A bit silly, but a 26-year search is finally over., Thanks to Oscar and Bruce Options

[Justinp71]

I remember seeing this car at Rennsport, it is very clean! and nice! I didn't even notice the bumper imperfections (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[horizontally-opposed]

I hope you used the 914 Rubber spacers on the bumper top?

[horizontally-opposed]

I hope you used the 914 Rubber spacers on the bumper top?

Since you are so pedantic about it......... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheer.gif)

Hey @Larmo63 , I know NOS is not your thing. However, having no idea what you are actually talking about and having to look up the definition for Pedantic, I much prefer this term than calling others a CW!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

I think he means these things?
https://shop.914rubber.com/Bumper-Top-Rubbe...91455911610.htm

Whether they're in there is a question for Oscar, as the rubber top was on the bumper and I decided to merely check the torque on the nuts and then trial fit the bumper for the first time last night. Contour is dead on, but the bumper top is a bit lower than the other one, particularly in the central 2/3rds. The old bumper top may or may not have some spacers under it—will look this weekend. May need to rework my headlights and "brows" a bit too. We'll see. I'd just like to get all of these lines more even. I've seen so few 914s with all the lines right up there (same is true for early 911s, if you look at them), and I think it really cleans up the nose of the car. One of those "once you've seen it, you can't unsee it" things. I blame a friend named Dick for the affliction.

So I suppose "pedantic" is fitting when it comes to my efforts to try and get the shut lines on my 914's front end "right" to my standard—which has zero to do with concours. Last time the car was judged was at the 1995 Parade, I think, and that's when I knew concours ain't for me. But man, it's been tricky to find a straight early front bumper—which put me onto the search for an NOS piece, if for no other reason than to ensure its contours haven't been altered.

[horizontally-opposed]

I remember seeing this car at Rennsport, it is very clean! and nice! I didn't even notice the bumper imperfections (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Many thanks! It was more or less "taped together" in time for that event, as it had been disassembled for a while after paint when a parking space next to the RSR I was racing that weekend came up. Hard to believe it, but the car has since been repainted due to some metalwork issues from a separate shop that bubbled up at the RF and LR, and the painter decided to do the whole car.

As so many cars here, many of which are more ambitious than my build, it's been a bit of an odyssey. But a fun one, for the most part, too.

[ValcoOscar]

I remember seeing this car at Rennsport, it is very clean! and nice! I didn't even notice the bumper imperfections (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Many thanks! It was more or less "taped together" in time for that event, as it had been disassembled for a while after paint when a parking space next to the RSR I was racing that weekend came up. Hard to believe it, but the car has since been repainted due to some metalwork issues from a separate shop that bubbled up at the RF and LR, and the painter decided to do the whole car.

As so many cars here, many of which are more ambitious than my build, it's been a bit of an odyssey. But a fun one, for the most part, too.

No spacers installed (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif)

Oscar

[horizontally-opposed]

I remember seeing this car at Rennsport, it is very clean! and nice! I didn't even notice the bumper imperfections (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Many thanks! It was more or less "taped together" in time for that event, as it had been disassembled for a while after paint when a parking space next to the RSR I was racing that weekend came up. Hard to believe it, but the car has since been repainted due to some metalwork issues from a separate shop that bubbled up at the RF and LR, and the painter decided to do the whole car.

As so many cars here, many of which are more ambitious than my build, it's been a bit of an odyssey. But a fun one, for the most part, too.

No spacers installed (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif)

Oscar

No worries whatsoever! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

In distant memory banks, I seem to remember spacing my last bumper top with washers. Easy enough to check since that bumper is off the car.

My question for the collected wisdom here: Any advantage to the rubber ones from 914 Rubber over plain washers, other than being the way the factory did it?

[SirAndy]

My question for the collected wisdom here: Any advantage to the rubber ones from 914 Rubber over plain washers, other than being the way the factory did it?

Rubber doesn't rust ...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

[horizontally-opposed]

My question for the collected wisdom here: Any advantage to the rubber ones from 914 Rubber over plain washers, other than being the way the factory did it?

Rubber doesn't rust ...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

Good thing they used rubber studs on the bumper pad… (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)

[steuspeed]

Selling your old bumper for a cheap price? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hide.gif) With all it's issues you know.

[JRust]

I was just thinking I could suffer through with your old bumper myself (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[horizontally-opposed]

Selling your old bumper for a cheap price? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hide.gif) With all it's issues you know.

I was just thinking I could suffer through with your old bumper myself (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

LOL, you vultures. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chowtime.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chowtime.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chowtime.gif)

Haven't decided whether to keep the bumper as a spare/core or sell it. And y'all should see some more pics of the thing before you decide if this one's for you. I'd say the pics here make it look better than it is (even if it's a lot nicer than most I've seen).

So, to the group: What's a fair price for a never-been-rechromed, zero-rust early front bumper with two slight "dings" and a bit of push in towards the center (hence why it is tight at the center of the hood)? What's a "cheap price?"

And for a factory rubber top, purchased 10-15~ years ago from HPH and with very little time in the sun since? It's "like new," or very close to it.

[914_7T3]

Selling your old bumper for a cheap price? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hide.gif) With all it's issues you know.

I was just thinking I could suffer through with your old bumper myself (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

LOL, you vultures. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chowtime.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chowtime.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chowtime.gif)

Haven't decided whether to keep the bumper as a spare/core or sell it. And y'all should see some more pics of the thing before you decide if this one's for you. I'd say the pics here make it look better than it is (even if it's a lot nicer than most I've seen).

So, to the group: What's a fair price for a never-been-rechromed, zero-rust early front bumper with two slight "dings" and a bit of push in towards the center (hence why it is tight at the center of the hood)? What's a "cheap price?"

And for a factory rubber top, purchased 10-15~ years ago from HPH and with very little time in the sun since? It's "like new," or very close to it.

Priceless

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Larmo63]

Priceless, and............celebrity owned.

[mepstein]

Selling your old bumper for a cheap price? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hide.gif) With all it's issues you know.

I was just thinking I could suffer through with your old bumper myself (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

LOL, you vultures. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chowtime.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chowtime.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chowtime.gif)

Haven't decided whether to keep the bumper as a spare/core or sell it. And y'all should see some more pics of the thing before you decide if this one's for you. I'd say the pics here make it look better than it is (even if it's a lot nicer than most I've seen).

So, to the group: What's a fair price for a never-been-rechromed, zero-rust early front bumper with two slight "dings" and a bit of push in towards the center (hence why it is tight at the center of the hood)? What's a "cheap price?"

And for a factory rubber top, purchased 10-15~ years ago from HPH and with very little time in the sun since? It's "like new," or very close to it.

bumper $200-350
rubber top $100-200

[Montreal914]

Keep it.

[worn]

The thing about NOS that has always worried me is that you let all of the NOS gas out of the package when you install it. I have a few pieces of low value stuff uninstalled just for that reason.
I believe pedantic is not quite the right word as it describes overbearing explanation of an arcane or otherwise boring subject. Like what I just did. The quest for the bumper is either a courageous and uncompromising search for what is just and right...or sort of obsessive. Really depends on how good looking your car already is.

[horizontally-opposed]

bumper $200-350
rubber top $100-200

Danke schon, man. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

At $300-550, and considering what it took to find a truly good one, it probably is smarter to keep it—if for nothing else than peace of mind when I park and drive the car. Particularly given what I paid Rich at HPH for the then-NOS rubber top and the fact it's still near perfect. And I can have it fixed over the next few months since I no longer need it to enjoy the car...which I suspect is going to take at least two trips to a plater in Sacramento or San Jose, one to drop off and one more after it's stripped to do get it recurved and final fit before it's rechromed.

There aren't a lot of parts on a 914 I'd consider storing for a rainy day, but the front bumper is one of them—as it's kind of like the nose of a 1970s Alfa...in being vulnerable and just about always less than perfect on cars that actually see use. I still think there's a market for a truly good repro front bumper, and am not sure why Restoration Design hasn't blessed the 914 community with one, even if it's just plain steel ready for chroming. In 26 years of on again, off again searching, I only had two shots at an NOS piece, and never saw a perfect used one. Worse, so many of them out there have or have had rust and been rechromed multiple times.

Pedantic? Yep. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheer.gif)

[horizontally-opposed]

The thing about NOS that has always worried me is that you let all of the NOS gas out of the package when you install it.

That's the best moment!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) (And one to be savored.)

But I get you, and guess I view low-mile, super-original cars the same way. Either preserve them (not me, thank you), or take the same approach I do with NOS parts: hunt and then gladly use what has been saved through time on its way to you.

I believe pedantic is not quite the right word as it describes overbearing explanation of an arcane or otherwise boring subject. Like what I just did. The quest for the bumper is either a courageous and uncompromising search for what is just and right...or sort of obsessive. Really depends on how good looking your car already is.

As one who works with words for a living, I do believe you make a good point… (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)