I plan on switching my front bumper with a brand new one from Third Gen Resource. Do i need to order anything else besides the front bumper? Can I just unbolt the old one and rebolt on the new one? If anyone has ever done this maybe they could briefly talk me through it. By the way, right after it goes on the whole car is getting painted. Anything i should know for that too? Thanks.

~Matt

 

I just replaced the front bumper cover on my '83 T/A last week. I'm not sure how closely my experience and yours will be, but here's what I had to do (I would recommend removing the front wheels first for easier access):

Tools: Flat-head screwdriver, needle-nose plyers, 7mm & 10mm sockets (and possibly open-ended 10mm wrench)

1) Remove the plastic protector(s) from inside the wheelwell (pin-fasteners & 7mm bolts).

2) Remove the ground effects piece(s) between wheelwell and bumper cover (on my '83, these pieces connect to the bottom of the bumper cover/fender/body using 10mm bolts...they also allow much easier access to the 10mm nuts/bolts that attach the bumper cover to the fender).

3) Remove the pin-fasteners that hold the bottom of the bumper cover to the body using a flathead screwdriver and the needle-nose plyers.

4) Remove the two 10mm nuts (on top) and the two 10mm bolts (on the bottom) that attach the bumper cover to each fender (I was able to reach these from inside the wheel well). Have some patience, cause these can be a pain in the a$$.

5) Remove parking lights (attach with two 7mm bolts).

6) Now you will see 6 (i think) 10mm bolts between the front headlights. Remove these, and the bumper cover should slide right off.

Hopefully this will help. Good luck!

 

Make sure that the new front bumper includes the "hangers". They are metal strips that go across the top of the bumper. If it doesn't, you could use the ones from your original bumper; unless, of course, your original ones are bent because of an accident.

 

I also forgot to mention that the final piece that bolts down in step 6 must be removed from the old bumper cover and re-attached to the new one....that's how it was on mine anyway.