Front bumper waved

[Christian_GM]

dear all,
during Xmas time I put a new set of CVF hood hinges and I did again all body panels gap from doors to fender and hood. Pretty satisfied with the result. I did not removed the bumber yet. body restoration was done by a body shop here in Italy but I'm not very happy about the result. Anyway, I need to find a way to fix a small gap between right fender and bumper, just on the upper side. the rest of the gap is correctly tight. any idea? second issue, how to remove that "wave" on the bumper on the flat area above the grille, driver side? passenger side is nice and flat! thank you so much.

[Warren Seale]

It will be difficult to get the wave out. The urethane bumper covers distort if they are not stored properly when off the car or if they were heated during painting.  Don't sweat the gaps and alignment too much since the body part tolerances were nothing like the cars made today.  They were sloppy looking when new.  The experienced assembly line workers couldn't get them to align perfectly just because of the tolerances.

[FormTA]

Ya. I have seen a couple 100% original cars and the alignment of panels is horrible.  They make my car look amazing. 

Wellington is correct, that wave is from storing the cover while it was still attached to the crash bar. I know, because I did that with mine. When I finally removed it completely I used a heat gun and clamped paint stick and wood to it and had to keep checking and applying heat every week for over a month to get it flat again. I now store bumper covers removed from the crash bars and flat on a board with the headlights pointed up.

[Wallington]

Do the 79-81 nosecones have any inner bracing or strengthening strips? For instance, the 77-78 nosecones have a flat steel strip riveted under each grille. Obviously, that's not where they will warp or sag, but there's options there to extend the steel into a brace of sorts to support other areas and maintain a point to match on either side.

[b_hill_86]

I’m not sure if the one I have is missing anything but it doesn’t appear to have anything more than what’s attached and the steel structure that’s pictured separately

[FormTA]

That's it but. If you remove it with th crash bar then it pulls it down at a weird angle that creates those waves. The crash bar is heavy.

[roadking77]

I agree with what the others have said. As for the gap where the nose attaches to the fender, there should be a metal retainer/brace of sorts on the outer edge of the urethane bumper. That is what pulls the piece tight to the fender. The do tend to pull out a bit. Like Luke said they were far from perfect, not to make an excuse. The best way to fix I would surmise would be to fit everything perfectly before painting. If there was still a gap then filler could have been added. It looks like that step is way too late for your car though. The warp above the grill I believe is just the nature of the product. I dont think storage off the car is as much of a culprit as much as thats what these things tend to do with age. I did everything I could to straighten mine out on the 79 I am working on and it still has that little bit of warp in the exact same spot. I am a perfectionist but also realize that I am not building a watch and figure that it is at least as close as what the factory made.