trying to get my front bumper off question

[ramonesfreak]

hi..in trying to remove the lights on the front bumper, i have only been able to remove the lenses. after the lenses come off, the light assembly seems stuck on the bumper and there are no other screws. do i just pry them out of the bumper?

also, is there an easy way to unscrew the accordian extensions? i understand there are allen bolts, however, i cant seem to reach them. do you remove the front wheels to get to the bolts?

thanks
scott

[widgeon13]

Support the front of the car and remove the front wheels, you will then be able to get to the black plastic on the side. You can then get into the front of the bumper and see what is holding the fog light in, you don't want to pry them out as they are secured to a support behind the bumper. At least they were on my car.

[ramonesfreak]

ok. ill try that. thanks. just to be clear, im not trying to remove the fog lights. im trying to remove the side markers and signal lights...the orange lensed lights. i understand that these need to be removed in order to remove the bumper?

[mgatepi]

I just went thru this....It is a bigger jib than what you think. I believe the easiest way to accoumblish this is to remove the lower valance by taking out the 2 bolts on the sides and then remove the 2 screws from inside the trunk. The valance will then fall down. You definitely want to get the front end up and take off the wheels this will alow you to get at the side screws. (one on each side) The front bumper lights are held on from the back by 2, 8mm nuts. They are screwed directly onto the bumper. By removing the valance you will be able to reach up into the bumper to emove the nuts. ITs not easy.
Hope this helps!
mg

[ramonesfreak]

thanks..im learning that its not very easy. ill start over on saturday when i have more time. seems like a lot of work just to remove the lip-seal 'smile'...

as for the lights...i noticed the nuts by feeling around the back..but i only noticed the nuts for the inner lights...the orange ones closes to the center of the bumper..the parking lights i suppose. not sure how the side reflector lights are being held on but i guess ill figure it out as i go
thanks

[Mad Mike]

It is tedious work from the inside of the bumper. I just did it last weekend.

Before:

And the after:



I was going to disconnect the wires...but what is the point. I am installing new yellowbirds in their place. And they need to be reconnected. Left them dangling. Also I had "everything" unbolted, so I thought, until I realized I needed to remove the big front rubber piece to get to the main front bolts. After 2 little screws, to remove the "big front rubber piece), then learned about the front valance bolts, removed from the inside of the trunk area. When I am super dirty from working on the car, coupled with huge heat factor here in PHX. If I go into the house to ask a Pelican question...I might not return until the next day. So I did it myself. Now how to install the new yellowbirds...no idea yet, but I'll figure it out.

As far as the lenses, I think they were 8 mm nuts. Just located in a PITA area to work with. Much easier with the car on jack stands, as I would of never made it without.

Good Luck,

Mike

[ael911]

It's really not that bad, I have done this a bunch of times. Here's how I do it

1. Jack up the front end and remove both wheels.

2. Unscrew the small nuts behind the bumper bellows (accordians). There's
2 on each side. Pull bellows out of their prospective holes.
The nuts are the ones closest to the edge of the lip of fender.

3. Unscrew two screws that hold on front rubber strip, remove rubber strip
to expose main bumper nuts (4 large 13mm nuts).

4. Unscrew the 4 bumper nuts and start to wiggle bumper loose from
bumper shocks. Be careful not to let the bellow screws scratch paint
and set the bumper on the bumper shocks.

5. Now you should have enough room for your hand to fit between the bumper and the rubber smile, reach in and unbolt the two small nuts on
each turn signal from the inside while supporting the bumper with one hand. Sometimes it's easier to reach in from underneath.

6. After removing the nuts to the turn signals, let them dangle from the
inside of the bumper and unplug the wires from the turn signals to the
corner lights.

7. Unplug any headlight washer hoses from the squirters and the bumper
should be home free. The corner lights stay on the bumper.

That's pretty much it, reverse the order for install. The lower valance does not need to be removed. Hope this helps.

[ramonesfreak]

mad mike - i just need to get the bumper off far enough so i can get to the hardware holding the smile on. i want only to replace that part. i can see two of the screws holding the smile on just by looking up with a flash light but im sure there are more. im not certain if i need to go as far as you did, but ill find out.

also, i was hoping i could just drive the car up onto ramps instead of putting it on stands. not sure if that is a good idea as i dont see anyone using ramps on pelican? hmmm

[ramonesfreak]

ael911 - would you have been able to get the smile off without taking the bumper clear off the car?

[ael911]

To get the smile off, I think you can get away by just undoing the four main bumper screws and pull the bumper foward a tad and balance it on the bumper shocks. This might give you enough room to reach under and unscrew the smile. Good luck.

[ael911]

You would still need to pull the 8mm nuts off the bellows to allow bumper movement. It would be pretty difficult to remove the smile without removing the bumper since my washer bottle is in the way in the left fender. At least on my car that is where the washer fluid bottle sits.

[ramonesfreak]

my bottle, or at least, a bottle is in the same spot. i assume its the washer fluid. thanks

[Mad Mike]

I actually/finally went back to the garage today to take that off.

4 screws in the middle, from the inside of the trunk and 2 from the L/R respective sides. All easy when you have your car in my position. Now a new Ruf, hanging...litteraly hanging until I get the bolts drilled out.

Check out the latest.

[mtech325ic]

Any progress? Where did you get the front bumper? Thank you.

[quattrorunner]

Mad mike, you will notice no more overheating with this bumper and a carrera cooler. Amazing differance with the foglight holes empty. If I new it would make that much differance, I would have done it years ago!