Abarth Bumper Pads

[dalebernstein]

'76 Spider, tube bumpers gone. Bought Abarth Bumper Pads. Has anyone installed these to replace tube bumpers? I have not been able to locate any pics of how the Abarth folks had them installed. thanks! db

[narfire]

With the rears I slid the flat bar inside a tube and had a friend weld it in place. Then slid it into the rear bumper holes and held it in place with a firm spring. Drilled the hole,bolted and good to go.
The fronts so far I have just used a strong spring back to the old bumper mounting shackles and backed them up with some wire if the spring lets go.

[dalebernstein]

Thanks narfire. I did find a supplier that sells an "installation kit for the front of a '76 and they state no install kit is necessary for the rear. I agree in that it appears that I will have to simply slide the rear pads in and bolt them to the frame box. I think for a hundred bucks for 4 pieces of metal that are sold as a front install kit, I'll look into fabricating my own front mounts. If I can fab up some nice brackets, I can share the wealth. i.e. if the cost me 40 bucks to fab, sell them for 50 with labor. Hoping they will be under 50. Everyone likes to save money.

[engineerted]

Dale,

Go to home depot and in the electrical dept they sell a metal c or u shaped tube that is used to mount conduit. I call it unistrut but that is just a brand name. They sell two types; you need the one that is about 1-1/2 x 1-1/2. This will slip into the round hole that the bumper shock came out of, and you can use the original bolt to hold it in place. The flat bar of the bumpette slides in the inside of the square tube. I had to cut and grind the flat bar to make it fit correctly. When you have the fit correct, weld the flat bar to the unistrut. Now you have a something that you can remove if necessary.

Sorry no photos at this time. I will have to remove one from the car and this will make more sense.

Ted

[dalebernstein]

Thanks engineerted, great idea and advise. One of my fav stores besides. Yep a pic would be great. Thanks again. db

[mPedro08]

Thanks engineerted, great idea and advise. One of my fav stores besides. Yep a pic would be great. Thanks again. db

Dale,

How long to fab up something like Ted suggests for those of us that don't have a welder? You would need to fabricate it so we could just bolt the abarth bumperette onto your bracket, and bolt your (Ted's) bracket into the circular hole on the car? Try it yourself once you see a pic or get further instruction from Ted, sounds like a sweet solution, especially in light of the cost of the other option.

Man that would be a nice easy installation!!!

Pete.

[dalebernstein]

I know, the potential is way too sweet. Will work on it and let the group know. db