vinnysca

Hey guys! I did it! I got my aluminum-looking grills installed PLUS I decided to put in a mesh grill to prevent leaves and bigger debris from getting in. Let's see, it took me a total of over 5 hours to do. I was very careful and good news was, not a scratch on my bumper despite having to take the bumper off again because I forgot to re-attach an electrical line to the LED lights on the driver side. Uggghhhhhhh! I was sooooo pissed at myself. Luckily, taking the bumper off was a piece of cake the second time around! LOL. Anyway, here are the steps I took. With pics, of course!

First of, I was thankful to Ryan at Suncoast who included a "how-to" on removing the front apron of my C2S. Also, I want to thank "Justatoy" on 6speedonline since he had posted an earlier "how-to" on removing the front apron as well. "Justatoy" posted good pics on his DIY on removing the front bumper on his car. I copied 2 photos from him for my DIY install here. I referenced both sources as I went along on this project today.

Ok, first off that I definitely had to do was remove both front wheels. IT'S A MUST! Otherwise, I wouldn't have accessed all 4 scres that secured the under carriage covers. One good idea is to get a couple of used hockey pucks to use as a pad between the jack and car.





Next, I removed the 3 plastic liner covers along the front and side of the trunk. They are velcrowed on.



There are 3 T30 torx screws that secure them onto the body.

Next up, I removed all torx screws from the bottom apron. There are 9 of them.



After I removed these, I went ahead and removed both side marker lights. I had to do this because there is a torx screw that is hidden which needed to be removed. It is located inside where the tab of the side marker goes into. It's a PAIN to put back in. Lots of trial and error. Once I took it off, it fell down the fender and I got worried. But, once I removed the wheel well cover, I was able to retrieve it again. There is also another torx screw that is located just at the edge of the fender where the bumper meets the body of the car. I couldn't miss it once the side marker lights were taken off.

DID YOU GUYS KNOW THAT THERE IS AN ACCESS HOLE WITH A RUBBER STOPPER JUST AT THE CORNER UNDER THE WHEEL WELL FOR A SCREW DRIVER TO BE INSERTED IN SO THAT YOU CAN EASILY POP THE SIDE MARKERS OUT? Some recommend just pulling it out. BUT, I learned that if you do, you may be successful at getting it out, and if you are not lucky, you may ruin your side marker retaining tabs! Those access holes are covered with a rubber stopper cover. Very small. I lost my passenger side one. Dunno where it went .

Then, I removed all four wheel well torx screws. I then peeled off the cover on the driver's side to expose the headlight washer line which I disconnected once the tab was removed. CAUTION: If you have a full washer reservoir, it'll pour out of the line! Get ready to have a soda container handy so you don't make a mess! LOL. There is also the LED connector line that needs to be disconnected.

Below is a pic which was from Justatoy from 6speedonline. The retaining clip is BLUE on my 2009, not black.



On the passenger side, there is only the LED light connector that needs to be disconnected as well.

Finally, there are 2 metal clips that hold the bumper onto the car that needs to be pulled out. For this, I bought a metal pry hook from NAPA today which worked great! Below is Justatoy's pic of the clip. You have to pull it all the way out. It's about 4 inches long. NOTE: WHEN PUTTING THE BUMPER BACK ON, MAKE SURE YOU PAD YOURSELF AND THE BUMPER WITH A MICROFIBER TOWEL OR SOME PROTECTION FOR ANY SCUFF MARKS, BECAUSE YOU WILL NEED TO EXERT SOME PRESSURE FOR THOSE TABS TO GO IN FOR THE CLIPS TO ENGAGE! APPLYING SOME DW40 ON THE CLIPS MADE IT EASIER TO PUT BACK IN!



Once I got them both off, the bumper went off after some gentle tugging.



NOTE: I didn't have to remove both LED light assemblies for this mod. In fact, I tried removing the lights with the credit card thingy majigy that came with my car to no avail. Thank goodness I didn't try to force it out! I found out that the LED/turn signal assembly is SCREWED securely to the bumper! THERE WAS NO WAY THAT THE LIGHT WAS COMING OUT THE FRONT! THE LIGHT BULBS FOR THE TURN SIGNAL IS REPLACED FROM WITHIN THE BUMPER ITSELF.

I examined the assembly carefully, thinking that I might have just been wrong in my assumption, but there was no way that they front lens housing was coming off. In fact, there was an access lid from the back of the assembly to access the turn signal bulbs.

Does this mean I have to remove the bumper if my turn signal bulb konks out? Ugggghhhhh!

Here is the LED/Washer assembly



There are 4 torx screws that secure this assembly to the bumper. Also, the dome looking thing is the access lid to the bulb:



Here is the lid removed. See the turn signal bulb?



Next, I needed to remove the washer unit. It came off easily.



Once the screws were removed, the LED housing came off next



Taking off the old grill was easy. It was secured by tabs.



Here's the NEW grill



Putting the new grill on was the reverse. Very easy to pop back in



I then proceeded to cut my grill mesh to size. I bought a screen door mesh guard screen from Home Depot. I went with the Grey finish





I secured it onto the grill with 3 plastic ties. I secured them to the black plastic stalk of the center grill. Hardly noticeable since both ties and center stalk of the grill were black.



Finally, I decided to customize a mesh on both of the front scoops. I decided to do this to further prevent things from getting scooped in from the front of the car



I drilled a tiny hole on one corner to help secure the mesh in place





Putting back everything else was the reverse of removal. I was pretty happy with the results!






Vince.

mdrums

Nice write up...thanks!

Question though....can you easily remove the side mesh to get the vaccum cleaner hose down to the radiators or a brush to get the little bugs out and pebbles?

vinnysca

I debated on having the inner mesh flip up for that purpose, but it would have been more involved (making a hinge, locking mechanism, etc) to do and I decided that small bugs and debris wasn't going to be a problem for me especially since I only drive my car during the dry season here in NH and our highways are pretty clear of small pebbles (NH DOT is very good in clearing the White Mountain highways).

Vince

kosmo

very good. tks

thinklabinc

Thanks, very helpful illustrations. Makes me think now about the 997.1 and if that card for removing the front side lights will actually work or not???

Taxi?

Thanks, Vince. I might try doing the same for my car someday so I'll keep your DIY instructions handy. You should post a pic of the front of the car so we can see the improvement.

PHDX2

Nice work---looks great!

vinnysca

Here ya go guys...



I think it looks pretty decent!

Vince

PS. I am working on installing the lower alum mirror arms now. Pics to follow.

Edgy01

Much better protection! Nice job. A project for me someday.

Gj325

Looks great. You have been a busy man on the DIY Mods this week. Keep up good work.

sandwedge

Fantastic. Now just prepare yourself for the inevitable from one of the performance oriented members. A friendly reminder that no matter how nice that looks and how functional it is, you DID add extra weight to the car with that mesh, the plastic ties and the screws.

vinnysca

Thanks guys! I've finished every mod I planned to do for my car this year! Whewww! My fingers ache! As well as other parts of my body that were not used to be in every position imaginable while working on the mods! LOL.

Vince.

HotLap

Vinny - looks great and I will be saving your "How to". I'm going to add the alum look grills as well, my 997.2 is all black and I'm going to break up the black a bit...looking forward to seeing a pic of your alum look mirror bottoms as well!!

I'm also wondering if anyone makes a piece replacing the front center backing (black plastic) that would be a nice spot for fog lights to be flush mounted? Also curious if that would mess up the air flow to the radiators or not?

Nice job!!

caddyshed

Great post Vince. The mesh behind the grills looks like a good project for me over the winter. Also a good reference if turns signal bulbs die. I've saved this post with all the photo's to a word document also.

BoomC2S

Using a combination of posts, the installation of the Rennline front bumper wire mesh grill kit was made easier; although there were some areas that I wish had a little more detail. I have included some pictures in an effort to help others.

The Rennline installation instructions were not very helpful. The video was ok, but could have included bumper removal, especially since they have a lift and tools readily available.

Others who have posted about headlight, side maker and fog lamp removal for the 997.2 are correct, these do not need to come off.

I hope the pictures help others. The most difficult part of the job was installing the center screen. You have to disassemble the deflector in order to install screen correctly.

The appearance is almost unchanged; however, I believe the function is what is important.

One person can remove the bumper in about an hour. The center section requires more hands and some special tools, or just making something to do the job.

The 4 tabs holding the air deflector in-place are accessible from the front. When accessing the tabs, access from the top and apply downward pressure. The two center tabs are the tough ones and I used a "L" shaped scribe to get access and twisted it downward to unlatch the tab.

Here is link with good information and pictures.

http://www.renntrack.com/forums/show...Bumper-Removal

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Bricker