Soon...

While there has been a vast period of inactivity by recent standards, the reason is solely due to doing so many things in the last 2 weeks I haven't even had time to publish an old post from the archive.

With a massive shuffle of things and the computer and bedroom becoming one a very carefully planned move and rebuild of the entire desk was needed. Nearing the end now so I shall post about it soon, but for now... more wires!

Golf Bumper Part 2 - The Fix is In. (Front)

Finally managed to source a new front bumper for the golf, the old one was pranged before i got it and looked pretty shabby.

You can, or maybe not, if you're not looked at it so often) see the twist and lumps of the bumper, plus the indicator is pushed back inside a fair bit.

I thought this wouldn't take long, however as Andy and I found, it took a few hours all told. First off was the grill, and lower valance to make getting to the bolts easier. Initially as there was no ironwork with the bumper were tried to take just the plastic off. That didnt work as the ironwork was attached with clips we couldnt see, and the only other bolts were inaccessible due to the twisting.

In the end we took the whole bumper, ironwork and all off. this was problematic as the bumper is held on by the same bolts which hold the front engine mount and subframe in place. Cue a trollyjack for added support.

The old bumper came off easily enough once the four bolts were removed, no need to beat anything or wrench it off, just slid out with a gentle nudge.

You can see a little better how wavey the front of the bumper is.

The nice new (well, ish) bumper.

Some of the ironwork was really badly bent, and instead of taking a pciture i beat it into shape and bend it around with pliers to get it like this. The small angled piece at the top was almost 45 degrees before.

After a good deal of manipulation using hammer, pliers and just plain standing and jumping on it, the bumper was roughly straight once again. Of course this meant it was wrong as it needed a slight curve to fit the front of the car. Cue more subtle application of jumping.

The original iornwork was bolted together but the pins broke free and started to spin, so without anything to hold the other side by, the nuts wouldn't tighten. A handy M8 bolt and some locknuts subbed in and worked fine.

After 4 or 5 test fits and some more twisting the bumper fit back on and with only a little dirt from the grass.

Everything put back together, looking much better than before and actually fitting properly for once. Next up a new number plate as the old one is cracked and really should have been replaced a while ago, but it never failed the MOT on it so i didnt bother.