MCfan Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 An initial observation of my "new girl" when I got her home in mid June was the poor fit and alignment of the rear bumper. But, since it wasn't falling off, it's realignment dropped down on my prioritized work list. Well, yesterday, I decided to tackle it early in the morning before the current horrible heat wave got going. I thought it would be a simple matter of loosening some fasteners, realigning the bumper and retightening everything. So, I loosened the ten bolts that hold the bumper to the frame and then the "can of worms" popped wide open. Nearly seventeen hours later, the rear bumper, lights and trim had all been removed, cleaned, refurbished, reinstalled and aligned. Just a typical "5-minute Monte job"! Here's a link to several project photos, a couple of which are also below: http://s912.photobucket.com/albums/ac329...ment%20project/ Rear bumper and trim before refurbishing and alignment Refurbished bumper and brackets After refurbishing lights, trim, bumper and alignment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGD72Monte Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Impressive timeline, it would have taken me a couple of weekends to perform this level of refurbishment. My paint is typically barely dry in 24hrs. Nice job, definetly worth it both for what you can see and the back. What did you use to clean the back of the bumper before painting it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70mcarlo Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Really nice job - everything looks great!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigtankjones Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Very Nice job. I said "WOW" when I saw those pictures. Great job in such little time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black07ss Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Holy crap!!! You are my new mentor!! What a great job and it took only seven hours, you da man Dennis!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCfan Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 In answer to your surface prep question, MG, I used a wire brush to remove the accumulation of fuel-soaked dirt along the bottom inside edge of the bumper shell. Then I used very coarse steel wool to remove the light coating of surface rust on the inside. After vacuuming out the residue, I sprayed it with Browning degreaser and wiped it down with a clean shop rag. The inside surface also had a collage of black and gold overspray from previous undercarriage and body repainting projects but I just spray-painted over them. There was a little overspray on the chrome edges of the bumper, also, so I used rubbing compound to remove that since it does not leave surface scratches. I typically use slower drying paints like Rustoleum on longer projects but I really prefer faster drying paints like Krylon and Plastikote for smaller projects. Seems like all of the bright metallic paints dry very fast for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
502ci Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Nice work and fitment... Holy crap!!! You are my new mentor!! What a great job and it took only seven hours, you da man Dennis!! Actually he said "seventeen" hours... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black07ss Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Nice work and fitment... Originally Posted By: black07ss Holy crap!!! You are my new mentor!! What a great job and it took only seven hours, you da man Dennis!! Actually he said "seventeen" hours... I knew that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7tonemonte Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Nice work on it Dennis! Looks great, and you didnt totally get sucked into the snowball effect, the body remained on the frame Suprised you didnt replace the gas tank or something else while you were there. Its good to see the fact that the allignment bothered you enough to fix it, and then you took the needed time to correct other issues while you were there, Ive seen too many time just putting the rusty brackets back in place and being done with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Peters Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 SWEET, really very SSSWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTT Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaman Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Beautiful work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo's70MCs Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Just another "5 minute job" Alignment of any panel and or including bumpers can be a pita, throw in painting, sanding, and pre-spray detailing, you have the makings of a whole weekend job. 17 hrs is pretty good..specially with the warm Floridian weather. We all know too well how those 5 min jobs have a tendency to snow ball. I have a huge 5min "honey-do" list that will back that up. The results look great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyDavey Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 problem is Dennis now that everything lines up it's no longer factory correct... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigscaht Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 man talk about snowball effect..im in the middle of that right now!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KWick_70MC Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 What happened to the garage air conditioner? 101, not sure I would have lasted that long.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCfan Posted July 20, 2011 Author Share Posted July 20, 2011 What happened to the garage air conditioner? 101, not sure I would have lasted that long.. Kevin, unfortunately, the air conditioned garage is at our winter home in Florida. My (blue) 4-speed car is resting comfortably there, awaiting my return this fall. My (gold) SS car is here in Wichita where my garage is not (yet) air-conditioned. The only consolation here is my comfortable basement work shop where I can do most of the refurbishing work once I take parts off the car. For the bumper alignment project, I stripped parts off the car and painted the rear frame early in the morning and put everything back together late at night with three fans going. Nearly every day my wife says, "Tell me again why we left Florida and returned to Wichita for the summer?!" Today is our 25th day of triple digit temperatures and that is also the forecast for the next two weeks. This is only July so we have at least 40 more days to go!! Ugh! We are working on a plan to put Kansas in our rear view mirror permanently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KWick_70MC Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I am originally from Nebraska, so I FULLY understand that.. I have no desire what so ever to return to the swealtering heat of summer, and the sub sonic temps of the winter.. We have had 78 hours of 80 degrees or higher since last august. and I am ok with it. You spoil your cars rotten, your kids must LOVE you.. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts