I am in the middle of installing the front bumpers. I have have used washers on the support bolts so that the gap of the bumper to body is 1/4 inch. If I use the rubber seal as supplied its lip is 1/2 inch so it will curve upwards as it bridges the gap from bumper to car body. Is this the way it should look ? There’s lots written in the archives, but on this aspect there are few clues!!
Something doesn’t sound right.
The seal on my 69 is a replacement that was a match for the original – it is a 1/2" wide (total). The groove that fits the bumper edge is about a quarter inch.
A quarter inch gap should enable you to fit the seal against the body nicely.
Perhaps a photo of what you’re working with will help unless someone recognizes your problem.
My memory fades I guess, looking at the XKs illustration the seal is a bit more complex that I recalled and (as I was measuring just one side of an installed seal) it’s total width is likely wider than ½".
Though it still seems to me that a ¼" gap would be good.
That seal in place:
Hopefully you are not trying to use a rear bumper seal:
Hi Geo…I have picbut I can’t get it to upload!
You should be able to just drag it to your post - unless it is very large.
The pic is on an I phone, where I am untrained! I await the arrival of the “boss “
the front bumper rubber for a series 2 is the same as a series 1.
now the rear bumer rubber is much thicker due to the especially poor fit(wide gap) of the middle bumper section.
quality control really suffered under British Leyland.
There’s no official way. Anything from near flat up to about a 30-40 degree upward angle looks okay. What’s most important is that it’s as consistent as possible.
Based on a “stray” comment from Geo about bumper rubber being different front from back…triggered me to do a check and I found the following…front bumper rubber should be BD18947/3 which is the narrow version at 14.3 mm.overall ( lip on bumper width 9.2mm, and visible lip width on body 6.3 mm ) . The rear bumper only has rubber on the centre section only, and that is BD35977 ( lip visible on bumper is 13.0 mm, and visible width on tub is 13.8mm ). As a result of this I need to fit the proper seal on the front bumpers, which will need a smaller gap between bumper and bonnet! ( achieved by removing some washers from the mounting bolts ) It so happens that my PO in 2003 !!! included in the car kit a very comprehensive total rubber kit from G.W.Bartlett ( Muncie, Indiana ) that is in excellent condition as it was sealed in a plastic bags in a light tight box .
on a series 2, the rear bumper rubber runs the entire bumper length.
Thats interesting. My comment was base on the parts catalogue of SNG B!!
Correct - and actually a bit more than the full length (width) as it tucks around the ends some (can be a tricky bit to get looking right).
Here’s a short video that includes the rear bumper rubber when my rebuild was being done (starts at 3:00, which is where the URL is set)
e mail to yourself then save pic to “desktop” then drag it into a post.
where do the “bumper clips” go?
