how bad is this? and is it viable for me to replace that beam and whatever else its connected to? or can i just beat it with a hammer? just looking for ideas. you can see in my sig that the bumper leans. i knew this beam was bent. but didnt relate the two until tonight when i got all the panels off.

i left my haynes manual in lubbock. im gonna read through the downloaded one later.

i would like some quick responses as im picking up my new bumper from the junk yard tomorrow and might grab this while im there.


thanks, Nick

 

Yeah, it is supposed to be straight. I don't think it's an easy task to change it, as it's welded into place.

 

This part is welded in so removing one while you're at a junkyard won't be easy.

This tube is very accessible once you've stripped things down far enough. It's not too bad of a repair to replace this with stock steel tube if you can ensure that the mating structures are back where they belong before welding in a replacement. I've seen this replaced with stock square tube, as well.

Looks like someone thought this would be a good place to hook a tow rope or hook.

 

Stripped down...

 

if the bumper is tweaked, id be looking for other damage too. it is possible that the tube is bent because the frame is tweaked

 

i havent looked at it past this, but is it possible to move the bumper supports to align the bumper correctly? now that i look at XLNDRVR's pic i might be wrong about this causing the bumper issue.

and yeah, didnt have high hopes for the junkyard.

Nick

 

not what i wanted to hear. the frame rails under the car are straight. where else would i check for frame damage?

 

right behind where the tube is. the part of the frame rail that us under the bumper shocks is really soft too, it is a crumple zone.

i'd go to foxed.ca and in the back of the 85 FSM, there is a drawing with measurements of the body. if yours is narrower in the front than it should be that would explain the bent tube.

the tube itself is just thinwall pipe, same gauge as the sheet metal

 

It looks like someone hooked to that cross piece to pull the car out of where ever it was stuck.. I have two 86 fc and one is exactly like that when I had a look I could see where someone had wraped something around it to pull .. It's the easiest thing to get at under there so that is where they hook up ..In my shop I even had a guy come in complained he couldn't steer the car (not a 7 )after pulling it out of the sand ... Later I get looking and the dumb **** hooked to the steering arm to pull it out .and it had tow hooks hanging right in front of him . He was a very good book keeper but dumber than a stick when it came to other stuff..

 

Looks like the bumper brackets are tweaked due to the tube bend. Those bumper shocks *should* be parallel with each other, not pointing outward as the pic seems to imply.

 

If the tube is bent, the frame rails are tweaked near where the tube attaches. It's hard to explain w/o drawing a force diagram but with the tube bent the frame rails pull inward. The bumper fixes the ends of the bumper supports. The 2 cause the inner ends of the bumper support/frame rail to move inward. This leaves the bumper supports looking like they point away from each other. To fix it, reattach the bumper, place a frame jack along the line of the tube pushing against both frame rails, then hammer/heat the tube till it straightens. The bumper supports/shocks may be tweaked, replace them.

Once the straightening is done, the bumper supports may need to be shimmed one either/both ends to get the bumper back in line as the attachment surfaces may be slightly out of spec/square.

 

I'm betting on tow truck/flatbed driver used the tube as a convenient place to pull the car.

It's not.

Fortunately, it's not very structural. I mean, it IS, but people cut that tube out all the time and replace it with a piece that sandwiches between the strut rod/swaybar mounts.

 

i say just drive it up against something and push it back in.

 

the frame behind the bar was straight. i couldnt find the pic of measurements in the back of the FSM. so i measured mine and the one at the junk yard, which was straight. behind the bar measured within a 1/4". so i left it alone, i left the bar alone as well. in front of the bar, where i bumper shocks mount, was slightly more off.

so we used a winch to eye-ball it back to straight




the most mucked up part was the bumper shocks. the car had been in at least one front end wreck in its history. and the old bumper was cracked in a few places. luckily, the new bumper was a whole assembly complete with shocks. took some convincing. but im happy with the results





the bar is still bent, but whatever.

Nick

 

Excellent results.

 

It is amazing how many rx7's I see at the junkyard that have this exact same problem. Seems lots of people don't know how to tow things....

 

Nice work man, way to keep another 7 alive.





.

 

you can see here the massive amount of bondo on the hood. the middle piece between the hood and bumper was the same way.




i never bothered to find the end of it. just decided to get a new one

 

Large areas of filler (bondo) are fine so long as it's not too deep. I fixed up a hail-damaged bonnet that way (only way to do it really without spending serious cash with a professional) and it appeared that I'd bogged up some huge, massive dent, when in reality it was just a light surface coat to get it flat.

ps: your bumper fits great now, way better than mine does.