Updates- Trailer hitch is in!
A couple pages ago I mentioned that I scored a $25 g-body El Camino trailer hitch from the junkyard. I'll be using it to tow my street/strip Nova to Georgia when I relocate in a few months and to the track when I get the itch to go drag racing again. Two problems with a hitch is there's no room because I will be running the exhaust tips right under the center of the rear bumper and I also don't want an ugly trailer receiver visible from behind. So I decided to figure out how to hide it behind the bumper....
The hitch...
Here's the original bumper shock/ mount. I used a die grinder to cut a small slit in the body (not visible, it extends about 8" into the frame) to drain the oil. I did this pointed away from me inside the trash can because the oil is a bit under pressure and sprays out. (I learned this by accident practicing on one of the front bumper mounts. Lol, it sprayed about 10 feet in the air and got oil everywhere in about a 4 foot radius!) After the oil was drained I welded up the slit and sand blasted them.
I then cut off the factory Draw-tite brackets. Using the bumper shocks to help make a poster board template I plasma cut out some C shape brackets from the 1/8" steel sheet and some C shape brackets from the left over hitch brackets. For strength I drilled out all the holes from the smaller metric to 3/8" and used grade 8 bolts. Here it is all welded and in place.
For clearance I had to persuade the spare tire well a little with a small sledge.
I then cut off the ends of the bumper support bracket and bolted them on.
Here is the first test fit with the bumper. It looks like a large gap but once the tailgate and the plastic piece that fills the rest of the gap is installed it looks better. Once all back together I will actually tuck the bumper closer to the body, another reason for draining the oil.
Measuring out a rectangle in the center of the bumper I cut it out with a die grinder. The cut out piece will be welded to some square tubing that will insert into the receiver when the race tow hook or the trailer ball is not being used. The panel will hide everything except the small gap outline around the rectangle. The bumper will be black so it shouldn't be very noticeable. I got the tow hook from Harbor Freight on sale for $10. Not sure yet if it's SCCA legal but for the price I figured I'd grab it.
Next I need to build support brackets that will be welded to the hitch and bolted to the frame about 10" inward. More on that soon. Overall I think it turned out great and really ads to the car's versatility without sacrificing a clean look out back.
