Long story short, have been wanting to put 1971 charger rubber lelastomeric bumpers on my car. Have not found any for years. So I was wondering if anybody has ever made their own and if so, how was it done?

someone on here about 10 years ago
made some nice looking rear 71 rr rubber bumpers using this stuff.
i have the stuff but i haven't had the time to play with it yet..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SEM-39708-FLEXIBLE-SEM-WELD-LOT-OF-5-PIECES-/351893398479

W easier than R...

No 'applique' up front...


Strip to bare-steel...

Lay on some urethane...

Cover with color...

Thanks for the link flypaper, will check that out.

Rs23g I think I would need to what type and where to spray it on. I remember ( Dayclona I believe it might have been) gave a simple yet detailed description on how to do it, only problem was the recommended source nolonger exsisted or was absorbed by another company. If I can find something that is weather resistant to cold, heat and UV perfection, that would be even better.

My buddy who owns a resto shop up in the NW does them. He'll probably need your core.

To be honest, I would like to do it myself as shipping twice and then have them done would probably be very exspensive. I appreciate the help on it, but my budget leaves me doing most of the work myself. If I knew of the best sprayable rubber for my application was, I'm sure I could do it.

He spent years experimenting until he got the process down. He's actually doing five bumpers for a guy up in Canada as we converse. I could probably transport your bumpers up there this August. I can ask him if he has some good cores if you like.

I did a set though not 71 or Charger. Did it to a 72 RR/GTX. The B's are not like the E's that got a thick rubber coating. I used a high build primer with a flex agent. The B's have painted carriage bolts where the E's have welded studs. I welded and ground off the carriage bolts to be smooth like the E's. Lucky you doing a Charger and don't have to dish out 1800.00 for the Plymouth brow cap.

I mentioned in the past you have 2 direction you can take in making body colored bumpers for the 71 B bodies, either paint the bumpers after running a DA sander over the surface and edges to "soften" the look of the bumper, or sandblast them just enough to break the chrome layer (which is clear) and leave the nickel base, but still "soften" the edges/contours with a flap disc and DA sander, BC/CC gives the bumpers a thickened appearance

Or if your adamant on having rubber coated bumpers, again sandblast/flap disk/DA the surface and edges to "soften" the surface of the bumper, then coat both sides with sprayable rubber coating from a SPRAY GUN, no spray can crap, you want a thin final coat on the backside to bond with the coats on the front/face, you'll need to spray perhaps a coat once a day, or every other day to get the build up as you need it, too many coats at once or too quickly will result in the rubber splitting because the thinner needs to gas out, and the rubber needs to shrink...depending on your spray application 3 coats on the fascia of the bumper will suffice, with the last coat being on the backside and fascia simultaneously to bond the whole mess together

The factory bumper bolts were also rubber coated on just the surface of the heads, they also used a lower profile bumper bolt so the added rubber coating didn't appear too high, usually the replacement Ford bumper bolts for 60's early 70's vehicles have a nice low head profile...

I buy the rubber from McMasterCarr pn# 9560T45 it's avalible in 1 gal, black, blue, red. or yellow...you want to be correct use black, after you've let the bumpers cure for a few weeks (the longer the better) paint as you would any flexible body part, using the correct primers/base/CC's along with the proper flex agents based on your paint choice/mfg

With being in California you might have a problem "importing" the rubber and thinner required to spray because of your VOC compliance laws/rules, last I recall the thinner needed was Naphtha, but follow whatever the Mfg recommends for spraying, I know the formula of this rubber has changed over the years due to VOC compliance laws (it's actually thinner than originally formulated)

What headlight set up are you planning on using?

hope this helps
Mike

Thank you everyone for the great advice and information. Since getting into the hobby almost 30 years ago, I've always thought I would get rubber bumpers on a charger and that looks like it finally going to happen. Greatly appreciate all this, thank you. Dayclona, I will see if I can order that rubber and hope it comes to be legal. The headlights bezels I have are stock 1972 style, though I might try for hidden headlights if I can find a nice set cheap enough and have them re-chromed. MoparMarks, that car is stunning. I love the 1971-72 b-bodies and that looks mint! dart4forty I appreciate your offer. Probably best to get a cost from him so I at least have some options incase the 'hippie police' says I can't get that stuff shipped.

thank everyone for the info. it looks like I need to get the coating and start spraying it and see what the pit falls are. As for the headlight set up this car was a non folding car and have not been able to find a folding set that i can afford. I am going to deviate from the original build a little, only because the numbers matching motor and trans are missing. This is a n96 ,EL5, 71 superbee. According to the paperwork I got with this car, this is #5 of 27 built at the Lynch plant and still known to exist. I am going to put in a 440 or 426 in place of the 383 and retain the auto trans but other than the bumpers and engine i will try to leave it as it came from the factory. I know the faithful are screaming but , the original engine is gone so why not make it better. Thanks again for the info.

U-pol makes a spray urethane bed liner that is tintable to car color. I know the end product is textured . Does the texture come from the special spray gun? I wonder what it would look like if sprayed with a regular paint gun.

Oooooo ! THAT LOOKS SWEET !!!!!!