Following the worlds slowest crash (i rolled into the back of a truck at some lights due to being an idiot) one of the over riders has been push back into the front grill, in turn bending the grill, snapping the number plate and front bumper beam which the over riders are mounted on.

This has prompted me to do a front grill conversion as an aftermarket grill is significantly cheaper than a factory one. Before i get into removing the front bumper though i want to consider my options for replacing the front bumper beam...

When doing the conversion it seems the done thing is to cut off the number plate mounts/over riders but seeing as my beam is snapped already it seems odd to replace it and then hack it up. Does anybody know how essential the beam actually is? I've done a bit of research and have seen that the horns and external temperature sensor are mounted to the beam, but is it actually doing anything structurally other than holding the number plate and over riders?

Paragon do a replacement beam which just looks like a piece of aluminium drilled for mounting what i have mentioned above:

Paragon Design UK Ltd Jaguar XK Bumper Beam Replacement

I'm thinking that if i can find another way of mounting the temp sensor and horns then this beam may be surplus... unless it provides some degree of support for the main bumper cover but as yet i am unable to find any information to confirm or deny that.

Any input from those who have removed/replaced bumpers would be much appreciated.

Cheers

 

Some pics of the damage might help.

I am kind of shocked that the damage you described could be from such a slow roll.

The bumper cover doesn't rely on the underlying beam structure at all. Its all bolted to other surrounding sheet metal parts.

Pic of mine when I was converting to mesh grill. All I removed was the 2 aluminum uprights shown here.

 

The damage really isn't that bad, but in the UK our beam is 100% plastic and doesn't have the aluminium parts like yours. Being 17 years old it must have been pretty brittle.

I also noticed we got completely rigid bumper mounts but you have energy absorbing ones which means there is no flexibility in the beam whatsoever.

The torque of the car, even at less than 10 mph is enough to push the over rider in when you come into contact with a scaffolding truck. The dude driving had no idea I'd even touched him!

Cheers for the pic though as it still shows me the setup. I'm thinking I can mount the necessary items on somethin like a piece of unistrut which will then attach to the existing mounts.

I was also thinking of routing the air intake to behind the new grill so getting rid of beam would allow this too.