installing a billet grill without removing the bumper cover

[uchi]

i got my grillin today without removing the bumper cover. i tried but couldnt find where it was being held in place and then realised that i could just pull back the top of the cover and get my hands in and remove the original grill. i pulled back on the grill, unscrewed the ford emblem first, then unclipped the tabs on the grill and popped the grill out through the top. then i had to cut the plastic tabs off, for this i took an exacto knife and just sliced through them. after that i reinstall the ford emblem and removed the single bolt holding the oil cooler in place. without removing the bumper cover you cant attach the bottom of the grill using the nut and bolt combo you get. so i simply ziptied the bottom into place. you need to unscrew the oil cooler in order to get it out of the way for your hand to fit in behind the everything to feed and retrieve the zip tie. for the top i reused the factory hardway and thats that. dont forget you need to put the screw back in for the oil cooler and re mount it. i also found that my grill shoul dhave had a better tab design, when i torque the top tabs down it bent the fins a little but they came back to place once i freed them up a couple turns. all in all i spent around 45 minutes doing this going in pretty much blind.

 

[Jakee]

I installed one on the same truck with the lower as well. Basically, there are two bolts near the fender wells (one on one side; one on the other side) right where the line of the bumper cover meets the actual fender and near the fender well -- if that makes any sense

Then there's the bottom plastic covers that attach to the bumper cover but, no, you don't need to take the cover off to do the top grill. I found it next to impossible not to take the cover off for the bottom. I guess a person could just screw into the plastic but I didn't like that idea...

Anyways, looks good!

 

[uchi]

thanks, these are cell phone pics on a cloudy day and the grill looks purpleish, not sure if its contrasting off that minivan or something but ill get better pics the next sunny day we have.

i think the only thing holding the cover on for me was the bumper where it slides by that white cap, right under it by the looks of it and i couldnt get it to pop out.