I have always loved the 73's. I much prefer the corrected wiper swing, nicer dash (in my opinion) newer tail lights etc, but love that it still retains some of the earlier features like 1/4 windows, the much, much better looking fuel cap and the skinnier bumpers and rear stone tray.
That being said i think Volvo made a big mistake going away from the early 164 front bumper, it looks really nice yet the straight bumper doesn't seem to cut it. I understand it was somewhat of a stepping stone toward the big bumpers being introduced in 74, even the bumper rubbers were changed to more closely resemble those that were coming a year later.
For some time i have been considering fitting a early front bumper.
My concerns
1. The rubber on the bumper is solid, whereas the 73 is grooved (the rear one is obviously grooved also)
2. Grille would need to be changed and the early aluminium grille will foul on my intercooler.
3. I have the late tail lights and as much as I prefer them I am afraid it may look a little unbalanced.
Possible solutions to above issues
1. Fit a solid rubber style rear bumper
or Fit the grooved rubbers off a 73 bumper to the early bumper
2. Fit the early grille spaced forward
or I could Fabricate a 1 off '73 style plastic grill that fits the larger opening.
After much deliberation and measuring I figured if I were at designer at Volvo back in 73 i would have retained the early bumper and updated the grille , this is still fitting with the theory that it was a stepping stone model.
I decided to just get stuck into it.
first up a change of rubbers for the early bumper
these are not bolt ons, the early rubber is held in place with a bunch of nuts around its perimeter, these are cast into the rubber. the 73 rubbers are fitted to a steel reinforcing plate that ir retained by four screws. Additionally the grooved rubbers are longer, meaning that when fitted to the bumper they protrude out into the opening formed by the drop down section of the bumper. I reshaped the curve of the reinforcing plates essentially moving the rubber further around the corner and away from the drop, only a little trim of the top corners is required. it only needed about 20mm. 4 new holes in the bumper on each side and the rubbers screw on nicely.
Next up is removal of the old bumper, grille and grille surround to allow removal of the filler panel that is fitted to the later cars in order to allow them to run a smaller grille. this is held in place with 5 spot welds. my filler panel had already been modified slightly to fit the intercooler years ago.
I then fitted the grille surround from an early car, it fits in place nicely but the screw holes at the top are in a different place and need to be redrilled. My intercooler pipes also foul on this slightly so this area required a little trim.
I took a couple of 164 grilles and chopped them up, then spent many hours plastic welding and shaping and rewelding, the lower corners took some real work as there was not a piece that shape to weld in, I had to fabricate them from nothing. finally a bit of primer, a rub back and a coat of silver as close to original as I could get.
The grille slash is also a challenge... one which I am not yet happy with, it is just not long enough to reach and a join is required. ... still working on this.. will come back to it. Apart from that I am really happy with it.
Fits like a glove using the original screw holes at the top and pins at the bottom.
Still have some final assembly to do and am hoping I can find a cleaner early bumper as this one is a bit twisted. but overall pretty happy with it. Still looks very 73 but with a little more character.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
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