I've been scratching my head on how to remove the front bumper on my new '02. Skip to the ----------- if you don't want to read my late night adventures!
I just bought it. Friday night, I stayed up until 5am disassembling the interior. Why? To remove 50# of aftermarket electronics!
I started under the hood. I clipped any non-OEM wire harnesses. Wherever the OEM harnesses had been cut, I soldered, heat-shrinked and retaped (with 3M Super 33+ tape!) the appropriate wires back together.
Next, I went under the driver's dash. I removed the alarm module and disassembled the back side of the keyswitch. I had some major repairs to do on the keyswitch wire harness. Taking it out was critical. I got the main wires (very large gauge) repaired quite well. Some wiring headed towards the center console, so out with the center console!
The center console wires were simple, but some more headed towards the passenger dash. I pulled the glovie (Thanks NSXPrime for the DIY articles on removing dash parts!). Okay, where the keyless module should be, I found a huge aftermarket box. I said (out loud) "It's not a tumor" quoting Arnold Schwartzennager (?). It really did look like my sweet new NSX had a tumor. After removing other stuff, I found this was a strobe light driver. I yanked it out of there right away. I cut whatever I could find--non aftermarket, and repaired any OEM harnesses.
What's this? More wiring going down to the door sills? Yes...Before I knew it, I had the firewall panels off. More tumors! More strobe controllers. Clip clip, repair, repair. Ohmygod. It's 2am! I'm nutz. I should go home. Wait, what's this? Small wires heading towards the trunk. Must be a trunk lid switch sensor for the alarm.
No way! more strobes and strobe driver packs in the trunk. The tail light assembly has holes drilled in (right where the little whitish inductor boxes are mounted under a silver metal clip). I clipped and repaired. Every non-OEM zip tie and screw are gone! By now, it's 4am. I'm tired. The car is dirty and out of gas. It's assembled, but I MUST wash it and fill it up. When I got back to my shop, I parked it, wiped down the windows and wheels and just admired the car!
Now, my NSX is pretty much stock perfect, minus some electrical system repairs. I think I've done a satisfactory job. The interior repairs should not see moisture. I'm a bit concerned about the repairs under the hood. Perhaps I should redo them and line the shrink tubing with RTV before shrinking.
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Okay, so now I've removed all the wiring. I still have the strobes mounted in the front grille. I cannot get them out without removing the frint bumper. I also noticed that the bumper was not correctly installed. The black gasket/weatherstripping around the headlight is not properly inserted on one lamp ass'y. Some fasteners are also missing. Since I've worked hard to get this perfect car back to its original beauty and reliability, I'd like to finish the job.
Anyone got pointers on removing the front bumper cover? I checked out the '91 manual, but things changed quite a lot. I also tried searching for terms, but did not get anything.
I'd also be interested to know if the tail light assemblies can be removed without removing the rear bumper? I removed lots of 8mm (wrench flats) nuts, but the tail light assemblies seemed stuck at the bottom.
I just bought it. Friday night, I stayed up until 5am disassembling the interior. Why? To remove 50# of aftermarket electronics!
I started under the hood. I clipped any non-OEM wire harnesses. Wherever the OEM harnesses had been cut, I soldered, heat-shrinked and retaped (with 3M Super 33+ tape!) the appropriate wires back together.
Next, I went under the driver's dash. I removed the alarm module and disassembled the back side of the keyswitch. I had some major repairs to do on the keyswitch wire harness. Taking it out was critical. I got the main wires (very large gauge) repaired quite well. Some wiring headed towards the center console, so out with the center console!
The center console wires were simple, but some more headed towards the passenger dash. I pulled the glovie (Thanks NSXPrime for the DIY articles on removing dash parts!). Okay, where the keyless module should be, I found a huge aftermarket box. I said (out loud) "It's not a tumor" quoting Arnold Schwartzennager (?). It really did look like my sweet new NSX had a tumor. After removing other stuff, I found this was a strobe light driver. I yanked it out of there right away. I cut whatever I could find--non aftermarket, and repaired any OEM harnesses.
What's this? More wiring going down to the door sills? Yes...Before I knew it, I had the firewall panels off. More tumors! More strobe controllers. Clip clip, repair, repair. Ohmygod. It's 2am! I'm nutz. I should go home. Wait, what's this? Small wires heading towards the trunk. Must be a trunk lid switch sensor for the alarm.
No way! more strobes and strobe driver packs in the trunk. The tail light assembly has holes drilled in (right where the little whitish inductor boxes are mounted under a silver metal clip). I clipped and repaired. Every non-OEM zip tie and screw are gone! By now, it's 4am. I'm tired. The car is dirty and out of gas. It's assembled, but I MUST wash it and fill it up. When I got back to my shop, I parked it, wiped down the windows and wheels and just admired the car!
Now, my NSX is pretty much stock perfect, minus some electrical system repairs. I think I've done a satisfactory job. The interior repairs should not see moisture. I'm a bit concerned about the repairs under the hood. Perhaps I should redo them and line the shrink tubing with RTV before shrinking.
------------------
Okay, so now I've removed all the wiring. I still have the strobes mounted in the front grille. I cannot get them out without removing the frint bumper. I also noticed that the bumper was not correctly installed. The black gasket/weatherstripping around the headlight is not properly inserted on one lamp ass'y. Some fasteners are also missing. Since I've worked hard to get this perfect car back to its original beauty and reliability, I'd like to finish the job.
Anyone got pointers on removing the front bumper cover? I checked out the '91 manual, but things changed quite a lot. I also tried searching for terms, but did not get anything.
I'd also be interested to know if the tail light assemblies can be removed without removing the rear bumper? I removed lots of 8mm (wrench flats) nuts, but the tail light assemblies seemed stuck at the bottom.
