Front bumper and grille woes

[Keith R.]

After struggling for two days to get the front bumpers and grille mounted, I'm not really pleased with the results. The passenger side bumper seems to sit too high and the driver side slants down somewhat. I've got all new NOS bumper brackets as Bubba highly modified the old ones with a cutting torch to get them to fit. I'm wondering if it is possible to install the grille assembly upside down as the teeth currently are quite close to the lower "mouth trim"? There is currently about room enough to insert a forefinger between the mouth trim and the tooth. More troubling however is the grille bar and teeth I purchased from Corvette Specialties of Maryland. I bought their assembly because of favorable forum comments and presumed that they were made in the USA. Upon opening the package, I was somewhat dismayed to see that they were made in Taiwan but thought I'd give them a try anyway. After a lengthy struggle finally getting it connected to the bumpers, it seems too short in the rear dimension. I compared it to my original grille bar and it appears to be too short by 1/4" or so. When mounted, there is a gap on either side between the bumpers and the grille bar which doesn't seem right. You can see a portion of the bracket bar in the gap which the end teeth do not cover. I don't think that it would have been this way from the factory. Also, the teeth metal is quite a bit thinner than the original teeth I have or and old Corvette Central reproduction tooth I dug out of storage. The greatest thickness of the original tooth and the Corvette Central reproduction is around .082" whereas the CSM tooth is just .068". I'm thinking of replacing the grille assembly with one from Corvette Central as theirs is supposed to be USA made. Any comments or suggestions?

[Joe M.]

Re: Front bumper and grille woes

I have a 1960 with original grill parts (except for a couple of repro teeth). The outside teeth almost touch the bumper with no significant gap between the tooth and the bumper. I can insert 1/2 of my index finger between the tops of the teeth and the top chrome trim piece.

I worked for hours to get my bumper straight on both sides; finally got the driver side straight, but never got the passenger side completely straight, but I suspect it can be done and has been done. May need to use shims.

[Bruce W.]

Re: Front bumper and grille woes

keith, I have a 57,58,and 62. all original and don't fit perfect. having said that your best bet is to buy some ones and have them rechromed. this junk from china never is quite right
Bruce

[Richard M.]

Re: Front bumper and grille woes

Keith, I've used many of CSM's repro 58-60 grille assys and like any, even originals, it takes a bit of time to get right.
As Joe said, shims are your best friends. Sometimes I'd have to remove brackets, bend, reinstall, repeat to get it right. Then shim some more.

You are not alone.

Rich

[John F.]

Re: Front bumper and grille woes

I found that you can get a little more tolerance by loosening up the frame bolts, jockey the bracket around, and hold in place while a helper does the tightening.

[Jim L.]

Re: Front bumper and grille woes

Keith,

In the picture below, it appears that the grill teeth are forward of the grill surround. If that's not an optical illusion caused by the camera angle, it suggests the bumpers themselves are '61-'62 vintage.



Jim

[Keith R.]

Re: Front bumper and grille woes

I found that you can get a little more tolerance by loosening up the frame bolts, jockey the bracket around, and hold in place while a helper does the tightening.

It would be nice if the main bracket holes were elongated to allow some front and rear movement - may have to make that modification.

[Keith R.]

Re: Front bumper and grille woes

Keith,

In the picture below, it appears that the grill teeth are forward of the grill surround. If that's not an optical illusion caused by the camera angle, it suggests the bumpers themselves are '61-'62 vintage.



Jim

Thanks Jim. Good observation. I can't check that fit as I have pulled out the grille bar and teeth and disassembled it. However, based upon past posts with regard to 58-60 vs. 61-62 bumpers, my bumpers appear to be 1958-1960 as the mount plate for the grille bar is about an inch from the rear point of the bumper. It's my understanding that the 61-62 bumpers had the mount point about 1 5/8" from the rear of the bumper (or more forward) to bring the 61-62 grille more forward to allow for the absence of grille teeth.

[Dan B.]

Re: Front bumper and grille woes

Keith, I just had my grill out and spent the better part of the day reworking my bumper brackets on one side. Slightly elongated the holes and did some hitting on the anvil with a BFH to straighten one. Result was I have even bumpers now and was able to remove the bubba shims. With patience and some effort, I have found you can greatly improve a marginal fit. It just takes TIME. About the grill, the Corvette Central one as I understand it is made from the original tooling in the USA. That being said, I was very pleaseantly pleased with the fit and quality of that assembly.

Laslty, about the grill teeth, they are profiled and numbered and it is hard for me to tell from the photos, but could the end teeth #5 be upside down possibly.

Other than that, I have the 58-60 bumpers 1" spacing to brackets and my grill looks similar from what I can tell to yours. I'd also be interested if someone could provide some measurement of how far the grill teeth stick out on 58-60 assuming you have the correct 1" spacing on the back side.

Hope this helps you. Dan

[Keith R.]

Re: Front bumper and grille woes

Thank you Dan. I've removed the CSM grille and sent it back to them and I will be tackling this project once again once I receive the CC grille assembly. I have mostly new GM brackets and perhaps they need to be bent or modified to fit. The bumper mount holes in the side of the front fender body were already elongated quite a bit from previous bumper work. What puzzles me is that the passenger bumper sits a little too far forward - there's actually a gap where the bumper front mount cutout is and I believe that the cutout should not be visible when looking down from on top (See the attached pics for passenger side vs. driver side). As the bumper bracket holes which mount to the frame are not elongated themselves, there doesn't seem to be any forward and aft adjustment. Regarding the teeth orientation, I believe that I had all the teeth in the correct direction - part numbers up on one side, down on the other. Correct me if I am wrong, but should the bumper be centered between the upper and lower crescents? My driver side is pretty much centered and when viewed from the front, it appears to have a downward angle towards the center grille bar. The passenger side sits high and is very close to the upper crescent bar but when viewed from the front, it appears horizontal.

[Dan B.]

Re: Front bumper and grille woes

What puzzles me is that the passenger bumper sits a little too far forward - there's actually a gap where the bumper front mount cutout is and I believe that the cutout should not be visible when looking down from on top (See the attached pics for passenger side vs. driver side). As the bumper bracket holes which mount to the frame are not elongated themselves, there doesn't seem to be any forward and aft adjustment. Regarding the teeth orientation, I believe that I had all the teeth in the correct direction - part numbers up on one side, down on the other. Correct me if I am wrong, but should the bumper be centered between the upper and lower crescents? My driver side is pretty much centered and when viewed from the front, it appears to have a downward angle towards the center grille bar. The passenger side sits high and is very close to the upper crescent bar but when viewed from the front, it appears horizontal.

I had almost the opposite problem on my right bumper, it was sitting a bit too far rearward. I would suggest starting at the front bracket and working backwards. Position the front extention bracket exactly where you need it to be with just the one bolt (no bumper weight yet). See if it can sit flush with the next angle bracket (goes out to the right side). I had to elongate the hole a bit in the front bracket and bend the angle bracket slightly forward to fix mine. I suspect you would need to do the opposite for yours. Once that lines up, keep working backwards till you have the fit you want withought having to force the bolts in. A mixture of elongating some holes and some slight bending should do it for you. A small bend goes a long way. Mine is now centered between the eye brows evenly and the side angle follows the curve in the wheel well nicely. It looked so much better that I had to tweak the other side slightly to get a good match. I believe you are correct about the cut out not showing as well. Mine sits roughly 1/2" back from the cove tip. Lastly, there are variations between fit of similar bumpers it seems on all of these cars, so I think even with all new brackets you must work with them. Good Luck!