The Lotus Grand Tourers

Just noticed that the back edge of my front bumper has dropped a little.

It looks like the screws have pulled out of the upper section.

Anyone have any thoughts on the best way to reattach ? (or do I resort to cut-down plasplugs again ?)

Still - fixing that might give me the incentive to finally replace the front spoiler as well. It's only been waiting for about 8 years.

What caused that? You haven't been in a ditch since last year or aren't you telling us something

It's either residual damage from my steeplechasing last year - or a clipped kerb at Croft a few weeks ago.

Have you checked the bracket at the back of the bumper in case it has un-bonded itself, or is it a different fitting that you are talking about?

alanmoss wrote:Have you checked the bracket at the back of the bumper in case it has un-bonded itself, or is it a different fitting that you are talking about?

That's the spoiler bracket (already unbonded when I got the car). These are the screws that go vertically up through the top of the bumper into the body.

If you are going to remove the bumper completely to fix it you could use Rivuts or Rubber nuts to provide a means of re-attaching it (see Memfast's website). Much easier to remove again in the future should you want to.

Pete

In the 1986 each side of the bumper is held on with 3x size 6 screws and an aluminium rivet.

I have replaced the screws and the panel washers with stainless steel ones but due to the expanded rusted out screwthat held the bumper in place, I used size 8 screws because the holes had enlarged over time.

Also found that not all the original screw holes were properly ligned up , so I drilled new ones.

I would not advise bolting the bumper to the upper panels, the screws are designed to rip out in a light collision and not transfer the collision energy into the front quarter panels.

explore_australia wrote:I would not advise bolting the bumper to the upper panels, the screws are designed to rip out in a light collision and not transfer the collision energy into the front quarter panels.

Good thinking - I never thought of that. The rubber nuts would probably still function that way.

Pete

cavity wall spring opening winged nuts and bolts.