Bumper moving time

[Doug Larsson]

I jumped in with both feet and started the process of moving the front bumper back and get rid of the fillers and the 5 mph rubber bumpers. Any comments to making this and easier process to complete are greatly appreciated.

 

[#41]

I did this on my 73 by slotting the holes in the existing 73 bumper bracket with an acetylene torch. This can get you 90% of the way there. If you really want to tuck it in all the way though, the "Y" in the bumper bracket starts to hit the corner of the front frame rail as you slide it back. To get it back another 1/2" or so, I cut and welded the hard 90 degree corner of the end of the frame rail so that is had a 45 degree bevel on it. That last little bit makes all the difference.

To do the back bumper, the best way is to just use 71-72 bumper brackets.

 

[#41]

 

[Doug Larsson]

View attachment 942295 View attachment 942296 View attachment 942298

What did you do to the top mounting brackets ?

 

[chargervert]

I did my 73 Chargers bumpers too. It looks so much better !

 

[#41]

What did you do to the top mounting brackets ?

Its been a few years..... I believe they were 72 brackets I had lying around. They are not really structural. You could make some out of flat bar to achieve the same purpose.

I have been asked previously how far to move the bolts on the 73-74 brackets. The answer is that you have to move the front bolts hole all the way to the bend (or "Y") in the bracket. Move the rear bolt accordingly.

 

[74Slant6Charger]

there was a detailed thread about this, probably a few years ago now... but my question is always - how do the headlights look because they will be less 'recessed' in the bezels? I wondered if it would throw off the look??

 

[#41]

Mater of opinion I suppose. Here is the final product with the stock 73/74 grilles in.

 

[74Slant6Charger]

Mater of opinion I suppose. Here is the final product with the stock 73/74 grilles in.

View attachment 942767

Cool, Thanks!

 

[Doug Larsson]

I finally finished enlarging the slot length.

 

[Doug Larsson]

I moved the bumper in all the way by getting rid of the inner bumper support it looks sweet. Shortened the upper bumper brackets and painted all the brackets that hold the grills on. Planning on painting my extra set of grills black I can't wait to see this when completed. I love working on this car

 

['68 Charger]

.....Planning on painting my extra set of grills black.....

IMO


Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

 

[Doug Larsson]

Grill brackets painted I’m going to soda blast the grills to get the chrome off one of them tomorrow.

 

[Doug Larsson]

IMO


Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

I have the originals in case I don't like it it's okay calm down

 

[Nacho-RT74]

I'm searching a nice set of SE grilles with nice chrome and no cracked parts and I have a NOS Standard grill set to trade... go figure LOL.

If I was in USA sure I would make the trade with you.

 

['68 Charger]

Yeah I'll admit it, i spray bombed my 1974 Charger grilles all black but that was back in 1980 where you could buy them for $20.00 (pair). If that grille set (the one that's getting soda blasted) is in good condition that would be a shame to ruin them even though you have a backup set.

But it's your car do as you please.

Blacked out grilles are soooooooo out dated and a lot of people are still doing it.

 

[#41]

Outdated?

Goodness gracious.... we don't want to be out of fashion! I hope at least my shoes still match well with my black painted grilles.

 

[Doug Larsson]

Yeah I'll admit it, i spray bombed my 1974 Charger grilles all black but that was back in 1980 where you could buy them for $20.00 (pair). If that grille set (the one that's getting soda blasted) is in good condition that would be a shame to ruin them even though you have a backup set.

But it's your car do as you please.

Blacked out grilles are soooooooo out dated and a lot of people are still doing it.

Well I guess I’m outdated to since I listen to 70’s and 80’s music while I drive my car ha ha. The whole reason why I bought the extra grills is to keep all the original parts as well and restore those to look like new . It’s not to difficult to swap out grills either.

 

[Doug Larsson]

I'm searching a nice set of SE grilles with nice chrome and no cracked parts and I have a NOS Standard grill set to trade... go figure LOL.

If I was in USA sure I would make the trade with you.

The set I’m working now need a lot of work the chrome is really bad on it I didn’t pay a lot for these two so that’s another reason why I’m doing this.

 

[Doug Larsson]

Didn't do too much this weekend I polished the front bumper the best I could. I painted the bumper support for all the brackets and grill attached to. I found some chrome carriage bolts to fill the 2 hole left by the black bumper guards.