Retro Front Bumper Fit Problems

[B5 Six Pack]

I recently purchased a 1973 Cuda that has 1970 bumpers installed. The rear one is fine. The front one needs to be rolled towards the car at the top. Notice the ends of the bumper in the attached pictures. The bumper is not bent. Loosening the brackets where they attach to the frame and dropping them at the rear did not help. Those brackets are currently touching the bottom of the grille where they pass under it. The solution appears to be where the chrome bumper bolts attach to the bumper brackets. Spacers/longer bolts there, or heating and bending those bracket tabs might work.
I am posting this because I suspect that perhaps the bumper brackets are the wrong ones for this conversion - perhaps they are the '73 brackets, and all I need is a set of 1970 brackets? The brackets on the car are not damaged. I'm hoping that some of you have been down this road before, and will immediately know what the problem is. Pictures attached. Thanks for your expertise.
Rick

[Cuda Cody]

Welcome @B5 Six Pack     Beautiful Cuda you got!     Thanks for joining us.

The 70 bumpers use a different bracket (I think) then the 73's.  Do you what part number is on your brackets?  Do you know if the bumper is a reproduction or a re-chromed original?  Some of the reproductions do not fit a cleanly as the originals.

[B5 Six Pack]

Welcome @B5 Six Pack     Beautiful Cuda you got!     Thanks for joining us.

The 70 bumpers use a different bracket (I think) then the 73's.  Do you what part number is on your brackets?  Do you know if the bumper is a reproduction or a re-chromed original?  Some of the reproductions do not fit a cleanly as the originals.

Hey Cody. I don't know the answer to any of your questions. I suppose I'll have to get a set of '70 brackets and hope for the best. I can remove the current brackets and look for a number on them prior to ordering anything I suppose. Thanks for the kind words. I have been lurking on here for awhile. Attached are some pics with Keystones on the car. I'm 62, and they were common along with Cragar S/S back in my day. I like the black in them with the vinyl top and hockey stripe.
Rick

[CudaMoparRay]

Wrong or right bumpers it is a great looking car. Welcome!

[Roadman]

   Welcome @B5 Six Pack     

[nsmall]

Welcome @B5 Six Pack

Does your front bumper have 4 or 6 bolt holes? I have a 73 and I used a 73 bumper (6 holes) and 73 bumper brackets, I slotted the brackets so I could tuck the bumper in.  My friend has a 70 bumper (4 holes) and 70 bracket set on his 73 Cuda and there's a gap so either way it seems like you're going to have to slot them to look perfect.

Let me know if you need any help but basically I just had to spend a lot of time working on the bumper brackets if the goal is to tuck them in which I'm assuming you're trying to do?

I did not have to heat or bend the brackets to get it to work and that's some pretty thick metal to screw around with anyway so you should be able to slot them.

[nsmall]

Nice ride but the way.  I know it looks sloppy, but here is a pic of my bumper brackets.  They fit great now, just took time.

[nsmall]

If you have a 73 bumper I recommend saving the two hundred bucks and just slotting the current brackets so you can get a perfect fit.  Like I said my friend has 70 brackets and there's a noticeable gap on his 73. Just my opinion of recently doing this modification.

[B5 Six Pack]

Thanks for sharing your experience. As you will notice on the second picture in my initial post, the bumper has 4 holes. The bumper is as close to the car as it could ever go - the issue is that it needs to be rolled clockwise if you were standing on the driver's side of the car looking at the end of the bumper. Notice how the top of the bumper ends on both sides are not level - they are angled down. I think that slotting the brackets in an up and down direction will just bring the bumper up and not change this angle. I can heat them orange with a torch and they will bend like putty any direction I want to go. The problem with that is it will take multiple tries / on and off the car to get them right. I was hoping that I just have the wrong brackets. I would think that a 70 bumper with 70 brackets would bolt right on, but maybe not. Thanks again for posting.

[anlauto]

Thanks for sharing your experience. As you will notice on the second picture in my initial post, the bumper has 4 holes. The bumper is as close to the car as it could ever go - the issue is that it needs to be rolled clockwise if you were standing on the driver's side of the car looking at the end of the bumper. Notice how the top of the bumper ends on both sides are not level - they are angled down. I think that slotting the brackets in an up and down direction will just bring the bumper up and not change this angle. I can heat them orange with a torch and they will bend like putty any direction I want to go. The problem with that is it will take multiple tries / on and off the car to get them right. I was hoping that I just have the wrong brackets. I would think that a 70 bumper with 70 brackets would bolt right on, but maybe not. Thanks again for posting.

The sides of the bumper are not supposed to be level...

[B5 Six Pack]

It seems to me that some cars are worse than others. Obviously, the bumper slopes as it goes around the corner, but I do believe that the vertical end of the bumper - the most rearward edge of each bumper end - should be perpendicular to the ground - not leaning forward like mine do. It saves me work if they're like they're supposed to be, but on the other hand they look like crap , and more than one person has asked me about them. Thanks for your take on it.

[B5 Six Pack]

Nice ride but the way.  I know it looks sloppy, but here is a pic of my bumper brackets.  They fit great now, just took time.

Sorry, I think we were typing at the same time, as I did not see your pictures prior to responding. Thank you for them. I understand now that you were talking about slotting the brackets where they bolt to the frame to move the bumper closer to the car. That is not the issue. I was talking about changing the angle of the tab on the end of those brackets where the bumper itself bolts to them. I appreciate the pictures though, as I can look tomorrow and compare my brackets to your pictures and see if mine are different.

[nsmall]

I can post pictures of all of the bumper brackets but I think the issue you're having Alan explained as all of the Cudas have the same look as the purple Cuda. 

[RUNCHARGER]

How is the height of the bumper in relation to the bottom of the grille from side to side?

[Chryco Psycho]

Welcome @B5 Six Pack
Glad you found us 
You may be able to adjust the height iof the bumper by loosening the frame bolts & lifting the whole bumper over the grill , from there you might need some wedge shims to roll the bumper down a little