At 08:52 PM 4/13/04 -0400, George Murph wrote:
>" .... having trouble attaching a badge bar (Moss part) to front bumper."

You're maybe a little outside of my area of expertice, as I would never be so vain as to feel the need for a badge bar (and can do without the excess weight).

>"The bolt which tightens into the bumper guard from behind the bumper comes up tight before the badge bar spacer is tight, allowing the bar to remain loose and rattle."

Not having done this, I can only guess.

>"If I continued to tighten the bolt, it could pull the tapped plate from the inside of the bumper guard. .... I guess I could add washers as spacers - is this how the bar mounts?"

Before anything else, I need to ask if you know the vintage of the front bumper face bar.

From the time I finished restoration of my car in 1986 (or maybe earlier), until about 1996 or 1997, there were reproduction face bars on the market that were not the correct shape. These were too flat on the front and too sharp on the top and bottom corners, so the overriders didn''t fit right. The overriders would touch at the top and bottom corners while leaving a substantial space in the center, half way down the front face of the bumper. I had to live with one of these ill shaped face bars for some years.

The reasonable fix was to grind back the inside radius of the overrider to better clear the sharp corners on the bogus bumper. If you didn't do that, the overrider would sit too far forward with a gap in the center, and you might have to use a longer bolt to reach. That would certainly leave an abnormally large space between the inner plate of the overrrider and the bumper face bar.

More recently, in spring 1998, I bought a new front bumper face bar that is the correct shape. At the same time I bought two new overriders. Some of the overriders from that vintage had the tapped plate welded in the wrong position, so the bolt would not line up with the threads well enough to screw it together. If you did manage to get it assembled (maybe using a longer bolt), the overrider would not mate properly to the bumper, again leaving a larger than normal gap between the overrider and the bumper. I sent one of the overriders back to Moss for replacement, after which all went together okay.

Factory style badge bar - Part number AKD1215
Factory accessory part number AHH5565

If the badge bar mounts between the overrider and the face bar, then the exact fit will be difficult to match up. Any small deviation in the shape of the bumper or the configuration of the overrider may leave incorrect spacing for the badge bar. You might try installing a flat washer or two somewhere in the mix to take up any empty space and make the parts pull up tight together. My best guess is that the badge bar needs to mate tightly against the face of the bumper, and any packing spacer should go in front of the badge bar bracket.

I have one more guess. I presume that use of the badge bar should not preclude use of fog lamp brackets. Take a look at the shape of the fog lamp bracket in the parts catalog. It has a nearly flat steel bracket which goes in front of the bumper, and bends over on top of the bumper. This too mounts between the overrider.and the bumper face bar. Assuming this is designed to be used in conjunction with the badge bar, then the combined thickness of the badge bar and the fog lamp bracket might make up the same dimension as the space between the overrider nut plate and the bumper face bar. In that case, when the badge bar is installed by itself, you may need to install a spacer (couple of thick washers) to make up for the thickness of the missing fog lamp bracket.

If (when) you get this figured out, maybe take some pictures and write a short tech report to explain it. I could post it on my web site to save some other poor souls the same headache. Meanwhile, have you tried calling Moss to see if they know how the badge bar should fit? They are particularly helpful about such things (at least when they might actually know the answers). And of course they have been selling the badge bars for decades, so maybe they have more experience than I.

More info at: AHH5565