Here is the Driver side welded and ground, ready for paint:
On the sides I had to weld up a few holes and grind them flat so I could drill new holes - some of the original holes interfered with the spacing for the 68 model brackets. I'll spare you all of the "along the way" photos, here it is with the new holes drilled:
And now with the brackets bolted on. You may notice that I got lazy and didn't strip and paint the brackets; I'll do that when I find a perfect bumper:
You might be wondering why four holes on top instead of the two required for the bumper... Well the 89 had these nifty guys; I think they may be the same as they used in 68, just the 89 mounted them on the side instead of on top. The bolt spacing matched the bumper exactly
:
Here it is with the bumper and tow hooks installed:
I did go back and replace all of the bolts holding the hooks down with grade 8 hardware. You may also notice a conspicuously white lower grill loop. I had a friend who is a metal magician straighten it for me. The top one is smashed, I found a less damaged one that my friend will fix when business slows down.
Other than a poor attempt at modifying a side marker lamp lens to fit the park light hole that has it caught up. I sort of lost steam with the clutch. If things go well I'll finish that up in August when I have some vacation time.
Thanks again to all who have followed this and my apologies for just dropping off the map for so long.
To all of the other posting your exploits, keep it up - I love seeing what you are all doing!
-Richard