I’ve been trying to place my front bumper on my 70 442 and it’s bringing much misery to me. In picture 1 it shows the bracket for the front bumper. The circled area is the elongated hole I’ll be referencing. In pictures 2 and 3 the arrows point to that bracket installed on my frame and extended out. In picture 4 I have a full view of the front of my car where you can see the brackets for the bumper sticking out. In picture 5 I have a bolt in each bracket’s elongated hole on the outer point and the measurement of approximately 48” side to side and finally in picture 6 I have the bolts in the inner point of the elongated hole with a measurement of approximately 46”. My bumper’s bolt hole which should line up with the elongated holes on the brackets only measures side to side approximately 45”.

Can anyone tell me do I have a crappy bumper or is the front of my frame off. Does any one have or can tell me where to look for the correct distance between the frame horns? The front bumper is a repro from Fusick. As always I appreciate the helpful answer from this site.

Tom

 

I have frame charts for all but 70-72 was hoping to find that measurement for you. a 69 is 41 3/8 from outside of the frame horn to outside of the other frame horn. I would bet they are the same. Sorry was hoping for the right book.

Larry

 

Thanks Larry, I’ll check my frame horn measurement.

Tom

 

I've got a 1970 with the bumper on it. I think I also have a loose bumper with brackets still attached. I can take some measurements and photos Sunday if that would help. John

 

John, that would be great if you could do that.

 

I usually do some searching before and I didn't but I saw another thread that showed frame measurements for a 70 Chevelle and it also shows 41 3/8" for the horns area too. I will check the dimensions tomorrow and then look for John to thrown me the measurements of the bumper to find answers to my issues. Thanks again Larry.

edit: I overlooked the Chassis Service manual too and found the horn dimensions for my car is 41 5/16 + - 1/8" outside horn to outside horn.

 

Tom, I took several pictures of the measurements I think you need. If there's any other areas you'd like to see, or additional measurements let me know. John




Here's how I measured it.



about the center of the bolt, inside the bumper on drivers side.



About the center of the bolt, inside the bumper on the passenger side. Looking like 45 1/4".



Outside of frame horn to outside of frame horn, about 41"



This measurement is on the front of the bumper brackets, 42 1/4"

 

I read back through your post and saw what the spec's were between the frame horns. I went back out to double check my measurements and this time put the end of the tape measure against the inside of the bumper brackets instead of hooked over the frame horn. This measurement came out closer to what your spec's said. Here's a picture of that. But thinking back to your problem, if you elongated the holes in your brackets just a little bit more, would the bumper line up and fit correctly? Or would it be binding against the grill or lower fender somewhere?

 

John, I took measurements this morning and found my horns to be a 1 1/2" wider than the specs... oh boy. I'm going to check the other measurements to see how far off they may be from what you got. I was thinking of making the bolt hole longer. I'm still in the process of putting my interior back in and will need to think how I'm going to correct this situation. I appreciate your help.

 

Tom,

Did your body shop let you know where they moved your frame?

I would say you best bet would be slotting the bracket if everything else lines up

 

Hey Troy, I know they made a correction to the left side of the frame and I don’t know if that caused a problem. I’m going to check some other measurements out before I decide what to do. I’m putting the interior back in the car now and after finishing will most likely bring it back to the shop to see what they can do.