VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 38 rear bumper brackets

What is the correct orientation of the rear bumper brackets on a 38. They were not attached when car bought and a new tool tray has been installed and I need to cut the slot through the verticle wall of tool tray to pass bracket through to frame.

The brackets are offset(up/down) and I need to know which should be up to properly install the brackets.

Since the area of car has been reconstructed, I guess a sheet metal "tunnel" should be made to cover/seal the brackets from the inside of the trunk, correct?

Any insight appreciated

Lou

I will look at my '37 today and let you know. They are not the same part numbers as a'38, but I think the orientation would be the same.

Take care,

I figured it out after cutting too tall a slot in the body-ouch!! Anyway, maybe the outer rubber gasket will cover up my sin!

Thanks as always Rusty. You have helped me greatly through the months.

Lou

Hi Lou,

Based on what I saw on my car the part of the bracket that mounts to the frame should point "up" when you slide it through the openings. The frame rail curves down in the section where the bracket attaches to it. If everything is right the portion of the bracket sticking out of the rear of the car (where the bumper mounts) should be about parallel to the ground.

The rear rubber seal might cover the larger opening. Let me know what that looks like and we might come up with some ideas for how to close that gap.

I suggest that you wait until after you have the brackets in place to figure out the "tunnel" that covers it. One reason is that the seals that go around the bracket (both on the front side and rear side) stick in that area. Yes, there is a seal in the opening on the front side of the tool tray. They appear to actually help seal the tunnel. It is also easier then to make a template out of cardboard (like from a show box or cereal box) to actually fit the space. Then you can decide if you want to try and make the part out of thin sheet metal or something like roof flashing aluminum and paint it black.

Call or email me if you need any pictures.

Take care,

Lou;

I have my 38 on a rotisserie and have a fairly light weight mock up frame under it for placement of all the floor and rear bumpers. Last weekend I cut the hole for the right bumper bracket. I will enlarge the hole later. I decided to shorten the tool well on both sides to eliminate the necessary water sealing problems with running the bracket through the tool well. Not stock but with all the rust repair I have done it is my better choice Hope these pictures help?

Doug

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Lou,

If you need photos let me know. The rear bumper of my car was one of the few things that the PO did not remove and the car is up on my hoist so I can actually get photos from decent angles.

Tim, is the opening for the bracket a vertical rectangular hole or is it more a slot that is open at the bottom. I have seen both under the rubber covers on cars. Do you know which is original?
Mike

Don't know if this will help but my 38 had vertical rectangle holes closed at the bottom. I seemed to be about 3/8" bigger that the bracket. Everything here had to be replaced but I was able to make a pattern, which I now cannot find Hope the experts will comment here?

Mine appear to be virgin.

The hole is essentially open to the bottom but there is a thin strip of metal (approx 1/4" tall) that is tacked along the entire bottom lip of the pan. At each opening for the bumper bracket, this 1/4" strip overlaps by about 1/4".

So to put another way: The 1/4" strip of sheetmetal runs along the very bottom of the pan, from the middle of the left bracket opening to the middle of the right bracket opening. There is then a shorter piece of this 1/4" sheetmetal running from the outside of each side of the pan to just past the middle of each bracket opening. This leaves the 1/4" sheetmetal overlapping in the middle of each bracket opening.

Weird to explain. If you want a photo let me know. This sheetmetal is thin and just tacked so I would suspect it would rust away very quickly, especially with the overlapping seam in the middle of the bracket opening. It is soft enough to bend out of the way to open the bottom of the bracket opening when working on the bracket but firm enough to hold into the bottom lip of the rubber "boot" when bent back into position.