Repair a '71-'73 Rubber Bumper

Under all that paint (two paint jobs, in our case) is a black bumper waiting to be repaired.

Ford lingo, the rubber bumper on the front of a '71-'72 Mustang was a Spoiler-Bumper. In fact, in the '71 brochure Ford even thought that the bumper was so significant that the words were capitalized as shown above. In 1972 Ford removed the capitalization and replaced the hyphen with a slash. Finally, in 1973 Ford called the bumper what it was-a urethane front bumper. So what, you say. Who cares? You should, if you own one of these bumpers and it's attached to the front of either your soon-to-be or presently drop-dead gorgeous Mach 1 or Decor Group Mustang.

The black rubber bumper that lurks under either the chipped and pitted paint of your Mach 1 or Decor Group-equipped Mustang can really be an eyesore. Most folks shy away from doing anything with these bumpers. Plastic body filler is a nice quick fix-until someone bumps it just right. Suddenly, you're standing in front of your newly painted Mach, your mouth is agape, you're looking at a pie-shaped section of your bumper and paint sitting on the ground-not the best solution. The other recourse for you is to get a N.O.S. (New Old Stock) bumper. Of course, you will need to find it, and then mortgage the house in order to afford it. But Mike Paremsky at Michael's Auto Body in Winter Haven, Florida, is one fellow who never lets such obstacles get in his way-especially when he has a repair product such as International Epoxies and Sealers' (IES) Urethane repair kit available. So we decided to give the product a try. Along the way, we learned a thing or two about how to refinish one of these bumpers.

Dismount the bumper from its metal brace. The screws may be difficult to remove, so be patient and use the correct-size screwdriver. After the brace is removed, you'll want to paint it slop gray or your original color. We used a dual-action sander and 80-grit sandpaper to remove the old paint from the rubber. Make sure you keep the sander moving, as this will keep the rubber cooler and prevent it from melting. On the side that held the screws, you will have a difficult time getting all the paint out of the crevices and indentations.	This doesn't look too bad from the photo, but the white line is actually a spot that can be folded open. We used a hacksaw blade to cut open the split so that the epoxy could get into the crack and seal it. There also were several voids along the leading edge and on top of the bumper. We dug the paint out of the voids and made sure that the epoxy had a place to stick.	The epoxy that we are using is a two-stage epoxy from IES that is mixed in equal parts. Paremsky has also used this product (PN 8001) with great success on steering wheels. Since it is pliable, it will stretch without breaking.
After mixing the epoxy, we fill the voids as well as the cut-out section, and then we overfill so that we can cut down the filler with 220-wet/dry sandpaper.	At this point, we start hand-sanding, using the 220-wet/dry sandpaper wrapped around a wooden stir stick. Work slowly and make sure that you get a feathered edge on the epoxy.	If the edge does not feather, then you will have a visible break between the bumper and the epoxy. This is not a good thing to see in the topcoat.
Satisfied that the bumper is as right as we can make it, we prime the bumper with a special urethane primer that is specially made for rubber front bumpers. Make sure you give the bumper several good coats to allow for sanding. When wet-sanding these primers, be sure to use plenty of water because the primer will tend to ball up. The extra water helps flow out the rolled-up primer. We used 360-wet/dry sandpaper on a semisoft hand-block to block-sand the bumper. Work in an X pattern along the bumper's surfaces.	After the entire bumper has been sanded, mix a small amount of plastic body filler, and fill any visible voids or solvent pops. After the filler dries, give the bumper a final sanding with 400-wet/dry sandpaper to knock down the filler. Then you are ready for paint.	After you get the bumper back from the paint shop (or paint it yourself), you'll want to do a mild amount of color-sanding using wood paint sticks wrapped in 1200-, then 2000-wet/dry sandpaper. We recommend mild because the basecoat/clearcoat on the bumper should not be too thick. After wet-sanding, you will want to use a rubbing compound, such as Perfect-it III (available at most paint supply stores), to bring up the gloss.
Be sure to use a good soft cloth to hand-rub the finish. We really don't recommend using the lazy wheel (aka buffer), as the pressure could crack the finish. Besides, the area is so small that it is easy to burn an edge.	The mounting bracket should go in next. Make sure you install the clips for the bumper screws at this point. You will be able to install only four of the six clips since the others mount to the bumper brackets.	Next, install the screws with the plastic washers, but don't tighten them down until after the fenders are installed. This will allow you to align the bumper to the fenders.
When you install the bumper, be sure to use the correct carriage bolts. These are available from AMK and are highly recommended since the tops of the bolts are visible from overhead and from behind the grille.	Ready to go and looking good. The bumper is now awaiting the installation of the fenders and hood for alignment.