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December 18, 2023

Rear Bumpers

The GT6 Mk1, Mk2 and GT6+ cars, along with Spitfires of the same years had a split rear bumper that really just protected the rear corners of the car.  While I find it pretty stylish, the US government apparently found fault with it for safety reasons, and the later cars changed to a full rear bumper.

My car had some crash damage to the center rear which might have been prevented by a full bumper, but as an example of form over function, I still prefer the older design.

My bumpers were certainly grimy, and had some rust on the backsides, but didn't appear to be dented or bent.




Other than the rust on the inside, most of the chrome looked to be intact.  There were the obligatory broken fasteners.  Some forensic analysis proved that this was actually a double broken fastener.  The original 5/16 bolt broke off, probably when I did a minor restore back in the 80s, and rather than removing it, I apparently just drilled into it and tapped for a 1/4-28 bolt.  Then that bolt broke off on this go 'round.




The 80s "repair" was a little off center, so after removing the remains of both bolts, I was left with an egg shaped hole.  I fixed it by installing a threaded insert.  It had a 7/16-14 OD, which just covered the oval hole I had.  I don't seem to have a picture of it, though.




There are a couple of U brackets that mount the bumpers through the rear valance to the internal bumper brackets inside the boot.  A quick blast removed all the paint and rust.




The bumpers themselves cleaned up pretty well.  There are some scuffs and a few scratches, but in general they look OK.  A light blast on the backside made them a lot more pleasant to look at.




It wasn't until this point that I noticed that one of the welded-on mounting nuts was missing.  There didn't seem to be any way to do any weldin on the backside of that bracket, so I had to improvised something else.




Then powder coated the brackets and inside surfaces of the bumpers for extra protection. 




Ready to go.




This was a quick little project, and though I like the bumpers and think they look good enough to use, I'm not sure I'll put them on the car.  I like the bumperless look too.  I'll have to think about it.  If I don't use them, they will stay with the car in case some future owners wants them.

Cost of this project was essentially zero.

Comments to Ed at elhollin1@yahoo.com

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