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Rubber Bumper Sebring Conversion

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DJThom

Jedi Hopeful
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I've decided to shed the rubber bumpers on my '77 B in favour of a Sebring-eque setup. The car has been restored twice in its original state. The first time in '93, the second time in '99 after I had a rollover accident.

I know the purists will frown on this project, so forgive me. However, there have been several scattered threads on this topic with questions being asked etc. so it seems to be of some interest Therefore, for those interested I will document my progress in this thread.

My plan is to use the proper Sebring valence and lower the car to the CB height and add a couple of Lucas driving lights. I got the early style grille and indicator lights(Parts from Tony). On the rear, a valence with licence plate cutout from Tom at morspeed and the early style tailights.

I'll start with a before picture from this year at the MG Racers meet at Mid-Ohio. So far I have taken the bumpers off and cut the brackets back.
 

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Honestly, I don't think there are a lot of rubber bumper purists. There are those who like the looks of them, but even they don't seem to mind when a RB car is converted. There are SO many of them out there and MG never wanted to put rubber bumpers on their cars in the first place.

You are forgiven. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

PS... I own a sebring MGC /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif
 
Go for it - when you've got it just like you want it, I'll bet you'll find something you still want to change!! hehehe
 
Being old enough to have been a total sports car nut (and AH Sprite owner, plus my dad had my current MGBGT and oversaw all west coast MG unloading) at the time of the rubber bumper mods, I always saw the rubber bumpers and mechanical changes that accompanied them (increased ride height, single carb) as abominations that sullied and hastened the demise of the good MG name. Therefore I would view your proposed mods as a kind of exorcism. Have at it!
 
Nope don't do it little children will cry, dogs will act like cats, the queen will dance the Macarena, triumphs will quit rotting, the sky will fall, chicken little will be crushed, mille and vanilli will get back together and do a tour with new kids on the block and then if the purists find out they will camp out side your shop blasting Cher's music 24 hours a day till you repent.

Please I beg of you think of the kittens before you commit total MGB sacrilege and cut the bumpers off. After all you don't want to crush any when you toss those god awful bumpers into the dumpster.
 
davester said:
Being old enough to have been a total sports car nut (and AH Sprite owner, plus my dad had my current MGBGT and oversaw all west coast MG unloading) at the time of the rubber bumper mods, I always saw the rubber bumpers and mechanical changes that accompanied them (increased ride height, single carb) as abominations that sullied and hastened the demise of the good MG name. Therefore I would view your proposed mods as a kind of exorcism. Have at it!
Click to expand...

Total agreement here. It'll be lighter and quicker. Closer to what it was intended to be when designed.
 
Baz said:
DJThom said:
Therefore, for those interested I will document my progress in this thread.
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Please do! Good luck.
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Double please do! I for one like the Sebring look and it'll be interesting to see the conversion taking place.

My own personal fantasy (maybe I should get out more?) is an OEW GT with Sebring'ed front and rear valances and wheel arches, with a GM V6 hidden under the hood. Not this year, alas, but watching your progress should be some nice inspiration.
 
Sounds like an interesting project. Who cares what the purists, and Pebble Beach types think. It's your car. Lowering it will help with the handling for sure, and losing a couple hundred pounds of ugly rubber will benefit as well.

Keep us updated.
 
Stewart said:
Nope don't do it little children will cry, dogs will act like cats, the queen will dance the Macarena, triumphs will quit rotting, the sky will fall, chicken little will be crushed, mille and vanilli will get back together and do a tour with new kids on the block and then if the purists find out they will camp out side your shop blasting Cher's music 24 hours a day till you repent.
Click to expand...

I believed you until you said Triumphs will stop rotting. Now I KNOW it's a joke. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
I modded my 78 Midget by removing the bumpers, putting on a quad tipped Monza exhaust and adding a chrome rear bumper.
I painted the front & rear valances to match the body and added a chrome grille surround and '70 grille. I also used a set of 60's tail lights.
I love the look, not perfect - but really fun!


AFTER:
FRONT:
grille_surround02.jpg


BACK:
tail02.jpg



BEFORE (original Craigslist ad):
78midget.jpg
 
I got the bumper mounts cut back nicely. I'm leaving the lower half of the mount on for now until I figure out positioning for my Lucas driving lights. I may end up using a portion of the mount and will cut the rest off then.

Besides the obvious grinder, cut off wheel and reciprocating saw, one handy tool for this job is a old school hacksaw - the type where you insert one end of the blade into a handle, and the other end is free. Coudln't have done it as cleanly without it.
 

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Well, not sure how long I thought it would be before I ran into trouble. What's it been, less than a week?

Tried my new grille in tonight. It's an early style repro where all the teeth are one piece. At the bottom of the teeth piece are tangs with mounting holes, which are bent at 45 degrees to the face of the grille.

Anyway, I can't fit the grille in. I may just have to bend those tangs up, but I'm waiting for another set of eyes more expert than mine to show up tomorrow.

The bigger problem is that when I hold the grille up to my bonnet, the bonnet does not follow the contour. i.e. my bonnet appears to be too "flat" at the front versus the curvature of the grille.
 
I ended up drilling the rivets and taking the "teeth" piece out of the grille thinking I'd fit the frame first, and then worry about the teeth second.

As you can imagine, the grille contour didn't match the opening in the fenders. So out come the tin snips to cut small wedges out of the outside lip and reshape the outer grille with my adjustable wrench. So now that fits nicely, and the cuts I made are in the section hidden by the fenders, so all good.

But of course the LHS, Middle and RHS top brackets that hold the grille on are about 1/2" too short. By this point, why should I expect them to fit? So now off to weld extensions onto them.

This is why paying someone for such a conversion is so expensive, but why doing it yourself is so rewarding. The accomplishment of overcoming the obstacles is a good thing.
 
Got any progress pictures yet?
 
Here is a picture showing the cuts that were made and how much the corner had to be bent back in order for the grille to fit the contour of the fenders. Fortunately it's not going to be noticable in the final product. I'll post some pics once I get the grille secured.
 

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I never cared much for the rubber bumper concept until I saw one at a show where the owner had them finished the same color as the body. They were as shiny as glass along with the rest of the car and it looked great! It gave the car a totally different look. Of course, the weight was still there. He had mag wheels on it with wide tires. Real sharp!
 
I didn't have to modify my grille in any way to make it fit once I'd made the necessary body mods down at the bumpers.

Here's the way I cut mine before I welded the plates to the front of the opened areas:

79cutclose.jpg


& here's a photo test fitting the grille:

79testgrille2.jpg


Lots has hapened to that car since these photos were taken - just getting finished isn't one of them!!
 
I sure can understand that Tony, I got a used left rear bumper for my 70 yesterday via the UPS guy and it's STILL sitting downstairs on the table.

Actually I did wash it & buff it up a bit tonight /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
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