# 68 Endura Bumper



## kilkm68 (May 5, 2011)

I just bought a 68 LeMans GTO Clone. The GTO Endura bumper does not fit well, big gap between the bottom of the bumper and fender. Does the LeMans have to be modified or is this just a bad reproduction? I read something about The chrome LeMans bumpers had a filler piece, does this car need this? Any difference between the GTO and LeMans front ends?


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

There is no filler piece for the endura bumper. They do not attach in any way to the front fenders and if any of your pieces are not original to the car they will not fit, at least in my experience. 

I used used fenders on my car (before repro's) and a used endura bumper from another car and the fender contour was almost 1/4 in. different from fender to fender using a contour gauge. You could actually see where the spotwelded inner fender structure was in a different location from fender to fender. Obviously terrible quality control at the time. Unfortunately for me I did'nt fit it up until after I had done all the repairs and bodywork. :shutme

I talked with a gentleman at a car show once who claimed he worked at the Cal. Fremont plant when they made these cars and he said they took a big body grinder to the endura nose to match up the contour of the fender on the assy line.


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## Krogersgto (Aug 5, 2017)

Endura bumpers are easily manipulated. If the nose is bumped on the bottom the frame brackets act as a fulcrum point and the bottom end or ends will go forward and cause that gap. If the nose is bumped on the top the same thing will happen on the upper ends where the bumper contacts the fenders. In 1969 the factory added a reinforcement steel wedge to the bumper brackets to reduce this issue. Don't throw them away. A trick i used when i was young is i took a rope or chain or what ever was avail wrapped around a telephone phone pole and hook the lower part of the nose and put the car in reverse and gently pull the bumper back into shape. Takes only a few minutes. What you should never do is grind an endura bumper.. never grind on an endura bumper. If it doesn't fit well it's slightly bent. They can easily be manipulated to perfection with just a little effort. Too much effort and you can ruin the bumper. When these bumpers were made new they had a thinner lip on the ends and top that snugged up againts the fenders. There should not be any gap on the top and sides between the fenders and bumper. This area of the bumper wore first and usually ground away. Also there should be a slight recess notched out of the bumper for the hood to open and close. On a prestine bumper that recess can be seen very clearly. The inside edge of the bumper follows the contour of the hood perfectly. GTO fenders are slightly different from le mans fenders. Do not replace gto fenders on a gto with le mans fenders. If your gto fenders have rust then repair the fenders unless you have prestine factory GTO fenders. GTO fenders will not have the slotted holes in the front inner brace. The holes are for the rubber filler on chrome bumpers, GTO fenders will also have the holes for the gto emblems that go above the rocker molding. Hope this info helps


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## BLK69JUDGE (Jun 10, 2010)

GTO fenders are slightly different from le mans fenders. Do not replace gto fenders on a gto with le mans fenders. If your gto fenders have rust then repair the fenders unless you have prestine factory GTO fenders. GTO fenders will not have the slotted holes in the front inner brace. The holes are for the rubber filler on chrome bumpers,


Hmmmmmmm .............

I think that may be up for debate ........... I have owned over 20 real 68 9 gto's alot of em with original gto fenders still intact .... 
and 40 or 50 68 9 lemans's tempests and never had one fender that was originally factory filled on the lead edge ....

but there is a couple hundred thousand fenders made I havent seen ...........so its up for debate....

maybe different part number between a 69 lemans and gto because of the many L e M a n s letters and the holesit took to mount the emblems .... but ...

Scott


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## Krogersgto (Aug 5, 2017)

Only original gto fenders do not have the slotted holes for the rubber filler that are used on le mans cars with the chrome front bumpers. Fenders have different part numbers. That's a fact.


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## Pinion head (Jan 3, 2015)

Krogersgto said:


> Only original gto fenders do not have the slotted holes for the rubber filler that are used on le mans cars with the chrome front bumpers. Fenders have different part numbers. That's a fact.


Where are you getting the '68 & 69 GTO fender has a different part number than same year Tempest/Custom S/LeMans fenders? 

35 years of pulling original '68 & 69 GTO & LeMans fenders, as well as owning 2 '69 Judges with original fenders, as well as examining a 34,000 mile original RA4 Judge when it came a part for a very high level Concours restoration, all had the 5 slots in front flange area of each fender.


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