Adapting early american bumpers to a later 107

[Lexxani]

Has any one tried adapting '73 American 107 bumpers to a '74+ 107? I can not for the life of me think of how to get them on my SL-C (without fabricating special brackets). . .I have all the old hardware from the '73 bumpers as I pulled them myself and saw 1st hand the mounts on the donor car, but they will not line up (not even close) with my '78. . .am I missing something??

[79Mercy]

did you get it firgured out?

[Lexxani]

I havent messed with it in a few days, ive had a few more pressing things to address. Over the last few days I've been helping the neighbor put his new shortblock 5.4L Ford engine in the Lightning pickup in the back of these pictures. After messing with that engine I am amazed how many lightyears ahead these old Mercedes still are over modern domestics. . .

Heres a few pics of the front bumper resting in place. The problem is the mounting points for the early bumpers are near the center and the mounting points for the later bumpers are more outboard, I know im not missing any bracketry off the '73 donor car (unless I need to swap out the whole front end). Anyone have any ideas?

[79Mercy]

the whole fron clip probably need to be from the 73. If the holes aren't in the right spot, then they aren't in the right spot. Could you make new holes?

[Lexxani]

I could but, the place where the holes are for the early bumpers dont seem to align with a decent support on the '78. .(ie the metal seems a little too thin). . .

[79Mercy]

I guess the only thing left you could do is get the front clip off of a early 107. If you don't want to do that im sure you sell the bumpers and make some $$$.

[Lexxani]

im thinking of attempting to build a set of custom brackets, its do-able. .I gotta give it a couppla weeks as im moving to a new place (and better garrage!) and need to get organized.

I think I can get some metal from home depot and fashion something that should make this work.

[alabbasi]

Looking good though!

[79Mercy]

that looks like it will work. Just going to take some time to get everything aligned properly.

[Mike D]

Originally Posted by Lexxani

im thinking of attempting to build a set of custom brackets, its do-able. .I gotta give it a couppla weeks as im moving to a new place (and better garrage!) and need to get organized.

I think I can get some metal from home depot and fashion something that should make this work.

Go to a frame and spring shop, a place where they make leaf springs. You need a "spring" steel for those custom mounts. The steel you get from Home Depot will not stand up to the vibrations and will crack. The spring shop should be able to form the brackets.

[280EZRider]

Before comitting to building brackets, I would talk to MBZ parts in Germany. They may have the brackets cheaper than making new ones, albeit, shipping must be considered. When I bought Euro bumpers from Germany for my W123, I discovered that the brackets were slightly different than those for a Euro W123, but they were correct & fit perfectly. By the way, your 73s aren't American, they're Euro. In 1974, the big American bumpers started appearing.