Bumper conversion for a ‘76 2002

[roc2002]

Hi everyone,

 

Appreciate how helpful so many have been thus far. As noted on another post, my Uncle is restoring a 1976 2002 Automatic for me (I never learned to drive a stick!). As we are close to having the body repaired and the whole car painted, I am thinking about doing the bumper conversion to the short stainless steel bumpers. 

 

I had a very helpful conversation with Bluntech today, but my Uncle isn’t sure that it’s quite as simple as they make it out to be, even with the kit. 

 

Has as anyone here converted a bumper on a 74-76 and a) how many hours did it take you (if you’re not a bumper expert of course) and b) would you do it again?

 

Looks beautiful, but curious as to what it’s like in the real world driving the car around a city with far less protection and more susceptible to body scratches and damage, and does the time & cost involved simply make it not worth doing.

 

Thank you!!

[2002iii]

If your car is a daily driver stick with the stock 5 mph bumpers. That way when someone backs into you while parallel parking they might not total your car completely. On the other hand Blunt knows their stuff. The hardest part will be getting the old bumpers off, most require at least torching the bolts.

[Stevenc22]

I converted mine. I used a kit and the stainless steel bumpers from Blunt.

 

Took about 5-6 hours adjusting and test fitting things. Then sent for body work to fill all the big bumper holes. 

 

It is easy especially if you do it now before bodywork.

[roc2002]

15 minutes ago, Stevenc22 said:

I converted mine. I used a kit and the stainless steel bumpers from Blunt.

 

Took about 5-6 hours adjusting and test fitting things. Then sent for body work to fill all the big bumper holes. 

 

It is easy especially if you do it now before bodywork.

Looks great Steven. Are you pretty good with this type of work or is 5-6 hours a reasonable amount of time for most? And what about real world driving? Any concerns parking in tight spots etc. that someone might damage the car because the bumpers offer little protection?

[omarcenaro]

I have an automatic as well. Fun car to drive. As for the bumper I once wanted to convert bumpers as well, they do look nice. I thought like 2002iii suggested. Need some kind of bumper for parking lots etc. what I did is shorten the front bumper and left the rear alone.  The front looks better short yet still a period correct bumper and a little more protection than chrome ones would be. But the best part is rear bumper is a great place to sit, you always have nice bench seat with you.

[roc2002]

1 hour ago, omarcenaro said:

I have an automatic as well. Fun car to drive. As for the bumper I once wanted to convert bumpers as well, they do look nice. I thought like 2002iii suggested. Need some kind of bumper for parking lots etc. what I did is shorten the front bumper and left the rear alone.  The front looks better short yet still a period correct bumper and a little more protection than chrome ones would be. But the best part is rear bumper is a great place to sit, you always have nice bench seat with you.

Wow - your car is stunning! Is that an original paint color? Mine is Fjord Blue and all the reading I’ve done on here says that it’s better to leave the car the original color if at all possible. You did a great job with your bumpers.

[xr4tic]

You can tuck them in, plenty of info on how to do that if you search, I like the big bumpers on the later cars.

 

I went for the extreme tuck:

 

Lots of cutting involved though.

[John_in_VA]

18 minutes ago, roc2002 said:

Wow - your car is stunning! Is that an original paint color? 

 

Not an original 2002 color.

[Mike Self]

On the front, you have two conversion choices: 

• use the OEM 5 mph bumper mounts for your chrome bumper--someone on the FAQ makes a bracket that allows this.  That's the easy conversion, although it places the chrome bumper several inches higher than it is on a roundie (or Euro squarelight)--some folks don't like the look.
• The more difficult conversion is to close up the old mounting holes (or convert 'em to driving light mounts), cut new holes in the nose panel and drill new holes in the frame rails to mount your chrome bumpers in their "normal" location.  

Rears are easy, as the original chrome bumper mounting holes are already in the rear body panel, just covered with little plastic plugs.  You just need to fill in the holes for the 5 mph bumper mounts.

 

mike

 

 

[roc2002]

9 minutes ago, mike said:

On the front, you have two conversion choices: 

• use the OEM 5 mph bumper mounts for your chrome bumper--someone on the FAQ makes a bracket that allows this.  That's the easy conversion, although it places the chrome bumper several inches higher than it is on a roundie (or Euro squarelight)--some folks don't like the look.
• The more difficult conversion is to close up the old mounting holes (or convert 'em to driving light mounts), cut new holes in the nose panel and drill new holes in the frame rails to mount your chrome bumpers in their "normal" location.  

Rears are easy, as the original chrome bumper mounting holes are already in the rear body panel, just covered with little plastic plugs.  You just need to fill in the holes for the 5 mph bumper mounts.

 

mike

 

 

 

I guess my question Mike - is for those who have done it, would you do it again? And is 5-6 hours for a body guy to do the conversion reasonable? My Uncle was saying that if it is as easy as the Blunttech kit makes it seem, he’s surprised more aren’t doing it.

[Roverguy]

Tucked my front on my 74,  About 2 hours and some gentle persuasion from a tree next to my garage!

 

Haven't done the rear yet.

 

Didn't even get to glue the accordion yet, but I cut it so it locks the two halves together.

 

Well worth the effort!

 

Edited September 11, 2019 by Roverguy

[Mark92131]

Polished and tucked the bumpers of my 1975, super easy to do and looked great with new paint.

 

Mark92131

[Dug Nichols]

I did my bumper conversion to early style myself, having never done this before. I think I spent somewhere around 5 - 7 hours in total on it. I didn't have any troubles removing any bolts (no torching). I chose to use the early mounts up front, and covered the large late-bumper access holes with pieces from the big bumper, and put fog lights on the early bumpers in front of that. Back was super easy, as noted above. 

 

Would I do it again? Depends on the car. Sometimes I regret not having a stock car (including the original steelies), but for the vast most part I really like the clean look of the early bumpers on my '76 mingtrun. But I want to take it farther and do a side marker delete :)

['76mintgrün'02]

I'll join the Mint train.

 

I Like Big Bumpers, they're cheap insurance that will help protect that nice body work and paint.

 

I'm thinking of getting some of these Triumph overriders for mine.  

 

[iinca]

mama mia shades of Sophia Loren'!