Front Bumper Mounting on an AK

[RobinH]

Would someone please shed a bit more light on how the front bumper is mounted on an AK. The manual describes two options, of which I'm interested in the later (post 2002). Apparently it does not attach to the chassis at all A photo would be great! Thanks

[kayjayd]

Never mounted a bumber myself and don't ever intend to either

Bumpers - now there I can help. You'll have two pieces of angle in your kit of parts from AK that you haven't fathomed a use for yet. You mount these on the inside of the inner wing as per the photo. I'm running quick lifts on mine but the mounting is the same. If you need any more pics let me know.

[RobinH]

Originally Posted by kayjayd

Never mounted a bumber myself and don't ever intend to either

Bumpers - now there I can help. You'll have two pieces of angle in your kit of parts from AK that you haven't fathomed a use for yet. You mount these on the inside of the inner wing as per the photo. I'm running quick lifts on mine but the mounting is the same. If you need any more pics let me know.

Huge thanks Kev.

Lets hope my car construction skills are not more generally affected by my dyslexia!

[kayjayd]

Originally Posted by RobinH

Lets hope my car construction skills are not more generally affected by my dyslexia!

No offence intended Went through the possibilities of a dyslexia diagnosis with my 12 year old a while back. I was ignorant of the many variations this condition can take. Great that schools are very aware of it these days though and things can be done to help.

One thing to note about mounting the bumper bracketery, small holes first then open them out gradually. The curvature of that part of the body is very deceptive when you're trying to make a round hole. Nothing that a bit of P38 filler can't fix but always good to get it right first time.

[Carl Leonard]

Are these brackets not slightly mounted at an angle so that the over ridder slopes towards the car?

[kayjayd]

Originally Posted by Carl Leonard

Are these brackets not slightly mounted at an angle so that the over ridder slopes towards the car?

Yes they would be but mine are near vertical as I'm mounting quick lifts on them. I only posted the pic as rough reference.

[Neil O]

You can make the holes bigger to start with and then set up the tube and threaded bar as you want it. Wrap something about 3mm thick around the tube where it passes through the body and tape with insulating tape to stop the filler sticking to it. I used heatshrink, slid the tube (in my case solid turned down s/s) out and the heatshrink comes away cleanly after filling.
Fill around this to make the holes the right size and take out the tube etc as above. Sand it to suit with a narrow strip to get a rounded edge and hey presto! Unless you're going to use grommets or escutchion (sp?) plates, then you just need clearance to prevent the tubes rubbing on the bodywork.

[RobinH]

Originally Posted by kayjayd

One thing to note about mounting the bumper bracketery, small holes first then open them out gradually. The curvature of that part of the body is very deceptive when you're trying to make a round hole. Nothing that a bit of P38 filler can't fix but always good to get it right first time.

Good advice about cutting holes in the fibreglass in general I think. I'm thinking of re-positioning my role-over hoop to get it to line up with the drivers seat, although this means cutting more bloody great holes in a bit of body that will really show, plus filling the old ones. I dont know if I have the bottle?

[Miket]

Originally Posted by RobinH

Good advice about cutting holes in the fibreglass in general I think. I'm thinking of re-positioning my role-over hoop to get it to line up with the drivers seat, although this means cutting more bloody great holes in a bit of body that will really show, plus filling the old ones. I dont know if I have the bottle?

Robin

Don't forget that the outside leg of the roll bar mounting also carries your top seat belt mount, if you move it any further to the offside your top seat belt mount won't be central with the seat and hence won't be in a position to pass the SVA.

[kayjayd]

Originally Posted by Miket

Don't forget that the outside leg of the roll bar mounting also carries your top seat belt mount, if you move it any further to the offside your top seat belt mount won't be central with the seat and hence won't be in a position to pass the SVA.

I thought about this myself and arrived at the same conclusion as you Mike. You could always move and re-weld the seatbelt mounting part of the rollbar bracket. I decided it was too much hassle for not a lot of benefit.