Changing the front bumper on a late 760/940?/960?

[AndyPants]

The national VOC rally and the 700 series anniversary finally gave me the incentive to replace the front bumper on my 760. I took some photos along the way to provide a point of reference as I went a long - the 700 series haynes manual only gave instructions for the earlier cars and I have no idea whether they updated it for the 900 series Haynes as I don't have one!

Anyway heres how I got on and I hope its off interest/helps someone else with a cracked/tatty bumper. Overall the process was actually really easy once I worked out the best way to do it.

1. As with most car related repairs the first step its getting it on some ramps/jacked up and on axle stands.
   
2. Once raised at the front you can see better what you're doing. Next we have to pop off the two covers on the lower part of the bumper, you can use a screw driver to do this. Removing the lower grille is not necessary unless you want to re-use it on another bumper. You then get the following:
   
   
   
   Looking inside the openings you can see the box section that holds the bumper "rams". Note that in this pic there are a couple of bolts one on top of the other on the right hand side of the box section (only the lower one visible in my pic). In my first attempt I undid the two at either side of the bumper (4 total) which loosened the bumper. However there is another two nuts that hold the rams in at the top (and the bottom of the engine bay). I didn't fancy removing my air box and ancillaries on the left so I put the nuts/bolts back in!
   
   
   
3. As I had another bumper complete with bumper bar and rams which I looked at first, I opted to instead remove the bumper bar from the rams. If you look up from under the car towards the bumper you can see two bolts that hold the bumper bar onto the rams, 2 at each side:
   
   The nuts came undone pretty easily considering they've been in place 23 years at the front underside! I left the nuts in place to be safe although its unlikely the bumper would fall off its threads unless you sat on it...
   
4. Next you need to cut the cable ties that hold the headlamp washer pipes and a couple of others to the bumper bar. If you don't do this you will probably damage them when removing the bumper. You can see this a lot better if you remove the front most plastic panel just next to the (upper) grille in the engine bay. Using a 50p coin I rotated the two plastic screws anti-clockwise to release it and with a bit of wiggling it came out. I then cut the cable ties.
   
   
   
5. Now the fun part and it can be done with 1 person, although be careful not to scratch the car as the bumper is big. Making sure you've completely removed the 4 nuts as per step 3, the bumper is now sitting on the bolt threads from the bumper bar into the rams.
   
   I cupped my hands through the bumper panel "windows" and cupping under the bumper bar jiggled the bumper a bit and withdrew it backwards from the car (i.e. towards you). Your car then looks like something off Mad Max:
   
   
   Note that the later cars like my 760, and presumably 940s and pre-face lift 960s (at least) don't have separate side bumper sections. According to the Haynes manual the older 740/760s have them bolted on from the inside of the engine bay (presumably where the plastic bracket on mine is). Thankfully the later cars just have plastic channels which the whole bumper slides through:
   
   
6. The next step is to transfer any bits and pieces as relevant from one bumper to another. In my case I took the side chrome pieces off my old one and used a replacement top piece and put them on the replacement bumper. You might wish to get some new clips as mine were a bit rusty although still usable, I ended up using a mixture. Be careful not to break the tabs on the chrome/plastic upper pieces (if relevant - I don't believe later 940s have these). As the bumpers off the car you should be able to see what you need to do.
   
7. Once you're happy with your bumper its time to install it again. This does really need two people as we found that it kept popping off a little without pressure being put on from the front. You'll need to make sure the that each side is slotting into the plastic brackets, although it seemed pretty obvious when it was or wasn't in.
   
   Whilst the second person kepts the bumper pressed home, you can then nip under the car and do the bolts up again from step 3. Once your happy with the positioning, make sure there nice and tight. You then get the following:
   
   
   
8. Time to replace the cable ties that held the pipes in place, make sure you get all of them and none have dangled down. Make sure you cut off any excess off the cable ties but leave a bit of a play in the loop in case you need remove them again. You don't want bits of plastic going into the electric fan (if relevant). Also replace the plastic panel above the (upper) grille using your trusty 50p coin...
   
9. Re-attach your number plate and give the car a clean for the VOC national rally
   
   

I hope this helps someone, or even if your bumper is fine its easy to take off for a respray etc... If I'd known it was this easy I'd have done it as soon as I'd bought it!

P.S. It wasn't me who damaged it

[jpliddy]

thanks for that andy . i went to the b.k.v. and a couple of helpful chaps showed me too how to do this job . but with your photos too it looks quite easy
thanks again

[AndyPants]

Yep it is indeed surprisingly easy - which is rare for me to say! Also quite a satisfying job. Good luck