Tweet
OK...number 2 on the How To series I am working on. FX rears....
A lot of people have pm'd and emailed me on how I got the FX rears to work on the 95 and up bumper. They fit close, but not perfect to begin with because they are made for the 93-94' bumpers. Here is how you can make them work on the 97' bumper.
List of supplies needed to complete the project:
~Tools to remove rear bumper
~4 nuts and bolts (aprox: 1-1.5" long)
~2 very thin nuts and bolts (aprox 4-5" long)
~About 1-2 spare hours
Step 1:
To start out, test fit the best place to mount the FX rears. Move around and hold where they fit the best. Once the best place is selected drill two small holes in the area that would be right behind the rear tire. Place the two small nuts and bolts through the FX rears and the bumper and leave a little loose. This will give you a nice starting point and help free a hand for the next step.
Once bolts are in place, it will look something like this:
2 holes in FX rear:
Location of two holes in rear bumper:
Putting the two together:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...35_85_full.jpg
Step 2:
Once the bolts are in place (but left a little loose), we will go to work on the worst part of the project. Looking where the very rear of the triangles meets the bumper, you will see where they dont quite fit the 97 bumpers that well. The rear just curls up to much to fit correct and it leaves a gap. As seen here:
To take care of that gap you have to file down the back edge of the triangle. For this job I used a hand held drill with a file type bit in it. Just pulled the triangle away from the bumper a little, filed, test fitted, filed, test fitted, etc. until it fit correctly. In this picture you will see where you need to file to get the correct fit:
Step 3:
Once you have the edges to filed down close to fitting right it might take a little pushing inwards on the triangle to get it to fit flush with the bumper. This is where the longer bolts are needed. I got very thin (like 1/8" wide) nuts and bolts about 4-5" long. I chose the drilling spot by seeing where the pressure was needed to pull the triangle flush with the bumper. Once I saw where it was needed I drilled a very small hole through the triangle and the bumper. After that I drilled a very small counter sink hole in the triangle to cover the head of the bolt (which keep in mind was very small). Here are some pics to show where drilling took place:
Hole in FX rear:
Hole in bumper:
Showing the two together:
The Bolt going through the triangle and bumer (inner)
The head of the bolt countersunk into the triangle (outter)
Step 4:
Once bolts are all in place tighten everything and you will have a nice flush mounted FX triangle. Here is an inner shot of the final product:
And then the complete project on both sides:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...35_73_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...35_21_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...35_20_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...35_22_full.jpg
Thats it....
Now some would say bondo over the hole in the FX triangle. You can do that just fine, but I wanted to be able to take mine off and on. As you can see they get chipped really bad in the winter. Thats one good reason to be able to take them off and on. Once painted, the screw holes are so far under the car that they arent visible. Also use touch up paint and color match the heads of the bolts to match. Noone will ever know unless they get on their hands and knees to look. Works for me.
Thanks again for looking...let me know if there are any questions.
later
Wes
A lot of people have pm'd and emailed me on how I got the FX rears to work on the 95 and up bumper. They fit close, but not perfect to begin with because they are made for the 93-94' bumpers. Here is how you can make them work on the 97' bumper.
List of supplies needed to complete the project:
~Tools to remove rear bumper
~4 nuts and bolts (aprox: 1-1.5" long)
~2 very thin nuts and bolts (aprox 4-5" long)
~About 1-2 spare hours
Step 1:
To start out, test fit the best place to mount the FX rears. Move around and hold where they fit the best. Once the best place is selected drill two small holes in the area that would be right behind the rear tire. Place the two small nuts and bolts through the FX rears and the bumper and leave a little loose. This will give you a nice starting point and help free a hand for the next step.
Once bolts are in place, it will look something like this:
2 holes in FX rear:
Location of two holes in rear bumper:
Putting the two together:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...35_85_full.jpg
Step 2:
Once the bolts are in place (but left a little loose), we will go to work on the worst part of the project. Looking where the very rear of the triangles meets the bumper, you will see where they dont quite fit the 97 bumpers that well. The rear just curls up to much to fit correct and it leaves a gap. As seen here:
To take care of that gap you have to file down the back edge of the triangle. For this job I used a hand held drill with a file type bit in it. Just pulled the triangle away from the bumper a little, filed, test fitted, filed, test fitted, etc. until it fit correctly. In this picture you will see where you need to file to get the correct fit:
Step 3:
Once you have the edges to filed down close to fitting right it might take a little pushing inwards on the triangle to get it to fit flush with the bumper. This is where the longer bolts are needed. I got very thin (like 1/8" wide) nuts and bolts about 4-5" long. I chose the drilling spot by seeing where the pressure was needed to pull the triangle flush with the bumper. Once I saw where it was needed I drilled a very small hole through the triangle and the bumper. After that I drilled a very small counter sink hole in the triangle to cover the head of the bolt (which keep in mind was very small). Here are some pics to show where drilling took place:
Hole in FX rear:
Hole in bumper:
Showing the two together:
The Bolt going through the triangle and bumer (inner)
The head of the bolt countersunk into the triangle (outter)
Step 4:
Once bolts are all in place tighten everything and you will have a nice flush mounted FX triangle. Here is an inner shot of the final product:
And then the complete project on both sides:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...35_73_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...35_21_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...35_20_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...35_22_full.jpg
Thats it....
Now some would say bondo over the hole in the FX triangle. You can do that just fine, but I wanted to be able to take mine off and on. As you can see they get chipped really bad in the winter. Thats one good reason to be able to take them off and on. Once painted, the screw holes are so far under the car that they arent visible. Also use touch up paint and color match the heads of the bolts to match. Noone will ever know unless they get on their hands and knees to look. Works for me.
Thanks again for looking...let me know if there are any questions.
later
Wes
Comment