Taking off bumper without damaging side markers
 

Hi everyone,

While I was retrofitting and blacking out head lights yesterday, I found a way to take off the front bumper without taking off or damaging the side markers. :party0030:

Here's how:

1. Remove 1 plastic pop rivet behind the side marker and 3 under it in the wheel liner.

2. Now pull away the wheel well liner to reveal the side marker assembly.

3. Make your way to the top of the side maker and locate the end of the plastic pop rivet.

5. Find something flat, like a big flat tip screw driver, and put it on top of the rivet' end.

6. Squeeze down hard until you here it pop out (Only the core of the rivet will pop out, the rivet it self will stay in the hole as the side marker is in the way).

7. Last, remove bumper by pulling the bumper down, it should pop right off.

To re-install the the bumper, you'll need to take off the rivet by removing the side marker, as installing the front bumper with the rivet sitting in there makes it almost impossible to line up the bumper. However, it is much easier to get the side markers off when the bumper's off and you can actually see it! :happyanim:

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5819/sidemarker.png

Big thanks to DarrenDriven and civicdrivr as the Retrofit and black out turned out to be great!!

Added to the DIY Directory:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7365

I followed this method and bumper os very hard to pull down , any tips ?


-AKA

Our car is an Australian Toyota GTS86 and does not have the pop rivet. Instead it has an upward pointing stud moulded into the bumper plastic near the indicator light (arrowed in photo below). The stud in turn locates up into a hole in the body metal. CORRECTION Nov.2013... our car SHOULD have had the pop rivet but it was missing. The upward-pointing stud mentioned is an additional locating feature i.e. not "instead" of the pop rivet.

Cover your bodywork paint. Via the wheel arch you can lever the stud down with a covered screwdriver to release it and pull the bumper away with the light intact.
In the photo the stud is arrowed. The light is only shown unclipped so you can see that pesky clip. I have now managed to bust that clip while struggling to refit grrrr

http://*************/forum/f26/bumpe...909/#post46333

[IMG]http://*************/forum/f26/bumper-removal-3909/#post46333[/IMG]
The arrow points to the stud. The hole to the right takes the pop rivet

more useful photos with tips that I hope will be helpful

I took my bumper off last night(fitting HKS Intake and Fenders).

Here's a little tip. There is a metal bracket that I believe is actually designed to lever the brass clip to be pushed forwards so the side markers can be removed easily. Stick a small flat head screwdriver in like so and lever it away from you to depress the brass tab while gently pulling the side marker outwards.

http://i44.tinypic.com/537gn5.jpg

Thank You That worked great.