does anyone have any pic's of their 73 USA spec ft. bumper mounted up? I need to see what the original spacing to the fenders is really like. The rechromed one seems to be way off & projecting too far. Pic's would be great!

If it's two piece bar, which it appears to be, you'll find it will pull into the fenders. The space at the front looks a bit excessive too. both gaps on the front and side will look better once it's attached. Loosen off the body mounts for the bumper until the the bumper is attached to the fenders.

ps. this is a VERY neat looking 1200. You are doing a great job.

That car looks great. Is there a thread with pics of it's restoration?

Mike

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I've started down that road & its a bit closer now but still off, I'm may need to remove it to cut the top curved portion of the mounts back & slot the mount holes bigger to push it farther into the car then tighten it up. I came up with that brilliant idea while at the gym this evening

It is a bit odd as the front end isn't whacked out of shape or anything, I think the chrome guy straightened it too far open for starters & the goofy USA spec "safety" mounts dont do it any favors either. I loosened the bolts & got it to move a bit inward as you described. I guess more fiddling is required!

here's the build thread & thanks for the compliments guys.

http://datsun1200.com/modules/newbb/v ... hp?topic_id=46137&forum=9

1973 Usa is exactly same shape as any other and fits same relative to body. Only the mounts are changed for extra strength and mini crumple zone.

OK, so are there pic's of the bumper corners for a 71/72 close up to compare to? The wiki doesn'rt really have anything useful to compare to.

I'll have to measure the 71/72 bumper mounts for projection as I dont see how they can be identical to the 73 - my mounts are as far back as possible in the slots & the brackets are mounted flush to the back of the bumper, the pivot point in the middle I get but to pull it all the way back into the scallop would be abut 2". Anyways its a bit challenging & frustrating.

here's the backside of the bumper..

As DD said, (mini crumple zone) the U.S. '73 spec bumpers are different from '71-'72 spec bumpers due to the then-evolving NTHSA federal bumper standards. (in '74, all autos were required to have 5 mph crash resistant bumpers, spawning a generation of automotive hideousness never before seen or since equaled, but I digress...) The '73 bumpers stand proud of the body due to revised mounts and they have the large-ish rubber nubbins on the forward face of the bumper. If you compare your mounts to '71-'72 mounts, you will see the '73 mounts are much more stout and they have the wedge-shaped reinforcement at the bumper-to-mount interface that the earlier versions don't have.
Long way of saying "Ain't nuthin' wrong with them there bumpers" and you're doing a superb 100 point resto on your Datto!

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well thanks, appreciate the kind words........but I still think it looks like sh*t sticking out that far think I'll go to another piece of the project & come back to that after some contemplation & probably mod the mounts.

From your photos, it looks to stick out too much.