Quote:
|
Originally Posted by farewellregret
Looks great! Would you mind doing a step by step write up.
|
It was actually pretty simple... I took off the bumperettes and the rear bumper cover. I removed the rear bumper itself and drilled out the metal mounts/supports that hold the bumperettes in place. This then left me with a flat, clean bumper to put the bumper cover back over. I cut out some thin plastic to cover the bumperette openings and I painted the plastic flat black and held it in place with some double-sided tape. Then I cut out a matching cover from perforated metal plate material. I cleaned the plate to a shine and then clear coated the metal to keep it from rusting. I used some $8 chrome trim around the edges to clean it up and to cover my rough cuts. I then screwed the metal plate in place (over the black plastic) with several small screws, making sure to ONLY put holes in the bumper that would be covered by the license plate or old bumperettes. This way the mod is 100% reversible if I ever want to go back to bumperettes for some unknown reason... I finished it off with a chrome license plate cover to match the trim pieces.
One cool trick I learned when making the plate was this - I totally covered the area where the plate would go with wide masking tape. I then used a marker to trace the exact edge of the opening where the plate would fit. I also traced out the openings for the license plate mount and tow hook mount (it's under the license plate). I then very carefully removed the masking tape pattern in one big piece, laid it on the metal plate, and cut out the metal plate using this template. Worked perfectly....