Urethane vs. Fiberglass Shark Nose

[Michael H.]

I was flipping through Eckler's catalog and noticed that they offer 3 types of shark noses - GM repro urethane, "flexi-glass" and hand-laid solid fiberglass. I am strongly considering using the hand-laid fiberglass and saving a couple hundred pounds of weight by eliminating all the steel reinforcement and collision retraction components.

From past experience I know how much trouble the urethane parts are - poor fit, paint matching, etc. Does anyone out there have any epxerience with these fiberglass substitutes?

[Mike M.]

Re: Urethane vs. Fiberglass Shark Nose

my brother and i put an eckler's f-glass nose and tail on a 74 about 10 years ago. way cheaper, way easier to install.fit as good as or beter than the urethane original. mike

[Paul B.]

Re: Urethane vs. Fiberglass Shark Nose

I purchased both a front and rear Eckler's "FlexFit" for my '74 coupe. The rear is on now and fit beautiful. The front was a different "horror" story. Since "Shark" noses were virtually hand fitted and hand assembled and "bonded" in a jig, it has been said "no two Corvettes are exactly the same" in the nose area as far as measurements are concerned. Well, anyways the Eckler's front fit just "OK" until I got to the vertical seam just forward of the marker light on the passenger side. Here I had a 1/2" GAP. It does'nt take a rocket scientist to know that IF you try to PULL RIGID fiberglass pieces 1/2" apart together with bolts SOMETHING will break and I guarantee you it won't be the bolt!!! I ended up selling the rigid bumper and buying the $597 GM Restoration Parts '73/'74 front bumper and it was an EXACT reproduction EXCEPT it did'nt have the "INLAND" brand logo or the Inland part # on the inside of it. One thing I did learn is GM got away with murder using these Urethane bumpers-they'll fill any gap BECAUSE it's so moldable, pliable and flexible. Actually, the repro fit better because "I" took the time to carefully line it up, whereas assembly workers originally DID'NT.

[Allen W.]

Re: Urethane vs. Fiberglass Shark Nose

A few years ago before the additional choices I installed a fiberglass nose on a 73. I also had to do some custom t******* and fitting including some fiberglass work to get a tight fit. Looks fine after all that work. I however kept all the steel in the front and just replaced the cover.
Allen