Date:         Thu, 17 Oct 1996 14:17:32 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Derek Drew <drew@interport.net>
Subject:      Re: Front Bumper

At 10:10 AM 10/17/96 -0400, you wrote:
>Derek,
>
>I've really trashed mine as well, and was thinking about
>getting a fiberglass shop to cut out the license plate
>area, and reshape that into the contours of the
>rest of the bumper. Maybe boat repair places in Annapolis

This is a good idea. It is, in fact, required for those of us who drive off
road and so I did this myself on my own bumper about three years ago. I just
abused the bumper in other ways in the meantime.

It is easy to do yourself if you can borrow any kind of little saw, such as
a sawzall.

>might gladly take a job like that during the dead of winter.
>
>Want to do two? Or pull a mold off off one?
>
>Its not a high skill thing, but I am very allergic to fiberglass
>and epoxy, so I cannot do it.

Ask a neightborhood kid to do it. All it takes is 3 mins while the saw cuts
off the bottom half of the front license plate area.

>I presume mounting earlier steel bumpers is problematic,
>though I have not looked into it.

I wouldn't go this route as those early bumpers are more ugly and you'd have
to cut some metal mounting pieces off of your van, sort of an irreversable
crime in a way. 

>What are your thoughts?
>
>Tom
>
I think the answer is simply to trim the front bumper so that the license
plate area does not hang down, and then to perform the following procedure: 

a) coat the vehicle with saran wrap under the bumper
b) buy 6 tubes or so of GE silicone sealer material at the hardware store
and squirt these against the body of the vehicle.
c) install the front bumper and leave it on for a few weeks to allow the
goop to dry
d) remove the saran warap

Now you have a great deal of reinforcement under that bumper, so it can
better withstand direct hits without crumpling in against the body and cracking.
___________________________________
Derek Drew                           New York, NY
drew@interport.net (main address for e-mail)
derekdrew@aol.com (alternate/backup, checked infrequently)