to the top edge of the bumper blade.

During my restoration the holes in the rear wheel arch for the front edge of the bumpers had been lost and I wasn't keen to recreate them as it creates a rust trap. I found that I could mount the bumper to the car quite satisfactorily with out using the very foremost bolt.

I then fitted the overriders last.

[mach2andy]

Working largely on my own, I decided that fitting the rear bumper as an assembled unit was not practical. And probably a recipe for disaster as well. Jacking the back of the car up put it in a better position for this job. And also provided an easy anchor point for the ratchet strap that I used to pull the bumpers up snug.
I fitted the 3 parts loosely to the car and found that the LH quarter fitted very well, but not so the RH quarter, and to a degree the centre section. I cut small sections of the S2 & S1 seals [the S2 front seal is the same as the S1 rear bumper seal section] and fitted them side by side, and as others have observed, the S1 seal looks much neater. So I ordered a length from COH Baines along with the rubber section that I needed to make the mudguard seals. I marked the RH quarter and centre section and then trimmed them to fit which was surprisingly easy with a very thin cutting disc, and sealed the cut edges with several coats of paint. With the bumpers fitted fairly loosely I fitted the seal, and then used a ratchet strap to pull and hold the bumper into it's final position and tighten all the bolts.

[Richardhealey]

Very interesting technique Andy, for those of us working alone in cold workshops! I am sure your method will be very useful for me when the time comes. Page bookmarked
Rich

[mach2andy]

Hi Richard
Can't lay claim to the ratchet strap idea. Read it on here!! Very useful when working alone as I usually am. Have you got your car back yet? How's it going?
ATB
Andy

[Richardhealey]

Hi Andy,
Next week! Can’t bloody wait!!
Already staring to lay out the new wiring harness and labelling etc and comparing to the old...
For me the real, actual fun, is about to start!

[288gto]

Very helpful Andy, I’m doing mine on my own at the moment, fitting, grinding and mocking up prior to sending off for chrome.

The only thing I can add that worked for me was to screw a stud into the pointy end of the bumper rather than keep trying to get a bolt in. This way I could slide the slotted brackets at the over rider ends onto the loose bolts and washers where the lights are and then push the stud through the hole in the wheel arch and put a nut and washer on.
Obviously for final fit I will swap the studs for bolts to avoid them hitting the tyre.

Your car is coming along nicely by the way. Always nice to see posts and activity in the S2 section!

Simon

[AshM]

Nice job Andy.

Car is looking great.

Cheers
Ash

[Gfhug]

This topic has helped with my fitting of the rear bumpers to my cars, so thank you all.
I’d add that thick washers can also be added to create a greater gap between bumper and car, especially at the front of the blade where there might not be enough material to grind down to get an even gap to the car. So long as you check there’s no unsightly gap created at the join with the centre section then this can save a bit of cutting or grinding. (Apologies to anyone who has suggested this idea before.)

Geoff