Cut and weld chrome bumper help

[pittpens24]

Hey guys,

Not sure if I am overthinking this or a bit scared treading on new ground. My new bumper(2nd one of two different companies - kept the best of the two) for my '68 Camaro fits like total crap. It needs to be have a wedge cut out of the drivers side to get it to follow the quarter with a nice gap. The passenger side needs the exact opposite done. Is it just as easy as your typical cut, v-grind, weld? Knowing I have to get the chrome away from the weld - 80 grit on a D/A? Also do you just weld and grind the front or do you weld the back of the seam as well? Ohhh and BTW - I checked before hand and they only make un-chromed bumpers for '69 first gen models:pat:

Thanks

**EDITED - PLEASE SEE UPDATE POST #10**

[dhutton]

Chrome plating is tough stuff. Might be better to have it stripped by a plating shop before doing the cutting and welding.

Don

[19,69camaro]

I narrowed some bumpers on my nova and what I did was grind first since its always easier that way. Deburr and v-grind the back only and weld from the back. I was able to get enough penetration so that it almost completely filled the gap looking from the front. I then sanded and clear coated it since getting it re-chromed isn't in the budget right now. At least you can't tell from 10 feet away.

Since you are getting it re-chromed later you could follow it up by braising in something soft to fill the gap.

[pittpens24]

Never thought of that way - maybe I will try it that way. thanks

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Rechroming is usually failry spendy, almost so it's worth it to try another bumper sometimes. Is it something that can be body color? I did somewhat extensive work on my front bumper when I was in a street rod fab school program. IIRC ground the chrome away with a 36 grit and welded away. ground the welds flush, hit it with a DA and 80 then 180 and so forth, body work as usual and paint. If you rechrome having it stripped first helps. Then when it's close on metal working you have the copper done in several layers like primer- dip then sand and shape, dip then sand and shape, repeat until it's smooth. Then chrome plate. Comes out beauty like if you take the time. I have some pics of the work I did on page 5 and 6 of my build thread, page 5 HERE (https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/80582-Pumkinator-A-G-Body-G-Machine-grocery-getter/page5?highlight=pumkinator).

[pittpens24]

thanks Ben - that is perfect! I am having it re-chromed when I am done :)

[astroracer]

Todays chrome is not as tuff as the chrome was back when cyanide was used in the process. You can strip the chrome off with a 180 grit pad on a D/A. Try that first before going at it with the big stuff. Save you some time.
You can also weld on the bumper to your hearts content. Bumpers are steel and mig wire is steel so, once you get it ground down and smoothed out, the chroming process will never see the difference. Go slow though and don't put a lot of heat into one area all at one time. You don't want to twist the bumper through heat distortion.
Like Ben said the process involves several layers of copper plating. The copper is the "primer" for the nickel and chrome. Polishing the copper fills the pits and waves (to a point) and levels out the surface for the rest of the process...
Mark

[Jetfixr320]

I was told by a chrome shop, to leave a little extra material after welding and sanding and let the shop that chromes it take it the rest of the way.
But, check with your chrome shop first. And ask how they would like it.

[pittpens24]

Thanks for the heads up - just wish I would have seen it in time lol. Got the bumper all fit and ground down - still have to sand it tho. Very happy with the results thus far.

[pittpens24]

Thanks to all you guys - rear bumper complete! Not chromed yet but did alot of work and came out amazing. Shaved off all the carriage bolts, cut and re-welded both ends on with tighter gaps and cut off a strip off my old bumper to weld to the new one to fit the contour of the tailpan with a tighter gap. Also welded all the brackets to the bumper and bolted from the inside of the trunk. Have a question about the front bumper on my '68 Camaro now. Since the back came out sooo well, I want to do the same to the front - shave off the carriage bolts and tighten up all the gaps. Seems I have run into a little dilemma tho. The 2 center carriage bolts bolt through a bracket that bolts to my sub-frame. Think I would be looking for trouble if I cut the head off the carriage bolt and welded it to the bumper? If i did this, the sub-frame bracket would have to be pre-bolted onto the bumper and slid through the front valance without scratching anything once she is all painted to bolt it to the sub-frame.:confused:

[astroracer]

Build a mini bracket that will weld to the bumper. No bolts. Modify the frame bracket (or make one) that will let you cross bolt the bumper to the frame bracket. Bolt the frame brackets on then bolt the bumper to the brackets.
Mark

[icemanrd19]

I just welded my brackets to my bumper and filled in the holes. Whats the estimated cost to get a bumper rechromed?

[pittpens24]

Build a mini bracket that will weld to the bumper. No bolts. Modify the frame bracket (or make one) that will let you cross bolt the bumper to the frame bracket. Bolt the frame brackets on then bolt the bumper to the brackets.
Mark

Mark,
I had also thought about that but my bracket really doesn't lend itself to be cut and bolted back together. It is a squared "s" shape but the since it is a stamped bracket, there are no significant flat spots. Though about welding a piece of flat stock to one side and bolting to other but worried about it drawing tight a bit crooked..........dilemmas

[pittpens24]

I just welded my brackets to my bumper and filled in the holes. Whats the estimated cost to get a bumper rechromed?

My buddy restored a '57 chevy - modded both his front and rear bumpers. Sent them out and had them both done for $800.00. He just welded and ground smooth and they worked them the rest of the way - they came out flawless! Mind you his are massive compared to mine. I am also aware that a lot of people think that is insane to spend that kind of $ on bumpers - my thought is that I have a rolling chassis, motor is paid for but not here yet, have my drivetrain, no bodywork and no interior and I am upwards of 50K - At this point not spending that little extra to put my ride into the next level in projected hindsight might have me kicking my own a$$.

[pittpens24]

Finally got my front bumper mocked up. Just wanted to add that I could not weld my bumper to the sub-frame brackets for my 68 camaro application. I tested this theory by cutting off the carriage bolt heads and welded them into the bumper holes and bolted the sub-frame bracket to the bumper. To my surprise, I was not able to slide my newly gapped bumper in through the front valance panel and also over the side tabs attached to the fenders at the same time. Mark's idea above would have also worked for this application if I could have grasped a better concept on how to achieve that with the way my bracket was formed - or maybe I was just waaaaay overthinking it?

[jlcustomz]

Lots of options on modding brackets if you are creative. Stamped muiti shaped brackets are difficult to work with, you general end up having to piece together heavier steel parts to modify them.

One thought on splitting a bracket is tack welding 2 brackets face to face sideways on the uncut bracket. Have them drilled for bolts & nuts welded to one side. Fit small washers between them. Heavily tack weld in place & you may want to add small 45 degree reinforcing parts. Remove the bolts & washers between the plates. Now you can run a sawzall between the 2 plates to separate the bracket & finish welding. Now you have a splitable bracket correctly aligned.

Just a thought off the top of my greying head.

Custom smoothed & fitted bumpers are a lot of work , but they are also the difference between a really nice project & everyone elses stuff.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Glad to hear you're having good success with the project!!

[pittpens24]

Lots of options on modding brackets if you are creative. Stamped muiti shaped brackets are difficult to work with, you general end up having to piece together heavier steel parts to modify them.

One thought on splitting a bracket is tack welding 2 brackets face to face sideways on the uncut bracket. Have them drilled for bolts & nuts welded to one side. Fit small washers between them. Heavily tack weld in place & you may want to add small 45 degree reinforcing parts. Remove the bolts & washers between the plates. Now you can run a sawzall between the 2 plates to separate the bracket & finish welding. Now you have a splitable bracket correctly aligned.

Just a thought off the top of my greying head.

Custom smoothed & fitted bumpers are a lot of work , but they are also the difference between a really nice project & everyone elses stuff.

Thanks - never thought of running the brackets horizontally. That is a great idea! I just finished the welding and grinding process on the front bumper last night after work. Tonight is Game 6 Pens/Caps - Let's Go Pens!:headbang: That being said, no work will get done tonight lol. I am hoping to get the final fitting done mid-week to see what I am up against with the bracket thing. Keep ya posted.

[pittpens24]

Here are some pics of the rear bumper

[pittpens24]

Here is the front bumper so far..........first few pics are of the bumper right out of the box before any mods. The "V" bend was way off so I ended up cutting the bottom part of the bumper as a relief notch and took it out into the grass and bent it to shape by hand - bent easier than I thought. Bolted it back onto the car and welded it to get the spacing as close to even as I could. Then moved on laying out what I needed to cut off my extra bumper to weld onto the one I was modifying to get the tolerances that I wanted. It's a lot of work but I know it will pay off in the end. I'll post up the final pics when i get it mounted for the final time.

[raustinss]

Nice work.....and yes let's go pens. Who do you like for the Western conference ? I'm thinking San Jose

[pittpens24]

Nice work.....and yes let's go pens. Who do you like for the Western conference ? I'm thinking San Jose

Thanks - I would have said Chicago(my 2nd fav team) for the west but out of the remaining I might agree with you about SJ

[Motown 454]

Bumpers are looking good, Nice work.

[pittpens24]

One final pic with the support rods attached. :headbang:

[pittpens24]

Here are the bumpers back from Paul's Chrome. They did a phenomenal job! They look like polished gems.

[jlcustomz]

:bananna2:
Know that was a bit of a project, but damn don't it feel good now to look at it. With little mods like that the average individual will say your black Camaro looks better than so & so's , but not necessarily know why it does.

Paul's definitely gets in some good prep work before their chrome.

So, did you re-engineer something for the front brackets or you just had to install carefully?

[all4sho]

what did paul's charge you to re-chrome them?

[pittpens24]

:bananna2:
Know that was a bit of a project, but damn don't it feel good now to look at it. With little mods like that the average individual will say your black Camaro looks better than so & so's , but not necessarily know why it does.

Paul's definitely gets in some good prep work before their chrome.

So, did you re-engineer something for the front brackets or you just had to install carefully?

Yeah man you are sooo right......it's all about the little things. I can;t even tell you the feeling when opening the boxes for the first time knowing what you sent out lol. I tried a few thing out of cardboard amd ended up just welding studs to the bottom of the bumper, bolting on the brackets loosely and sliding the the entire thing in as a whole while holding my breath. It all worked out! I had such a relief when both bumpers were on before I even stepped back to even see what they looked like lol.


what did paul's charge you to re-chrome them?
That is a whole thing it itself. They told me I did a phenomenal job fabricating them up and were among the cleanest that they get - made me feel great since it was my first time. Standard bumper re-chrome is $750 front and $750 rear. With the extra costs to straighten them out and chrome to perfection with shipping came to $2200.00. I know that sounds like a lot, but if I was paying a restoration shop to prep them, bodywork, paint and clear, it would be a wash.

[minendrews68]

Nice work on the fill in on the bumpers! I will have to say, good chrome plating (triple plating) is going to be a bit pricey, but the results are priceless. Just depends on what and where you want to spend your money. Looking good so far though!