924Board.org

[kcoyle]

So I scored a set of euro bumpers and the rear bumper is kinda bad. I thought it was a reproduction since it didn't have the rubber strip but it's OEM. The P.O. had bad taste, was lazy, or both since the holes for the rubber strip are filled in and he made 2 new uneven ones for the license plate to hang from (he had the license plate reflector fill in panel).
Outside of bumper.

Inside holes filled.



ALso, the bumper was repaired at some point as the rear of the bumper shows.

Also the repaint or whatever the black color that is on the bumper now came right off with a razor as seen here.


So, since it's OEM i'd like to get the rubber strip if I can find one reasonably. If not I will do without it. So how do I go about refinishing these bumpers? Do I have to sand all the way back to the factory finish so new paint will stick?
And can I find a rubber strip for little dough or am I screwed?
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1982 931- Stock with MBC at 8psi

Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

[Grenadiers]

I have a Euro bumper on the back of my CGT cloner, minus the rubber strip. As you can see, it is in need of some paint; which will get done eventually~!
Not interested in finding a rubber strip either, but if you do, let me know.


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'83 944 Track car.
'88 924S Track car.
'89 944 Turbo
2004 Winnebago Vectra monster RV
2012 Jeep Wrangler
2014 Kia Soul
2001 Ford F350 powerstroke

[peterld]

Sand it back to the bare original plastic and then repaint as per normal. Must use a decent primer/facer to adhere to the OEM plastic.

Good luck with finding a nice rubber strip replacement, never mind at a reasonable cost.

All cars delivered in OZ came with the 'Euro' bumper. The problem is that the rubber strip has a series of captive bolts which obviously go through the holes in the bumper. These captive bolts are notorious for rusting, and as they do they 'grow' and start to spread the rubber, which never recovers it's original shape even when treated to new fasteners.

The rubber is just a pig! I've removed nice rubber from a bumper prior to painting, and it just never sat well on reassembly. New rubbers are in the hundreds!

On one car I left the rubber off and filled the holes (just like your example) and the exact same thing happened....after a while the filler sank and left the outline impressions. Did it again, and after some months, same thing again. The OEM plastic in the bumper, besides being very heavy, doesn't react well with many aftermarket auto products. So now I've just left it, and to the unitiated it looks like reversing sensors!!!
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80/81 932/8 ROW

[kcoyle]

Thanks, that's what I figured. I guess I've got a lot of sanding in my future. Is the bumper really fiberglass, it's feels like white plastic. And you're right, the circles look like reverse sensor things. (Don't know what they're really called, all my cars are too old to have 'em)
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1982 931- Stock with MBC at 8psi

Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

[ideola]

I think I might have the rubber strip to the Euro bumper that was on the Club Sport. I don't like the rubber strip, so I removed it and had the bumper holes filled. If I can find it, I'd be willing to sell it for a reasonable cost, although it definitely has the rusted fastener issue that Pete describes.

I would recommend using a good quality adhesion promoter and sealer before you prime or paint the bumper. If you do this, you won't have to take it all back to the plastic.
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[kcoyle]

Ok, I'm going with expert testimony and skipping the rubber bumper. On to the sanding!
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1982 931- Stock with MBC at 8psi

Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

[Ponz]

I filled in the holes also on my 77 1/2. On the 79 turbo I reused the rubber I had on it prior to painting. A little struggle but it went back on.

The rubber is available if you look.

Problems, let me know.

vince
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77 1/2 track car
79 931 Euro
87 911 Targa

[Nobbi]

I just get a new rubber strip from Porsche for my red babe.120.- euros
Still have the old which has a small minor cut on one side.
car lloks much better with the rubber and you can hit someone without any damage...
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NA 924 - april/1977- 4-speed-audi gearbox.
500.000 km with fun.....and new toy:Porsche 944 S2 Cabriolet.Other car Daimler c-class cabby,brandnew..Plus : DEUTZ 4005 tractor Built 1967

[kcoyle]

So after about 30 minutes of sanding I gave up on the DIY route. I'm a wuss, I know. Long story short I know a guy who knows a guy who works in a body shop and after some negotiating I gave my hard to find (around here) and expensive (to me) bumpers to a total stranger. That was probably a bad move but it's done. It exhausted all the 924 money I have for the year but if it turns out good I'll be happy. I'm not doing the bumper strip, too pricey and more work.
Hopefully it will be done in a week or two and I'll update this thread.

Nobbi,

I do like the rubber strip look better as well but after the price of the bumpers and paint I'm in the hole for about $650 bucks which is honestly $650 bucks too much. I'm outta dough for this year.
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1982 931- Stock with MBC at 8psi

Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

[kcoyle]

Here's my version of the euro bumper install for the uninitiated. I'm not a mechanic or a body man but I'm an OK parts changer so I thought this would be pretty simple to do, 6 screws at either end of the car, a few wires and and I'm done. However it took a hell of alot longer that I thought. Plus I spent $700 bucks just for cosmetics that the ROW gets for free. ( I must be nuts)
As previously mentioned I gave both bumpers and my lower valence to a bodyshop to be professionally fixed and painted.While that was getting fixed I started sorting the euro mounts and lights. The euro bumper mounts were straightened in the vise,lightly sanded, rust encapsulated, and sprayed satin black.


The turn signal lamps that came with my euro bumper had broken mounting ears all around so I decided to use mine. The steel screws in the aluminum bumper plus 30 years in front of the car explains the broken mounting ears. I had to drill most of them out. (plus an extra half hour with the drill doctor putting the bits right again)I also swapped turn signal lens. Euros (on the left) are a bit different as you can see below.


The fog lamps were the metal case variety so I had to sand, rust encapsulate and spray. I had the wherewithall to cut off the fog lamp connectors that were on the euro type car so I soldered them onto my fog lamp wires, ran a new ground, heat shrunk the connections and taped it all up. Also, my front valence was mangled pretty bad so I decided to fix it. There are supposed to be blind nuts that are held captive in the valence and attach to the rad support but the mouting brackets were mangled and someone had used regular nuts and bolts which took forever to get off. I finally got it off and banged it back into a decent shape and welded a few cracks. That also took forever as the metal is thin and is kinda like a wet noodle when you handle it. I also handed that off to the bodyshop guy.

Removing the old bumpers was relatively easy. Remove four 10 mm bolts at each end and they slide right out. In the front you just have to disconnect the turnsignals. The rear was more involved since I have
the "mudflaps" on my car and had to remove some nuts in the hatch area in the rear wheel wells and some more screws underneath. There are also 2 blind screws you have to remove to get the black plastic "bumper extension" pieces off the US car body. I pryed the rubber back where the it meets the body and they were right there.

I installed the rear bumper first. Bolting it up is easy but after much fiddlef@cking around with the mounts and the bumper I came to the conclusion it was never going to get close enough to the car body. Up and down was good after elongating the holes on the mount but fore/aft wasnt happening, it looked like it was floating in space.After some gentle filing to elongate the fiberglass mounting holes it looked better and after umpteen times of filing and test fitting it looked good. (enough for me)

The front bumper was much of the same, filing and test fitting the bumper to get it close enough to the body to look good.


I do have the rubber thingies for in between the lights, I just forgot to put them on for the picture.
So there is the final product. I think it's worth it, but only time will tell. If you're thinking of doing it to your car I hope this helps out in some way.
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1982 931- Stock with MBC at 8psi

Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

[tyfighter123]

Looks great! I had to fiddle around with mine as well to get them to line up. You should post some more pictures of the finished product.
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Porsche 924 1977 N/A
Mustang GT/CS 2007
Porsche 924S 1987 (parts car)(cut up and recycled)
Porsche 911S 1976
Porsche 931 1980
Porsche 931 1980 (parts car)

[Ponz]

Sometimes the mounts are bent but not noticed. What you can do is add washer between the mount and the body to eliminate a space problem either to the top hole or the bottom. Don't worry about crash protection. The bumpers are not strong.

What you can do is lay in some fiberglass on the back side. I did this to the GT rear fenders as I did not like that the flares were thin. Fiberglass kits are cheap.
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77 1/2 track car
79 931 Euro
87 911 Targa

[Ponz]

Sorry
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77 1/2 track car
79 931 Euro
87 911 Targa

[peterld]

Looks good...just like factory OEM Euro!
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80/81 932/8 ROW

[Joes924Racer]

Sharp buddy ...I need to get a rear bumper like that
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1979 porsche 924 Na
1980 porsche Turbo 931GT Replica
Have u ever driven a turbo.