I recently bought a 98conversion, i tried putting on my 96 ls and it wouldnt fit correctly. The bumper and fenders wouldnt line up evenly. I may be missing some parts when i sold my old front end but im not sure whats missing. anyone have a picture or diagram.

 

did u remove the bumper support? should be like a foam support that u should remove. then it should fit perfect.

 

you dont have to remove the foam, or atleast i didnt . . .


do you have the right lights ??? unblot the lights or loosen them atleast and move them with the bumper to get it to fit right, then after the bumper is on and bolted in, fix the lights so they look/fit well and tighten everythign back up . . .

 

i removed the foam. yeah it the right light..but somehow it wouldnt fit correctly. everything fits, but its not lined up right. i think im missing some screws or brackets..

 

do u have 98-01 head lights or is it from your 96?

 

i have the 98+ headlight. like i said, everything fits. but its somehow not lined up correctly..i've spent over 2 hrs trying to figure out what the problem is..and still dont know..everything is fine, bumper no dents, etc

 

is your car slammed? my friend had the problem everything is right but it didnt line up right. later on we found out that his chassis is a little bent cause his car was slammed and all those years of going up and down driveways caused him some chassis flex

 

yeah man its pretty low..but im not sure if that has to do with it..at least i dont so..
does anyone have a pic of the front end from helms manual?

 

Sometimes, it's just bad luck and it won't fit "perfectly" because of slight body flex over time. I have seen this many times.

In any case, do you have the little piece of "weather stripping" between the bumper and the fender? And also the stripping between the hood and the bumper? Did you make sure all the bolts are in? There are several under the fender area (you have to get your head in there to see all of them). Some of the bolts/screws there will "pull" the bumper toward the bumper pretty well. Make sure you check them all.

Good luck and let us know.

 

yeah i probably just missed some screws..i need to go double check. i hope thats the case..

 

good luck man. hope u get it to fit.

 

mine fit perfectly. did you get a oem bumper?

 

yeah its an oem bumper, none of the pieces are wrong, all oem, no dents, cracks, etc

 

all you need to conver your 96 to 98 is 98+ front bumper, 98+headlights, and 98+ corner lights everything else use your old stock. it should fit perfect , if not then some thing wrong with your 96 teg front body. who took out your old bumper and head lights?

 

i took out the old ones myself. there is a gap between the bumper and fender. i tried pulling it close but the closest i got was about an one inch gap between the fenders and bumper..

 

It depends on a lot of things...one being the order of how you tighten the bolts when the bumper is on (as mentioned above with the headlights) and also if you have all of the clips necessary. If you dont have the end clips for example, it wont line up with the bumper right. If you tighten the top bolts before the end clips, then it will naturally pull the bumper forward, making it harder to snap in to the fender and not lining up.

All in the install.

 

yeah i just checked, im missing a few screws..its under the fender and some other places. where can i buy these screws? can i just have a shop order new screws/bolts/etc and install it for me?

 

where are your old screws? how did your old bumper fit ? any gaps between the fenders and the bumper before? if not then you must forgot some bolts or screws. Its supper easy to conver 96 to 98.

 

there werent any gaps before. i couldnt find any screws, and dont remember which one is for which. I believe i lost some during the process of selling my 96 front end