opel manta b gte front bumper removal

[halley cockburn]

Hi there I am a fairly new member and restoring my 1988 coupe gte and wonder if it is difficult to remove my front bumper

 

thanks

[garymanc]

there's 2 bolts on each side of the chassis legs and 2 10mm bolts on each wing plus remember to disconnect the indicators

[halley cockburn]

Thanks for this, i have one of the headlights out and can see one 13mm bolt one one side of the leg, but could not see the other , did you mean four bolts in total and is the only way to them is jacking up the front end to get underneath

 

thanks

[Snowy]

If you can see the bolt then if you look a few inches further back you will see a second.

There are two on each chassis rail. Much easier if you look from underneath the car.

Then on a GTE bumper there are two each side into the front wing.

Thanks

[halley cockburn]

Hi Snowy, thanks for your help with getting off the bumper, but i now have another problem, after taking off the 2 13mm bolts off one leg and 2 10mm bolts off the inside off the inside off the wing the bumper just came away from the metal support that runs all the way inside the bumper and seams it was already broken away from the plastic lugs on bumper. Just wondered if i now need a replacement bumper complete with metal insert ? thanks I will till you get back to me to advise , i will put advert to see if anyone has spare bumper, as plastics lugs look chewed up cheers

[mantasrme]

Broken lugs is very common on the bumpers. There are rivnuts (threaded rivets) moulded into the plastic and any sort of knock can break the plastic around the riv-nut, freeing the cover from the metal re-inforcer.

If your cover is in good condition and the right color for your car its a lot easier to repair it than replace and face repainting it. I've used 2 ways of repairing them before.

Either glue the rivnuts back into the plastic (you need a very good 2 part epoxy for this) and you can either remove the bolts from the rivnuts attached to the metal, or just smother them in situ and sit the whole re-inforcer back into place while it sets.

Or the more redneck way (which i normally use) and bolt the cover to the re-inforcer. Either using 2 coach head bolts either side of the no-plate. Or remove the number plate, drill an 8mm hole through the cover and metal backing and use a nut/bolt to secure. With the number plate covering the bolt head you cannot see its been done. Once refitted to the car and the wing mounts secured it doesn't rattle or move at all.

This also allows easy and quick removal of the bumper without undoing the re-inforcer in the future.

 

Oh and you don't have to undo the 10mm bolts into the plastic bits on the wings, just slide the bumper forwards off them as they are T shaped for that reason.

[halley cockburn]

Hi again thanks for the advise I am going to get the car sprayed in a few months anyway , but I think I will try going to bolt straight through behind the number plate and hope I get it lined up ok lol . And also the plastic parts in the bumper are all crushed in , so bolting on seamed the best option , thanks again ps just wondered my radiator is leaking and well rusty from the bottom , is it better getting a good second hand one or recore thanks again 

[MANTAMAN]

There is another method of attaching the plastic airdam/bumper which is a little more involved, but if the captive nuts have broken their mountings and you want to avoid bolts heads showing on your bumper then this is the cure.

 It involves welding two specially shaped brackets to the steel carrier so as there is a flat section above each indicator recesses, then bolts can be put through vertically and when the indicator lenses are replaced the bolts are all but invisable, beware of welding to the steel carrier, it is plated which gives off nasty fumes if welded through, so grind away this plating first, and of course paint everything afterwards.