I'm going to be replacing the rear bumper on my 83 with a roll pan and have a couple of questions.

At the very rear of the rear fender at the bottom is a small fender extension that sits pretty much under the bumper. Does the roll pan require that these be removed? The reason I ask is that I'm missing the one on the driverside and if they are not required it's one less part I have to find.

I also know ther will probably be some work making the pan fit well, but are there some that are a better fit than others?

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq228/fecustom/fenderextension.jpg

I bought mine from Honest Charley's. Fit was good. The extensions are not needed- the pan takes care of that. One thing I did not do that I wish I had- Honest Charley's sells a bumper "Support" that goes behind the roll pan. It is like a piece of C-channel Iron, and runs between the two frame horns. Provides some protection in case of a rear-end collision ( which happened to me), and also stiffens the frame a bit.

If I had to do it over, I would probabaly consider Powder Coating the stock bumper instead. I've seen a couple and they look pretty good. And you still have some protection in the rear.

www.grantkustoms.com has kits for the 5th Gen roll pans. Seems it has roll pan and two ends but not sure why since I do not have my El Camino at home yet to look. Supposedly Grant Kustoms makes very nice quality products. I haven't decided to go roll pan or painted bumper yet either but when I look at this You Tube video it makes me want to shave the tailgate and throw a roll pan on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0e-GgkLXEw
Just look at the end of the video how clean it is. A lot of times I like stock but for some reason, that one just gets me, especially in black. :)

go with a roll pan for sure, i love the look on 5th gens

btw... mike i love the look of that monte front end! i always loved the look of that style monte but didnt like the rear end. keep it up, i wanna see it finished!:You_Rock:

I agree, go with the roll pan :nanawrench: I installed my tucked frnt bumper and roll pan without any help. Front bumper needed no mods but the roll pan needed minimal sanding here and there to fit perfect. I got both from lauren engineering.

Just thought you might want to see some before and after pictures.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn12/darbysan/PB230910.jpg
Honest Charley Roll Pan.

After
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn12/darbysan/CIMG2780.jpg
The accident took out the tailgate, roll pan, quarter panel and split the gas tank. Don't know if it would have been any better with the bumper, but I'm sure that the frame connector would have helped- especially with the gas tank.

After rebuild
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn12/darbysan/CIMG2987.jpg