Getting ready to swap my rear bumper out for a new AMD 442 replacement (with exhaust cutouts) and wanted to know if I can just unbolt the 4 face bar fasteners to get the bumper off the car (i.e. leaving the inner brackets bolted to the frame). I want to make the new bar install and alignment as simple as possible.

Would it be best to remove the light assemblies before the bumper comes off or would disconnecting the harness plugs be sufficient?

thanks

 

If you can reach the bumper bracket to bumper bolts yes you should be able to keep the brackets mounted. I would unplug things, but wait until the bumper is off to try and remove the tail light, backup light and license plate light assemblies. I hope you've got a couple friends to help do the swap, it will make life much easier and lessen the chance of damaging the paint on your car. John

 

 

Removing the rear bumper is actually very easy. As others have noted, loosen the nuts on the inside of the bumper, then disconnect all the electrical connections. Once that's done, apply liberal amounts of masking tape around the reveal points of the rear quarter panel to bumper areas to protect the paint. Now you can remove the nuts the rest of the way and the bumper should stay relatively in place with minimal pressure from your hand. Stand in the middle of the bumper and use the tag cutout as your lift and pull point. Bumper should come off really easily at that point.

Remove and transfer the components you need and reinstall on the new bumper. Then reinstall the new bumper.

I found that having a small set of steps on each side of the bumper on the reinstall worked pretty well. My missus came out and helped me a bit too which was appreciated. This isn't a hard job or time consuming unless you're also doing a major cleanup and restoration of parts not normally seen by anyone. Have fun and enjoy your project.

Let us know how the quality of the bumper is for fitment and chrome finish. Post a picture when done. Doesn't matter if the trumpets aren't installed yet....

 

many thanks all for the good advice - I do have a dual exhaust which should be in line with the cutouts but haven't decided whether I'll go with correct repro trumpets or something less-flared all around. Will definitely post pics of the final install fit and a quality report.

My exhaust ends are currently turned down just below the stock bumper so I will ultimately need to have my local exhaust shop modify the pipes for new tips placement when done.

 

Depends on the size of your exhaust pipes whether a straight chrome extension will look good in those cutouts. The trumpet flares aren't expensive and look great when installed.