Covering bumper bracket holes.

Sounds good, except it eliminates; “In case I or the next owner wants to return to a bumpered look.”

Once epoxied on, it will be extremely hard to remove for any purpose without taking the underlying paint with it.

I would think that a page out of modern cars might help and use a plastic, color-matched cover like the jack hole covers on modern cars.  Plus, there are a LOT of bumper-less VW’s still running around SoCal, so maybe someone makes a plastic cover that just pops in.  It’s just an oval slot.

I found Bumperplugs.com but those are different products.  Maybe Stoddards?  I wonder what the steel-bodied outlaws use?

You can use thin plastic piece round the corners a bit, than 3M adhesive tape will keep them in place and also be removable with a hair drier if needed.  What comes to mind is a black home roof vent that is made of the thin plastic.....

Why not just use the VW gasket that goes around the bumper bracket --- and using black RTV/silicone fill in the slight slot in the center.  It will sit just a little proud of the body but won't look like an obvious patch.  It would cover any uneven slot in the fiberglass.  Forget what Allen said he attached it with but RTV/silicon would work and be removable.  There are 2 sizes (or 3?) - the post '73 ones are bigger and probably wrong ones.

Could you not make a plug like the side body torsion bar tube cover and hold it down from behind ... that might work and be removable. 

Wolfgang:

Yeah that is an option. just glue em' closed I have the ones that came on the car.

Gordon:

If I was careful and wanted to return to the bumpers I could work from the back using a dremel or similar device and simply make new holes if I covered them from the front with plastic. any mess up would be covered by the VW bumper gaskets in Wolfgang's pics above.  Not glassing them in and leaving the underlying holes eliminates re-measuring if I want to go back.

I'm looking for a pic of the car I saw them on, but they are all from the front, and he left the openings on the front for custom driving light brackets.

Ray:

Good idea.

The more I think about it, the more I like the VW Sedan bumper bracket rubber gasket.

It can be trimmed to fit nicely against the body (it's already shaped about the same as the body curve) and it can be applied with black latex caulk to hold it on.  Just use some masking tape (or the ever-dependable, "Blue Tape") to hold it in position while the caulk cures and you're done.  

Before you assemble the gasket to the car, set the rubber gasket on a piece of wax paper such that the front (where the bumper bracket would be coming out of) is face down on the wax paper, then shoot a semi-liberal amount of black latex caulk into the bottom of the gasket void to fill it down to the wax paper.  Let it set up overnight.

Next morning, peel off the wax paper (the caulk only lightly sticks to the wax) and trim if necessary, then position it on the car and glue in on with more black latex caulk and tape it in place.  Accuracy and alignment counts, here, as both left and right have to look good when done.

The plus is that they can be removed later on without messing with the paint.

So sayeth the Gordon, so tryeth the Bob!

I'll let you know how that works.

Panhandle Bob posted:

Some of you may remember the outlaw silver Speedster on Jay Leno's garage a couple years back that was built by a guy in the upper Midwest.

He had removed the bumpers and brackets and made some kind of unobtrusive covers for the remaining holes.

I am looking at doing the same thing perhaps, in case I or the next owner wants to return to a bumpered look.

I am thinking about using some form of sheet plastic, cutting to size, priming and painting and then using an epoxy to attach.

Any recommendations on materials or technique?

Thanks in advance.

Bob, if these are the round plugs you speak off, I've seen them at Home Depot of all places  in  the specialty fittings,  in the nut, bolt screw hardware section.  While looking for tiny, tiny cotter pins for brake pad retaining pins.

Thanks, Art. The picture in Wolfgang's post is the shape of the holes and those grommets are what were there when I got the car. I just got the black latex caulk that Gordon recommended and I have those grommets so I'll try fabbing up plugs as he suggested. I'll post some pics as this unfolds, just for grins and giggles.

I doubt many others are interested in this but I'm going to see it through to the bitter end.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I tried Gordon's and found that the grommets became really heavy, comparatively, once I trimmed and filled the hole.

Great idea, just didn't execute it well.

I went to Lowe's and wandered for about twenty minutes thinking about what would work. As I was meandering through the flooring section I noticed the flexible rubber baseboard material. It's light, flexible to go around a curve, would take paint and could be applied using the same silicone that holds it to a wall.

So, about $10.00 later I was on my way.

Used the grommets as a template and cut out four matching pieces from the baseboard material. Sanded, primed, rattle canned three coats of body color matching paint I had made a couple years ago, finished with two coats of spray clear coat.

Taped off the area around the holes to guarantee straight fit, applied the adhesive and stuck them on.

If I want to go back to bumpers, these should be easily removable and because of where they are placed, the bumper bracket grommets would cover any damage.

I have seen similar bumper bracket covers on other cars, including replicas and steel cars as well.  Really simple fix. Not to everyone's liking but I am moving inexorably towards a minimalist outlaw look and this will work for now.

Fun little project.

Wow. That's a 5 star !!!! *****

Nice job Bob. I'm saving this to my hard drive.

Art

Art:

Depending on the angle of the sun and the light, they can become almost invisible.

I put the front ones on and they are even less obtrusive.

Thanks for the kind comment.

I had no idea such DIY talents existed on the Panhandle - Especially during Hurricane Season!

A great solution, nicely executed.  Well Done, Bob!

Nicely done! Looks great!

This is how the front covers came out.

Geez......   Looks "Factory"!

They look great, Bob!

If I do it again I will thin out the outer edges a bit to lose the abruptness of the transition to the surface of the car. Still, the material is only about 1/16" thick so you only catch the shadow of the edge in certain light.

Now I am working on installing inside door buffer handles. Not fun!

Well it certainly getting close   We just need a picture with you assuming this pose  

How would it look if the rubber material were cut to fit inside the hole in the body and a larger square piece affixed behind the body panel and then the smaller cutout piece glue to the larger piece?

Good idea, Robert. Another way to skin the cat. 

IaM-Ray posted:

Well it certainly getting close   We just need a picture with you assuming this pose  

Whittle off about 2" of chin and that's me. (Less all the money and the great warehouse, the car collection, the TV show, talent, etc, etc.)

If you look at the rear end of that same car, that is what I copied. The covers on that car are rectangles though. I thought the rounded corners on what I fabbed went better with the roundness of the car.  Few sharp angles. Matter of taste, no wrong answers.

Wish I had that paint!

Robert:

Those holes in the body to accommodate the bumper brackets are pretty rough around the edges and I think cutting plugs just right would have been a real PITA. Not impossible at all, but not much fun.

It looks like they were cut out and then filed a bit, but unevenly.

I just caught your solution, Bob – that is fantastic! I would expect nothing less from you. 

Thanks, Stan. I remember our conversations when I first got the car about my reluctance to start fiddling around again with fixing or changing anything because it had been years since I had done anything of that nature.

Too busy working and trying to take care of the family to get my hands dirty or think about fixes.

You have always been encouraging and I really appreciate it.

That was one of the briliiant silvers that P put out, Rhodium Silver I believe, which I considered for my car.  It is quite bright. There are so many silvers out there and so many colours go with a 356 shape no matter what you choose the next day you think I should of got that one...   

Don't feel bad about a hiatus in automotive/fixing things, Bob

"Life gets in the way" for just about all of us.  I gave up cars from 1977 til 1993 for that reason.  Between work and family, here just weren't any cycles left.

Bob,

That looks great!  Excellent job on making the filler pieces.  I have removed my bumpers and installed nerf bars, but after seeing yours I am having second thoughts about the nerf bars.  That's a really good looking car!  

Thanks, James. 

It is in dire need of fresh paint. Has a couple of dings, but nothing major.

If I can help in any way at all, let me know. This was a very simple fix, and I think a reasonable compromise in lieu of fiber glassing them shut and repainting. Then guessing where the holes were if you want to go back to bumpers.

If you do not have fog lights the Leno car with lights in the bumper location workd as well.

Ray:

That is just a great looking car. He had aluminum brackets fabbed up specifically for  those driving lights as I recall. I need to watch that episode of Leno's Garage again. 

I know he sold the car shortly after the show aired. I had some brief communication with him.

I know that he had the top reconfigured to be lower and he might have chopped the windshield as well.

I think that may be my favorite outlawed Speedster.

IaM-Ray posted:

That was one of the briliiant silvers that P put out, Rhodium Silver I believe, which I considered for my car.  It is quite bright. There are so many silvers out there and so many colours go with a 356 shape no matter what you choose the next day you think I should of got that one...   

 

We are heading out to the local Porsche dealer this weekend to check out the Rhodium Silver on a couple of cars they have in stock. Does anyone know if this Speedster is in fact Rhodium? The owner says “Later model” silver. If I can find out his color, it will be the spec on my repaint.

Brian

Porsche GT silver is insane per quart.  Porsche Rhodium Silver and Platinum silver are both expensive ...in the sunlight one has a very slight blueish tint and the other slight brown tint but I don't recall which is which. 

Stop at a number of new car dealers on a Sunday, when you can look in peace.  Look around for a pleasing sliver and on that window sticker will be the paint name.  

Silvers I have used:     Honda Heather Mist Metallic and Porsche Artic Silver .

had an 06 P C4, arctic silver,nice medium silver color, easy color to keep clean, silver gets boring after awhile..

Alan Merklin posted:

Porsche GT silver is insane per quart.  Porsche Rhodium Silver and Platinum silver are both expensive ...in the sunlight one has a very slight blueish tint and the other slight brown tint but I don't recall which is which. 

Stop at a number of new car dealers on a Sunday, when you can look in peace.  Look around for a pleasing sliver and on that window sticker will be the paint name.  

Silvers I have used:     Honda Heather Mist Metallic and Porsche Artic Silver .

I read that the Rhodium has the blue tint. So when you go to an Auto Body or paint supply house, say to buy paint for a repair, they will not have the formula to provide the Porsche colors? Is it all proprietary to Porsche? If so, that really sucks! I have been observing silvers and VW has a bright one too. It is like you could spend a fortune on these cars or something ...Oh the madness!!

barncobob posted:

had an 06 P C4, arctic silver,nice medium silver color, easy color to keep clean, silver gets boring after awhile..

I know silver can be humdrum after awhile. My Coupe is patina’d silver and I have been using Plasti-dip paint to add stripes and graphics to the car. When you get tired of that, you peel it off and try something else.

P.  Gt silver is darkish

rhodium is vey bright 

Jaguar has similar colours 

the other older silver is not as bright and there is even another in between

It goes on

Bob it is really nice I just would not be able to get in it

Ray:

I could fall into it, but I'd have to crawl out of it. Sort of embarrassing to drive up to a restaurant and get out of your car on your hands and knees.

I've come out of a few places on my hands and knees, but that's another story.