Over riders first?

Hi, I've just had my over riders and bumpers rechromed and they look fabulous. But when refitting them this weekend I don't want to handle them any more than necessary ie I don't want to fit them and then have to remove them again incase I damage them or the paintwork.
I think it would be easier to fit the bumpers first and then fit the over riders. This would give me a better chance of getting the spacing of the overriders correct and also make the bumpers slightly easier to handle when fitting.
I'll take the precaution of having lots of soft things on the ground when re-fitting incase the bumper does fall, but Murphy is my friend ie if it can go wrong it probably will.

However I have this idea that there is a good reason why you should fit the over riders first - just can't think what that good reason is. What do the experts do?

I found the bumpers c/w over riders were unbalanced when I took them off and would therefore put bumpers on first. I also put cardboard on the deck so that it would not mark the chrome. The over riders fixing bolts have to be unscrewed out quite a bit to allow fitting on the bumper.
Don't forget the photos on completion, we love piccies

Hi

Methinks I posted the following elsewhere but I made (turned up) a couple of "buffers" (like caps or thimbles) from a piece of 1/2" nylon bar to go over the ends of the bumper fixing bolts. These then allow the bolts to be tightened quite tightly (!!!!) without damaging the back of the bumper. I parked the nether regions of Elfie over the lawn when I fitted my bumpers - no damage at all.
Having the overiders on the bumper does overbalance it a little but, in any case, you should enlist the help of a friend or relative to help stabilize it when fitting....its hard to watch both sides at once. I presume you have the little "e" clips or circlips installed below the packers to stop them dropping off the bolts whilst fitting the bumper??

Cheers

Thanks for the advice both. Unfortunately it was a nice weekend - so I got stuck in the gardens. This time of year in NZ you have to grap every chance you get.
The idea of e clips on the bolts is a good one. I'll have to find some thing that will do the job.
I'm not sure if I understand the plastic thimble over the bolts though. Do you have any photos?

I've enlisted the help of my wife when it comes to the install of the bumpers - at least she won't get her hands dirty. The chrome platers have done such a good job - in fact they sent them out to be straightened before plating. I didn't even know they needed it!

I will post a photo once they're on.
Grant

The thimble idea is simply to isolate the bolt from the new chromework "inside" the bumper to stop corrision between the two dissimilar metals. The "C" clips are not so goos in this respect. Perfect. Yes to enable you to assemble the bolts and the spacer between the bumper and lip. No because they rust away very quickly. (only had two left on my two bumpers when I took them off,they where very rust,the rest had disintergrated completely.
I used plumbers ptfe tape to hold mine together and before I tightened the bolts I managed to pull the tape out. A bit fiddely I suppose!

OK, thanks. I understand the idea now. I've got some of that brush on underseal (like a cross between tar and rubber that evetually sets like rubber).
It may be an idea to put some of that on the underside of the spacer and then use a bolt with a washer to pull the spacer down tight onto the bumper mounting lip of the car. That would then do two things : 1. once it sets after a few days it would locate the spacer over the hole so no e-clip necessary and 2. give a water resistant seal between the two surfaces.

Then once its set I could then put a coat of the underseal on top of theh spacer immediately before putting the bumber on. This would then give a layer between the two different surfaces. Might be worth waiting for the top layer of underseal to dry before fully tightening down the bumper bolts.

Does this sound like a good plan?

I thought of doing that with clear mastic but could not wait to get the bumpers on to see a good result! Some types of underseal will dry out and crack.Once that happens the water will get in? what are we worrying about rust for? these jobs will probably see us out before that happens!

Is it too much trouble to take the bumper off say once a year to clean up and paint any body rust spots lurking on the lip?

I guess a few of us keep these babies in a dry garage,polishing them every month at least anyway!

Back to the bumper. Many enthusiasts coat the inside of the them with a preservative of sorts. If I were to do that ,it would be a smooth coat not underseal which is hard to wipe clean don't you think?

I'd use a waxoyl-type treatment I think - Dinitrol do a suitable one in their range. I've just been working on my '71 Clubman which has had some sort of wax treatment from new - the bottoms of the doors, which are completely original, are pristine! Most of the rest of the car is remarkably rust-free. It's only the areas that have been repaired later that have rotted - the sills, and the bonnet & one wing which suggests an accident repair.

Does,nt waxoyl present problems if rust happens to appear, won't it be difficult to remove and does it go up in flames when you try to weld?

I had a look at a mini van for the club which had its cills treated with waxoyl and they were hanging off! Needless to say I did not bid for it.

My Elf had been treated with something - don't know what it was, but when I stripped it back to bare metal not a single panel needed replacing due to rust. So for me that speaks volumes. Having said that though my 1275GT donor car had also been treated and is a real rust bucket so I guess treatment does stave off the rust but it also depends on other factors such as how the car is maintained and how its garaged.
We did replace a sill on the elf because it was creased and the waxoyl or whatever it was did catch fire - a flame about 3" high that easily blew out. (I did have a fire extinguisher handy though because I too had heard the rumours about fires).
Ater the repaint I used deoderised fish oil. It might have been deoderised but it stunk for months. But it also oozed into all the crevices. In fact for weeks later I was wiping drips off as it came out the sills etc. I like this stuff because it does ooze every where and leaves a thin film that doesn't block drain holes etc. But once it sets it is very hard to move.
Having said all that I am going to use a dab of the underseal on the bumper spacers so hopefully it will also coat the bolts when I push them through. i've also just painted the spacers with an epoxy paint which will also help out.
All the rusty bumpers and over riders I've seen have rusted through from behind, so when I got my bumpers and over riders back from the chromers I first painted the back of them with hammerite paint and then coated them with underseal. Don't even get me started on what I did to the body shell of the Elf. Suffice to say if I ever see rust on the Elf in my life time I'll be gutted.