Hey all,

I just wanted to clear up some questions i have about these lightweight front bumper supports (AKA crash bars).

1) They are aluminum.. Lighter than steel ones found in 85+ camaros. These aluminum ones seem to be stock on 82-84 camaros. Is this true?

2) How much do they weigh / How much lighter are they compared to the steel ones?

3) I've read that they are part of the structural integrity of the front of the car. Aluminum is obviously weaker than steel, is there any truth to this? And if so, perhaps that is why GM chose to put steel rather than aluminum in the later years?

4) Do they actually make a difference in impact absorption compared to steel ones? I've 'read' that they are pretty much the same thing, and that he lighter aluminum one is just about as strong when we're talking about 'impact' damage.

5) When changing this, one must remove the whole front clip off the car, correct? That requires removing all the little plastic screws from the front of the car... I am worried that by removing everything, that all of these rare little pieces might break and i would not be able to re-assemble. Is it a huge job to do this? Sorry, i've just never done this before..

I've done pretty much all the other weight reductions possible, this just seems like a very good one considering it's on the very front of the car which is the BEST place to lighten up on these cars.

Thanks in advance!
-Marc

 

1. true, dont think you could get them on later cars.

2. the one i have in the garage doesnt weight much at all, under 10 lbs easy

3. they are strucrual, they hold the frame together, keep them from spreading in an accident. Aluminum is weaker and will not hold up as well as steel.

4. same as #3. they have to be weaker, the one i have has a lot more openings in it (its from a camaro) vs my bird one which is solid and im sure weight a freaking ton.

5. the whole nose has to come off. everything. if the push in plastic clips break, just stop at the parts store and get new ones. they are available.

 

I actually just removed the whole front "crash bar" assembly from my '85 about a month ago. The whole thing only weighed in at 28.5 lbs including the hardware (This is a steel one). I replaced it with a 3" wide piece of aluminum which now connects the chin spoiler to the radiator support (1.5 lbs).

Of course I would not suggest doing this to a street driven car.

 

Woah, kinda cool! But, this looks like the left and right sides of the front are not even tied together anymore?

 

true, the fron end will flex a lot more now, but i guess its not a huge deal on a drag car that never sees the street. I would still like to see something there though, even if its just 2 plates and a piece of 1.75 dom connecting the frames together.

 

If you were to put, say, the stock aluminum crash bar, would it be as strong (in terms of front end 'flex', not crash support) as a steel bar?

 

i'm really looking into this as i may paint the car soon and the front bumper might just come off anyway, anyone know if front end strength (handling wise, not crash wise) will be compromised with an aluminum front bumper support??

 

Not every 82-84 Car has them either. When you go out looking for one in the yards just bring a magnet with you. I've only found one out of all the cars i've found in the yards

 

Another way to tell them apart is the support braces are bolted on the aluminum Vs welded on the steel bumper.The alumy version is also i little thicker.

 

are they interchangeable between camaro's and firebirds?

 

Nope. Or my Camaro version would be on my GTA already. The Camaro piece is wider.

 

AFAIK, the bumper itself is, but the honeycomb part is not, it would need to be swapped

 

really? wonder which one i have. i assume you could just trim the ends right?

 

If cutting the ends would have worked, I woulda done that. I had the nose off anyways replacing it.


The mounts to the unibody didn't even line up & I had to get my car back together the same day. No time to modify stuff to work.

 

whats different about the honey combs? i plan to use a camaro bumper on my bird would the honey comb still not work?

how much bigger are they?

 

the bumpers themselves are not the same. I had a aluminum bird one first that I tried to put on my camaro, bolted to the body fine but the bumper wouldnt even sit flush over it even with the honeycomb removed. it sticks farther out from the car than the camaro one. I ended up trading it straight up for a camaro one.

 

I still am not sure about the structural rigidity of the aluminum bumpers... Why did GM put steel front bumpers instead of aluminum? I want to put the aluminum but i do road racing and autocross and stuff like that so I am wondering if the lighter weight is worth what the losses are

 

Steel is definately going to be stronger for the same thickness & no doubt cheaper to make. Probably was for the cheaper reason though....

 

do you think you'll even notice a difference with rigidity? I highly doubt it. the weight loss is marginal anyways.

 

yeah i read somewhere that it's roughly 9lbs lighter than the steel version, which is not bad since it's off the absolute front end of the car.. That, combined with relocating the battery to the rear and lighter weight 4th gen seats are my plans for now for weight reduction.

 

I put my 84 se bird alum support on my 87 bird. It's alot lighter the steel one from the bird is heavy as poo