Topic: 1966 rear bumper alignment/installation

[rrenz]

Does anyone have a good picture of the rear bumper mounts and install?  I am trying to figure out which way the bumper brackets, along with the washers, and wave washers attach.  Is picture 1 or Picture 2 correct?  BTW, I have no idea what a wave washer is for.  haha.  And my exploded view manual doesn't show this level of detail very well. 

Help!

I just replaced my bumper with a reproduction. Restored the original brackets and also used the concours kit without the spacers.Fit great. The wave washer goes between the bumper and bracket.  Wave washers have allot of different reasons for use however in this application I believe its to compensate for the square shoulder of the bolt thus allowing you to tighten the nut.

[NEFaurora]

"Never found shims used on the rear bumper (anywhere) on originals so IMHO neither is "correct". "

+1

Lose the Shims....

The shims will throw everything off.   Just use the Wave washers Only.  Also make sure that your bumper brackets are straight and in good shape as they will affect everything as well....and you should be AOK.

)

Tony K.

[jwc66k]

(Here are pictures of the elusive rear bumper shims that don't exist and have never been seen - F3.1 aperture, 1/30 second - except during a full moon. I got these from a Mustang wrecking yard. They had to be on a car at one time or another.)
Jim

[NEFaurora]

Most of those shims look new like they have never been installed and the others look like they oxidized sitting at the bottom of a box, not installed on a car...Strange.  They look like they came more from a Ford Service Parts box than a vehicle... That's probably why they were all found together..

)

Tony K.

[jwc66k]

Most of those shims look new like they have never been installed and the others look like they oxidized sitting at the bottom of a box, not installed on a car...Strange.  They look like they came more from a Ford Service Parts box than a vehicle... That's probably why they were all found together..

)

Tony K.

No, they came from box "D08" under part number "LA-3043-B", so thanks for the compliment. All sizes I've refinished are in the same location for convenience of use. They were tumbled, bead blasted, plated and then inventoried.
Jim

[NEFaurora]

"They were tumbled, bead blasted, plated and then inventoried.
Jim "

Well, That sure does explain some things!

)

Tony K.

[jtfx6552]

I'm attempting to line up my rear bumper.

I have a 1979 Ford service replacement that was on the car for years, but does not fit well. It was never hit as far as I know, but it seems bent more than it should be.

Just for comparison, I bought a repro from Virginia Classic, that's described as the best fitting currently available. It definitely fits better than the service part, but to get it lined up as close to the way i think it should be, I needed to leave the wave washer out of the bottom two bumper to bracket holes, and put two of the shims Jim shows on the top bracket to body bolts, resulting in the attached pictures. the brackets are the originals, but the whole back half of the car is NOS sheet metal.

Is that the way it should look? Anyone have any good pictures of that area? I spent some time in the unrestored forum, but it seems a lot of those bumpers may have been tapped at one time or another.

[Brian Conway]

No shims.  OE brackets and wave washers,  Brian