03 Boxster front body repair

[tolum]

Guys, I buyed this car like that. I got a very good discount to repair by myself the front bumper... I'm tying to understand what's wrong, I need your inputs.

Look to att. picture. Centre hood is ok with the bumper, but both end are not and it looks to be symetrical on both sides. I will ask pricing to bodyshops around here to make the repair, but I would like to understand what is the problem prior to go and see anybody that would be able to repair my car?

Thanks for your help.

Thierry

[Loren]

Item 14 is the hood bump stops (1 per side).

Try adjusting these first - I do not think I have ever seen them adjusted that bad so you may need to open the hood and take a pic of the corners.

[tolum]

Item 14 is the hood bump stops (1 per side).

Try adjusting these first - I do not think I have ever seen them adjusted that bad so you may need to open the hood and take a pic of the corners.

Item 14 are totally screwed. See add. pics if it can help...

Thierry

Edited September 30, 2008 by Loren
made image viewable

[Loren]

What does the bumper (bottom) look like?

[Cassiebox]

Looks to be a combination of things as there are a # of adjustments in the hood and w/ the front bumper cover. The good part is they're mostly DIYable even if you're not an expert mechanic.

- check/adjust (by screwing in to make shorter or out to make longer) the rubber stops in the front corners of the hood. Looks like the center is being pulled down while the edges are being stopped and bending upward. Is the trunk hard to open? Does is "spring" open (until the safety catch) when released? Try shortening them up a fair bit. Sorry no pics but look for the black (or could be oxidized/faded to white) rubber stops and turn accordingly.

- check/adjust the height of center latch catch for the hood. Remove the black plastic cover where the hood safety release is (4 plastic caps turn 90 deg then entire panel pops out). pull back carpet in front trunk and loosen the 2 (IIRC) 10mm nuts on the latch and slide up down as need be. Here's how to remove the cover

- finally, once you have the hood laying flat, you'll need to check/adjust the front bumper cover by loosening the 2 screws holding the bumper cover below black cover shown/described above. All you need to do here is loosen them and slide the bumper cover in/out as needed. The gap is supposed to be bigger than you think it should be (something like 7-8mm). Personally, my rule of thumb is to make mine match the gap between the sides of the hood and fender.

It takes a little time to get all the adjustments right but each is pretty easy to do. Good luck :)

Edited September 30, 2008 by Cassiebox

[tolum]

Looks to be a combination of things as there are a # of adjustments in the hood and w/ the front bumper cover. The good part is they're mostly DIYable even if you're not an expert mechanic.

- check/adjust (by screwing in to make shorter or out to make longer) the rubber stops in the front corners of the hood. Looks like the center is being pulled down while the edges are being stopped and bending upward. Is the trunk hard to open? Does is "spring" open (until the safety catch) when released? Try shortening them up a fair bit. Sorry no pics but look for the black (or could be oxidized/faded to white) rubber stops and turn accordingly.

- check/adjust the height of center latch catch for the hood. Remove the black plastic cover where the hood safety release is (4 plastic caps turn 90 deg then entire panel pops out). pull back carpet in front trunk and loosen the 2 (IIRC) 10mm nuts on the latch and slide up down as need be. Here's how to remove the cover

- finally, once you have the hood laying flat, you'll need to check/adjust the front bumper cover by loosening the 2 screws holding the bumper cover below black cover shown/described above. All you need to do here is loosen them and slide the bumper cover in/out as needed. The gap is supposed to be bigger than you think it should be (something like 7-8mm). Personally, my rule of thumb is to make mine match the gap between the sides of the hood and fender.

It takes a little time to get all the adjustments right but each is pretty easy to do. Good luck :)

Just to let you know, no, the doesn't "spring" open (until the safety catch) when released.

[Cassiebox]

Well then, as Loren asked, what's the bottom of your bumper cover look like? Sounds like, and somewhat looks like (based on your first picture - alignment of headlights to bumper cover) your front end/bumper was bottomed out pretty hard. You might be able to get everything lined up correctly by pulling the entire bumper cover off yourself and reinstalling.

So, you might as well clean out the front radiators while doing so. It's quite simple to do and only requires a few tools. Here's a link on how to do it. Follow these directions but know you DO NOT need to pull the wheels or put the front end up on jack stands. Nor do you need to remove the wheel well liners - just pull the rivets and pry the liners back to access the one hidden screw behind the side marker lights). Some model years used torx screws or bolts on the bottom side of the cover to fasten the cover so be prepared. You can/should drive the front wheels up onto a 2x6 (or 2 of them stacked) to get a little more clearance on the underside...

Good luck and know you can do the cleaning (including removal and reinstall in ~ 1hr.... 2 max) :)

Edited September 30, 2008 by Cassiebox

[atta]

Look to att. picture. Centre hood is ok with the bumper, but both end are not and it looks to be symetrical on both sides.

Actually, looking at the picture + picture of the rubber stops, it looks like the center is too high. Good news is the bumper cover is made of pretty flexible plastic, so try to just take it off/loose and put it back on to see if you can get a better fit. Might actually have to adjust down the sides (turning the rubber stops to reduce their height) if they have been used to compensate for the misalignment.. The link Cassiebox provided has all the details you need to remove the bumper cover. Goodl uck! :)

Atle

[tolum]

I did remove the bumper cover. looks like the bumper cover adjustment problem come from the top retaining bar height adjustment where the two screws are in (see second picture with screw drive pointed to). This bar is bolted to the car and height is adjustable. Is there any info I can get that will show how to adjust the height of that bar to be sure top of bumper will fit with hood cover???

[Loren]

Those screw holes are slotted so there is some adjustment there. Sometimes it helps to have a second person hold the bumper where it should be while you tighten down the screws.

The bumper should be even (or just slightly above) the hood height all the way across.

[tolum]

Finally did my best with that cover. I'm happy with the result. I will order a new OEM cover in spring time and replace this one that have scratches and a good ding in the front. Should fit better that this one because it have been repaired.

Did clean coolant & A/C coils. Wow, there was a lot of **** in there! Took two showels to clean the garage floor after cleaning the coils!

Thanks you all for your support on that process.

Thierry