MGB Rubber to Chrome bumper conversion - how easy?
Discussion
Been looking at a number of MGB's recently, ideally want a chrome bumper model. Thing is, I have seen some rubber bumper models at very keen prices, and they are in decent condition too! This got Me thinking, should I but a mint rubber bumper GT and then buy a chrome bumper conversion kit? Is the conversion a relatively straightforward DIY job? So should I :
1) Do it as it will save Me loads of dosh.
2) Don't do it and save up a bit more & get a really nice chrome bumper model.
3) Buy an already converted rubber to chrome bumper model as it saves arsing about.
4) Find something else to do with my life!
Anyone on here done a rubber to chrome conversion?
Trouble is I'm getting impatient & want a car ASAP, the Vitesse is off the road due to needing lots of botched repairs re-doing and I want another classic thats ready to go whilst the Vit is being sorted.
Cheers
1) Do it as it will save Me loads of dosh.
2) Don't do it and save up a bit more & get a really nice chrome bumper model.
3) Buy an already converted rubber to chrome bumper model as it saves arsing about.
4) Find something else to do with my life!
Anyone on here done a rubber to chrome conversion?
Trouble is I'm getting impatient & want a car ASAP, the Vitesse is off the road due to needing lots of botched repairs re-doing and I want another classic thats ready to go whilst the Vit is being sorted.
Cheers
plenty of advice, information and debate on here and on MG BBS - http://www2.mgcars.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=mgb...
hopefully wildoliver will come with answers for you
why not buy a r/b and enjoy driving it as a r/b for at least a while before you think of changing - or get a c/b Spridget
obviously what ever you get buy an owners Handbook and give the car a full and proper 36,000 mile service plus
hopefully wildoliver will come with answers for you
why not buy a r/b and enjoy driving it as a r/b for at least a while before you think of changing - or get a c/b Spridget
obviously what ever you get buy an owners Handbook and give the car a full and proper 36,000 mile service plus
Edited by na on Monday 3rd October 15:16
TriumphVitesse said:
Yes I would drive it round as a R/B version first but I really don't like the look of the rear bumper, just looks out of place IMO.
I don't like the look of any Midget rears but you don't see the rear from the drivers seat, if one's in front of you overtake it, most are not driven enough so either the car or driver potter it about at embarassing speedsprobably cheaper to buy a preconvetered to c/b car(?)
TriumphVitesse said:
As for a Spridget, I'm 6'6" so no chance, I can't even fit in one! I can get in a 'B' ok though.
yes well us short-arses must have some advantages in life I think it's more than a bolt on job, suspension is higher on a RB, wings are different, possibly valences as well.
It might be worth making the change if you are restoring a rotten RB and replacing most of the parts anyway but if you're starting with a good one I think it's probably more effort than it's worth.
It might be worth making the change if you are restoring a rotten RB and replacing most of the parts anyway but if you're starting with a good one I think it's probably more effort than it's worth.
Keep hunting. My Father in Law recently bought a tidy late model MGB with a chrome bumper conversion. It needed a bit of work, but nothing to major and all parts are readily available.
I suggested doing a little work to turn it into something like this,
Or at least a set of lights and some suspension fettling, but he's happy with it, erm, standard, for some reason....
I'm quite intrigued by Midgets, but an MX5 would be more likely.
I suggested doing a little work to turn it into something like this,
Or at least a set of lights and some suspension fettling, but he's happy with it, erm, standard, for some reason....
I'm quite intrigued by Midgets, but an MX5 would be more likely.
Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 3rd October 18:03
MC Bodge said:
Keep hunting. My Father in Law recently bought a tidy late model MGB with a chrome bumper conversion. It needed a bit of work, but nothing to major and all parts are readily available.
I suggested doing a little work to turn it into something like this,
Or at least a set of lights and some suspension fettling, but he's happy with it, erm, standard, for some reason....
I'm quite intrigued by Midgets, but an MX5 would be more likely.
I hope the lump in that is as tweaked as the looks, it's damn lovely I suggested doing a little work to turn it into something like this,
Or at least a set of lights and some suspension fettling, but he's happy with it, erm, standard, for some reason....
I'm quite intrigued by Midgets, but an MX5 would be more likely.
I'm the wrong person to ask on this, to answer your question it's an easy job (relatively) and can be completed from as little as £50 up to as much as you want to spend.
To lose the bumpers is easy, you need to make up metal below the rear lights and in the front light recesses in the front wings and fit a chrome bumper valance of some kind as the rb has large slots cut in it. The bumpers are expensive but if your a decent welder and don't mind hunting the autojumbles and ebay you can do the majority of the work for peanuts.
But it will look like a dogs dinner, there are loads of bastardised rubber bumper cars out there and they are sad old things, because you also need to remove the front bumper mounts which will foul a grill, used bumpers are always grotty that's why they are removed, a lot of people sebringise the cars but leave standard gutless engines in place, loads of filler cracks from the rear valance and if the sebring wings are fitted it tends to get worse.
It's one of those jobs you look at and think it's a cheap solution to a problem (that I don't think exists) in reality though your best bet is to buy a chrome bumper, get a circa '72 and you get a lot of the benefits of the later cars with chrome looks and free tax.
My tastes are probably a bit obvious but I love cars for what they are, I've owned allsorts, currently running a CGT, restoring a late B and early C roadster and a very early 3 synchro GT. I've owned half a dozen rubber bumper GTs and have owned a rubber bumper roadster for circa 10 years now, I love the late cars, the bumpers aren't a design icon lets be honest, but they are part of the car, I also like the later dashes, interiors, soundproofing and general feel, those late cars make genuinely usable classics, I love jumping in one and just driving down to the south coast or London and not worrying about it being a bit fragile.
My advice enjoy the car for what it is, but it is your car at the end of the day, if you want to make a late car genuinely give an early car ownership experience and bear in mind it will only fool you as the numberplate will always give it away I would budget circa a grand in parts and not far off a full light resto worth of work.
To lose the bumpers is easy, you need to make up metal below the rear lights and in the front light recesses in the front wings and fit a chrome bumper valance of some kind as the rb has large slots cut in it. The bumpers are expensive but if your a decent welder and don't mind hunting the autojumbles and ebay you can do the majority of the work for peanuts.
But it will look like a dogs dinner, there are loads of bastardised rubber bumper cars out there and they are sad old things, because you also need to remove the front bumper mounts which will foul a grill, used bumpers are always grotty that's why they are removed, a lot of people sebringise the cars but leave standard gutless engines in place, loads of filler cracks from the rear valance and if the sebring wings are fitted it tends to get worse.
It's one of those jobs you look at and think it's a cheap solution to a problem (that I don't think exists) in reality though your best bet is to buy a chrome bumper, get a circa '72 and you get a lot of the benefits of the later cars with chrome looks and free tax.
My tastes are probably a bit obvious but I love cars for what they are, I've owned allsorts, currently running a CGT, restoring a late B and early C roadster and a very early 3 synchro GT. I've owned half a dozen rubber bumper GTs and have owned a rubber bumper roadster for circa 10 years now, I love the late cars, the bumpers aren't a design icon lets be honest, but they are part of the car, I also like the later dashes, interiors, soundproofing and general feel, those late cars make genuinely usable classics, I love jumping in one and just driving down to the south coast or London and not worrying about it being a bit fragile.
My advice enjoy the car for what it is, but it is your car at the end of the day, if you want to make a late car genuinely give an early car ownership experience and bear in mind it will only fool you as the numberplate will always give it away I would budget circa a grand in parts and not far off a full light resto worth of work.
To the(my) untrained eye, my Father-in-law's rubber-to-chrome car looks good. As he is someone who had MGBs back in the day and considered returning it to rubber bumpers(!) for originality, before deciding to leave it chrome, I'd say that it was a good conversion.
I'd suggest buying one with the mods already done (well) if you want one.
I'd suggest buying one with the mods already done (well) if you want one.
It depends what you want from the car, I had a nice lightly bored out (1860 from memory) HC engine which will on a dyno have put out little extra power over the standard engine, fitted K+N filters and a Club stainless exhaust and LCB (pointless incidentally, the standard manifold is not half bad) and it was perky.
I've also had totally boggo basic late and early cars.
And currently I'm spending a lot of cash on a very nice engine for motorsport.
The point you need to realise is an MGB is a quick well handling car. To a point. You can spend a fortune on IRS, telescopic conversions, engine upgrades. You will make it quicker and handle better but at the end of the day it's a bad place to start to make a genuinely quick car from. A well set up standard B is a joy to drive, even a RB car, yes they are all a bit wallowy but they are a 60's design carrying parts from 40's and 50's parts bins from pretty mundane cars, if you want it to go like a modern sports car and handle like one then I'd suggest just buying one. Which is why I tend to have something modernish and quick and a variety of classics.
To answer your question without pulling the engine apart your going to achieve little to any B engine, but 90% are badly set up so get what you have running right to start with. You will notice an improvement in power, smoothness and fuel economy. Suspension and brakes are the same story, if the suspension is tired then the car will feel tired, sure if you spend 2k on IRS and RV8 front suspension it will feel a hell of a lot better, but you could have had an improvement from £50 of bushes and a bit of time. I don't like most of the telescopic kits that use the old lever arms at the front to provide a top link. Personal taste but I'm not happy with the engineering. I have seen some kits coming out with a proper top link and the shock running inside the spring where it will actually work. The rear telescopic kits are usually a bit stiff too, a B likes to be hard on the front and soft on the rear, given the rear shocks usually last well I'd personally just take them off and test them and replace if needed. Stiffer springs, thicker oil and anti roll bar on the front and it should handle well. Don't go mad on wide tyres it ruins the car (exception being MGCs which need them).
So to summarise my taste is to keep road cars pretty close to the way they were designed and spend the money on maintenance and keeping them fresh, accepting their limits and enjoying driving them......But that's my taste not necessarily yours.
I've also had totally boggo basic late and early cars.
And currently I'm spending a lot of cash on a very nice engine for motorsport.
The point you need to realise is an MGB is a quick well handling car. To a point. You can spend a fortune on IRS, telescopic conversions, engine upgrades. You will make it quicker and handle better but at the end of the day it's a bad place to start to make a genuinely quick car from. A well set up standard B is a joy to drive, even a RB car, yes they are all a bit wallowy but they are a 60's design carrying parts from 40's and 50's parts bins from pretty mundane cars, if you want it to go like a modern sports car and handle like one then I'd suggest just buying one. Which is why I tend to have something modernish and quick and a variety of classics.
To answer your question without pulling the engine apart your going to achieve little to any B engine, but 90% are badly set up so get what you have running right to start with. You will notice an improvement in power, smoothness and fuel economy. Suspension and brakes are the same story, if the suspension is tired then the car will feel tired, sure if you spend 2k on IRS and RV8 front suspension it will feel a hell of a lot better, but you could have had an improvement from £50 of bushes and a bit of time. I don't like most of the telescopic kits that use the old lever arms at the front to provide a top link. Personal taste but I'm not happy with the engineering. I have seen some kits coming out with a proper top link and the shock running inside the spring where it will actually work. The rear telescopic kits are usually a bit stiff too, a B likes to be hard on the front and soft on the rear, given the rear shocks usually last well I'd personally just take them off and test them and replace if needed. Stiffer springs, thicker oil and anti roll bar on the front and it should handle well. Don't go mad on wide tyres it ruins the car (exception being MGCs which need them).
So to summarise my taste is to keep road cars pretty close to the way they were designed and spend the money on maintenance and keeping them fresh, accepting their limits and enjoying driving them......But that's my taste not necessarily yours.
now WO put his explanations I can put my bit and it wont seem out of place
most Bs are not driven enough or the whole car fully and properly servicied, maintained or repaired
so big improvements can be made by fully servicing the car and replacing tired components like rotor, dissy cap, ign leads and tyres, suspension bushes, brake hoses, changing all fluids; coolant, g/box, r/axle, brake, clutch - fully clean out the whole coolant systems
and regularly driving the car
once all is fully serviced, set and running well take it to Peter Burgess for a rolling road set up for perhaps that half notch more - http://www.mgcars.org.uk/peterburgess/
most Bs are not driven enough or the whole car fully and properly servicied, maintained or repaired
so big improvements can be made by fully servicing the car and replacing tired components like rotor, dissy cap, ign leads and tyres, suspension bushes, brake hoses, changing all fluids; coolant, g/box, r/axle, brake, clutch - fully clean out the whole coolant systems
and regularly driving the car
once all is fully serviced, set and running well take it to Peter Burgess for a rolling road set up for perhaps that half notch more - http://www.mgcars.org.uk/peterburgess/
Just to throw my bit in, I owned a 72 B roadster from around 1977 to 1979. HBB 116K I think it was.
Bought it with a slipping clutch, changed that and the big end shells when the engine was out.
It was a lovely car to drive while it was going, so much better at everything than the two MG Midgets I had had before but was seriously out done by the Ford Consul 2.5V6 that I replaced it with.
Don't mind admitting that I drove it hard during its ownership with a bit of amateur road rallying etc but over the short time I had it, I replaced the shocks, the kingpins, the fuel tank, the batteries, the alternator, the roof disintergrated, the rear springs and re fitted the 5 piece exhaust every other week.
It wouldn't keep up with my mates TR4A or the other friends TR6, or a 1600 Weberised GT Capri for that matter.
But it looked "cool"nd for some reason I quite fancy one now when I see a sporty modded one.
Bought it with a slipping clutch, changed that and the big end shells when the engine was out.
It was a lovely car to drive while it was going, so much better at everything than the two MG Midgets I had had before but was seriously out done by the Ford Consul 2.5V6 that I replaced it with.
Don't mind admitting that I drove it hard during its ownership with a bit of amateur road rallying etc but over the short time I had it, I replaced the shocks, the kingpins, the fuel tank, the batteries, the alternator, the roof disintergrated, the rear springs and re fitted the 5 piece exhaust every other week.
It wouldn't keep up with my mates TR4A or the other friends TR6, or a 1600 Weberised GT Capri for that matter.
But it looked "cool"nd for some reason I quite fancy one now when I see a sporty modded one.
I had a BGT which underwent the change after a previous owner crashed it.
The changes are: Front wings and indicator units, front grille, front bumper, front springs, rear bumper, tail light finishers. It's a bolt on conversion as that's how the cars were built, and is all simple except for correctly aligning the front wings as there are some retaining bolts behind the dash.
The conversion kit is not that expensive, the wings are up to you whether you buy pattern or heritage parts, and then you have to factor in the cost of a respray of at least the front end but more likely the front scuttle, blending in to the doors and A pillars etc.
Total cost about £1200 + VAT
If you buy the car for less than £2000 then it's still cheaper than a good chrome bumper car.
The changes are: Front wings and indicator units, front grille, front bumper, front springs, rear bumper, tail light finishers. It's a bolt on conversion as that's how the cars were built, and is all simple except for correctly aligning the front wings as there are some retaining bolts behind the dash.
The conversion kit is not that expensive, the wings are up to you whether you buy pattern or heritage parts, and then you have to factor in the cost of a respray of at least the front end but more likely the front scuttle, blending in to the doors and A pillars etc.
Total cost about £1200 + VAT
If you buy the car for less than £2000 then it's still cheaper than a good chrome bumper car.
Thanks for all the replies. Think I'm going to buy a chrome bumper model and have done with it, they are not that expensive these days for a half decent one and it saves all the hassle of the conversion. Should be some keenly priced ones coming up now we are descending into winter....
I know you have experience but as a reminder, and for others :-
Look at and test drive as many good examples as you can including some well out of your buying budget to see how good the cars should be and that you may need to increase your budget – it usually works out less expensive to buy a good but higher priced example than a poor lower priced example
Allow in your purchase budget at least a £xxx for servicing, maintenance and repairs in the first year
Look at and test drive as many good examples as you can including some well out of your buying budget to see how good the cars should be and that you may need to increase your budget – it usually works out less expensive to buy a good but higher priced example than a poor lower priced example
Allow in your purchase budget at least a £xxx for servicing, maintenance and repairs in the first year
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