Installed a new grill in the car yesterday. No picts yet, waiting for wheels to arrive and be installed to complete the transformation before I go for the glam shots...
Ever stop and think about why they used 2 plastic push pins to hold the middle of the pictured panel on, when the rest are all metal bolts? I think I found out one reason why..
I have always heard that putting the bumper on is a 2 person job. I did not have a second hand to help and had to get the car back on the road so I could drive it to work today. I found a neat trick to installing the bumper with one person, it worked super easy and based on what I found I am pretty sure that Ford designed it to be done this way.
I had bumper with grills attached sitting on a blanket, Looking at the bumper and car, I realized I could hang it in middle then work on the sides if I put the upper panel on it. So I installed that upper panel the goes around the hood latch so the bumper and panel was one big assembly. I did not snug the phillips head screws, I just got them so there was a little bit of play in the panel. This actually made the bumper a nice solid assembly that was not flexing all over the place like it does without that top panel. Then I was able to lift the entire assembly up gently and slide into place. I put 2 of the metal bolts in place when I then realized that it would have been much simpler and faster to drop the two plastic fasteners in place for a quick hold. I have a strong feeling that is exactly why Ford used plastic ones there and used two, if it was jut to hold the panel down one, would have been plenty.
Once the bolts were threaded in a bit and holding everything in place I went to each bumper corner and snapped them into the brackets by the headlights, then went back up top and began tightening done all the bolts and screws. It worked really well, you just need to be slow and steadying bringing up the bumper so that you do not swing it up there and ding the fenders.
