SHINY NEW BUMPER

At the end of the first week of November I received an email from Thao in Vietnam, to say that Harrington's had their current batch of Stag stainless bumpers ready for distribution and did I still want a rear one. Yes I certainly did, I transferred the money by PayPal and a week later an extremely well wrapped and protected package arrived.

 I was immediately in the garage unpacking it and assembling the three sections. The finish was superb and it came complete with all the necessary nuts and bolts and rubber strips for fitting the over riders.

I took the following photos just before I removed the old bumper, showing the crumples on the side blades, the rust on the over riders and the dent in the centre section.

It was easy to remove the old bumper just four bolts, but then I needed to take off the thick steel fixing brackets that were still attached to the bumper. This was easier said than done as their nuts and bolts were rusted solid. I resorted to my angle grinder fitted with a cutting disc and cut away the old rusty over riders to give access to their bolts.

Once the brackets were removed I knew I couldn't refit them until they had been cleaned up and repainted. I resurrected my old cardboard spray booth and hung the four bits inside, but this time I just gave them three brushed coats of Smooth Hammerite. Not a perfect finish but more than adequate for where they were going.

All bolted back together and refitted to the back of Stella. I had to order two longer M10 bolts to fit the metric captive  nuts welded to the side blades, and a little trimming with my electric file to the flange where the right blade and centre section bolt together to allow the bracket to sit square.

Not the best of photos as I didn't want to start the engine just to back it out of the garage for photos, but there it is, no dents or blemishes and it will never go rusty, a major improvement combined with the filled and  sprayed back end. What next?