bumper sink in

I have a little different set-up in my 76 that I'll be tackling this winter.
Looks great man, I think all of our years could use a diet and a sink in!

So, it sounds like you mounted the factory shocks farther back on the frame?

shocks are mounted in factory locations, its the bumper brackets them selves that are removed and/or rearranged. Its kinda scary all the support that has been removed and all the left over bolts that were laying around. But the bumper is strong and sturdy enough to hold me and I weigh 220lbs, which granted isnt the same as a 4000lbs car hitting something solid at anything above 5mph

I think I'm with you now.

As far as safety, think about it in 2 seperate ways: All the bumper supports, liner and bracing would probably absorb the impact of a collision and keep the body fairly untouched.

Now, you may get through the skin and into the body on the same impact with it all removed.

Fact is, there is still plenty of car up there to protect the most important thing (your greezy mug) from damage.

All you did was update you ride. Now, vehicles are designed to crumple and absorb the impact, not "thud" through it. You just brought yourself into the correct century!

Hydro King wrote:What are you going to do about a front end collision, those shocks are all you have in case of impact. I have seen others f@#k with the bumper and thought it was a jeopardizing my life is not worth it.

the only purpose of those shocks is to prevent the car from sustaining too much damage in a low speed collision- like, say, bumping into the bumper of another car pulling into a parking spot.
in a collision at any sort of speed, they won't do very much to save your life or keep your car from getting damaged.
i cut most of the bracing out from behind the front bumper of my car- i left just enough to mount the bumper to the car. i think i took close to 50 pounds off the nose by doing that, i know the floor jack slid under the crossmember easier, so it must have lifted the nose 1/2" or more.
my next project is going to be to get rid of the bumper shocks and bumper fillers altogether to shed more weight and suck the bumper in tighter. i already ditched the fugly black rubber strip and "push bars" and made some cool inserts for the openings in the bumper out of some perforated 20 gauge steel i got from work.

The only modifications to the bumper were filling in the jack holes/slots in the bumper(s). I did not have any rubber crap on my bumper's thank god, I always hated that rubber bumper crap.

The 73 bumper is unique due to the filler spot being behind the license plate under the bumper like the old chevelle's prior to 74-77. I could not jeopardize looks for safety. They don't make bumper's like that no more, the 74-77 bumpers got thinner and thinner on the steel thickness.

Hydro King wrote: the 74-77 bumpers got thinner and thinner on the steel thickness.

You can say that again, the front bumper on my 74 Elky is sharp as a razor blasde on the bottom edges and I have been slightly cut many times working on the car. It is not the original bumper, the bumper was replaced in 1974 because o a fender bender. JB

i think i want to do this too. looks really good.

id like some more info please! so what did you do, take off the plasic filler and...?

well, I hope you got a good air compressor and impact cause it sucks if ya dont.
heres what I did.
1. Remove the 8 bolts (4 on each side of car, 2 on each side of bracket) that hold the bumper to the shocks, if you can remove the 2 larger bolts, itd be easier, but I couldnt get them out with the filler installed

2. Remove everything attached to the bumper...brackets and all except you can leave the parking lights. make sure that you note where they all went

3. After removing the 20 thousand bolts across the bumper reinstall all of the chrome plated head bolts with some oil or anti-seize so it makes them easier to install and remove later on. So now all thats on the bumper is those bolts and the parking lights

4. Now I hope you noted where the brackets were located. Take the inside brackets that held the bumper to the shocks, swap sides and turn them inside out so they protrude inside the bumper, leave the attaching bolts loose.

5. Now install the bumper back on the shocks with those brackets and leave those bolts loose.

6. The fun part...now to get the bumper lined up. Itll move up and down and side to side. So get it lined up how to want to and tighten all the bolts.


There hope that helps. Dont think I left anything out. If you have questions ill be as much help as I can with answering them. If you like, take pictures as you do each step and post them up for others to follow. You have a big pile of brackets and bolts left over which is alot of weight loss.

post pics step by step, and what are you going to do about the back bumper?

thanks! ill take lot of pictures of the process and post it all on my fquick page.

ok here is how i did it.

i already had the bumper chrome and plastic corners off.

1. Remove everything attached to the bumper...brackets and all except you can leave the parking lights. make sure that you note where they all went

2. Remove the 8 bolts (4 on each side of car, 2 on each side of bracket) (the bolts are 3/4" socket and the nuts are a 5/8 wrench) that hold the bumper to the shocks, if you can remove the 2 larger bolts, itd be easier, but I couldnt get them out with the filler installed

3. After removing the bolts across the bumper reinstall all of the chrome plated head bolts with some oil or anti-seize so it makes them easier to install and remove later on. So now all thats on the bumper is those bolts and the parking lights

4. Now I hope you noted where the brackets were located. Take the inside brackets that held the bumper to the shocks, swap sides and turn them inside out so they protrude inside the bumper, leave the attaching bolts loose. (OK see the inside brackets (ones closest to the middle of car) take those off and swap sides. To rebolt them on youll have to turn them around so the bottom side of the bracket where it bolts to the bumper is going towards the radiator, instead of point forwards (away from the radiator) Then just remove the outside brackets and throw them away or whatever

I AM NOT FININISHED YET____still need a little help ill ask bcss and continue with this later

OK see the inside brackets (ones closest to the middle of car) take those off and swap sides. To rebolt them on youll have to turn them around so the bottom side of the bracket where it bolts to the bumper is going towards the radiator, instead of point forwards (away from the radiator) Then just remove the outside brackets and throw them away or whatever.

ok thanks!