Replacing front bumper on 04 GT?

Sorry to bombard with posts, but quick question.. I put a hole in the front bumper cover of my 04 GT. I have a new bumper cover, painted, and ready to go...

That said, I cant find a service manual for the 04 anywhere, too new I suppose.... Anyone have a guide on doing the swap? Preferably with pictures, but any guidance would help... It almost looks to me (based on the location of holes on the replacement part) that the grille and headlights have to come out... Beyond that, I'm kinda at a loss.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Reply to
japhar81
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as I remember. helm is the company that prints the manuals for ford. As far as taking the bumper off, there are a variety of not-so-easy to get large rivets holding it on in several places. Bolts holding to the fenders. A couple plastic fasteners underneath. The top slides into the plastic part that holds the headlamps.

Reply to
Brent P

Reply to
japhar81

IIRC there are 2 rivets under the hood, and 3 underneath.. Then there are two bolts on each side that tie the side apron to the fender. You get to them from inside the fenderwells. There are also 1 or 2 screws that hold the plastic wheel tub liner to the edge of the fender and front bumper.

As far as the rivets go.. they are no biggie. you can drill the old ones out, and then either install the new one with nuts/ bolts ~or~ you can buy the 1/4 " rivet gun for $10.00 at Harbor Freight and rivet it back together.

It's really not a very difficult job, although like most body work, some swearing will be necessary to complete the job correctly!!

Reply to
Chief_Wiggum

Reply to
japhar81

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it's a tool store that sells offshore tools at dirt cheap prices...

some of their stuff is junk, and some of it's pretty decent. The riveter is pretty decent, there's not too much to screw up on a rivet gun :)

Reply to
Chief_Wiggum

The problem is finding those big head rivets retail. that's what I met by not-so-easy to get. Of course regular pop rivets with a washer or two would do the job as well. Nobody seems to carry them. I was thinking of replacing the plastic fasteners that hold that little spoiler attached to the radiator support with them. I found replacement plastic fasteners, but they are crap. brittle. The heads started chipping in the cold weather. I thought about calling a rep for a supplier at work for some 'samples'.

Reply to
Brent P

Well, I agree that you can't just go into Lowe's or Home Depot and buy them. I found a parts supply house that carries them around here, but before I did, I just stopped by a body shop, and asked if I could buy a half dozen of them off of them for $10.00.. The first place I went, the guy went in the back and threw a handful in a plastic bag. No charge!

Of course that's luck of the draw, but if you use a little inginuity you should be able to get them.

Actually, I never thought to look, but it's likely that Harbor Freight sells them as well since they sell the guns...

Good luck!

Reply to
Chief_Wiggum

I could just buy a dozen from the ford dealer down the street:) they're fairly nice about that stuff.

Reply to
japhar81

The dealership should have both. BUT If you go to your local body shop, they may likely sell you both for not allot of money. They get these fastners from jobbers and the quality is much better than what you can get at the local discount parts store. You SHOULD replace the plastic fastners or it may not snug the parts together nice and tight.. New fastners are the only way to go.

Kate

Reply to
SVTKate

NAPA isnt the discount place...

And it's just the little chin spolier in my case. I reinforced the heads of the ones I had left with a metal washer and epoxy. I then put some black weatherstripping RTV on the chin spoiler to get some adhesive boding as well. Seems to have worked well thus far.

The ford dealers around here are rather unfriendly places... If I got to the point of asking a body shop to sell me some, I'd call up one of the fastener distributors I use for the machine I design stuff for and ask for some samples :) They are in the catalog after all.

Reply to
Brent P

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