Bumper Bracket Upgrade

I started bodywork on the boot tonight and I realized the areas where the bumper attached seemed flimsy. Some of it - on the left side - was due to previous body work and some of it was due to rust. The factory bumper brackets are just stamped out of sheet metal (like the rest of the car). Probably almost adequate when new, but the left one on my car is in pretty bad shape. It has been poorly repaired in the past as you can see in the pic below.



Contrary to what the pic looks like, the bottom of the bracket and the back should be orthogonal. I made new brackets out of angle-iron. Possibly overkill, but better than wrinkled sheet metal.







I roughed these out tonight. I will need to get one of my skinny kids to crawl in the boot and help me get them drilled and fitted.

Nice work!

David, Nice work, a little welding needed? To tie those bends together and add a little more strength. BTW, I've got a new never installed NOS BE Front Bumper available if you decide you need one. Will not be using on Bugsy II.

I'm still on the fence about the welding (or bolting in a brace). The 1/8" steel is already a lot sturdier than the rest of the car. If the bumper did get bumped, a little "give" might be good.

My current plan is also to not use a front bumper, but thanks for the offer. My car had the full bumper on the back, but I think I'm only going to use the bumperettes (or whatever they are called)

That's the look you want. Bumperettes and make sure you install them Fat End up, although personally I like the fat end down.

Having been hit lightly in the back I can say that you would have to extend the angle iron all the way thru the trunk to really do much good. And you would have to use heavier angle and weld the bend's!
Come to think about it, it's really not safe to be anywhere near modern traffic with anything! The safer they make vehicle's the crazier the driver's seem to get!

Kurt.

nomad said:

Come to think about it, it's really not safe to be anywhere near modern traffic with anything! The safer they make vehicle's the crazier the driver's seem to get!
Kurt.

Click to expand...

That's the truth!

Jim,
PM'd you. I'm looking to replace the Tunebug's bent front bumper...