Removing Bumpers

[davery]

This site has been a great help keeping my 85 on the road. I just bought a set of Abarth bumperettes and will start removing my stock bumpers tonight. Any insight? I read sonewhere on here about using a jack to slightly raise the tank to get at the driver's side rear bumper shock. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

[Landhawk]

I recently removed the back bumper shocks, but I had already removed the fuel tank. I might be wrong, but I think you would need to remove the tank to remove the bolt that secures the shock, seems like you could loosen it, but actually removing it I think would be difficult with the tank still there.... It's pretty easy to remove the tank though. Maybe someone with more experience than me could give you a definite answer...

[joelittel]

I was able to do it once my tank was almost empty. I placed a piece of wood under the tank and jacked it up just high enough to get the bolt out.

[davery]

I was able to do it once my tank was almost empty. I placed a piece of wood under the tank and jacked it up just high enough to get the bolt out.

That is what I am going to try. I was able to get the front bumpers off tonight. I am still trying to get the bumper shocks out. It looks like a 22mm socket should do it, but I don't have one and everyplace is closed now. So when you took out the front bumper shock did you just take out the shock or the whole assembly? I did not purchase the mounting brackets (at $92), I thought I would see if I could fabricate something.

[davery]

So I got the front bumpers off. Repositioned the stock turn signals behind the grill, after repositioning the horn. Painted the grill chrome and repositioned the license plate. I still have figure out how to mount the front Abarth bumperettes. I really was hoping not to have to buy the conversion kit for $92, but may have to. Anyone have any ideas? Unfortunately, it does not look like the bumperettes will cover the entire bumper shock hole.

Also received a pair of new Miata side mirrors, but they appear to be defective. The base does not rotate to cover the screw holes. I would like to mount them on the doors.

[Wheel]

Davery,

Note: It always seems to take Photobucket a few hours before the images I edit appear on this site properly. All the photos should not be oversized and I have added some captions within the photos. Check back later if they don't appear this way.

I purchased the front bumperette mounting kit, which is a left and a right metal bracket. It bolted nicely into the location of the original bumper shock mount. However I was not happy with them. The front bumperettes did not fit the body panel even close and I did not feel like hacking a lot of rubber off of the bumperette. I was also not impressed with the lack of instructions....anyways, below is a general guide on the simple brackets I made.

1) Original bumper shock mount with the shock removed.


2) A photo of the purchased mount kit. The original bumper shock mount is removed and replaced with this bracket. It was unclear which bumperette to attach, but it seemed that only the one with the tapped holes in the bumperette mount would work.


3) A photo of the purchased mount kit and the bumperette with the slotted hole mounting bar. Not even close to fitting (not long enough).


4) A photo of how the bumperette does not fit the front body panel. This was using the bumperette with the tapped hole mounting bar.


5) This is what I ended up using to mount the front bumperettes. It is a piece of 1/4" x 1 1/2" aluminum flat bar. I chose aluminum as it is easier for me to work with. I am not much of a metal worker, nor do I have all the equipment to work with steel.



6) This is the bumperette mounted into the original bumper shock mount. I used a piece of rubber hose (1.5"id x 1.75"od) as a spacer in the original rubber mount. I also added another bolt to control any side to side movement of the aluminum bar inside the shock mount. The bumperette fits very nicely to the front body panel without any trimming to the rubber bumperette.


7) Final image of the front end of the car. Big Thanks to Tony Miracle @ Grittracing for his signal light kit. It fits my taste and I really like it. I created a small acrylic blank plate to cover the remaining portion of the shock mount hole in the front body panel.


I am working on the photos for the mounting of the rear bumperettes and will post them when they are done.

Hope this is helpful,
Wheel

[RRoller123]

Excellent photos and description. This makes it really clear what is needed to mount these things.

[davery]

That's great! From looking at pictures on the web I could not determine which bumper goes on the front. I have been working with the bumper with threaded holes. I guess that is the rear bumper? Thanks for the pics, Hopefully this week I can come up with something.

Davery,

Note: It always seems to take Photobucket a few hours before the images I edit appear on this site properly. All the photos should not be oversized and I have added some captions within the photos. Check back later if they don't appear this way.

I purchased the front bumperette mounting kit, which is a left and a right metal bracket. It bolted nicely into the location of the original bumper shock mount. However I was not happy with them. The front bumperettes did not fit the body panel even close and I did not feel like hacking a lot of rubber off of the bumperette. I was also not impressed with the lack of instructions....anyways, below is a general guide on the simple brackets I made.

1) Original bumper shock mount with the shock removed.


2) A photo of the purchased mount kit. The original bumper shock mount is removed and replaced with this bracket. It was unclear which bumperette to attach, but it seemed that only the one with the tapped holes in the bumperette mount would work.


3) A photo of the purchased mount kit and the bumperette with the slotted hole mounting bar. Not even close to fitting (not long enough).


4) A photo of how the bumperette does not fit the front body panel. This was using the bumperette with the tapped hole mounting bar.


5) This is what I ended up using to mount the front bumperettes. It is a piece of 1/4" x 1 1/2" aluminum flat bar. I chose aluminum as it is easier for me to work with. I am not much of a metal worker, nor do I have all the equipment to work with steel.



6) This is the bumperette mounted into the original bumper shock mount. I used a piece of rubber hose (1.5"id x 1.75"od) as a spacer in the original rubber mount. I also added another bolt to control any side to side movement of the aluminum bar inside the shock mount. The bumperette fits very nicely to the front body panel without any trimming to the rubber bumperette.


7) Final image of the front end of the car. Big Thanks to Tony Miracle @ Grittracing for his signal light kit. It fits my taste and I really like it. I created a small acrylic blank plate to cover the remaining portion of the shock mount hole in the front body panel.


I am working on the photos for the mounting of the rear bumperettes and will post them when they are done.

Hope this is helpful,
Wheel

[Wheel]

This is what I did to mount the REAR bumperettes. The images shown all relate to the passenger side. It is all custom fit, so you will have to monkey around a bit in order to get the desired mounting position. I have not completed the driver's side yet, as I am driving the car to empty the gas tank.

The rear bumperette is the one with the attached mounting bar with tapped holes, attached to an aluminum bar (.25" x 1.5"). There are 2 rubber hose spacers used on the rear. The first one is 1.5"id x 1.75"od that is slid onto the mounting bar and later filled with a polymer caulking (http://www.titebond.com/product.aspx?id ... 299bf92188 ). The second rubber hose spacer (1.75"id x 2.25"od x 2"lg) is not shown in the photos, but is inserted into the shock mounting hole in the back of the car. It replaces the the stock rubber mount insert. You will also see a longer bolt on the mounting bar that can be adjusted to fine tune the side to side placement of the bumperette. I added a new bolt in the trunk space to lock the bumperette into the final adjusted position.

You will notice the smaller rubber hose spacer is not centered on the mounting bar. This was achieved by putting the caulking into the spacer, mounting and adjusting the bumperette on the car into the desired position and letting the caulking cure.









Both the front and rear bumperettes are solidly fixed when the extra locking bolt is added. There isn't any side to side movement or rattling.

[Wheel]

It was a rainy day and I had a few free hours. Decided to remove the driver side bumper shock and replace it with the bumperette. The gas tank was nearly empty so there was not a lot of gas to drain. The only fuel line removed was the large fuel filler rubber elbow. The job was surprising easy. Remove the 4 bolts holding the tank, disconnect the fuel filler hose, catch some draining gas and lift the tank.

This the photo from above.



This is the photo from below.



Job is done

[davery]

Here is the front.





Must do something with those 80's mirrors.

[happybeachgoerm]

Davery,what did you do for the holes from the Blinker wiring? looks like a clear marker light??

[wachuko]

This thread is priceless... thank you! Bookmarked!

[4uall]

Ditto!

[SanRafaelFaz]

Ditto!

I wish I saw this when I was trying to do mine! The lack of instructions, no indication of front/back/left/right, the non-fitting brackets (for $92 additional!) and the fact that the bumperettes didn't fit flush really disgusted me. I sent the whole mess back and used the money for a new boot cover. If they had used your method, I would have had them on right now. Your method is WAY better!