[RichM]

I'm about to work on this some more tonight, but last time I was working on it, I didn't see how to proceed. The Haynes manual isn't very clear on this. I have removed all the obvious things that could be holding the bumper cover on. There is a soft painted plastic cover, and a harder ABS(?) frame component which is grey (the headlights mount into it). I think what is still holding this on is:
some nuts, circled red in the photo, and
some rivets, circled yellow but hidden - in the seam between the bumper and the fender.

I can't figure out how to easily get to either of these. If I use a long extension(s) and swivel adapter I can maybe remove the bolts, but how in the world would I ever get them back on if that's how you do it? What am I missing??

thanks

[RichM]

removing the wheel well splash guard worked nicely...

[boss302_gt]

If you havent got it off yet you need to remove the headlight assembly housing. Its a pain in the a%# but thats teh easiest way to do it. The bumper is attached to it so it will all come off together once u get it all off u can seperate the bumper from the headlight assembly by gently prying on the assembly to give you clearence to slide the bumper tabs out of it.

[RichM]

Yeah, I ended up getting it, and that's what I did. I ordered a new one, and it was $13.19 plus $33 s & h, for the bumper header. I considered trying to fix mine, but when I saw how cheap a new one was, I decided fixing it wasn't worth the effort.

The nuts I was trying to get at were accessible through the wheel well, once I removed the splash guard.

Those headlights were realll a pita to remove. Those retainers are terrible. They don't really compress very well. The Haynes text says squeeze them with pliers, well, it's pretty tough to do that. I ended up shaving a bit of the plastic off the compress parts to get them out. I haven't seen a whole lot of them, but of the 5-10 cars I've tried to adjust headlights on, these have got to be the worst!