Hey guys, I am the 2nd owner of a 86 560SL that was passed down to me from my father. I am interested now to start restoring this car and wanted to add euro style bumpers. It seems any (full bumper assemblies) that I can find are in less than stellar condition and they are asking a premium, on average $1000 - $1400.
My question to you guys. I am in California and should I bite the bullet and pay the premium for a structurally sound (yet cosmetically challenged, ie: minor surface rust/abrasions, bad rubber) and later refinished/fix them correctly?
OR
hopefully wait to find a cleaner condition set of bumpers and pay the premium on those? It seems very hard to find for this scenario.
Where are you in california? Update your profile with vehicle info and location.
The trick is to wait. If you hang out here long enough you'll find a set of bumpers, the rear one seems to be more readily available and cheap. For 1000$ the bumpers should have a parts car attached.
Just my $0.02, based upon my experience buying used stuff: Buy the least expensive complete set you cab that is in fundamentally sound shape, expect to replace virtually every piece of rubbber, and pay the price to have them rechromed. "Great", "like new", etc, almost never is, and is almost never worth the premium you pay for it, and then you have to repair/replace/redo everything anyway.
The bumpers were a Federal mandate, and while removing them is technically a violation of state law there is no active inspection or road worthiness program.
Basically you can do whatever you want as far as lights and bumpers go, sure it might not be allowed but realistically no one cares. We don't have any safety inspection so as long as your car smogs everything is golden. I'd almost rather have a biannual safety inspection instead of smog as my car is sorted but california smog is a tough one to pass. If you dick with the smog system in a 1976-earlier car you will go through hell every 2 years.
As for the original question. The conversion requires more than just the bumpers. You need to change the valance under the rear bumper and change the outside front brackets. Member unesl has posted a complete conversion process with pictures.
Also another question: Will I also need to purchase a separate rear valence made for the euro style bumpers? or will the existing rear US style valence I have currently work on the new euro rear bumper assembly?
I'm assuming that my existing valence is good to go right?
Thanks in adv fellas. I've been on this forum all day marking all these great threads on restoring this beaut correctly.
No, you will need the Euro/pre-74 valences. But these are often sold with the bumpers. Although they are very, very well undercoated, beware of rust at the seams.
Only the rear valance. It is three pieces and is still available new. Check the EPC for part numbers. The 3 panels sell for about $225.00 plus shipping. Auto Parts - Parts.com, For Every Part of Your Life
Thanks Rowdie for the help!
Is this the correct diagram for the parts i'm looking for? I'm having a bit of trouble locating the correct product number for the 3 rear valances.
PS. total n00b here. Is EPC a parts catalog located somewhere, again apologies for not know this.
Well, I just picked up a VERY VERY rough pair of euro bumpers. I started cleaning and removing certain components. The rubber on both was ok but decided to replace them. When I removed the rubber, THIS is where I saw the rust and damage I have to work with. Yikes! What did I get myself into.
- The rubber is shot and needs replacing
- The front center filler rail (mount for center rubber) is beyond saving. just fell apart.
- Rear valance (execpt right side) is rusted out.
I want to remove the top chrome pieces but not sure how to remove chrome bumper joint covers (center in front, 2 (left/right) in rear). The back side is completely blocked to the nut/bolt.
If someone can tell me the steps to remove the rest of these pieces I would be grateful. I really want to see the condition of the front and rear bumper frame to see what I have to work with. At this point, I hope i find them salvageable at least.
Hi, I have not long ago been in the same predicament. In your picture that bolt has a square shank to prevent it turning when you undo the nut on the other side using a socket on an extension. The reality is you will almost certainly find the whole lot is rust encrusted and to disasemble mine I had to use a grinder and cut through the nut behind.
I actually had to use a grinder carefully over most of the nuts and bolts on the whole rear bumper. Its generally a lot worse under the chrome and where you cant see when the bumper is fitted.
The whole 3 part valance went in the bin but they are not too dear. I saved some of the 3 steel stiffeners and some chrome.
It sounds like it will be difficult to save much from what you describe esp if the lip has gone from the chrome section that the rubber clips onto. If it looks anything like this it is going to be difficult.
Actually now I remember I had to VERY carefully grind out these bolt heads from the front. I scratched the chrome piece a little in the process but as it is hidden by the rubber, its not critical.
Thanks Atomlinon, how did you put the joint covers back on the rear bumper if you grinded the head off the bolt? On the backside, there is very little to no room to even see the nut, not alone put a socket/ext back there. Am I missing a step on the disassembly to be able to view the backside of the nut holding the "joint cover"? I've been staring at this thing forever trying to see how they even originally assembled this.
kind of hard to see your frame (section behind the joint cover) but your bumper frame sees to look different than mine. Mine has a reinforced 1/4" thick steel plates welded and is blocking the nut on the backside of the "joint cover"
Thanks for the pictures Nobby, Did you have to remove the 2 joint chrome covers on your bumpers? If so, how did you do it?
So since the back is reinforced, it should be okay to drill a big enough hole into the reinforced area directly behind the nut to remove the nut once I grind the head off the bolt on the front side.
Oh man, my luck to get myself into this. Looks like I have some work ahead of me. Oh wait a sec, is there a top bolt/nut combo too holding that "Joint cap" to the frame?
I really want to see how bad or good it is under the 3 chrome covers.
Nasty Rust!!!! Well finally removed the covers and I think I can save and rechrome the right and center covers. I'll need to totally replace the Left Rear Chrome cover. Need to replace the Rubber (front and back) and all the mounting bolts/nuts.
As for the rear bumper frame. Those folks that reinforced them wern't kidding around, They even welded the top chrome covers to the frame in some areas (had to cut/grind them out)...but I'm thinking this actually helps me in the end, since their is a lot of rust on the original bumper frame, but since many of these areas (frame skin) are actually welded throughout the length to the 1/4" thick reinforced inner plate-bars I may just be able to bead blast and powder coat this rear frame for now.
Thanks again for everyones help.
Here is a pic of the reinforcement welding ... even to the top chrome cover. argh!
Hopefully my last question for you guys.
Do you know if Color Code 172 Anthracite is the correct one for my exterior color?
I want to match the the rear valance paint. I notice there are 3 anthracite color codes:
- 172
- 173
- 7174
Thanks!!
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