Back on this after a little time off for pre-lockdown organising and some other stuff which came up. Working on the bumper this weekend. The first job is to get the bumper supports out.
To remove the rebar from the plastic all these plastic rivets need to come out
We need to save the bracket
and will sacrifice the bolt to do so
Headlight washers out
the hose is clipped in, which can be removed once the rebar is out
with all the rivets out and the headlight washers out, the bar just lifts out
then the headlight washer hose can be unclipped
Cut the heads off the bolts
then unscrew the bracket at the top
and lift out the bracket complete with the shank of the bolt
bumper supports now freed
Bracket in the vise, lots of WD40 on the thread, and mole grips on the shank
The first part is to wind the bolt *in* to the bracket. Doing this, we get clean threads in to the aluminium bracket, and the seized part comes out of the top. This is critical to saving the thread.
You can see the galled aluminium stuck in the thread. If this was forced out this galling would tear the thread out of the bracket and destroy it
Cut off the bad bit, lots more WD40 and then the clean thread of the bolt can be removed with the mole grips.
The other side was more stubborn and needed flats grinding on to the bolt shank to get enough torque on it to break it free
and this is why - the top three threads are stuck to the bolt!
With the bolts out, the threads are cleaned up with a tap, then the brackets can be reattached to the bumper bar
