Hello Y'all,

I recently got a 68 cutlass s barn find, and I've started doin the work to get her running. I've come to notice that the front bumper, is bent inward on the nose, and I was wondering if anyone knows any tips or other info on how to bend it out.

one little thing before y'all respond, im extremely new to this car scene, as my dad has brought me into it. Im only 19, so I won't understand most references.

Just lookin for some tips, or old school tricks on how to bend the bumper back out.

Thank y'all,
Have a good night.

 

You either need to replace the bumper, find an "old school" body shop to bend it back into place, or get a hustler stick and do it yourself.

https://www.eastwood.com/keysco-the-...ick-77175.html

If you buy a hustler stick to do it yourself I suggest practicing on steel truck bumpers in the salvage yard first.

I'd like to get a hustler stick and become proficient with it. Both of the bumpers on my 86 Ford truck are bent and I don't feel like buying Chinesium replacements.

 

Post a picture of what it looks like from a few angles. There are a few ways you can do this yourself, but need to see what you have.

 

Congrats on your new car! Post up some pics when you get a chance. And welcome to CO!

 

got it fixed, and here’s some photos for y’all. Now i need to go through wiring everything for the dash. since this car is a barn find, and the original owner seemingly cut all the wires to everything, i’d greatly appreciate any help or tips on where to start, as none of the guages work, and all the wires are cut. Here are photos of the car:

 

Young'un, you need these. They're easy to find online in all different price ranges.

Chassis Service Manual:


Fisher Body Manual:


Assembly Manual:


They're the same books the dealer mechanics used when your car was new and will be the best investment you can make. They include service procedures, wiring diagrams, just a lot of really good and useful information.

HairyOlds here on CO Forums has the best copies of the assembly manuals.

Normally I warn against buying reprint, CD-ROM or PDF copies because they lose detail, especially in the wiring diagrams. But original 1968 chassis manuals are prone to falling apart.

Feel free to ask. We were all 19 once.

 

Your car seems to be in very good shape. How did you fix your bumper?

 

Looks nice!!

 

Upfront, I’m a rank amateur, not a professional.

One approach is to hook a ratchet strap or 2 to the part you want to bend back in place. Next bolt or hook the parts you _don’t_ want to move with more ratchet straps to something that won’t move - like the frame of the car.

Philosophically, you’re trying to bend metal. But you want to bend only the parts that are wrong. So secure the parts you don’t want to bend, then ratchet the straps very slowly, 1 click at a time, until you get to the shape you want. Sometimes you have to go 1 click beyond what looks right so that when the ratchet tension is released, you get the shape you want.

If the center/nose/peak of your bumper is bent rearward, see if you can find where the bumper actually bent on the left/right axis. Then secure those end points so that if/when you pull the nose forward, it bends from the bent parts, not along the good parts. Hope that makes sense.

The real (and high $$) fix is to get a bumper shop to press your bumper back into shape and the rechrome it. Another approach at least with Cutlass/442’s is to get a reproduction bumper.

Cheers
Chris

 

Thats similar to what I did ironically, I made a wood piece to put inside the bumper so the metal wouldnt bend inward, and took a ratchet strap, wrapped it around it, and hooked it to my truck and proceeded to slowly pull it out.

 

My dad has a book for his 69 cutlass, he told me that they are "basically" the same, with minor differences. Do you think I should go source a 68, or do you think using the 69 one will work?

 

I’ve tied cars between 2 big trees with ratchet straps to straighten out frames. We do what we have to.

 

The 69 book will help, but a lot of things changed between 68 and 69. Notably electrical and steering column. Your call on getting the 68 books. If you need help on any differences, someone here will help you.