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Hey I just got my RS grill. Now I've searched around and saw that some people said you have to take the bumper off for the upper grill. Is there anyway to do it without taking off the front bumper? I see that on top there are 4 clips but I don't where to go from there.

 
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there are 4 more clips on the bottom, so yes, you have to remove your front bumper and no, there's no other way.

 
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That's what I figured. Thanks.

 
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Alright I took off the top four clips, I took off the screws under each fender on the right and left. I also took out two philips screws on each side under the bumper.

I see that there are more screws under there, except they are plastic and need a flathead screwdriver. Do I have to take these out too? I'm following the grillcraft instructions and they don't seem to mention those plastic screws on the bottom.

 
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Allright, there are four clips on the top of the upper grill. There are four more clips on the bottom under the bumper. There are two phillips head screw on the corners behind near the wheel wells. There are two phillips head screw under the bumper on each side. There are four more bolts that hold the rubber spoiler. Take all of that off. Now, take off the rubber spoiler by pulling it out of it's groove. Now tug on the bumper. There are stationary clips holding it in place on each side and under each headlight. They're near the top. Just tug on each side and it will pop off. Make sure to put down a blanket so as to not scratch the bumper. Watch out for the foam impact absorber that might fall out when you remove the bumper. When re-installing make sure all of the plastic guards line up underneath and on the sides. Good luck!

 
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how long did it take?? and do you have to put the headlights on like that too???? if so, i'll wait a few days till my lights come to put the grill on... DAMN, it seems like a lot of work, probly only takes like an hour though im guessing....my altezza grill came with not a damn instruction!! so i guess i gotta figure it out!

 
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Thanks Grey, that was real helpful.

 
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Whoops! Forgot two more clips. There are two more clips that are longer than the others that hold the rubber spoiler to the bumper. They're on the ends of the rubber spoiler. I hope I'm not too late with this reply!

 
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Oh no, it's not too late. I've been struggling with the four black clips on the bottom. I can't get them out. I tried unscrewing them, I tried pulling them, nothing works. Is there an easy way to get these clips out?

 
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Hey... I just bought the shop manual for the 2k1 vic. I will try to post some scans of the disassemblies for most of the major DIY's. TRUST ME... it makes a world of difference than just saying "the left screw under the thingie that attaches to the other thingie..." No disrespect to anyone. I just need visuals personally to comprehend a description. Email me if you have a particular request. info@solarinternet.com

 
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Here's a link to the complete front bumper disassembly.

Bumper

 
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Yes! There are two parts to these clips. You need to pull the inner one a little bit first before you can get the whole clip out. Just use a flat head screwdriver and wedge it in the clip. The clip has a spot fot this. Look for it. There are two spots. Then just wiggle the screwdriver back and forth as if screwing and unscrewing something. The inner part of the clip should pop out. Then just tug on the inner part with your fingers till it comes out as far as possible. Then just pull the whole clip out. I hope you're not hacking up your clips! I did and I had to replace some of the ones I destroyed. This is the easiest method and it leaves no marks!

 
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now listen to me, this is a lot simpler than everyone is making it. you don't have to take the bumper completely off to do this, i just did it tonight and have done it several times other than that having to do with my headlights. what you do is take the four clips off from the top of the grille. then you unscrew the one screw in each fender well. after that is done, you have to pull on the bumper to get it to unsnap. once you have done that, the bumper comes off but will just hang there. you have to pull on it a bit to get to the screws and such that are attaching the grille to it, but this is much easier than having to get under the car to remove the entire front bumper. trust me, much simpler.

 
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Hmm... I can see that working. Although some of the clips and screws and bolts holding the rest of the bumper might be under some strain when you're moving the top part of the bumper about. That black plastic lining is prone to cracking the older it gets. Maybe if your car is still new and that black plastic lining is still flexible. Otherwise I'de do it the old fashioned way to prevent damaging that stuff.

 
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You guys are doing way too much work!!!! You only need to take out the 2 screws from the fender wells and the 4 clips from under the hood, then just pull the bumper down and let it hang, I've done that to put my pulleys in, my headlights, and my upper grill, works great, and it keeps everything lined up so its easy to put back together!~

 
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Hmm... Two people verifying that now. Allright, I guess that method works. I'll try that sometime...

 
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Thanks for visual Explosivo, it really helps a lot. I think I will try to just let the bumper hang and see what happens. I'll let you guys know later.

 
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ya when I installed my grill, I did it that way (not having to take off the bumper). I let it sit outside all day in the hot sun which softened up the plastic a bit and made to job pretty easy.

 
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yup did mine the other day let the bumper hang and do the work there are some clips up in that bumper for the grill that are upside down whoa what a place to put them heeh.....it's easy tho....took like 10 mins first thing i did myself

 
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if you're gunna take the bumper completely off, the rubber spoiler thingy doesn't have to be unscrewed and taken off separately, it comes off with the bumper...so save your self the 5 minutes it would take to unscrew all the bolts holding it to the bumper...and by the way, you should be able to get the bumper off in 5 minutes, grille out and replaced in 10 minutes, and bumper back on in 10 minutes...so roughly a 30 minute job including having a beer...haha

 
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Alright, success! I was able to do it very easily. The only snag that I ran into was that for some odd reason, one of the clip's heads that was holding the grill to the bumper was broken off. So I had to cut off the clip from the bumper with a knife. Also I was missing a clip on the top

Anyone who wants a walk through, I can help. It's really very easy, but one thing that I would recommend is resting the bumper on something so that there's not so much stress on the bottom part. Maybe a chair with a blanket on it or something. Other than that, it all worked out.

 
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glad to hear all went well

peace [IMG]i/expressions/beer_yum.gif[/IMG]

 
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I just installed a carbon RS grille on my 01' EX. It wasn't hard @ all. I had to take the bumper down as well to install my Injen C.A.I. 4 clips up top and 3 along the bottom. Bumper comes right off as long as you pull it straight out. Putting it back is a breeze as well. Don't forget to put the foam piece back.

 
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I undid the four clips under the hood.

I undid the Philips screw in each fender.

At this point my brother and I were not sure how much we were supposed to apply to get the bumper loose.

We popped the bumper out on each fender. Then we pulled out, as if trying to pull the toward us.

The bumper popped free, and we could bend it enough to get at more Philips screws (radiator cover) and the four clips on the bottom.

A main problem we had was just access, there's not much space to work, and a stubby screwdriver would've been handy. Also make sure you have the right size Philips screwdriver or else you'll strip it the screw. Philips drive sucks by the way.

Once the old grille was out, we tried the "installation reverse" method, but it was too difficult to screw the screws into the new grille with the space we had.

To get around this problem I told my brother to screw and unscrew a screw into each screw hole on the new grille, to chew some of the plastic up so it would be easier to screw the grill into place on the car .

After all the screws were in it all went ok.

My install - the sticking points:

. Dropping stuff into your engine bay
. Figuring out how much force to use
. Having enough space to manoeuvre the screwdriver

It took us about 40 minutes.






In the picture above, you can see the jaggy intersection of the white and black paint. The paint shop said they had a lot of problems with painting it.