Front bumber removal on '84 Carrara

[450knotOffice]

Guys,

For some reason my right front tire somehow grabbed the very back of my front bumper inside the wheelwell and jerked it down about an inch or so. I have no idea how it happened, but it did. The part of the bumper that the tire grabbed was the thick beefy steel structural part under the pretty skin. So now I have to take off the bumper and try to assess what I have to do to get the bumper to line up with the fender again. I'm hoping I didn't bend the bumper itself because it's way too beefy to straighten myself. By the way, the left side of the bumper is fine. The right side was the only part of the bumper to be deflected down slightly.

How involved a job is it to remove the bumper? Do I need to remove the wheels to get at any bolts inside?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[djmcmath]

It's kind of a pain, really. IIRC, the tires have to come off to really get at the innerds. The fender bellows have a number of 8 or 10mm screws, and you'll want to separate out the foglights -- a wiring hassle in itself. There's a couple of bolts inside the trunk that you won't find unless you know to look there. If you have the headlight-washers, you'll have to remove those. The rubber trim that joins the bumper to the rest of the car (fenders and boot) is connected by about 7 little bitty screws that you can't get to without removing the bumper -- but that's the point of the exercise, so you end up discovering that you're double jointed in order to get at them. Ultimately, it's only solidly joined to the car at the damper-shock doodads, but getting to the point where you can pull those 4 bolts is liable to take you an hour or two. It's certainly the kind of job that's you can do on your own, but it can be frustrating and confusing. Let us know how it goes.

I'd be pretty concerned, btw, about a wheel grabbing the edge of the bumper. I've never heard of that before.

Dan

[Jeff Alton]

Was it the wheel or did the wheel pick up some road debris that made contact with the bumper?

Jeff

[greglepore]

The headlight washers are a pain to remove, it was easier on mine to cut the hoses and replumb with some Depot vinyl hose and barbed fittings. There are screw or bolts, forget which, in the front trunk. Even with everything out, it sometimes doesn't just slide right off, and needs a little "persuasion".

[450knotOffice]

Well, it's 8 AM out here in SoCal. I've had my coffee and I'm about ready to tackle the job. And, yes, I do have the headlight washers - time to learn what the front bumper's all about, I guess.

As far as how the tire made contact - I'm not really sure. Something may have initially moved the far right aft corner of the bumper inboard into the wheelwell slightly. Not sure how that would've happened. I just put some 7-inch rims on the front to replace the 6's that were on there. Anyway, maybe the 7's were just wide enough to catch an edge of that deflected bumper when I made a left turn because on my first drive after putting on the 7's I noticed a little rubbing sound when I made a sharp, slow left turn into my driveway. I figured it was the little rubber chin spoiler on the bottom of the valance hitting the dip in the driveway so I thought nothing of it except to be a little more careful pulling into the driveway. I drove the car again later and it happened again, except that this time it was much louder and I couldn't turn the wheel very far to the left. When I got out to look at it I saw the bumper had been grabbed by the tire and moved down and in about an inch. Damn.

There is no clearance problem with a right turn so I just figured out a way t o get home using only right turns. Sheesh. So the fun begins.

[djmcmath]

Bummer. Perhaps the bigger wheels are your problem. I'm hoping someone weighs in with a good fix to that possible problem.

On pulling bumpers -- I've done it once, about 8 months ago. It's a hassle, and there's nothing for it but to just do it. Like Greg says, even once you've pulled every fastener, it may take a little persuasion -- but usually only a little. If you find you're persuading real hard, you've probably missed a fastener, look again. When you get confused and stuck, drop us a post. Good luck,

Dan

[450knotOffice]

Got it off!

I spent more time trying to figure out the job than actually turning my wrenches. It was actually pretty easy. The bumper slid right off. Along the way I found a bracket missing on the bumper for one of my turn signals so it was kind of flopping around in there, held in place with only one bracket instead of two. I've got a good friend who's an expert welder. I'll have him weld up another one.

The piece that caused the problem wasn't actually part of the bumper at all but was bolted to it and it was only mounted on the right side, not the left. I'm thinking it might have been a guard for the oil cooler to protect against a side collision. That's just a guess though. Obviously there was a clearance problem with a previous owner because you can see where some metal has been shaved off of the part, probably for tire clearance.

Here are a couple of pics:

[djmcmath]

Good for you! I knew you had it in you! Next thing you know, you'll be dropping the engine!

I don't really have any experience with clearance in that corner. Perhaps your welder-friend could shorten that piece slightly more?

Dan

[450knotOffice]

Thanks!

Nah, that part's not going back in the car. It has obviously caused problems before so it's out for good. It's not a rock guard or anything like that because it's not lined up with the tire. It just seems to be some sort of side impact protection device, although if somebody were to hit me right there and that piece were to ram into the oil cooler then it would waste it just as badly as if it weren't there so hmmm. Maybe it was ballast or something, who knows.

Put everything back together and test-drove the car and all went well. No rubbing anywhere, even with full lock U-turns left and right.

[Joeaksa]

450 knot,

Now that you have part of it off, take the rest of it off! Really helps your "weigh and balance" if you know what I mean!

I am backdating my 85 Targa with 72 model RS style front and rear bumpers and such. Loses around 200 pounds of weight and a lot of it in the back, where its really needed.

JoeA
"470 knot office" during the week, "60 knots" on the weekend!

[pkfrdh]

You're right in your guess that the piece you removed was designed to protect the oil cooler from side impacts. It is a bumper extension which was designed for that area after Porsche saw oil coolers were getting dinged by very small impacts to that area where the front fender can be easily popped in and damage the oil cooler...allowing oil to gush out if the oil pump keeps going after the collision if the cooler gets damaged.

The question is why did the tire come into contact with it in the first place. Is it possible your front bumper may have been partially pushed in with bumper shock mounts shorter than they should have been?

Joe in Santa Barbara