[megail]

Lately I've noticed several cougars with aftermarket bumpers having a large gap between the lower portion of the headlights and the top portion of the bumper. My cougar fell into this category and knowing that my drift front wasn't getting any lighter i decided to do something about it. First I was going to make a whole new front bracket but that proved too time consuming and I had a show in 3 days.

First step. Take off Grill and then the bumper. Remove all hardware and setaside as to not lose any nuts and bolts. Next remove the torques head bolts that hold the front mounting bracket on. I broke my torques wrenches along time ago so a large sized flathead screwdriver worked well. Remove the bracket and you will notice that it is no longer level.

The Bracket once removed from the car will more than likely be bent downward and in some cases be cracked along the curve. You will notice this by seeing a small crack along the curve where all the stress has been applied.

To cure the bumper sag i simply welded 2 strips of 1/4" thick 1 inch wide steel.
First weld the broken sections back together carefully, as to not burn through and make a bigger mess. After that flip the piece over and cut the strips down to about 2 1/2" to 3" depending on where you want to triangulate the back section.Align the bracket so that its at a right angle and not sagging any more then weld those up and and poof your done.

its actually a little more complicated. but thats the basic. after its welded, grind it all down to a "stock" feel and then paint so that it appears stock. i didn't smooth it too much, i used steel wool inbetween coats of paint and it turned out looking like a stock piece again. only change is i can stand on it and not bend it.

here are some pics of the welds and finished product. now my bumper sags no more. hope it helped

done

 

[CATerina]

Not all of use have metal ones. Most people have plastic. I believe 2000+ does

 

[megail]

whoa that sucks. well then do what i first planned to do and make one out of sheet metal. its not too hard just measure and cut weld it up and test fit. man if those things are plastic then you should be able to just glass some angles to the underside (in theory) and it'd go away. but really why a PLASTIC bracket. thats like trying to walk on glass. just dumb.

 

[CATerina]

My plastic one is stronger then my old metal one. Mine dont sag at all. 5mph bumper dude

 

[Crispy]

I glassed the hell outta the inside of my Extreme bumper to make it super strong.. before I would grab the center area and lift it straight up and the bumper would bend and flex -- after abour 3 layers of mat that thing won't even bend if I lift it now.. once I installed the bumper the gaps underneath the headlights went away as well as the one side that always looked lower... it was like any bumper on my car prior was drooping and I always thought it was the bracket.. now I'm not so sure anymore.. I'm starting to think that if you make a bumper rigid enough to stay in the correct shape any support will work..

 

[megail]

i was thinking the same thing crispy. so when my bumper was off to fix the bracket i also added 4 layers of mat to my bumper. i had the same issue with it pulling and flexing when grabbed in the middle. only problem i had was that mine was too tall to fit under the lights so i had to do some light sanding to make it fit. now its damn near flush with the lights in some spots. in others there is a little gap but i think thats a defect in my retardo bumper. anyways. i think that the bracket helped a little but more fiberglass reinforcing helped the most. either way it works now and i have no flex. ha.