rear valance with cut outs problem

[dixiedog]

70 challenger rear valance problem.  Car is painted and being put back together.  In doing so when installing the back bumper there is about a 2 to 3 inch gap between the bumper and rear valence (with cutouts). Car was originally a 318 without cutoouts. Has anyone run into this?  I am going to have to correct this somehow. I haven't been able to post pics due to my main pc being down.  Everthing else lined up great.  Thanks, Danny 

[TROUBLE987]

My cuda is the same way..is it a goodmark one,mine is.. im going to fix mine i got a few ideas..you are talking about standing behind the car and can see the bolts on the rear valance right..that drives me crazy

[Cooter]

You sure your Callenger has 1970-'72 Rear Bumper brackets? Sounds like it might have the later '73-'74 Bumper Brackets...The later year cars had "Filler" panels...

[rallye73]

How is the fit at the ends of the quarters? We test fitted the bumper and valance while doing the body work on mine. We had to rework the ends of the valance to get it to fit properly. The valance seems a bit too long which causes it to wanna bow out and downward making a huge gap between it and the bumper.

[dutch]

my cuda has original quarters and valance, and I can see the bolts underneath the rear bumper too... not sure why, don`t like it but don`t know what to do about it either     .... a 2-3" gap on your car...that`s a big gap   

[dixiedog]

The quarters are Gmark from afew years ago, the valance was purchased this year.  They are the original bumpers (rechromed) and brackets off of the car (70 Chall).  Could the brackets be upside down?  It seems the taillights line up at the right point, will have to recheck that. One more thing, there were two more valance brackets(I think that is what thwy were) that we couldn't figure out where they went.  The valance bolt on at the quarters and at the center , that is it.  The fit at the quarters was good.  Exactly, when you stand behind the car and look at it there is a gap, me no like.  Matter a fact I hate it.  The only part of the car that doesn't look great.  I have to fix this no matter what.  This is not going to be a show car, just a nice R/T clone.  If I can get my main PC up I will post a pic.  I will see what I can come up with.  Thanks, Danny   

[burdar]

The new valences that are on the market are the 71-74 style.  They mount at the ends and in the center.  The 1970 valence mounted at the ends and then used two larger brackets...one on each side of center.  That was a 1970 design only.  Once installed however, both styles work and look the same.  The only way to tell is to get down low and look how it's attached.

The 73-74 valences have an extra "V" bracket to attach the lisence plate.  That needs to be removed on the 71 and 72 cars.  The extra bracket was to space the plate out farther from the body since the 73-74 cars had bumpers that were mounted farther away.

There is also a metal filler panel that mounts under the tail lights on the 70-72 cars.  That piece is there so you can't see the ground when you look between the body and the bumper.  Do you have that piece installed?

Your not the first person to post about a gap.  I've read other posts on that too.  You need to have some people post butt shots of their cars in order to see what is the correct gap and what is accessive.   

[dixiedog]

I do have the extra tail panel peice installed.  Glad you cleared up the valance bracket question.  I will do some checking and see what I can do.  Thanks Burdur for your help, Danny

[rallye73]

Here is a pic of my car during the fitting process. We spent ALOT of time getting the valance to fit and look right. I wish I had a better pic with all the bolts in. I've got one somewhere.