76 Cadillac front bumper impact strip

[Jeff Moffo]

Hi
I am attempting to replace the passenger front bumper grey impact strip on my 76 Coupe De Ville.
There are seven bolts with nuts that attach it to the chrome bumper.  The innermost nut toward the center (grill) is totally inaccessible from the undercarriage of the car.  Service Manual says to "removal of center most attaching nut must be chiseled off.  When replacing impact strip, a repair retainer is available."

I have ordered an OEM (used) impact piece from a place in excellent condition in Arizona that arrived without any of it being 'chiseled off.'   I'm wondering if anyone has had experience is getting the old impact strip off and having to replace it....it seems 'it should be easier that the manual makes it look!'  Plus, where in the world would one find this "retainer."  I don't want to remove my piece and not be able to attach the replacement!

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I would have thought that the Bumper Bar would have to be disassembled to access that nut.

I can't imagine the strip being bolted to the bar with a nut that cannot be accessed?

Bruce.

[Jeff Moffo]

I agree. I checked the manual before I ordered the new piece because I could not see a way of getting that nut. In fact, it seems the bumper shock is where an access hole should be. But nothing. The other six nuts are clearly accessible via a hole under the bumper and maybe with a U joint. Could GM have really made this any more difficult. I would HATE to have to disassemble the whole front bumper

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

When I was preparing the bumpers on my '72 Eldorado for rechroming, I had to naturally disassemble it, and it sure made the removal of the rubber strips a lot easier.

I had to use long extensions to access some of the nuts, and only two snapped off.   I replaced the broken bolts with self tapping screws.

Bruce.

[76eldo]

The bumper has to come off, the inner support removed, and the nuts soaked with penetrating oil for days.

Other wise the nuts will twist off the studs that are cast into the rubber.

If you take it apart of look at a parts book you will see what I mean.

If you twist the studs out of the rubber strip, this is fixable.  You need to go to a hardware store and buy a wood hanger stud, which looks like this:



You thread the self tapping part of the stud into the rubber strip, and use a washer and nut to reinstall it.

When you get a new bumper face bar for a 79-85 Eldorado, you have to remove the old face bar from the inner support and then you can get to the nuts that hold on the horizontal impact strips.  I am assuming that the earlier years are similar.

It's actually a long job, even though it just looks like a lot of nuts and bolts, they are usually pretty rusted in place.

Brian

[Jeff Moffo]

Hey Brian,
Hope all is well. My nuts are not rusted at all as this car spent most of its days out of any kind of wet weather. I don't care if I wreck the old one. The new one has all its studs and nuts in place. The exploded view in my ser manual just shows that center most nut being held with a different retainer. Could be rubber or plastic. Who knows!?  And the black and white view in the book isn't too good! The other nuts and studs are soooo easy to access that this ONE NUT being nearly impossible to get at seems incongruous. UGH

[76eldo]

From what I remember there were holes in the inner support that allowed access to the nuts on the impact strip. Since I was changing the face bar anyway I took it completely apart anyway.

I assume that the 75-76 type is similar.

I also discovered that not all 79-85 rear bumpers are the same. There's an early and a late style.
If changing the entire unit they all interchange but if only changing the outer chrome face bar, the early 79-80 is different than tha later ones.

Good luck with yours.

[Jeff Moffo]

You're correct!!  There ARE access holes...for all of the studs and nuts except the centermost!  I think that is why the ser. manual suggests "chiseling" and then this "retainer".  If I have to disassemble the whole bumper, I may just deal with mine having its small imperfections until a time comes when I NEED to remove that bumper!
Thanks for your time,
Jeff