Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

Wow, I saw no way that the bends in that bracket would mount in there.
I'll check again tomorrow.
what I had cooked up will get it done, in a very crude way!

So the 74 front is the same as the rear, gotta put that big ole brace behind it, that one I don't have, I junked one off the 73 years ago.
I think I will end up just using the 2 bolts & the other 2 just to fill the holes!

did the online quote with super chrome, wonder what kind of answer I will get!
 
When I did the 73 I tried to put the 74 rear bumper on that, I would rather have had the new for this car, but the mounting was totally different & didn't want to change out all the brackets.
 
Who mentioned anything about rear bumpers? You mentioned ordering a reproduction '73 front bumper and wondering whether the bolt holes will align with your brackets. 1973 & 1974 Barracudas use the same front bumper. The rear had no pertinence to the discussion. It wasn't even mentioned so I didn't check.

If you're just going to use the two bolts to mount it, I'd suggest avoiding use of the bumper jack. With no support between bolts, it's almost certain the bumper will bend and twist with the weight of the car on it.

The factory hood-cable bracket is designed the way it is because any bends perpendicular to the direction of the cable's pull will simply bend or repeatedly flex until the metal breaks. You were on the right track duplicating the factory part. Your second, simpler iteration won't last, assuming it works at all. Go back and finish the first one you started.
 
Rear was just to bring in that brace bumper that's underneath & was not needed on the 73 & the fact that I'm missing one for the front.

Somethings wrong on mine, if you look into the slots for the jack you can see bumper bracket blocking part of the hole, I don't think there's enough adjustment in those to clear?

Now that I know where it should be mounted I have to downsize it quite a bit, but have the distance between the screw holes to compare to the photo & get a reasonable scale to work with, putting rube back to work tomorrow on the first one.
 
Well if the second quote is anything like the first it's repops!
1100 per bumper 65 for each guard, 75 handling fee for shipped items, 20% stripping charge,15% nickel surcharge,3% energy surcharge & 3% credit card charge.
oh yea & return shipping, that should end up like 20K!
Yea I exaggerated a little but there out of my price range!
 
Wow. I have a set that need repaired/rechromed for the A12. Might as well go ahead and buy repops while I can.

FWIW once I got a bumper that wasn't sliced in the factory, I'm pretty happy with my Duster bumpers (AMD).
 
Gott see if I can find the bill for the rear I bought for the 73, probably AMD it fit well & looked good!

At this point I may just buy the front & live with the rear I have, if I'm really happy & no other big setbacks happen by the time it's done, maybe I'll treat her to the final touch a new rear!
 
So I started by flattening the 1st one, marked out the screw holes to try & get a scale to work with.20231201_132400.jpgDidn't take me long to screw that one up, so it was on to a new piece of metal.
Had to scale down quite a bit 20231201_145603.jpg
Test fit went pretty good20231201_145232.jpgThere's just a hint of daylight between the moving parts & the bracket! 20231201_145249.jpgSo I cleaned it up a bit20231201_150524.jpg
And shot the paint, I wish I would have noticed my pounding on the metal lumps I could have smoothed it out a bit more! 20231201_153455.jpg
 
Wires on the shelf caught my eye, so I pulled em down & took a look, I hope I can reuse these, they look quite new & would be one less thing I have to buy!
they are quite dusty at the moment!
I think I had straight boots at the plugs on the other car? 20231201_153247.jpg
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
Well if the second quote is anything like the first it's repops!
1100 per bumper 65 for each guard, 75 handling fee for shipped items, 20% stripping charge,15% nickel surcharge,3% energy surcharge & 3% credit card charge.
oh yea & return shipping, that should end up like 20K!
Yea I exaggerated a little but there out of my price range!
Click to expand...
They call it "inflation". With a lot of blame going to the EPA. Thirty yrs back I had my rear bumper "show chrome", triple plated by North Star Bumpers in Madison WI, 45 miles away for just over $300. And my front is an NOS that I bought from Galen for $150. It still has the factory part # markered inside with '68 cornet 'misspelled'.
 
I wonder if the prices are more reasonable when you get away from the big cities & all their crazy laws.
Some nice little town in the midwest where common sense still exists?
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
I wonder if the prices are more reasonable when you get away from the big cities & all their crazy laws.
Some nice little town in the midwest where common sense still exists?
Click to expand...
There are ugly chemicals involved in the plating process, so common sense has nothing to do with it. Actually I think it does - someone with common sense wouldn't try to cut corners.

They have to be handled in a certain way, and that's not a cheap process. Here is one discussion, there are plenty more to choose from Chemical Forums: Non-toxic Electroplating?
 
Hmmmm, but don't they used the same ones to make repops, but I guess in china where they don't give a hoot bout green anything cept money!

I get that my bro in law had a carb rebuilding shop, going back 40 years & they already started changing things back then.
Wish he hadn't passed young, probably had a dozen of the carb I should have on a shelf in the basement.
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
Wish he hadn't passed young
Click to expand...
I hope it wasn't leukemia or something like that, that is caused by chemicals.

My FIL died at 58, he worked in a steel rolling mill as a roll turner and died of leukemia caused by using benzene to clean the rolls before and after cutting.

There used to be a big bumper plant here that went TU when chrome bumpers went out of style. My uncle would bring us gobs of chrome splatters to play with.

I also thought I would die young because we played at the city dump, and Holland-Suco /BASF dumped chemicals there. There were technicolor puddles when it rained. Didn't happen yet so I don't guess it's gonna.
 
It's a sad story for me, they were twin brothers who I met when I was around 20, became good friends, then one of them married my wife's sister, so that made it easy to stay in touch (I'm really bad about that)
they only had the shop a few years, I think they went under before he hit 30, then went to work for the NY TA.
At 50 the other brother was out shoveling snow, walked across the street to his friends (they shoveled together) popped a beer & keeled over with a heart attack!
with two years of that the remaining bro got cancer, started with a lump on his neck, within 2 years He passed also.
the third & last car guy in the family was my sisters husband & he passed away a few years later.
 
Again I started with the easy thing, I put in the bracket & it actually works! 20231202_133157.jpg
then I was going to start unscrewing my rear end stand, the more I looked at where my body would be the more I worried about maiming myself, so out came sledge-o-matic, stood back as far as I could & bashed away! couple a shots & down she came! 20231202_145226.jpgNow the hitches in my plan start popping up, you can't steer the darn thing only goes straight, so I lifted a wheel a little & after about 20 3" moves I got it straight.
Rolled it to the fence behind the car & there I'm stuck! 20231202_145722.jpg
I was very lucky to have 2 extra floor jacks here, or it would have ended there.
So off cam the wheels, the car was not high enough for them to go under anyway.
Got it on 2 jacks & started inching it behind the car. 20231202_151704.jpgActually managed to get it under, heading in the right direction when the back of the springs were too high to go in. 20231202_153155.jpgLucky my son was home. I had him balance it while I inched it under.
Then the next oversight hit, the rear valance is in the way, guess I did the rear 1st on the other car.
Managed to get it low enough to go way under & back it out above the valance & that's where the day ended! 20231202_155903.jpgBut now I have to do the rear first, I think I'll just put in the old shackle bushings, been waiting a very long time for a BO to come in.

So I dig out the hardware, wrong sway bar bushing bolt again, like the front I'll use the old hardware & the new rubbers! 20231202_162613.jpgMaybe I'll make a monster car out of it! 20231202_160508.jpg
 
Tried to find something to do in the garage, running out of things in there & decent weather to work outside.
Got the hardware ready to install the rear, it's amazing, I think it's all there, nothing is hiding on me. 20231203_131431.jpgWent through some boxes, not much I can toss right now, so I'll spend the rest of the time searching parts & checking on a better carpet

I have this cutout in the middle of the hood, pretty loose so it won't stay by itself, can't glue it to the hood there's a pretty good gap to the metal, should I try & glue it to the other insulation or just leave it out?20231203_134617.jpg20231203_134647.jpg
 
When the time comes summit has the AMD bumpers with free shipping so that looks good!

So I measured the holes on the bumpers & then the spread between the guards, the inner guard is right behind the jack slot, something has to be wrong here, or did that filler bring it out enough to clear that???
 
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