Shaving bumpers

[injcted]

Hey guys I got a extra set of bumpers for the comet and I wanna shave the bolts and tuck the bumpers to the body any tips or tricks?

[jlcustomz]

As far as the shaved bolts , you generally weld a bolt to the backside of the holes & fill in . For tucking I use masking tape to mark the width I'm taking out.As with any metal splice job, tack weld every inch or less & adjust metal as needed for good alignment.

You can figure a pair of bumpers tucked & shaved to be a little time consuming, but well worth the effort if you want to look better than stock.

[Twentyover]

May want to weld a plate on the back of the bumper and weld the bolt to the plate to spread the load and prevent possible bumper 'suck'

[Dave Maxwell]

Question. When welding bolt to back. Do you cut the hex off? Will the hex act like a spacer and push the bumper out. I am considering doing a bumper shave on my project. Just something I wondered about. Thanks.

[injcted]

Cool thanks guys!

[Z06killinSBF]

On my Mustang, I bolted the brackets to the car then held the bumper in place and welded straight to the brackets.

[GTOtzel]

I've always used the carriage bolts that you would normally use and cut off the rounded head. It is a good idea to back up the backside with a washer to distribute the pressure. Also leave material for the chrome shop to grind as they see fit so it doesn't need filled with so much copper.

[Coburn_Performance]

Question. When welding bolt to back. Do you cut the hex off? Will the hex act like a spacer and push the bumper out. I am considering doing a bumper shave on my project. Just something I wondered about. Thanks.

Leave the head on...in fact do the heavier plate trick (weld bolt to a piece of 2" X 1/4 flat bar and then fill the hole). I've only done the bolt to the bumper once and it did leave a pucker...then they had to be done again. The bumpers were 12 ga and the bolt was in a curve - save money and do it right once!

[raustinss]

Use a carriage bolt as what the bumper would have come with from the factory then with the bolt inplace tacks the back side...once the location is set, weld it solid all the way around the bolt. Once cooled the head of those bolts can be ground off. If the person doing the job is competent there shouldn't be a issue with any weld or grinding. As the base metal should be around 50 k psi tensile strength and the weld should be about 70k psi tensile strength. Adding any other metal is useless unless you plan on actually hitting things with the bumpefs. Almost all cars of the era have quite thick bumpers from the factory. On each bumper bracket you can now slot the bolt holes which will allow you to bring them in closer to the body...giving you get another custom aspect to your car. Any questions Ryan

[tdishon]

I would love to see some pics. I understand the two ways of doing it along with welding the bumper the the mounting brackets, then bolt the mounting brackets to the frame. Raustiness: What do you mean (slot the holes which will allow you to bring them in closer)?

[raustinss]

If your bumper brackets have a hole in them for the bolt to pass thru into the frame just slot them....use a die grinder and a carbide burr, by making the hole oval shaped...and I mean elongate the hole away from the original location this will allow you to the bring the bumper closer to the car which tightens up the factory tolerances...looking custom

[chevelletiger]

What i did for the bolts of my chevelles bumpers,was cut the round head off the bolt,chuck the threaded end in the lathe,face the square end,then center drill,drill,and counter sink the square end for the weld to burn in deep into the square end,then finish grind and paint.i also didnt do the"big washer deal "i tig welded the bolt from inside of the bumper.

[j-c-c]

I finally got motivated to shave and tuck my bumper on my 62 dart. I first took the bumper to my chrome shop and had the chrome stripped, not sure if required but seemed like a good idea. After starting i realized after doing some online research, most bumper chromers requested no weld prep/repairs be done to the bumper, as it makes their job much harder to smooth and plate. So i was worried and stopped after experimenting on the lower less visible welds i had done. So i did very light grind on the upper welds and dropped bumper off at chromer. Getting nervous, i asked chromer if I could inspect the bumper after their prepping, but before rechroming, and IMO they nearly ruined my bumper, it has huge ground out visible waves where THEY ground on my welds, my grinding areas are not even visible. I'm rather discouraged and not looking forward to fixing their screwup/lack of expertise and all the time it will take. FWIW.