# Fitting a 69 Endura Bumper



## moparmusclecars (Jul 6, 2012)

Working on a 69 GTO and the endura bumper appears to have been possibly hit on the passenger side and repaired at one time as it will not even fit the contour of the fender on the passenger side. Looking at it sitting on the car, even the grille opening seems a bit different on the passenger side, as opposed to the drivers side. Even with the bracket bolts out and simply moving it trying to get it to align with the fenders it never aligns with the passenger side. It is sitting up at the top outside tip at least 1/2 inch. If you push it down, the drivers side becomes unaligned and goes high. It is like this bumper is tweaked quite a bit. Is there any way to really straighten this bumper? I am thinking this is more than an alignment issue. The customer has informed me it would take some wrestling to fit as it came off another car, but it is way off. Are these bumpers only mounted by the two inward mounting brackets? What goes in the end holes in the fenders? Gaskets of some kind, or should this bumper mount to the fenders someway there? If someone might have some experience with these bumpers and can help, I would appreciate it. I have pics I can send someone by email too.:confused


----------



## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

For some obscure reason, getting the Endura to fit on a 69 is one of the hardest jobs there is to do. Right up there with achieving world peace, ending poverty, curing cancer, finding an honest politician, etc. 

I'm attaching a PDF to this reply that has a diagram of the mounts. Everything mounts to those two big L-shaped brackets, nothing connects directly to the fenders. One thing I discovered putting my car back together was that it's essential to get the core support installed correctly and at the right height, otherwise you'll never be able to get the bumper to line up square with the front edges of the fenders AND be at the right height AND be "tight" to the front edges of the fenders.

Bear


----------



## 68GTO4004Spd (Jun 19, 2008)

You will also new a whole new arsonal of swear words. Those holes on the front fender are for a rubber gasket/spacer that was ONLY used on the chrome bumper cars.


----------



## moparmusclecars (Jul 6, 2012)

Thanks for the replies guys! I apreciate the diagram, I was looking for that too. I see already the customer did not give me the stabilizers, which would help with the gap from the front bumper to the hood. I spoke with a friend who has a body shop in my hometown, and has owned quite a few GTO's over the years, and he said they are a pain too. I explained to him even merely holding the bumper up to the fenders it is not even remotely close on the passenger fender. Looking straight on at the bumper, it looks almost like it has been hit on the lower passenger side, as I have said, and tweaked it up. He mentioned at times you can pull them on a frame rack and straighten them somewhat, but not always. I have just found that The parts Place Inc. sells a new repo endura bumper for $459.00 This seems like a good alternative to trying to fix this one. The aligning I am sure takes time, but in my mind, when you can't even hold it up in place and have it be somewhat close, it is twisted or out of shape. The customer did tell me he had repaired it, and if I remember correctly he said it was broken in half. I don't think it is straight. If anyone has any further suggestions, I would love to hear them. There really should be no reason I would need to hog the holes out in the mounting brackets, providing the frame is straight and the brackets are straight. I have pics if anyone is wanting to see them, private message me, and I can send them to you.


----------



## FlambeauHO (Nov 24, 2011)

I've heard nothing but horror stories about reproduction endura ... make sure you ask around


----------



## bondobill (Oct 24, 2011)

I feel for ya.
I probably have a good 50 hours or more in my sons 68.
Just about anything can be fixed if you got the patience.
His bumper was bent way back on the drivers side, down in the center, and wasn't even close to matching the top of the fenders on both sides.
After pulling it around on the frame rack we found it was easier to bend with a 4x4 2 feet longer than the length of the bumper . Chained bumper on each end to the 4x4s, had chains just long enough so we could use a porta power between the 4x4 and bumper, they bend pretty easy but only to a point.His was bent so bad at the notch in bumper for the jack that we had to cut the bar from the bottom of the notch so the bumper would bend further forward on the bottom. Welded that back afterwards. 
Some good products out there now days for filling and repair of the rubber.
We had to add better than a 1/4" of material to the top of bumper to get it to match up with the hood and the inner edge to fenders, we had to add material to inside of bumper at the outer top edge at fender because we needed to take off material there and there wasn't enough of the original rubber left.
Any ways it can be done with lots of time and patience
and a fridge stocked with lots of beer 
Bill


----------



## moparmusclecars (Jul 6, 2012)

Thanks guys for the replies. I got with the customer and showed him the bumper mounted and we have decided I will try and straighten it. Guess i just need to be patient. As far as repo endura bumpers the ones available are junk I was informed by The Parts Place. At least he was honest. It sounds as though they have quit selling them too. He said the fit was terrible. Dynacorn Corp sells them too, but Part Place believes they are the same manufacturer. Ya, i guess we could buy 6 bumpers off ebay and end up with 5 bent up ones. Just better to try and jack this one around. I will try first by bolting it about where I want it, and use two portapowers to move the metal backing around where I want it. I have floor pods, so I might just lift it up and put jack stands under the front suspension on each side and try using a ten ton pull back ram and drawn it down towards the floor pod. If i can just get it down on the passenger fender top crown about 1/2 inch I will be good to go. I might try jacking the fender up a bit asnd dropping the bumper down a bit to get my 1/2". Wish me luck. I will let you all know how it goes for me. Thanks again!


----------



## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

If all you need is 1/2" on one corner, you might consider modifying the mounting holes in the "ram horm" bumper bracket on that side to drop it down some.

I feel your pain --- it took me a good 2 weeks to get mine close to where I wanted it, and I was working with a brand-new never used genuine Pontiac bumper.

Bear


----------



## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

You might consider a fibreglass bumper. Much easier to work with and they are about 100 pounds lighter than the Endura. Not much good in an impact though.....just food for thought. :cheers


----------



## moparmusclecars (Jul 6, 2012)

I thought about a fiberglass bumper for two seconds, and even mentioning it to my customer got him mad lol he wants an endura bumper on his car. Yeah, I'm going to pull it down on that side. If i drop the bracket anymore, I lose my height with the hood badly. It is just in the end. I need to line it all up best as possible and then pull the end down. I bet most these bumpers are bent and twisted. If I can post pics I'd show you guys. I'm not sure I can post pics. Someone could make a fortune if they made a good repo.


----------



## 68GTO4004Spd (Jun 19, 2008)

Once you do get it fit up good, tighten the living crap out of those mounting bolts or the first time you jack up the car (on the frame rails of course), the bumper will be misaligned again.


----------



## wallybillslake (Oct 27, 2016)

This is incorrect. The early 68 GTO Endura Bumpers did have a rubber gasket spacer between the bumper & the sheet metal. 

This has been verified by Jim Wangers who stated that when the Endura bumpers were first installed on the early 68 cars, this rubber spacer was used because the engineers were'nt sure of how the Endura bumper would react to being fastened to the body. After some testing & experiencing actual cars sold to the public, it was found that the rubber spacer was not needed.

I happen to own one of these early 68 Gto's ( a convertible ) and my car does have this rubber spacer behind the Endura bumper.

Wally Obermann in Wisconsin
[email protected]


----------

