Which order do these bolts go together?

[Kats66Pny]

Still got to put on the front bumper, but before I can do that I need to replace the front outer bumper bracket since the one on the passenger side was eaten all the way through by battery acid/rust.


Is this thing secured with only bolts? I looked on Gertrude and see what appears to be 2 bolts holding it on, and the description says it bolts on.

[abrahamfh]

That is correcto. Two bolts to front frame rail if I am not mistaken, I don't remember any washers being involved. 


You can see the two sticking up and away from the car.

[Kats66Pny]

Ok just wanted to check. When I reached under there to feel around, I didn't feel where the bolts came out so I could only guess they go in through the rail but don't exit.

Thats going to be my project tomorrow. Hopefully it won't take long but I've come to realize something that should take 30min could take 2 days for me to do.  :lol I'd like to be able to get the front bumper put on sometime before Saturday!

[abrahamfh]

Correction. (sorry Kat) Looks like there is a lock washer between the bolt and bumper bracket.

Thanks to the handy dandy restoration guide I got from Dave. Thanks again Dave.

[cmayna]

When securing this bumper bracket, I'd keep it somewhat loose until you get the bumper attached.  Then start tightening everything down.

[Fast68back]

Not sure about the 65/66, but the 67/68 there are two brackets that share the same bolts. (See, my car had rust too....)

[cmayna]

Yes, 65/66/67/68 all use two bumper brackets each side.

[Dne']

I've found that they're quite flimsy brackets, and may require tweaking, but you're quickly finding this true of most everything on your little pony car! lol  But you had no problem(or minimal probs which you overcame) with your rear bumper(which looks great BTW).  Put some anti-seize compound on the threads going into the frame.  If you have a thread chaser, you may want to clean up the threads that hold the brackets in place.

My fastners inside the frame where rusted/deteriorated from battery acid corrosion.  I made this little "Thing" and welded nuts to it, the slid it into the frame channel and welded that into place.  Blasted it with a hand held sand blaster and it cleaned up pretty good and like I said, I put anti-seize compound on the threads(not that I'll ever be taking it back off, but you never say never!).

Good job Kat!

[KBMWRS]

So what kind of 'prints' is the young lady in your sigpic leaving?

[tarafied1]

My fastners inside the frame where rusted/deteriorated from battery acid corrosion.  I made this little "Thing" and welded nuts to it, the slid it into the frame channel and welded that into place.  Blasted it with a hand held sand blaster and it cleaned up pretty good and like I said, I put anti-seize compound on the threads(not that I'll ever be taking it back off, but you never say never!).

Very clever Dne' !
Mine was pretty rusty too, required a little more surgery than that!

[Kats66Pny]

Thanks folks!  :vic

[Kats66Pny]

Now I'm confused and a little annoyed. There is a pretty big difference between the passenger side and drivers side of the bumper.  :po

Passenger side:


Drivers side:


This was just a fitting test before I started putting it on there for good. I put in the 4 bolts on the front, and left them a little loose.  I still haven't put the other brackets on, the bumper to fender ones. I'm confused how they are suppose to fit on there. I went by this article
http://www.mustangmonthly.com/techarticles/mump_0810_how_to_replace_and_adjust_bumpers/index.html

it shows the brackets and if I put them on like this, they don't fit. I was pretty sure that the flat side went against the fender.. not inside the bumper?

[sigtauenus]

Kat, my front bumper fit the same way, pretty sure that I had a wider gap on the driver side than the passenger side, not that that matters.  Point being, nothing goes on perfectly.  Some things can be adjusted, tweaked, etc, some stuff you just have to put up with.  Somewhere in the middle you decide if you can live with it as-is or if its worth the time/effort involved to tweak it.  I've put parts on already, not been happy with how they fit, and then spent 6 hours removing and adjusting parts, only to find that when it was all back together I had tweaked it some but not enough.  Its on the list to tweak some more later, but won't be anytime soon.

[Kats66Pny]

I'm not going for perfection so I'm just going to leave it as-is for the time being. Even with it not being 100% even.. still looks better than the rusted crappy one I had on!  :vic

[Midlife]

I believe you have that bracket on backwards...the flat side does go towards the fender.

[Kats66Pny]

I believe you have that bracket on backwards...the flat side does go towards the fender.

Thats not my bumper. Thats from the how to article on Mustang Monthly. They got it wrong then?  :lol
I didn't put those fender to bumper brackets on. With the size difference, they didn't fit.

[Fast68back]

How are your hood gaps, is one fender in to far? Do you have a picture of the front of the car with the hood closed?

[Kats66Pny]

How are your hood gaps, is one fender in to far? Do you have a picture of the front of the car with the hood closed?

I'm not sure if it's a fender issue or hood hinges or what but there's some funky alignment going on with the hood.



If I push down on the hood, the gap gets smaller and I can't fit my fingers down in it.

[AzPete]

Not all your pics loaded for me for some reason.

If the gap is that at the rear of the hood, it can be adjusted. Open the hood and have someone hold it up. Loosen the hinge bolts where it mount to the inner fender (both sides) . Have the helper lift more on the hood and notice the hinges rotate. Hold it there and tighten. Close hood slowly and watch the clearance.