Anyone buy repro'd valence and bumper/bumperettes AND HAVE THEM FIT?

[Mfr426]

Hey all, the subject speaks for itself.

I figured I was saving time by getting a new repro'd valence, bumper and bumperettes. The fit of the valence is crap and the bumperetts dint seem to fit either. The bumper looks good but does not fit my bumper mounts well so I have to make consessions with it. I've moved my bumper down to try to get the bumperettes to fit but they don.t seem to have the right angle on the bolting flange. Has anyone purchased new bumperettes and if so have they fit without making some bends in the mounts?

Thanks for any comments.

Mike R in Reading PA

[bill440rt]

Hey Mike,
I assuming you mean the REAR valence & bumper??  I test fitted my valence up with sheetmetal screws and then bolted on the bumper before bonding/welding everything up. I had to really open up the holes in the valence to get it to fit, & cut off aout 1/2-1/4" off the top of it for it to sit high enough under the rear tail light panel.

Where the bumperettes wrapped under the valence, the fit was OK but not great. They did line up with the indentations in the valence. This car is gonna be a hot rod, so it's not like it will compete in a concours class so I was happy with the fit.

[Mike DC]

The rear valances & corner caps are well-known to be sh*tty fits.  They date back to the earlier days of repro parts when finding decent original metal was still an option.

     

[Mfr426]

Actually guys, I did mean the front ones. Sorry but I am pissed off I tend to post like a wacko!

Here is a pic of what I mean (this is NOT my car). The areas at the arrow ends don't fit over the holes. I would to bend the mounting flanges on the rear part of the bumperette to work. The front does however fit and line up on the front where it bolts to the bumper.

The bumperette actually rubs against my nice newly painted valence. Could these things be that far off?

[bill440rt]

Do you have a pic of this on your car?? Is the bumper adjusted down far enough not to look like crap up top?
Any way of bending the flanges a little on the bumperettes?
I have a repro front bumper as well, but a original valence. I did not fit up the front yet, so I'm not really sure about fit problems.

[Shakey]

It sounds like your bumper needs to be lowered slightly. 

When you lower the bumper your guards will fit better through the holes in the valance and will also give you a bit of clearance between the top part of the bumper and the grille.  A lot of '69 Chargers have either rub marks or cracks in the bottom part of the centre section of the grille because the bumper sits too close.

Loosen the frame mounted bumper brackets and loosely bolt everything (bumper, guards, adapters) into place.  Get someone to help you with lining everything up so it looks good and fits properly, and have them hold it in place as you tighten things up.  Tighten a bit on each side as you go as the bumper will move a bit when you tighten it up.

[Mfr426]

I dont have a pic yet. I've just placed the bumperettes in the bumper hole and saw that it will not fit so I didn't bolt them on.

I have loosened the bumper bracket bolt on the frame and dropped down the bumper as low as it could go. I am wondering if the center of the valence can be pushed upward and retightened with the two bolts that tie it to the headlight fram backet?

I'm going to try to push up the center of the valence panel and retighten the bolts and see what happens.

I'll try to post a picture this weekend if I cant get it to fit.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Mike R

[squeakfinder]

Do the bumperette's simply not reach the crossmember that they bolt to? I'm talking about the crossmember that runs from each bumper bracket. If thats the case, the crossmember is mounted backwards. If that's not the case, sorry I butted in.

Larry

[Mfr426]

Larry, I think I can get them to mount but they will chip the paint on the valence as they "rest" on the thing. I'm going to look at that again tomorrow when I revisit the work.

Thanks for the comments

Mike R in Reading PA

[Arigmaster]

I ended up buying a complete repro front bumper, front lower valance, and parking light lenses for my '68. There was no problem at all with the bumper and lenses. What I did find though was a problem with the right side parking light opening on the valance. the left side lense was perfect and flush all the way around the opening on the valance. However on the right side it was a different story. The lense fit flush on the top and inside edge but was off on the outer side of the opening nearly 1/2 inch. The valance was not damaged in any way and the lense was correct for the right side. I think that it was a flaw in the stamp or something. I ended up shaving and polishing the plastic lense edge to make it fit flush.

[Mfr426]

Hey Arigmaster, I have the same issue with the valence on the right side. It must be a stamping issue. I even tried to switch sides (backwards) to see if that helped. It didnt.

You shaved and polished it? Was that painted or just polished on the edge? I was thing about doing that but I thought the edges had paint on them? If they dont I'll do the same as you did. It's pretty obvious to me that the right side has issues. Thanks for the comments.

Mike R