75ZT Community

I've just been reading the 'How To' detailing how to align the front bumper on facelift models on the other side.. At one point in the 'How To' it seems to suggest removing the fir tree clip that secures the bumper to the front wing at the uppermost edge of the 'S' line of the wing / bumper:

Raising the slam panel is important because it in turn raises the headlights, allowing vertical movement of the bumper. Especially if the bumper is already tight under the headlights. I also removed the fir tree clips that prevented the bumper from being raised as much as was needed

I've had a quick look at my own cars bumper this afternoon whilst replacing the shannon tube and it would appear that the fir tree clip does restrict the bumper from closely aligning to the 'S' edge on the wing, when the clips are fitted there is still a gap between the wing and the bumper, the gap on mine has been improved by raising the slap panel as per the 'How To' instructions, but I feel that the wing / bumper joint would be greatly further improved by removing the fir tree clips in the wing leading edge, which would then allow the bumper to fit closely to the wing.

Has anyone realigned the bumper and removed the fir tree clips to achieve the best possible fit of the bumper to the wing?

Steve

H Steve.
I have never heard of that also would it not allow movement in that area if the fir tree clip was removed, the crash bar and slam panel can have there holes elongated to help raise the front but that is not by much, the washer put under the lip of the top bumper fixed to the slam panel.

Hi Artic,
I've already raised the slam panel and crash bar by 6mm, which has improved the fit of the bumper, but there is still a gap (see attached picture) I don't think raising the slam panel any further will achieve anything as the bumper seems to be restrained by the fir tree clip, once you engage the clip between the bumper and the wing, it fixes it in position.
Yesterdays attempt at improving the gap was a bit rushed as we were running out of time, I'm going to devote a day in the near future to removing the bumper and have a goos look at trying to improve the alignment

Steve

Sounds interesting.
My bumper/wing interface looks the same as yours.
I've done the other mods to try and improve things, but never achieved what I consider to be acceptable.

Hi sin8458,
I've been thinking about this set-up this morning and I think what I'm going to try next is to leave the two bolts in the slam panel which secure the slam panel at either end, on top of the inner wings and then remove the four bolts holding the crash beam in place, but leave the two nuts which secure the slam panel to the crash beam then attempt to raise the crash beam a further few millimetres, which I think may help, I'm confident that there is enough flex in the panel to allow this movement, which should raise the headlamp units slightly, giving clearance to allow the bumper to be raised, but, because the top of the slam panel is still fixed the panel it shouldn't affect the the relationship of the top of the bumper to bonnet, in effect, lifting the crash beam should have the effect of rotating the bumper outwards slightly, which will hopefully close the gap on the 'S' line without raising the leading edge of the bumper too much, which should also close the bonnet / bumper gap slightly - I can't afford to raise top of the slam panel any further as doing so means I'm going to run out of adjustment on the two rubber buffers which control the bonnet / wing alignment

Steve

Have to agree, the "s" line looks wrong and it will annoy some. It is more prevalent on the facelift models. My method on the mk 1 was quite rough and ready. everything on the front end finger tight. try and lift the front end upto the heavens and with your fourth hand nip all the bolts up. Please keep us posted on your progress.

Hi Dave, what annoys me about it is the fact that Rover allowed the top of the range luxury cars leave the factory with such bad panel fit, how did anyone at Longbridge think that such a bad panel fit on a car costing in the region of £20,000 was acceptable?
Steve

I think if you try and close the S line you stand a chance of the two rubbing after, this could cause paint chips etc, it never really bothered me when i had my tourers and MGZT

The plastic connection can be raised a little on the wing.
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All cars have a little gap between bumper and wings.
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But yes must admit the front shut lines on the later model do seem to be a little to much.
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Hi Steve,
Yes, it's the facelift versions which seem to have poor 'S' line gaps, I've had another look yesterday afternoon and it looks like that I need to:
1. Lift the headlamp units to allow the bumper to lift vertically a little further
2. Lift the fir tree clip to allow the bumper to rise slightly to achieve a better fit in the 'S' line
3. Leave the slap panel in it's current position as any further raising will lose the ability to get proper bonnet shut lines, due to losing adjustment of the two rubber buffers
To achieve this I'm going to try and raise the slam panel / crash beam but not raise the top of the slam panel any further, I think this is possible and I'm going to have a look at how the fir tree clip fits to the bumper, does it fit into a slot in the bumper to allow the clip to mover vertically to find it's own vertical alignment but does not permit lateral movement, thereby maintaining correct alignment of the wing and bumper surface

Steve

The yellow nipple on the wing can not be raised, just inside the bumper there is a plastic fixing plate which the nipple fits into these are glued on so maybe can be moved? i think i have one off the wing in the shed somewhere will try and find it later.
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Some have elongated the slam panel lower fixing points, and the crash bar so it lift up a little higher.

Hi Steve,
I've got several new fir tree clips which I purchased years ago, here's what a new unused one looks like:



You are correct that the yellow portion of the clip locates in a corresponding hole in the front wing, the position of this part of the clip is fixed, however, looking at the design of the white portion of the clip, it seems to suggest that this fits into a slot of some type in the bumper, which will allow some adjustment of the vertical height of the bumper in relation to the wing in the crucial 'S' line area.
The RAVE instructions for refitting the bumper state that the yellow portion of the clip should be assembled to the white portion on the bumper and then the bumper offered up to fit, engaging the fir tree portion of the clip into the corresponding hole in the front wing, I'm working on the theory that doing this allows the white part of the clip to slide in the slot in the bumper (if there is one) allowing it to find its own correct height allowing the best alignment of the bumper and wing in the 'S' line area, obviously, this will also be dependent on the slam panel being at the correct position, raised from its original position by approx. 6mm which also raises the headlamp units, thus giving more room for the bumper to be raised without fouling the bottom of the light units.
I think I now have a better understanding of the relationship of all the panels involved so hopefully when I remove the bumper again I'll have a better chance of improving the appearance of the front of the car, the current panel fit annoys me every time I look at it

I think I've found a supplier of the two piece fir tree clips - I'll start a new post / thread giving details:
alternative-bumper-wing-fir-tree-clip-supplier-t9912.html

Steve

stevenkeyte wrote:I think I've found a supplier of the two piece fir tree clips - I'll start a new post / thread giving details:
alternative-bumper-wing-fir-tree-clip-supplier-t9912.html

Steve

Those are similar to the ones we use on the side panels on the Freelander 2
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