[kingbuzzo]

Hey Fellas:

Has anyone ever tried to restore the front or back bumper?

I know these are one-year-only/rare as hen's teef but the graveyard in Alberta wants 3000$ for a used front bumper.



The car I have has extensive cracking and appears that the previous owner tried to paint them with...something

What can be done?

[kingbuzzo]

pics hopefully come thru this time...

[sp4spd]

Sand, fill cracks with semi flexible filler, sand more, primer, satin black.
Wait for 6 months and repeat
I've had my front bumper redone twice and it still cracks just looking at it!
I think the foamy plastic type stuff that they used, ages and just has a tendency to crack.
Sand it down and see if its the substrate (plastic) or the paint itself.
Good luck!

[Airpowr]

My 75 TA is in the body shop now and my bumpers looked a lot like yours. They removed all the paint and what looked like cracks in the bumper ended up being just cracks in the paint. The rear bumper is all one piece with the bumper being painted on.

[kingbuzzo]

Oh interesting...I thought it was an odd duck

I have to get the black stuff off and go from there.

Nice car you got there.

[pontiacstogo]

When you pull your bumper off to work on it, check to make sure you have all four of the locating studs (2 at the end of each bumper). Those tended to break off over time and they are needed if you want to have your bumper fit flush with the rear quarter.

Some info. here;

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=793726

[Airpowr]

Originally Posted by pontiacstogo

When you pull your bumper off to work on it, check to make sure you have all four of the locating studs (2 at the end of each bumper). Those tended to break off over time and they are needed if you want to have your bumper fit flush with the rear quarter.

Some info. here;

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=793726

Very True, they hadn't finished aligning and tightening the right side of my rear bumper and you can see it drooping slightly in the pic.

[kingbuzzo]

Ya, the black is much blacker - always like that contrast on a white car

He doesn't think it will stand up (because all the cracks) but I'm parking in the shade and hoping for the best...

[kingbuzzo]

jinkies...there can't be that many people restoring f-body's - I wonder how they stay in business

Maybe they hiding bodies for the mob...lol

[kingbuzzo]

Hmmm...so its constructed of plastic on top of foam on top of steel?

Could they be removed and dipped into some sort of (more flexy) space age plastic?

My old '74 had minty bumpers before I sold it...dammit

[kingbuzzo]

found them...two hidden inside the bumper accessible from underneath

That's alotta bolts...jinkies

Now on to the rear...

[ponchonlefty]

its a urethane material. if it has cracks v them out then use a good flexible filler. i would remove the bumpers. get some flex agent to mix with the primer and paint. now that is the right way. let me tell you what i did but understand this is not the right way. i sanded with 36 grit i then used 3m window weld and filled the bad spots. sanded with 80 then 120 . i bought rustoleom paint for plastic semi gloss black. and painted it. it has held up pretty well its been 4 or five years i cant remember exactly. my car is not a show car. i hope this helps.

[kingbuzzo]

Gosh this is going to be a mini project... Quite the eye sore for motivation however

Thanks!

[kingbuzzo]

It was supposed to be an inexpensive DIY project but buddy talked me into sending it to a pro 😚

Calihornia car, after he media blasted the front it had hundreds of cracks filled with old school bondo.

Using the 3m material aforementioned, he was able to get it looking rite again:

Getting it on will be harder than getting it off but that goes w/o sayin...

[kingbuzzo]

that'sa lotta bolts...

[Airpowr]

75 Firebird front and rear bumpers will interchange with 74's. IIRC on 74's the front bumperettes are molded as one piece with the bumper, in 75 the bumperettes can be removed seperately. other than that there are small differences in the mounting brackets but the main bumper bar can be swapped out. Don't limit yourself to 74's

[kingbuzzo]

Just to close this off...looks way better but the front "ears" already cracked a bit again as the wife was holding the bumper as I bolted it back in...natch 😫

[pontiacstogo]

Looks pretty good.

[kingbuzzo]

Sage advice...I'll watch out for those

Thanks!

[Formulabruce]

3m ezsand 2 part mux is what I use on these after a v in the crack if its big. Then I use SPI EPOXY Only over it. Block it, wait a few days, repeate. Shrink back is minimal and it remains flexible