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Anyone made commando bumpers closer to the body?

apachechef said:
expamding spray foam
Click to expand...

Go to the PNP and find a newer car about the same width of a 240 that has the foam core bumper supports. Then modify that to fit the later plastic bumper shell. Not enough hours in the day to devote to this hack. I'm out.
 
I measured a weight savings of ~40lbs when I swapped bumpers.

Commando to 83-85 conversion is possible and can be done well enough to look factory correct without much effort, correct meaning no exposed holes, saggy corners, or mismatched trim. The hard part is finding the parts, otherwise it's NO BIG DEAL
 
Stiggy Pop said:
I measured a weight savings of ~40lbs when I swapped bumpers.

Commando to 83-85 conversion is possible and can be done well enough to look factory correct without much effort, correct meaning no exposed holes, saggy corners, or mismatched trim. The hard part is finding the parts, otherwise it's NO BIG DEAL
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Seconded. This is exactly my conclusion as well, after doing the same conversion. It's very simple if you can locate the parts from an '83 - '85 car.

I measured about 16 lb difference between Commando and skinny bumpers, at each end, but I'm assuming there was some error there in my scales setup. Figure between 35 - 40 lb. total savings.

It's a noticeable change, removing that much weight from the extreme ends of the car. I did this with stock squishy suspension and right away I could feel the quicker response through the steering wheel after removing the Commando anchors from the nose & tail.

The Commandos will give you the best chance of protection for low-speed bumps, parking lot boo-boos, and careless people backing into your car. In terms of a higher speed frontal or rear collision I don't think there will be any appreciable difference in total damage to the car, because both types of bumpers are mounted to the same structure. The skinny bumper may even be better in that case because it'll absorb more crash energy than the stiffer, stronger Commando will, and may transfer a little less of that energy into the body of the car.
 
Stiggy Pop said:
I measured a weight savings of ~40lbs when I swapped bumpers.

Commando to 83-85 conversion is possible and can be done well enough to look factory correct without much effort, correct meaning no exposed holes, saggy corners, or mismatched trim. The hard part is finding the parts, otherwise it's NO BIG DEAL
Click to expand...

Yes, but you lose the anodized aluminum look that goes so well with polished SS trim.
 
Harlard said:
Yes, but you lose the anodized aluminum look that goes so well with polished SS trim.
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I'm keeping the Commandos completely stock on my '75 for this exact reason. On an '81 or '82 I think the skinnies fit the overall style of the car better though. It's all down to personal preference and it's subjective.

We've all seen later bumpers hacked onto an early car, which looks terrible likely because the person who did it was a hack. It can look just fine if you take your time and do a nice job of measurement, fit-up, and alignment.
 
Duder said:
Seconded. This is exactly my conclusion as well, after doing the same conversion. It's very simple if you can locate the parts from an '83 - '85 car.
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I'm like a dog with a bone once I get set on something with the car. I bought two sets of bumper covers to get ones I was happy with, then bought 2.5 sets worth of turbo bumper trim to piece together a set of that I was happy with... then dragged home a complete '83 parts car for free JUST for the bumper mounting brackets. I don't think I even sold anything off that car, it was all about the bumpers haha.

Harlard said:
Yes, but you lose the anodized aluminum look that goes so well with polished SS trim.
Click to expand...

they all tend to look like oxidized ****e out here. I've never seen a set of commandos in person that looked even B+ clean/nice. But yeah, for a certain look they are *right*. I find I like that polished bumper look much more on a 140 than a 2.

My car is like a Ken paradox.. I'm sure he would hate my black bumpers, but then again I'm expending hundreds of monies and months of effort to buy every piece of NOS 242 DL side trim I can find globally. I guess I'm a wayward preservationist?
 
Maybe? From what I understand about looks, it's highly dependent on what you are starting out with (condition, model year paint color, and wheel/tire package are the things that come to my mind the most). For instance, I love your car with the toy bumpers; my car would probably look best with commandos, as would Duder's pea green 75.

Factory 81 and 82 Turbo cars look best with the small bumpers pretty much universally.

All of this being in my uneducated and not at all humble opinion.
 
I've been collecting trim as well, have all the NOS side pieces except for the front fenders, no one has those anywhere, and someone just dinged the crap out of the one side. Maybe it's repairable if you spend enough though, idk.
 
This is what I am doing to my 74/142, taking 2 1/2 inches out of center of a set of 240 commandos and reshaping to fit older body, didn't want to cut original bumpers.
https://forums.turbobricks.com/picture.php?albumid=428&pictureid=3779[/IMG
[IMG]https://forums.turbobricks.com/picture.php?albumid=428&pictureid=3780
 
not sure why the rear didn't show up.
picture.php
 
roymac54 said:
This is what I am doing to my 74/142, taking 2 1/2 inches out of center of a set of 240 commandos and reshaping to fit older body, didn't want to cut original bumpers.
https://forums.turbobricks.com/picture.php?albumid=428&pictureid=3779[/IMG
[IMG]https://forums.turbobricks.com/picture.php?albumid=428&pictureid=3780
Click to expand...

Or pull the commandos off a 1973'+ 164 ?
Would they fit ?
 
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