Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Me and my long-suffering father just spent twelve fecking hours straight swapping the nosecone over on my Supra. Is that the biggest bitch-ass mofo of a job ever or what???

Looks nice now though. All meshed up and everything.

:needspic:

need I say more !!

It's a pain in the arse isn't it? It took me longer to take off and fit the nose than to install the intercooler. Was it an aftermarket bumper or the same one??

Sorry, I meant to say please

12 HRS what were you using a swiss army knife

Dnk

I'll post some pics tonight if I remember

Pretty much the first two jobs I did were (a) shear off the entire stud AND surrounding molding on the passenger side indicator while removing it, and then (b) when dropping the front undertray I sheared off one of the studs on the long strip along the bottom inside edge of the "mouth" in the nosecone. That pretty much set the tone and pace of the rest of the job.

Also, the stud/nut strips and spreader plates that hold the rubber trim along the bottom on: How crap are they? Nearly every single one just spun and had to be broken or damaged to get it out. Luckily I had enough spares to make up one good set for re-assembly.

Grrrr. Looks well nice though. It's HyPerformance's old stock bumper. I did a swap because I got it cheap and it worked our cheaper than having my old one resprayed.

it was the same when i swapped my intercooler, if a bolt looked like it was going to shear off then no matter how much wd40 i used it would let go and have to be drilled out and replaced

oh well they are all new bolts now so it should be a fairly easy job next time...

There you go. Terrible pics, but its hard to make black mesh show up

Hmmm. I can't make up my mind about this bumper meshing business. I'm loath to pay someone else to do it (plus I've gotta sneak the expense in under the 'radar' in the house...) but this is the second 'it's a right git' thread I've seen recently regarding the removal of the front bumper.

Perhaps it's time to get experimental and see if the job can be done with the bumper still in place. It sounds impossible... but then man was never meant to fly either.

Bumper meshing with the bumper still in place - it's science fiction, but it could be science fact.

: professor :

i`ve got to do mine but need to wait and do all the jobs at once,indicators,intercooler and mesh.just need the money and the time

Oh God. FMIC this weekend, I'm not looking forward to it now

Thanks for the pics, a bitch of a job by the sound of it, but the black mesh against the silver looks good

hmmm... I meshed mine not that long ago and I remember it being a fair piece of work to get it all off - I still have a couple of spare fasteners that I couldnt find where they were supposed to go back on. I am hoping they were the ones that were cut off to fit the intercooler pipes round the front of the body

Oh God. FMIC this weekend, I'm not looking forward to it now

i fitted my own FMIC, from bumper off, to bumper on, 4.5hrs on my own

i fitted my own FMIC, from bumper off, to bumper on, 4.5hrs on my own

Bejeesus! Thats fast! I have this image of you working on the car like when he is breaking down his rifle in Forrest Gump. Maybe I just take too many coffee breaks.

You should see him break down his rifle then

I'm glad you're worrying about the FMIC install Rosie

-Ian

I reckon if I had to take mine off again I could do it in about 2 hours (if I had a helper). The biggest problem with mine was that I didn't really know what I was doing and I had to keep stopping for an hours here and there to repair bits that broke when I took them off.

Anyway, here's how you do it:

1) Get under the car and find the row of five nuts at the front of the chin undertray. They will probably be as rusty as hell. Give them a good squirt of WD40 and let it soak in.

2) Remove both lights, indicators, wheel arch front liners, and rubber sealing strip at the top of the bumper.

3) Along the top centre of the bumper (under the rubber sealing strip you removed) there is a row of black plastic crosspoint fasteners that look like they will unscrew. They won't. I chiseled the heads off (having previously ordered some spares).

4) Inside the top edge of the mouth there are two spreader strips each with three pastic fasteners in them. These do pop out easily with a bit of leverage. I used a pair of cranked pliers with an intergral wire cutter. Put the wire cutter bit around the head of the fastener and lever it downwards. Easy (although I did buy spares).

5) The two hardest fasteners to actually get to are right in the corners of the bumper, a couple of inches inside the wheel arch liners. With just the front liners removed you will just be able to get onto them, but you might need someone to hold the upper wheel arch liner out of the way. Youl will also need to turn the wheels from lock to lock for extra access. If you are lucky, the studs will be identified with bright yellow plastic caps on the ends (which you do not need to take off). There are two more similar fastenings (making four in total) about 10 inches further forwards, but ther are much easier to get to through the light holes.

6) Get back under that car and remove the oily nuts from the front of the chin undertray. If you are fitting anything else, or doing some meshing, remove the chin undertray. Remove the stud strip from the bottom inside edge of the mouth. The bumper should come off if you gate a mate to pull the wheel-arch corners outwards and then pull it forwards out of the clips under the headlights.

Bits that broke:

1x indicator fixing.

1x stud on the stud strip in step 6.

Bits I recommend buying before you do this:

Plastic fasteners for the top centre fixings (step 3 - under bonnet seal strip)

New plastic fasteners for the top inside of the mouth (step 4).

A new stud strip assembly and nuts (step 6).

Meshing:

If you don't have an FMIC then I reckon you could mesh the "mouth" at least without taking the bumper off. You might even be able to do the indicator holes, but its a bit more fiddly so I would recommend taking the bumper off for that.

If trying to leave the bumper on, then just remove the top inside edge mouth fasteners (step 4) and the chin undertray and stud strip (step 6).

Go to your local chav emporium and buy some mesh. I used plastic coated aluminium. You could use steel but bear in mind that you will need to be able to do some bending.

Measure the height of the mouth apature at the ENDS (the bumper flexes when it is off the car, and the centre of the apature can close up a little. Add about 60mm to this measurement. Measure the apature width and add about 120mm. Handily, the mesh that you can get from Wilco in flat cardboard panels is almost exactly the right length already. Using tin snips, cut out a strip measuring hieght+60mm x width+120mm. Wear gloves!

Using masking tape, mark two lines 30mm in from each edge along the length of the strip. Decide which side of your mesh is going to be the front and mark that somehow.

Using a sturdy straight edge, bend the mash so that the 30mm edges face FORWARDS. Do not bend them a full 90 degrees. Stop a few degrees short. If using aluminium, try not to bend back and forth too much, or it will snap.

Fitting:

Get under the car. Insert the top 30mm edge in between the bumper mouth and the front cross member. Using a large screwdriver, open up any mesh that is in the way of the fixing holes. Insert the screwdriver into the hole and twist it until any nearby mesh is pushed out of the way (much easier with aliuminium).

Re-fit the fixings for the top inside edge of the mouth. I had to gently hammer the fixigs back in place.

Fit the bottom edge of the mesh so that the 30mm edge is underneath the lower edge of the mouth. Use the screwdriver technique again to open up the mesh over the mounting holes. Refit the stud strip, making sure that the mesh fits evenly against the bumper moulding along the bottom edge. The studs will poke through the mesh and hold it in place.

Refit the chin undertray, sandwiching the mesh between it and the bumper moulding.

Side holes:

Like I said, I did this with the bumper off the car.

Clean the inside of the bumper around the indicator holes with soapy water and allow to dry.

On the INSIDE of the bumper, use sandpaper to roughen up around the indicator holes (NOT the painted side!!!).

Cut a peice of mash that is the same shape as the hole up to where the mouldling changes shape under the indicator (difficult to describe but you will see what I mean). If possible, try to use a "finished" edge on the mesh for this top edge (which will end up about 1 inch below the indicator). Apart from this edge, alow about 30mm extra around the sides and bottom.

Holding the mesh over the hole, carefully cut radially inwards around the extra 30mm edges, creating "petals" that can be folded forwards to make a cup shape that can be fitted over the hole from the inside of the bumper. TAKE YOUR TIME and get both sides the same.

Buy a tube of strong adhesive. I used "Gripfill" which comes in a green tube (not the yellow solvent free type). About £2 from a good DIY store. You will also need a mastic gun.

Cut the nozzel off at its widest point. CAREFULLY squeeze a FAT bead (about 1/2 inch diameter) around the indicator hole (NOT ON THE PAINTED SIDE!!!)

Fit the mesh over the hole. The folded over edged should squish satisfyingly into the adhesive, which will ooze through the holes. Using gloves, carefully smear the excess adhesive back on itself to encapsulate the folded edge all around. Do the same on the other side. Once you are happy with the fit, use strips of masking tape to support the mesh until the adhesive goes off (24 hours for full strength).

I think that's about all there is to it! HTH

Bejeesus! Thats fast! I have this image of you working on the car like when he is breaking down his rifle in Forrest Gump. Maybe I just take too many coffee breaks.

well, i am in the forces - OK you got me there, I had no coffee breaks

Digsy's guide is now here although I've removed the comedy typos. Unless people want mash in their front bumper hahahaha

-Ian

If you add lots of butter and make it really fluffy, it won't obstruct the airflow too much.

Oh - what I meant to add was this: The reason you need to stop the indicator hole mesh about 1" below the indicator is so you can still replace the indicator bulbs without having to take the headlight out. If you use a finished edge on the mesh for the top edge, you can do this without cutting your knuckles off.

I actually intended to mesh the entire hole, but didn't have enough mesh left over so I had to leave a handy gap. I only discovered the bulb refitting thing after it was all glued up. Design feature or happy coincidence? You decide...

Ian, I am worried but I trust you too. If that makes sense. Perhaps Heckler should visit too?

Worried about not having spares though

Ian, I am worried but I trust you too. If that makes sense. Perhaps Heckler should visit too?

 

Worried about not having spares though

You mean i'll have to do a dash conversion aswell

Good point. How are you fixed this weekend mate? lol

Ian, I am worried but I trust you too. If that makes sense.

Touching, isn't it folks?