Danbodia does a euro bumper DIY

[Danbodia]

After deciding to dump the Big bumpers in favor of a more stripped down pure look, I dug in and started the teardown.
First off were the flairs and rocker covers and then the bumpers came off. All this was straight forward and is self explanatory. Moving on.

After grazing the archives (like a good vortexer) I came up with alot of pieced together info on Italian aftermarket eurobump installs but nothing really start to finish in one post.

Enjoy.....

Rear bump went on without major problems. I'm not going to spend much time with this one. It lined up straight and slid in level. I ended up using 3 out of the 4 vertical bolts. Skipping the forward passenger side bolt. That was just a matter of the last one not lining up the hole in the body.

The front bumper is a little trickier. The brackets for the rebar don't fit properly into the frame horns of the NA cars.
1.The horizontal flat surface of the bumper bracket does not fit into the frame horn due to the U shaped bracing in the horn itself.
2. The tabs on the U shaped bracing for the front horizontal nuts and bolts, spread out the brackets for the bumper in a V shape and your holes don't line up.

My solution was as follows, as per Teds diagram....

Quote, originally posted by tektoo2 »

I cut the brackets down with a cutting wheel....

This made the bumper brackets thin enough to be able to slide into the frame horns.
The Vertical tabs for the horizontal nut and bolt were still spreading out the bumper brackets in a V shape.

After a little banging with a hammer they still were in the way and spreading the brackets apart.
Time for the cutting wheel again........

-Now, there could be a safety issue here, but lets take it as a given that if you switch to eurobumps you have already decided to give up some of the safety that NA bumpers have to offer.-

So the vertical tabs are cut off and the U brace in the frame horn is ground down with a die grinder to allow the bumpers to slide in and fit proper......

To wrap up, all cut edges were smoothed sanded square. All exposed metal was primed then painted up again. Also, I ordered the proper bumper clip studs for a small bumper car.
So onto the mock up snaps....
Don't bust on my dusty dirty car as its been in the garage all winter, and I'm still mid steam on the whole project.

Zombie stylez

Ian was a big help as always.

Modified by Danbodia at 9:48 AM 4-4-2006

[al@absolute]

whats under that car cover?

[Danbodia]

another car.

[Grumpy1]

Wow, you car is dirty.

Slacker.

[Danbodia]

Suck it Trebeck.

Thanks for that earlier Grumpy, the kid is sticking with the swamp ash.

[vwtoys]

Question: could the holes on the bumper brackets (the holes that bolt on to the rebar) be slotted some how to spread the brackets further out to avoid cutting the ears off?

[ValveCoverGasket]

Quote, originally posted by Danbodia »

After grazing the archives (like a good vortexer) I came up with alot of pieced together info on Italian aftermarket eurobump installs but nothing really start to finish in one post.

i made a thread about this last year sometime, when i did my install. tektoo gave me some insight but i never could get his advice to work for me, so i kind of solved the problem my own way (probably more cutting than i needed to do)

glad to see more people making the switch to euro smalls, they look so much better

[Danbodia]

Yep, I'm sure you could drill slots or new holes into the euro rebar and mount it up like that. The reason I didn't go that route was I didn't want to skin the rebar. The plastic tabs that hold the skin onto the rebar looked pretty daunting and I didn't want to mar them so much it wouldn't go back on straight. So I went the other way.

Thanks VCG
IMO they do look alot better.
The BB's are essentially an OEM body kit. they push out the lower nose of the car too far and throw off the shape.
Plus, I really don't want to cover the front curve of the lower fender. It looks too sexy.
Too much plastic over metal. Not to say BB cars don't look good, they just don't fit in with where I'm going with my car.

[ValveCoverGasket]

what i ended up doing to hold the skin back on was getting two huge sheet metal screws and two really big washers and bolting the skin back on, its never comin off till i want it to again

[The Nick]

man, your work is my inspiration! i love that stripped-down, OEM look that makes your car look like it belongs barreling down a twisty dirt road during the fall. The euro smalls just set the look so well.

[Mean 'n Green86]

thanks for the write up/ insperation. i had to cut the brackets instead of the frame. how did you get in there to cut

kinda zombie style with the turnsignals out

[Big Dac With Fries]

Your car = the awexome.

[secondgen]

Neil's my hero.

[ValveCoverGasket]

whoa back from the dead

[Danbodia]

Quote, originally posted by secondgen »

Neil's my hero.

I'm nuthin' special. Midpack IMO.

[secondgen]

Quote, originally posted by Danbodia »

I'm nuthin' special. Midpack IMO.

Oh, and I've gone the way of the VCG......megasquirt!!!! Hoping to have it done for springtime/early summer.

[zideman]

sick write up, much appreciated. I have wanted euro smalls for quite some time but with the whole will need modification and not knowing the extent of it I never invested in somethnig I wasnt sure I could figure out. Thanks time to purchase.

[DeviousGTI]

how long does it take to install the front small bumpers on the car thanx in advance

[tochtli83]

Where dya score the euros? I'm looking for a new set with red-stripe. Any ideas?
Thanks.

[DeviousGTI]

for some new bumpers u can try to go to this web site, this is where i bought my bumpers form not to long ago, http://tuningzubehor.com/