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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Front bumper - Bracket and spring

Hi,

On my Gan5 1972 1275, my front bumper was touching the shell/wing of the car and slowly damaging the paint, so I decided to have a look at this...

I have two questions :
- The RH bracket is more inside the body shell than the LH bracket. I would say one is 10mm out (without counting the thread) and this other one 5mm approx. Looked at them, and nothing look abnormal.... Is it normal ? :)
- My spring bar doesn't look so symetric....Does someone has a drawing/measurment of it ?

Thanks !
CH Hamon

When you say bracket do you mean this one (part 55 in the Moss catalogue)

http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop-by-model/mg/midget/exterior/bumpers-number-plates-fittings/front-bumper-fittings-sprite-iv-midget-iii-1500cc.html

or the spring bar behind the bumper (part 41/42)?

Photos may help!
Jeremy MkIII

Hi Jeremy,

For the bracket, I mean the part 55 on the drawing. On one side, the thread goes further out of the shell than the other side, which should make the bumper not straight when screwed on them. Looking at both brackets from under the car, they both look fine... Didn't try to disassemble and compare them yet, just wondering first if it is normal or not :)

I wanted to use the spring, part 42, to compensate the gap between the bumper and the car body, before realising this bracket issue... But still, my spring doesn't look really symmetrical left/right either, so I was wondering if someone has the drawing or some measurement, so I can try to give it back its original shape (or almost !)
CH Hamon

Cedric,
if on one side the chrome bumper sits well to the body then just bend the other side to match it to make the bar more symmetrical.

The gaps between the chrome of the front bumper and body on my car are 10mm different when measured from the outside edge of each bumper overrider so I can not help you - but I think a blind man would be glad to see that difference.

Nigel Atkins

Cedric,

they should both project the same distance from the body shell so further investigation may be necessary! May be you could use a shim (a nut behind the spring bar) on the one that projects the least so the bumper sits the same distance from the body on both sides?

Jeremy
Jeremy MkIII

Perhaps it is the wings or part of them that are not symmetrical or combined with the bar not being symmetrical, and/or the mounting brackets not straight and/or fixed symmetrically, and/or the chassis legs they attached to, perhaps the car is slightly twisted, or any combination or permutation of all.

I think you need to get the car stripped down and fitted to a jig to sort this out.
Nigel Atkins

If you remove the spring bar from the car and lay it on a long piece of paper (smaller ones taped together) and trace it with a pen and then reverse it and trace it with a pencil, you will see the difference if any. The brackets have no adjustment to them, but the short side could be elongated to make the bumper sit more evenly. Of course this will be no help if you happen to have front end contact with something else. Extra washers could also help to make the gap closer on both sides. The difference in the brackets could be to some previous body damage and a frame machine could undo any mis-alinement, as Nigel stated. Maybe more than what you want to spend.
J Bubela

I removed the brackets, and they both look the same. I tried to bend the spring, but it was useless, as it is fixed by 4 bolts to the chrome bumper anyway...

Ended up with the washers solution : not efficient for gap & flush :) but at least the bumper doesn't kiss the paint anymore ! Should have go for this solution directly and not look for the reason of "why is it like this"

Thanks ;)
CH Hamon

This thread was discussed between 10/07/2019 and 15/07/2019

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