I just did this recently on my not absolutely straight GTi. You can paint it
now or later. Mounting step by step as follows:
1. Jack up front of car and support on jack stands.
2. Remove pulley splash shield on passenger side.
3. Remove lower valence panel and lower grille assembly. Don't forget about
the one 10mm bolt on the lower part of the radiator mount to get the valence
off.
4. Disconnect blinker light assemblies, place bulbs aside. Stuff the bulb
sockets and wiring in the bodywork somewhere where they wont get damaged.
5. Disconnect the driving lights if equipped. Remove grille assembly by
pushing in the little tabs one at a time with a screwdriver to release them on
the upper radiator mount area while gently pulling the grille out. Be careful
as you can easily damage the grille mounting tabs. The grill should tilt
forward and lift off the lower radiator mount area.
6. Support lower radiator crossmember with jack (bottle jack preferred). Now
would be a good time to remove your AIRCON stuff if so desired and wire up a
new LIGHT system with relays and 12 guage wires and stuff. But that is a
different topic.
7. Get under the car and remove 4 big (17 or 19mm) bolts holding bumper rebars
into forward frame rails. These are the ones going straight up through each
side of the the lower radiator crossmember into rubber bushings and then into
the frame. Do not remove the smaller 13mm bolts between the large bolts on the
crossmember. Only the big ones need to come out.
8. Once the bolts are removed, you should be able to CAREFULLY pull the bumper
straight off. There are plastic flanged guides mounted on each fender that you
may have to coax the sides of the bumper off of. Set old bumper aside on
something soft so it doesn't get scratched up, you may want it or sell it later.
9. Now would be a good time to really clean and possibly re-paint the area
behind the bumper.
10. The new bumper comes with a fender guide that is rectangular instead of
round. Remove the old round ones and create a second hole in the fender to
mount the new guides straight up and down using whatever means at your
disposal. I used increasingly larger drills from 1/8" to about 3/8" and then
round filed out the hole to fit.
11. Mount the plastic fender bumper guides in the newly created holes. Notice
that the guides have a short and long mount protrusion. The short side is UP.
Push in the little rods in the center of each mount protrusion to secure the
bumper guides in the holes.
12. Notice on the new bumper rebar that there are welded in nuts for the frame
mount. Now would be a good time to test each bolt in the nuts. Put some
anti-sieze compound on the bolts and get them ready for action.
13. Now, if your car is straight you should be able to CAREFULLY slide the new
bumper straight on, first setting it on the fender guides and then pushing
straight on.
14. If your car is really straight, you should now be able to easily install
the mounting bolts throught the crossmember and into the rebar.
15. If your car is bent like mine, then you may opt to remove the rebars from
the new bumper first and then mount the rebars separately using shims and
washers until you can get them straight in the frame. Then mount the bumper to
the rebar, shimming as necessary to get it straight. You will probably install
and remove the bumper numerous times during this process, I used a closed-cell
foam sleeping pad in front of my car to lay the bumper on each time I removed
it to keep it from getting scratched.
16. If everything is straight and tight, remove the jack under the crossmember.
17. Install the blinker light assemblies. The ones I had had self tapping
screws that did not fit the holes they were intended to fill. I had to drill
out the light assembly hole for the screw to pass through and used little
speaker mounting tabs in the bumper light holes to give the screw something to
bite into. Yours may be different.
18. Mount the bulb sockets (with bulbs) into the blinker assemblies. You may
have to modify the bulb sockets to fit with a dremel tool, I needed to on mine
but I have a US made GTi which has DOT sockets. Remember it is much easier to
REMOVE material with the dremel tool than it is to CREATE the material you
destroyed. Be VERY conservative and test fit A LOT.
19. Install the lower valence panel and lower grille. It may not be necessary
since it is now hidden but the lower valence keeps the lower portion of the
fenders straight and the lower grille keeps big bugs and birds out of your
radiator.
20. You should be able to take the car off jacks now. If you lower the car and
see that everything is crooked, go back to step 1.
21. Snap the grille back on by lining up the lower portion on the rad mount and
snapping the upper portion into the tabs and holes. Be careful here as you can
break stuff easily.
22. Mount the two piece lower spoiler assembly by lining up the tabs and
snapping one side into place starting from the outside and working in. The two
piece spoiler has a center alignment tab to connect each side to one another.
Take the other side, line up the center tab and continue snapping in working
towards the other fender. You may have to smack the spoiler with your palm to
get the tabs to seat all the way into the mounting slots. Be careful and use a
blanket or something when "Smacking".
23. Stand back and enjoy OR ponder the reasoning behind why you just decreased
the aerodynamic efficiency of your car for the sake of good looks.
Rich Blake
88 GTi16v big bumpers
88 Jetta8v small bumpers
01 NB1.8t bumper car
-----Original Message-----
From: FONTA <[email protected]>
To: volkswagen <[email protected]>
Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 4:53 AM
Subject: big bumpers
hey boys
i´ll be installing my new big bumper (front) which i bought for $120 here
in Peru, complete, including blinkers and lower chin spoiler. Is there any
advice on where to be careful or any guides to do it quickly?
thanx
Francesco
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