# Endura Bumper Brackets



## Chad5.0 (Dec 13, 2016)

I have a 69 GTO in my shop that another shop did some work on. We are working on lining up the front sheetmetal and Endura bumper. There are some brackets missing and I believe it has the wrong radiator support in it. I am looking for a source for the brackets and if anybody knows if a different support will fit these cars. Any help is appreciated so we can get this car looking better.


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## Chad5.0 (Dec 13, 2016)

Pics of what we have. You can see in the pics where the radiator support has been modified, that is why we are thinking it is not correct.


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## Pinion head (Jan 3, 2015)

Chad5.0 said:


> Pics of what we have. You can see in the pics where the radiator support has been modified, that is why we are thinking it is not correct.


In the 3rd pic to the right, it looks like there has been some thin sheetmetal cut & welded to the front of the lower channel of the core support to attach to the upright where rust was taking its toal. The endura bumper brackets coming off the front of the frame horns appears to be correct (non hideaway) bumper brackets. Have several original core supports in my warehouse can look @ closer, if needed.


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## Chad5.0 (Dec 13, 2016)

Pinion head said:


> In the 3rd pic to the right, it looks like there has been some thin sheetmetal cut & welded to the front of the lower channel of the core support to attach to the upright where rust was taking its toal. The endura bumper brackets coming off the front of the frame horns appears to be correct (non hideaway) bumper brackets. Have several original core supports in my warehouse can look @ closer, if needed.


The reason we think it is the wrong support is because of all the fit issues this car has. According to the fender to door line the support needs to go up, but the fan shroud has already been trimmed to clear the fan so if we go up with it the fan will be hitting again. It looked to me like somebody just cut the support to make the endura brackets fit, but I have never seen one unmodified so I could be wrong. 
We are in need of the brackets for the ends of the endura bumper since they were lost when the first shop did their work on it, is that something you would have and be willing to sell?
Any help is appreciated, I feel bad for this guy. He is retired and was starting to get into old cars, the shop that did the work on this took him to the cleaners and now I am left to try to make things right.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Word to the wise. If the height of the core support in relation to the rest of the car isn't dead on, you'll never get that bumper aligned. Those slotted holes in the 'rams horn' brackets give you the false impression that they're adjustable - hah. If you'll loosen one of them and move it, you'll see that when you move it front to back, it also moves up and down at the same time. It's not possible to adjust the 'height' of the bracket independently of the 'depth'. That's why you've got to get the height of the fenders (which is determined only by the height of the core support, plus shims) perfect in order to get the bumper to fit right.

Bear


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## Pinion head (Jan 3, 2015)

Managed to go out & examine several original core supports. Looking at your pics, & comparing, your customers coresupport is definitely a late '60's Pontiac v8 A-body, from the few pics, can tell that by the die stamping of the uprights. Chevy, Buick, & Olds did not use these die stamped pieces in their coresupports.

Through the years have ran across several different odd "fixes" to coresupports, not only ones coming out of own parts cars, but from restorable coresupports I've picked up in yards, swappers, & from other Pontiac guys. Again, looking at 3rd pic to the right, it appears the coresupport has been reinforced along the lower rail with some formed sheet metal. This appears to have taken up some room above the plane of the top of the lower rail. This would in effect not allow the top of the lower rail to adjust as high as it could. Ran across a similar deal where owner was trying to repair blown out coresupport mtg hole with steel plate cut from a lawn mower blade. When welded in on the top of the stamped lower rail, the "fix" limited the adjustment up of the coresupport. The fan is rubbing in the top of the fan shroud? Have seen this many times where coresupport mtg holes are rotted out and/or bushings are rotted out & coresupport ends up setting too low. If fan is scraping inside the bottom of fan shroud, you have another problem. Typically this latter & very common problem is caused by frame cradle sag, many times exacerbated by the use of new cheap Chinese trans mount (the junk mount is too thick). To get front of the engine up slightly & correct fan centered in the fanshroud, it typically takes pulling engine, removing the frame brackets, then tracing out & making spacers out of 1/8" steel plate to insert between the frame cradle & the bottom of the frame brackets. In last few years, comercially available frame stand spacers have come avail, but @ 1/4" thick, many times they are a litle too thick.


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