'73+ Big bumpers- any attempts to change the look?

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MRGTX

MRGTX

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I can't say that I hate the big bumpers on out '73+ cars but they definitely lack the clean appearance of the older cars and they also weigh a ton.

Have any of you guys modified them at all? I am wondering how they might look if cut down to reduce the mount by which they stick forward...or some other subtle modification.

Honestly, I'm more tempted to try this with a fiberglass bumper than my original one..

Any thoughts?
 
on my 74 duster the front wasn't really an issue as it didn't stick to far forward but the rear was horrible. I was easily able to adapt the bumper from a 72 using the early style bumper brackets
 
here are mine, the rear was sectioned, tucked and smoothed. The front was flipped sectioned/tucked, and the license plate area was removed.
The end caps were swapped side for side.
A lot of work I know, but unconventional is my way of doing things.
Andrew

I just took a second look at your pic and you might want to get rid of the mini shock absorbers in front, or at least drill them to collapse them.
 

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Just FYI, '73 front bumpers are about an inch narrower on either side and do not have the same mount system as a '74 up.

I removed the heavy reinforcement bars behind both front and rear on the '73 Scamp. It brought the bumper in about 1/4" on both.

Going with a '73 front bumper without it's reinforcement bar is a nice way to shave quite a bit of weight, width and distance from the front of the car.

Similar mods can be done to the rear.

If I don't buy new chrome bumpers when I'm ready to do that, I'm going to shave the bolts completely, by welding some carriage bolts to the stock locations at the back side, filling the holes, mask the threads and send them off for triple plating, after I go over the dings, myself.

One thing I would also love to do is build a set of stainless steel ones, with a lighter gauge, because of the color, against chrome. It's slightly darker and never needs any attention.
 
i must be a strange one ...i like the bumperettes .....it looks normal with them on and i have never had a problem with them ....i used to have a 73 duster and i left them on.....looked fine to me

the bumperettes can be handy if your ever pushing a car or something to jump start or i sometimes push other cars to the shop bcoz i cant push a car by myself by hand

i would like to find a set of bumperettes for a 68 dart. :toothy9:
 
I dislike the bumpers and the shock absorber brackets on my 1976 Duster. So its possible to put pre '73 bumpers and brackets on?
 
JGC403 said:
I dislike the bumpers and the shock absorber brackets on my 1976 Duster. So its possible to put pre '73 bumpers and brackets on?
Click to expand...

I believe so but take a look at Dave's comment below...at the very least, I would suggest getting all of the brackets you could off of the '73 car in addition to the bumper itself.

DaveBonds said:
Just FYI, '73 front bumpers are about an inch narrower on either side and do not have the same mount system as a '74 up....
Click to expand...

Nice:

RaniDart70 said:
i must be a strange one ...i like the bumperettes .....it looks normal with them on and i have never had a problem with them ....i used to have a 73 duster and i left them on.....looked fine to me...
Click to expand...


You're not alone! While the big bumper on my car is a little bit of an eyesore, I have always thought the big blocky bumperettes looked mean. :glasses7:
 
blue missile said:
here are mine, the rear was sectioned, tucked and smoothed. The front was flipped sectioned/tucked, and the license plate area was removed.
The end caps were swapped side for side.
A lot of work I know, but unconventional is my way of doing things.
Andrew
...
Click to expand...

Blue Missle, your car looks totally Mad Max bada$$. :D I love it. I have seen pictures of it before and it always grabs my attention. Nice work!
 
cascius said:
I put '70 bumpers on mine.
Click to expand...

Any pics? I have been pondering a '69 nose swap.

DaveBonds said:
...Going with a '73 front bumper without it's reinforcement bar is a nice way to shave quite a bit of weight, width and distance from the front of the car.
....
Click to expand...

Dave,
Thanks for all of the insight...is there any documentation on what can be removed here? I haven't had a chance to look inside my bumpers yet to check this out...is it obvious?
 
The only way is to remove the shock absorbers the current bumpers are mounted to to go to 73 brackets
So the easy thing to do is to drill the shocks and remove all the fluid then with bumper still on
Then push it as far back as wanted and may even be able to remove the reenforment brackets and get that much more ability to push it back
After in desired location weld the shocks in desired position and your done
 
MRGTX said:
Any pics? I have been pondering a '69 nose swap.



Dave,
Thanks for all of the insight...is there any documentation on what can be removed here? I haven't had a chance to look inside my bumpers yet to check this out...is it obvious?
Click to expand...

Of course, look at my build man!
 
Somewhere on here one of the members posted a picture of his dart/scamp (don't remember which or the year around '73) with a small air dam under the bumper that looks absolutely awesome. I remember it was a stock dam from something else, just can't remember what. I hope this post gets his attention because I would love to get the details and do the same thing to my '73.
 
Moparmarcus said:
Somewhere on here one of the members posted a picture of his dart/scamp (don't remember which or the year around '73) with a small air dam under the bumper that looks absolutely awesome. I remember it was a stock dam from something else, just can't remember what. I hope this post gets his attention because I would love to get the details and do the same thing to my '73.
Click to expand...

73AbodEE
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/member.php?u=22758
I believe he used one off an acura or somethin like that
 
RaniDart70 said:
i must be a strange one ...i like the bumperettes .....it looks normal with them on and i have never had a problem with them ....i used to have a 73 duster and i left them on.....looked fine to me

the bumperettes can be handy if your ever pushing a car or something to jump start or i sometimes push other cars to the shop bcoz i cant push a car by myself by hand

i would like to find a set of bumperettes for a 68 dart. :toothy9:
Click to expand...

MRGTX said:
You're not alone! While the big bumper on my car is a little bit of an eyesore, I have always thought the big blocky bumperettes looked mean. :glasses7:
Click to expand...

I kind of like both.

The ones that are on Amy's Scamp have the chrome bases that aren't rubberized. She really likes how functional it is.

I'm actually thinking about removing the pads from the bumpers/ over riders and installing '74 pads, because they are a bit shorter, on the '73 pedestals.

Once, about ten or eleven years ago, shortly after I bought the car, I was driving it and before texting was a thing, I was zoning out at something on the floor with my foot on the brake and felt a bump. I looked up and saw that the front of the Scamp had come in contact with this little Ford in front of me. We both pulled off the road and looked to find no damage.

I hadn't rebuilt the brakes yet, so I thought I had some air in the lines.
The funny thing was, he wasn't sure if he floated the clutch, because he wasn't paying attention either, so we just let it go, laughing, and went on our way.

I'm going to leave it alone for now, but I do like them both ways.

MRGTX said:
Any pics? I have been pondering a '69 nose swap.



Dave,
Thanks for all of the insight...is there any documentation on what can be removed here? I haven't had a chance to look inside my bumpers yet to check this out...is it obvious?
Click to expand...


Yes. It's just a thick, stamped plate that spans the width of the bumper that is the same color as the brackets. You just remove the bumper at the bracket from the 4 frame bolts and fender support struts, set it on a stand, pull the brackets from the bumper bolts, remove the sandwiched big chunk-o-steel that is between the bumper and and it's brackets, then put it back together with the same hardware and locations.

The thing weighs a decent amount. It's also awesome at trapping dirt and water between itself and the chromed bumper. You may end up cleaning some rust up and putting down some inhibitor, like a rust converting primer and some paint, after scraping off what you can, from the chromed piece.
 
I have Looked at the 73 and up bumpers for a long time trying to figure out how to cut it almost in half....
 
805moparkid said:
no cut the bumper in half. my plan is to cut the bumper (73 swinger) right at the horizontal rib, then make an aluminum air damn all the way around the front.
Click to expand...


ya I would like the get mine half the size..... I also have thought about putting back up lights in the rear bumper like the roadrunners
 
mopardrt said:
ya I would like the get mine half the size..... I also have thought about putting back up lights in the rear bumper like the roadrunners
Click to expand...

im just gonna make new tail lights for it, i was going to use 013 challenger/charger tail lights but dont think it would work or look good. And of course 70 RR lights would be perfect but BasAss71 already used them...
 
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