Im taking off my bumpers in order to paint prep under them, im wondering if your guys know how many bolts there are to remove the bumpers and what size of metric wrench are the bolts? Do you guys have any tips for removing these?

Thanks

 

IIRC, in front of the bumpers, there are 4 bolts on each side PLUS and stud that runs to the inside of the engine bay. Also, there are other stuff that you have to unscrew.

 

front bumper is a matter of unscrewing that lower valance (10 millimeter I think) and removing the two 14 millimeter bolts that hold the bumper on. Believe the rear is also two 14 millimeter bolts.

 

there are 4 bolts (2 front and 2 rear) to basically take off the whole bumper assembly. That would be taking them off from the shock absorbers (they're 17mm if i'm correct) as far as just taking the plastic bumber and not the aluminium part ... they're 10mm bolts ... but watchout taking out the back ones ... after 20 years they break off pretty easily (don't use too much torque, or else you'll be diging out your drill or bolt extractors.)

 

good to see i got some really good tools lol I broke my ratchet trying to take that bad boy off... Its amazing how well those bolts are in there...

 

2 big *** bolts each. Spray some lube & let it soak if they don't crack easy. Simple removal of bolts going strait up under bumper 1/3 in from each side.

 

[hijack] Are bumpers painted, or are their actual 'skins' that go on them? I've heard of 'skins' before, but I'm not sure if people are referring to the 'bumper skins' as the whole bumper itself.[/hijack]

 

well turns out I broke 1 bolt with a 1/2 inch drive and the other bolt is stripped so whats the best way to cut the bolts off or can I removed the bumpstops with the bumper?

 

You can take off the bumper by removing the bumper shocks. Each shock has 2 front bolts, between the bumper and the body. They also have a threaded rod at the end of each with nuts. The front ones have double nuts, the rear ones are are accessed through a little plate in the floor under the carpet and pad.

I can post pics if you need.

 

if you can post pictures it would be greatly appreciated... Thank you!

 

bump for pictures from trochoid =)

 

each bumper is held on by 2x 14mm bolts that run up through the bumper shocks

 

Sorry, I was surfing elsewhere. Give me a little time and I'll get them up.

 

they are 10 mm for sure just like almost everthing else on the car
for the front bumper you need to take off the radiator top shroud thingy and then remove the lights and there are 2 on the inside on each side there a bitch

Oh oops didnt use punctuation but I dont care

 

Ok. I got the pics. Dropped the damn camera in the pit and cracked the body, suprized it still works.

Pics 1 and 2 are the front absorber. 1st is the front 2 bolts, 2nd is where the nuts go at the rear of the absorber. The car is stripped down to the shell right now so there will be plenty of things in your way. The rear won't be so bad.

Pics 3 and 4 are of the drivers side rear. There is a tow hook that is not in the pic that you may need to take off also, one extra bolt. It will be obvious.

In the 4th pic, of the interior, there is a gray tin plate with 2 black plastic push in rivets. Just pop that plate off and you will find the last nut.

 

thanks, ya it sucks that just taking the bumper off normally didnt work now if this doesnt work im really screwed lol... It kinda sucks always working with 20 year old bolts, frustrating as hell attaching my new exhaust, the old stuff killed my knuckles and backs of my hands... Ok so it looks like i can just take off the 10 mm bolts on the front shock absorbers and the bumper will come off? Is that right?

 

The 2 bolts in the front of the front absorbers have 12mm heads, the nuts at the back of them are 14mm.

The nuts at the back of the rear absorbers are 17mm, the nuts at the front of them are 14mm.

The rear bumper will also have 2 license plate wires to unplug, the front bumper has the turnsignal/running lights to unplug

I can post a pic of the absorbers off the car to give you a better idea of what you are dealing with.

 

man, thats the totally hard/unnecessary way to do it

 

Yes, it is a pita but he broke/rounded the bumper bolts. I don't know of any other way to do this without destroying the bumpers.

 

yeah good point

 

As a side note, if you have any trouble with the nuts or bolts on the absorbers, don't f them up. PB Blast them and let it sit for a day. If you damage these you will have a major headache trying to make repairs to re-install the bumpers.

 

well i got the nuts on the absorbers out.... The bumper is sitting very loose but will not come off still... ive tried hitting the absorber with a rubber mallet but didnt get anyresults... Im wonder how to remove the whole bumper with the absorber or is it even possible?

 

Front or rear? There is a bunch of stuff to take off or loosen on the front, the rear is pretty straight forward.

You need to be more specific.

If you only removed nuts then it can only be the rear.

 

front, ive taked off the shock absorber bolts, and the 4 screws on each side under the plastic and I cant find anything else holding it on...

 

I've posted a pic of the front absorber. Note the angled flange, there are 2 bolts there, just behind the bumper, one pointing forward, the other inboard. At the rear is a threaded part, that is double nutted, accessed from the engine bay.

If you have the new VB catalogue, look on page 19 for a partial exploded view. Note the part #7, that is bolted to the fender and the ends of the bumper wrap clip into it. Those can get stubborn, they pull out, forward.

Just for a review on disassembly, you need to:

1. Remove the plastic grill
2. Remove the windage tray
3. Remove the lower air dam and unbolt the brake cooling ducts. You will probably snap off most of these bolts or twist the brackets off of the frame rails.
4. Unplug the signal lights.
5. Unbolt the absorbers.

Find anyone of the FB FSMs online and look for the exploded view of the bumper assembly, they are all the same. The SAs are different.