Slimwear

I'm done with the mechanical repairs of the Carrera that I bought over the winter and I'm starting to work through the cosmetic issues. I've replaced the targa top, dash covering, and various interior parts to spruce it up a little. Now I'm trying to replace the bumperettes which look ugly on the rear bumper. I've started with the left side of the bumper.

I've uploaded a primitive video to help with the description.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzMblMGWhQI

I have the replacement hardware and the bumperette rubber pieces. The nuts on the safety shock that are on there are rusted and I'm trying to get them off to replace them. In the video you'll see what remains of the nuts after I took a wire brush to them. The bolt near the baffle is a mess as well and you can see the remains sticking out of the bumper near the left baffle.

Any suggestions on my next steps? I would like to get the nuts off without damaging the thread on the bolt coming through the bumper. They actually look usable.

Thanks in advance,

Emery
(1986 911 Targa)

cal44

Emery, you have a bit of a mess. If it were me I would remove the bumper. Get a small grinder with a fiberglass wheel and go at it. Trying to save bolts is time consuming and bolts are cheap. This way you may find a few other things that could use attention. Perhaps upon install you can go stainless or copper or brass hardware.

Many times taking things apart, such as the bumper save time. If you are worried about the paint then wrap painters paper around the pretty parts. Don't forget eye protection.

Slimwear

Call44 - thanks for the response.

Are the bolts the end of the bumper shock? I thought that was were they are coming from but maybe I'm wrong. If that is the case I figured it would require a shock replacement which is the motivation for me to try to retain them. I'm ok with removing it all if that's the best way to do it.

theiceman

get underneath and see wether the shocks use bolts to hold the shocks on to the bumper.. if they do zip em off and get that bumper treated and painted up . if they are studs fastened to the shock flange you can always grind em off drill a hole and put a bolt through ..dome this lots with exhaust studs on exhaust flanges.

theiceman

Just checked my SC and on mine it is studs so I understand your motivation. You can't get heat on it as it will destroy the paint on your bumper .. what's left of it .. i imagine you have tried all sorts of PB blaster and kroil .. although it does look quite dry .. the only other option might be to dremmel the nuts as close as you can to the threads on opposite sides and chisel the nut off with a small chisel. After any of this yo wll have to run a metric die over the threads ro clean them up . Looking at this I would be wondering where else this kind of rust may be hiding .. FWIW i think you are replacing the rubber mouldng not the bumperette .. the bumperette ( or buffer in the partd book ) are the big rubber blocks...

Slimwear

Iceman - you are correct, it is the moulding. I was considering the dremmel tool as well but it will be a surgeon's touch not to do any addtional damage that I may not want. I knew there was a tool to clean the threads but I didn't know the name of it, thanks for the info. I'll work on it on Tuesday and report back.

I took a look under the car and I can't see any addtional rust but I may be taking the whole thing off later for piece of mind.

theiceman

Surgeons touch for sure ... tap and die sete are relatively cheap .. you may even be able to use a new steel nut of the same thread with some oil .. personally i would soak the thing in penetrant and get some big *** vice grips on at this point . work back and forth slowly you just want it to move . one it budges a tiny bit you are on your way ..

Edgy01

Another thing to do while you're in there is to seal up the rear bumperettes. They are molded of a rubber sort of material but their inner workings are steel--untreaded steel. Often there is a void in the molding of these things and that untreated steel is vulnerable. Get some resin or something to put over the voids and allow it to cure, effectively sealing the bumperettes from further damage. (Of course I'm referring to the two large bumper things on the rear that are bolted to that steel bumper).