Z Driver Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 I just got my car painted and this bumper problem is bothering me now that the car looks good. I've never been able to get the sides of the bumpers to fit in the slots. It needs to be moved back an inch or two. The red dots in the pictures show were the mounting hardware is located. Any suggestions about how to move the bumpers back would be appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 Simple adjustment of the bumper shock length is all you need. To accomplish this you need to remove the bumper cover, and bumper core. This can be done as an assembly if you remove the 8 nuts on the back side of the bumper attaching the bumper core to the two bumper shocks. Don't forget about the turn signal connectors and the ambient temperature sensor for the A/C system. Once you remove the cover and core assembly, you will see 1 phillips screw on each bumper shock, looking from front to back. Slowly remove the phillips screw (the system is pressurized), collapse the bumper shock by pushing it toward the back of the car as far as necessary to make the sides fit properly. Replace the phillips screw. Test fit the core and cover till you get it where you want it. You may have to remove the phillips screw again and move the bumper shock more than once to get it right. Once you have it where you want it, replace the screw and permanently re-mount the core and cover, and re-connect the turn signals and sensor connections. Keep in mind, that after you open the screw and move them in, you now no longer have 5 mph bumpers. They didn't do much in the lines of protecting anything anyway. Since your bumper didn't fit right to begin with, someone else may have messed with the bumper shocks to get them out that far to begin with. The shocks were pressurized before they were put on the car at the factory and there is no way to repressurize the system. It is also advisable to drill a hole and install a bolt all the way through the bumper shocks now that they have been collapsed in order to avoid them from going in any further should you hit anything. Another alternative is to weld them in place, but the thru-bolt method should work just fine for you, especially since you just had the car painted and probably don't want to risk welding near new paint. Hope it helps, Warren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z Driver Posted January 11, 2004 Author Share Posted January 11, 2004 Thanks for the advice, I'm going to try it out tomorrow and see how it goes. I'll update on my results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z Driver Posted January 18, 2004 Author Share Posted January 18, 2004 I finally tried the advice I received on the bumpers, and I'm still having the same problem. I let all the compressed gas out of the absorbers and pushed the shocks back about an inch. They still need to go back another inch before they will mount properly. I can't get them to move back any more. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Juday Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Well forgive me if I'm off base as I don't have any ZX experiance. Are you sure the holes in the bumper and the holes in the fenders lined up before you took them off? What I'm thinking is that there may be a little Z shaped bracket with the holes about one inch apart that attaches the bumper to the fender. If it has been a while since you removed the bumper things can get lost and memory can get fuzzy. I'm learning this as I put my car back together. It has been apart for three years and even though I bagged and labled everything some things still came up missing. It's nice to have a parts car to refer to (and scavenge parts from) when you're putting the driver back together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z Driver Posted January 22, 2004 Author Share Posted January 22, 2004 I solved my problem, I slotted out the hole the bolts go through so I could move it back. I have no idea why that bumper fit so poorly. Here's the final result after much work. Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.