1960 bumper gap

[ScottBerry]

Starting to mock up the rear end on my 1960 B t5 coupe. Any guidance on the rough gap I need to shoot for between the end tips of the bumper and the body?

[Warren Bender]

I would guess if you put the rubber mounts there that are originally there it would get you pretty close.
Warren

[ScottBerry]

If I flare the sides a bit I can get it down to about 3/4 of an gap. The bumper exhaust seems to be a limiting factor by the lower end touching the body for in and out movement.

[Martin Benade]

The bumper is not a great gauge to use for this. Any dents on the face of the bumper straighten the curve and make it wider. Yours is like that now. Maybe several people have perfect bumpers off the car that can give you a bumper width measurement, get an average. A good bumper should fit pretty nicely onto the body with the rubber spacer in. On my car the body was fine but the bumper was wide (and painted) so I used long bolts with nuts on them to draw the bumper into place.

[Doug McDonnell]

I agree with Warren that if you want it correct mock it up with the rubber spacer. I didn't and ended up having to stack 2 rubber spacers to mount my rear bumper. Not correct but only visible on close inspection.

[Trevor Gates]

Hi Scott,

Scroll 3/4 the way down on page 18 of this thread; it’s for the front bumper but same theory and practical application as the rear bumper, if you want to bring the bumper end in closer to the body.

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