I forgot to put the type of paint I used. The undercoat is a mil spec paint with high zinc content. It can be used as a top coat, but feels like a primer to the touch. Definitely wear a mask when applying this stuff. It came from Amazon. The chrome paint I had around and it feels like a finish coat…not that anyone will ever see it under the rubber seals.
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Grinding and paint and seal installation of the RH bumper is complete. It fits well and matches the LH bumper. I just have to remove it and take of the masking tape and then do the finish mounting. I am not at all happy with my corner cut at the pointy end. I’ll touch it up with liquid rubber.
Well some good news and some bad. Firstly the mounting of the RH side went very well. But I screwed up the cut of the seal at the pointy end. Grrrr! I did the right bumper first to assure the alignment with the left bumper was good but also if need be I can dismount the right bumper to fix things if need be in the future.
Help! If anyone can show me how to make the pointy end seal cut I would appreciate it. Please?
So, onward. I think I mentioned before how I use a stud to align the bumper. This works very well and can be used at the center hole or the rear most hole but the center hole “balances” the bumper better during installation. Once I got the bolts started on the foremost bolt and the rearmost bolt, I simply removed the stud and replaced it with a bolt. I first fitted the spacers with tape and made all my grinding and fitting with spacers taped. But sometimes they “moved” so for the final installation I glued them in with weatherstrip adhesive. I decided to use a skinny rubber washer on the outside and the inside of each hole and I glued these to the spacers except on the foremost bolt where I glued the outside rubber washer and spacer to the body.
Then comes the scary part and, thankfully, demonstrates why it’s best to use high quality automotive masking tape…it comes off!
Notice on this last pic that I trimmed the rubber washer to fit because the bumper is quite skinny at the pointy end.
So here is the final result. I got to thinking about this project and I think that of all the things I’ve worked on, this RH bumper is the only thing that is completely done! It is a good feeling.
There is one last item on this bumper and that is the filling of the seal where I made the bad cuts. I don’t want to screw up the left side too, so I need some advice on how to do the cut. For the LH bumper, I am using electrician’s liquid rubber to fix it. I’ve taped it to keep the fill rubber where it is needed. I’ll fill it and then use the Dremel to grind it to shape. It’ll look good when done, but I am not pleased.
Could you make a photo of the pointy end cuts you made which you think are wrong? I don’t recall it being super hard. I just practiced once on the old scrap. I would just have made 2 to 4 V shaped kerfs on the inside tang so it can fold without puckering. You can also soften it with a heat gun to allow it to conform to the blade edge. It will never be perfect, just good enough. It’s not something that gets a lot of scrutiny.
I know, easy right? Apparently not for me. I simply bent the seal, saw it buckling and then cut a small V on the inner flap or tang leaving the outer tang alone. That still buckled so I cut the outer flap in the same V but left the very outer part (that rib) alone. And that gave me a large void in the outside. I should have practiced on an old seal - which I have! - stupid of me.
I don’t have a pic of the V cuts on the outside unfortunately. When I first cut the seal, I only cut the inner tang. not at all on the outer part. I made a small V at first and the outer fish mouthed. I then made a large V on the inside only and still got a fish mouth on the outside. I noted folks had said they cut the outside and then glued that seam with instant glue. So I cut the outer tang to eliminate the fish mouth. Small cut, then larger and finally too large.
Well, it seems you know your mistake, don’t cut on the visible area. Yes you’ll get a small outward pucker right at the point. You should be able to reduce it with a heat gun, soften and squeeze (wearing a glove), not melt mind you, just warm to soften. It won’t be perfect. Mine isn’t either.
Sometimes I come out of a store and see small groups of people gathered around my rear bumper pointing and laughing at the slight bulge of the seal around the tip. I just tell them to show me a photo of their perfect Jag bumper seals and that shuts them up
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Here are two more pics I just took. The pucker isn’t so much at the very point, but rather away from the very point of the turn. Of course, the only thing left of my seal at the point is the rib. Still these pics show it is not the rib that is puckering
If you save the pics, you can zoom it to see better.
Even with the outside cut and the inside cut, when I wrapped the corner using adhesive, the dang seal puckered on the outside and bowed inwards quite a bit. I put a small block of wood on the inside and, using a tiny wood workers clamp, clamped it flat.
So Erica, I understand you do not cut the outer flap at all. Just make a V cut, as small as feasible, on the inside flap. And just deal with the pucker. That was my expectation, but the pucker was not just on the very corner, but was quite prominent.
A comment on my seals. I have two different ones, both from Welsh. The wider ones - that I used - are precut for the rear bumpers. The narrower ones are a single piece that must be cut in half for the front bumpers. The narrower one would certainly go around this corner more easily, but then there’s more likelihood it will not fill the gap between the bumper and the body. Somewhere I have a pic of the end view of the seals…I cannot find it at the moment. Their profile is the same, but the wider one stays on the bumper better, while the narrower one feels like softer rubber and would go around a corner better.
I’ll do some practicing on the old seals I have.
I am 100% sure I made no changes at all to the visible portion of the seal. I’m fairly certain I made more than on V notch on the inside, likely many, like those woodworking videos where someone turns a plank into a rounded arch by making dozens of cross cuts in a row, part way through the board.
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Got it! I will trying it out on my scrap seal. Thank you Erica.
Same here, lots of very small cuts on the inside to get around the point. Nothing on the outside.
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I took more than a pie cut on the inside of the seal at the bumper point. IIRC the pie cuts weren’t working and I trimmed a larger portion of the inner seal at the point…maybe 1/4 inch. But I do have a pucker where it makes the turn. I resolved to live with it.
Will see if I have a pic
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It is so hard to take pictures of things with chrome on them. Hard to discern what you are looking at.
I will be doing it that way Dave and we’ll see how it goes. Again. But I’ll use an old seal. With Bill’s bumper pucker, I would have been happy with that. With quite a bit of the inside flap cut away, my pucker was … large. Not nice. So I whittled some more and finally cut the outside. I hate it when I screw up!
I’m off for Thanksgiving with family, but I’ll be back at it when we get back. Thank you all.
Scott
To avoid a nasty surprise
When you pull your tapes off don’t pull them up if that’s what your doing in one pic , pull them back wards on them selves
Cheers
I do. I did, Jim. The pic was for the camera. Normally I pull them back on themselves with a sort of side to side rocking motion…you can feel if they want to come away. But thanks!
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Didn’t know had to mention it to you or I would have felt bad hope I didn’t offend you
Cheers
No no, that is perfect and appreciated. We never know what some else doesn’t know. And, someone else may learn from it. All is good.
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Well…yippee! The bumpers are on. For better or worse…sort of like a marriage I guess. 
I still had trouble with the rubber seal on the left side, but I did not cut the outer surface. So, now it has a fish mouth. Meanwhile, I am filling the indent at the pointy end of the seal on the right side. It will come out better when I’m done than the left side I believe. We shall see…takes several days layering the liquid rubber.
I touched up the fastener holes with paint after these photos. Note on the installation I used a stud in the center hole to align and hold the bumper. Then I loosely bolted the rear followed by the front (a problem child) and then swapped out the stud in the middle for a bolt. This allows me to do this singlehanded. Then tightened the 3 bolts more or less evenly.
Here are pics of the finished bumpers. I did not like this job. 
All in all these came out well. Not great. I think I am going to have to fit-by-grinding a bit on the tail lights. But I’ve new gaskets so we’ll decide when the time comes. At least I can now move on with refitting the IRS. Have to bleed it first.
Oh yeah, on answering another thread I dragged out my spare driveshaft. And then discovered neither it nor the one in the car has a rubber boot at the slip joint. Easy remedy on a Series One; I just have to buy it.
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They look good from my house…
Seriously, that’s way better than most factory fits, and it looks perfectly OK to me.
Thank you. When I get done with the wrap-around, I’ll post pictures.
Use a brand new bolt on the pointy end of the exact same length. The last thread or two wears away in the elements and you probably only catch 3 threads all the way on a new bolt. I chased that for a while.
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