2500M: rechrome or replace bumpers?

[Renaldo]

Hello all. My Ms rear chrome bumpers are badly in need of replating. No gloss left and polishing doesn't seem to improve them.

Are new steel/chrome ones available, and if so are they any good? Or am I best off to just get mine redone? What about cost?

I suppose it's too much to expect that good used ones would be available anywhere.

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.

[jastx]

From all posts I have seen about this, it appears no new or used chrome bumpers are available anymore. Rechroming is your only alternative. I'd like to get my hands on a set.

[Renaldo]

You've confirmed what I suspected. I've never had any rechroming done.

I imagine it's costly?

[Slow M]

There are people, as I recall, who have cut down Triumph units. I may be mistaken.

Best,
B.

[Adrian@]

The OE item can be created out of the Triumph bumper 2000 non rubber insert version (I have several of these to do this job if I need to) BUT stripping/cutting/end plating-welding/dressing/coppering/chroming/polishing of newly created items, WHEN I NEED to make 8 to get 4 good items far outweighs the cost of strip/fettle/copper/chrome/polish of old items.
Adrian@

[thegamekeeper]

Ron if you already have good bumpers whose only fault is they have been polished to death then those are you best option, cant see the point in buying Triumph bumpers, cutting and shutting them to make 2 bumpers out of 4 attempts. If you go along that route you will, after considerable expense arrive at where you already are, with some bumpers that need chroming.

Word of advice, dont try to get them chromed on the cheap, you will end up doing them again. The major problem with getting it wrong, apart from the obvious expense is having the poor chrome removed to start again. This inevitably involves removing some of the original metal too and do that a couple of times and you end up with cooking foil.
Over the years I have tried numerous UK companies to do chroming and would now only recommend 2 if you treasure what you are doing.

You also have the option of making stainless bumpers. I have done this and never again. It took me a LOT of hours cutting and wheeling the component parts, they then have to be welded together in 2 jigs(these take even longer to make than the bumpers), straightening them from the distortion, grinding and making good and then dressing and polishing them.


These were some I made earlier

[thegamekeeper]

Each is made out of 7 pieces, not sure if this pic will show that.

[Renaldo]

Thanks all!

The conclusion I draw from all this is to get mine rechromed to the best quality I can find!

Not sure what that is locally for me (Winnipeg, Canada) but I'll start looking...

[GAjon]

Renaldo said:

Thanks all!

The conclusion I draw from all this is to get mine rechromed to the best quality I can find!

Not sure what that is locally for me (Winnipeg, Canada) but I'll start looking...

I'd start by looking at motorbike restoration company's they usually have to deal with a lot of chrome work.

[Renaldo]

Good tip! This may be an incredibly dumb question, but I'll put it out there regardless.

A quick look at my rear bumpers made it look almost impossible to access them for removal.

How do you get at them? Rear wheels off, I'm assuming?

[GAjon]

On mine its from inside behind and just under your petrol tank, a real bastid of a job with the window and tank in place.

[Renaldo]

Ouch!

Sounds like a pig of a job!

[Slow M]

thegamekeeper said:

Each is made out of 7 pieces, not sure if this pic will show that.

They're beautiful! Do you still have any? How much are/were you selling them for? What grade of stainless do/did you use?

Best,
B.

[GAjon]

A couple of pics to give you the general idea of what your up against.


Mounting points from outside the body


One of the fixing s from inside, note -they are normally threaded studs with double nuts on the inside, I changed mine to stainless steel set screws at some point.

[Renaldo]

Great photos! From what they show, I don't how I could do this without rear glass out.

And that's a job that scares the life out of me (damaging that rear glass could present a whole host of new problems for me).

By the way, beautiful wood dash! My M's is all vinyl, but I'm looking to construct a wood one for it.

Did yours come with the car or did you make it up?

[thegamekeeper]

It is not too difficult to remove bumpers without removing rear window. Easy access with fuel tank removed which is fairly easy once you,ve emptied it it should be out in 30 minutes. Make sure you spray lots of penetrating oil on bolts for a long time before you try to remove, they,ve been there 35+ years and probably like being there. Rear window is harder to break than you think, toughened glass. Front laminated is much more fragile

[Renaldo]

Steve, sounds more manageable. And I'm glad to hear the rear glass is tough. I've had some nightmares thinking about what I'd do if it broke. Certainly no access to the part for me anywhere in Canada that I'm aware of.

[thegamekeeper]

Slow M said:

thegamekeeper said:

Each is made out of 7 pieces, not sure if this pic will show that.

They're beautiful! Do you still have any? How much are/were you selling them for? What grade of stainless do/did you use?

Best,
B.

Thank you, yes I still have them, took them out of loft today to photograph. I made them as a one off for my own car. They are an absolute bar steward to make, especially if like me you dont know what you are doing. Making one is relatively easy but getting the shape and profile for the rest is uber difficult. Stainless work hardens so the more you shape it the harder it gets especially when you do it in 2 planes (double curvature). I dont think it would be commercialy viable for me to make any, the time and calming beer would be VERY expensive. I still have the jigs somewhere if you fancy having a go! I would have to look at the steel stockholders invoice to tell you the grade but its very thick which helps in the welding but not in the wheeling.


ps Ga John is the man to ask about stainless steel fabrication

[GAjon]

Renaldo said:

By the way, beautiful wood dash! My M's is all vinyl, but I'm looking to construct a wood one for it.

Did yours come with the car or did you make it up?

Mine came with the car its one of the Ml's made by the factory.

thegamekeeper said:

ps Ga John is the man to ask about stainless steel fabrication

Hats off Steve they look a fantastic job from the photos, and the skills required to produce something like them are a rare thing nowadays even in the steel fabrication industry.

[Slow M]

thegamekeeper said:

Thank you, yes I still have them, took them out of loft today to photograph. I made them as a one off for my own car. They are an absolute bar steward to make, especially if like me you dont know what you are doing. Making one is relatively easy but getting the shape and profile for the rest is uber difficult. Stainless work hardens so the more you shape it the harder it gets especially when you do it in 2 planes (double curvature). I dont think it would be commercialy viable for me to make any, the time and calming beer would be VERY expensive. I still have the jigs somewhere if you fancy having a go! I would have to look at the steel stockholders invoice to tell you the grade but its very thick which helps in the welding but not in the wheeling.


ps Ga John is the man to ask about stainless steel fabrication

Though I'm not opposed to contributing to your nerve calming fund, I think I'll steer my focus back to light weight. The back will be shaved and the front will have to do with my super lightweight fiberglass "pretend" bumpers. Your untarnishable shameless steel ones do look damn nice, and tempting, though.

Best,
B.