Getting Started!
by Garage Weasel on Sep.06, 2010, under Disassembly
Labor Day 2010. First day to do any work on the car. I decided to remove the front bumper first (should be simple, right?). Well, the bolt that attaches the over-rider bracket and bumper bracket on the passenger side was frozen and will either need to be cut, or soaked with penetrating oil some more. This particular bolt went through from the wheelhouse, through the bumper mount, and then through the two brackets. Someone at some point drilled out the threads in the bumper mount and then through the wheelhouse. I'm guessing the threads on the bumper mount were stripped and this was their solution. So I decided to go ahead and remove the bumper by removing the brackets from the bumper. Even after soaking all the bolts with penetrating oil, there was a lot of creaking and resistance by most of the bolts holding the brackets to the bumper guards. It came apart, though, and now I just have to deal with the one frozen bolt. The other bumper bolt on that same side was missing. The back bumper was already removed when I got the car. I don’t think either bumper is worth trying to save and I will probably just replace the bumpers, brackets, and all other related parts. I will have to decide just what to do with the bumper mount on the passenger side that had been drilled out. I will not mount a bolt through to the wheel well as done previously. I'm thinking about removing the mount and welding on a replacement mount. One more issue in a long and yet undetermined list of issues on this project. Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I actually like these types of little surprises. Let’s see if I still feel this way down the road with dozens more of these unexpected challenges…
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