72 TA : New Project

[njsteve]

And one of the major modifications, which was to add almost a 1/2 inch of reinforcement material (urethane bumper repair material) to the outer edges. Due to bad molding of these parts at the factory, the outer edges were at best, 1/64 of an inch thick and brittle as glass. The polyethylene valance was a great visual design but very poorly executed. That was why the vast majority were replaced by the visually different, stamped steel valance under a blanket warranty/service bulletin.



The other major modification was to fill all of the existing mounting holes and then redrill them in the correct locations so they would actually line up with the factory mounting positions on the radiator support. Some of the holes in the valance were over an inch away from their mounting points. The assembly line gorillas didn't care, so they would just shove the valance into place and make the bolts hold it there, til the car rolled to the end of the assembly line and the valance shattered once the car hit the first bump - usually the ramp onto the delivery truck.

[njsteve]

Gee, we finally made 100 pages on this darn car.
Only took 6 years! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

The mounted polyethylene valance, prior to the spoiler installation. The major difference between the poly valance and the steel one is that the poly valance has the upper bar that joins with the bottom of the &quot;beak&quot; and has the two small air inlets that mimic the grill openings. This makes for a much smoother look.



And the profile views:

[x Baldwin Motion]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">And one of the major modifications, which was to add almost a 1/2 inch of reinforcement material (urethane bumper repair material) to the outer edges.



.......</div></div>


Steve, can you point out exactly where you added material here please. Did we already see before and during photos for this piece?

[njsteve]

Here's a comparison between the original 1972 polyethylene valance:



And the 1972 steel replacement warranty valance:



Notice the unfinished look of the mounting area under the beak and the large gap between the top of the steel valance and the bottom of the bumper, this was because the steel valance did not mount to the bottom of the bumper like the poly valance did. (The steel 1972 replacement valance was actually the same valance as used on the 1970 and 1971 Firebirds. The 1972 and 1973 cars came with the poly valance originally).

[njsteve]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: x Baldwin Motion</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">And one of the major modifications, which was to add almost a 1/2 inch of reinforcement material (urethane bumper repair material) to the outer edges.



.......</div></div>


Steve, can you point out exactly where you added material here please. Did we already see before and during photos for this piece? </div></div>

Here is my original shattered valance. As you can see the upper left side edge is razor thin. That is where we added all the extra material. Yes, we covered this a few years ago in the thread. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]



Here is the link to the fix on the white valance from back in 2008:

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...05&amp;page=63

And the blue polyethylene valance back in 2006:

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...05&amp;page=23

[RPOLS3]

Only need <span style="text-decoration: line-through">5</span> 4 more replies to hit 1,000.

Great thread Steve.

Jake

[SS427]

Can't wait for your next 'project'!!! Great stuff Steve!

[njsteve]

And to think I started this ill-fated project on 11/11/2004 and &quot;sort of&quot; finished it on 08/09/10.

I reread my first posting on the first page back on 11/20/2006:
&quot;I finally found a nice project car for the next year or so.&quot;

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/haha.gif[/img]

What's 6 years between friends. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img]

[StealthBird]

Steve, as always, great work! I remember back in the mid 1980's we used to for old Firebirds cruising around that may still have that original valence. Most were either broken off or had the steel replacement version. But thank you for the great photo showing the differences between the two versions.

And that's the best nose alignments I've ever seen on one of these cars. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]