Well, all the challenges I've run into so far have to do with the fact that the 1970 LeMans was the only model and year that the chrome bumper ran all the way to the top of the grill like this...

All the other years of LeMans and GTOs had just the bumper along the bottom or similar configuration.  This makes it impossible to find reproduction parts for my car since most people with front end damage would make a GTO clone anyway.  So, today's project was repairing the mounting brackets for the grill inserts.  The inserts were plastic to begin with and the prior owner's minor collision had broken them.

 

 

So, off to the hardware store to buy a small sheet of 22 gauge steel.  Then I measured, cut, bent and drilled each piece to fit inside the molding and behind the broken tab.



After marking the holes, for screws (each tab was different) I drilled a pilot hole and then hit them with self etching primer.

 

 

 A couple of coats of black enamel...

 

And then in go the screws.  The screws going into the plastic molding pointed toward the grill, had to be started, backed out, cut off, and then put back in because they were too long and I was too cheap to drive to the store to buy short screws.  I don't know if I could have found them that short and as wide as I needed anyway.

 











 

Here's a view from the bottom showing how the new metal bracket will bear the stress...hopefully.  I really had no other choice.  I did a couple of test spots with fiberglass and it wouldn't grip the plastic even when it was roughed up.  Not to mention, when the temperature changes plastic and fiberglass, having different molecular makeup, expand and shrink at different rates so, it would never have stayed, especially after torqueing a fender screw on top of it.



 I may end up shaving some of the longer screws or doing something different at mounting time.  Without putting it all together its hard to estimate where the mounting bracket will sit in the bumper bracket.