Converting later car to earlier chrome bumpers

[toyfiats]

I know there are several members here that have done it, and posted pictures, but does anyone have close-up pictures of the attachment points for the bumper ends? I'm in the minority in that I actually like the looks of the later bumpers, but I'm always tempted by the earlier style bumpers, which look great too. I'm wondering how drastic the modifications to the body as far as the size of the holes in the fenders would be, and the exact placement, should I convert and then want to go back to stock at some later date. Does anyone have any pictures of the attachment points (preferable before the bumper has been installed)?

[azruss]

Converting to old style bumpers have a few issues. If you are using Harrington bumpers, the brackets require lots of modification to get the fit right. With old stock bumpers it shouldnt be as bad. Here are the issues. The front bumper holes are too high on the later cars and require some small resizing of the holes. If you try to use the existing holes, the bumpers sit too high in the middle and droop on the corners to fit. The back requires body mods for the end bolt down brackets. Also have to drill a 2nd hole for the flat bracket bolt on the gas tank side.

[toyfiats]

Thanks Russ. I've studied your pictures before and am aware of the issues you've had. I did a little searching and found exactly what I was thinking about - http://www.e-altec.de/priv/spider/stossstangen.html

This owner made inner plates to stiffen the bumpers so that the corners didn't need to be mounted to the car, and thus could be converted back to stock with no modifications.

Provided this actually works, my next decision will be what bumpers to use. I'd really like to know exactly how many choices are out there as some vendors "appear" to sell the same product.

- Harrington (the source) has them in both stainless and chrome, and I would lean towards using chrome as I like the look, and don't want to have to deal with periodic polishing the stainless.

- Spider-Point also has then in both stainless and chrome. They were the first to come out with these as a retrofit, but I have read in the past that the chrome on these isn't very good and doesn't hold up. Maybe that has changed since they were originally introduced. And maybe one or both are rebranded Harrington?

- Mr Fiat. In addition to chrome and stainless (Harrington?), they also lists chrome reproductions made in Italy using the original tooling. I have not heard anything about these (good or bad), nor seen anyone else that lists them.

- Used originals. The brackets changed slightly over the years, and would almost certainly require rechroming (to fill in the overrider holes if nothing else).

I know Russ has used the Harrington stainless, but what have others used?

[spiderdan]

I know Russ has used the Harrington stainless, but what have others used?

Sam, I also have the Harrington (Vietnamese) Stainless Steel. After an accident last year I needed to replace the right rear. I was so impressed with the quality and the shine (better than my original chrome that are in nice shape, except for the twisted one), I installed all 3. Very happy with them, although there were no mods required to install on my 68.

Vid of my car and Harrington SS
http://youtu.be/aMsXioaQu7E

[azruss]

If you look at the pictures of the european mod with the shock brackets, you will see the middle of the bumper actually hides the bottom of the grill opening. When I mounted mine without any modifications, it did the same thing. The problem with this is the tips have to be tilted down to fit the body giving the bumper a "frown". The pictures posted dont show that because of the angle of the camera. If you look at the thread that shows everyone's spiders you will see a variety of bumper placement. Just depends on how picky you are about the fit as to what mods you will need to make. I found to get the correct look, the top of the bumper should sit 3/4" below the bottom of the grill opening.,

[tartan18]

Just to confirm that the Harrington bumper brackets for the front do NOT work. At least on my 1975. I received this email from them when I asked for assistance.


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Hi Jim,

Thanks for your feedback.

My name is Christoph Joebstl, I am the Sales & Marketing Director of Group Harrington. I saw your email and thought I would answer myself.

To be frank, we are not exactly aware how the brackets have to be mounted- the bracket kit was provided to us by a specialist a long time ago and he confirmed that the European spec bumpers can be retro-fitted with this kit. We only supply it together with our bumpers as a service to customers- we barely make any profit on them.

As it is the case very often when retro-fitting bumpers, some ‘fiddling’ might be necessary in order to get the best result. Unfortunately we do not have a car here to test mount the brackets ourselves-

[divace73]

Just to confirm that the Harrington bumper brackets for the front do NOT work. At least on my 1975. I received this email from them when I asked for assistance.


--------------------------------------
Hi Jim,

Thanks for your feedback.

My name is Christoph Joebstl, I am the Sales & Marketing Director of Group Harrington. I saw your email and thought I would answer myself.

To be frank, we are not exactly aware how the brackets have to be mounted- the bracket kit was provided to us by a specialist a long time ago and he confirmed that the European spec bumpers can be retro-fitted with this kit. We only supply it together with our bumpers as a service to customers- we barely make any profit on them.

As it is the case very often when retro-fitting bumpers, some ‘fiddling’ might be necessary in order to get the best result. Unfortunately we do not have a car here to test mount the brackets ourselves-

Funny I got the same exact answer about 5 years ago, they are well aware the brackets are rubbish and have made no attempt to sort it out. My brackets looked like that were made in a school project....

[Ptoneill]

I have the Harrington bumpers, as the others have said,,,,great bumpers....crappy brackets!! Mine were modified so that I could remove the bumpers from the front of the car without having to remove the bracket, I used a piece of flat steel and just collapsed the rear shocks to attach the rear bumpers. I think they came out good





I have a pair of the rear brackets if anyone wants them

[So Cal Mark]

Harrington has asked me to do some test fitting with their bracket kit. I hadn't used one of their bracket kits yet as we've been collapsing the bumper shocks and mounting the early bumpers to them.
What I found on the front brackets is that the spacing on the mounting holes is off. I had to elongate the two holes, and slightly change the angle on the upper mounting ear. Once I did that the brackets went right into place. I've sent Harrington some suggestions, so we'll see if they implement them on future kits

[weekend warrior]

I made aluminium brackets for the rear bumpers on a clients car to fit in place of the gas shocks, have listed another pair on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Fiat-124-Spi ... 1747911305?