Hi, I'm swapping the front fender on my 89 ST162 but I'm not sure how to get to the bolt at the front of the fender that is behind the corner of the front bumper. Does anyone know if you have to remove the bumper to get to the bolt ? I note that the corner of the bumpers have 2 clips that push into the fenders, can you simply pop these out to gain access to the bolt ? I'd appreciate any help anyone can give me. Thanks, Peter
I just took the front bumper off when I did mine, I didn't want to have to bend it back that far to get access to that bolt. An offset-head spanner might get at it, but I don't have one to find out. BTW, if you haven't already done so, you'll need to remove the corner light to get at the two bolts behind it.
Hi MattC. Thanks for your reply ! I agree, I don't want to find out either, would hate to scratch the new panel when I'm doing it. Can I ask how did you remove the bumper ? I can see underneath it there are 2 screws/bolts on either side but I'm assuming there has to be something else holding it in place ? Regards, Peter
First prise the ends of the bumper cover off their retainers, you can either do this with your hands or you can stuff a rag between the bumper cover and the guard and use something long to lever it off, just be gentle either way. After that there are two ways you can go - the easy way is just to undo the big bolts underneath that join the bumper to the chassis and pull the whole lot out as one unit (caution though, it's very heavy). The other way is to take off only the bumper cover by undoing the two small nuts on the underside on either side adjacent to the tow hooks, take off the number plate frame, take off the grille to access the nuts on the upper reverse side of the bumper cover, then slide the cover off the bumper. Cheers Matt
Thank Matt, I'll give it a go ! I was lucky enough to find a 88 SX in a wrecking yard in Melbourne that was 99% complete and was the same colour as mine (red) and most of the body panels were in very good condition. I grabbed the bonnet, headlight covers and rear spoiler off it as my paint is faded. I got a heap of interior parts off it too. It was kind of sad to see it there, it had obviously been a well cared for car, just had some poorly repaired/painted panels of the passengers side.
