I have a 95 Accord that I had to reinstall the OE bumper. I think there is too much of a gap between the top of the bumper cover and the headlights. Its about 1/2" gap right now; however, the bumper seems to be on securely. Before I put this bumper back on I made sure the inner beam lined up and fit ok. When I put the inner beam on by itself, without the cover, I was able to push the beam bracket up high so that the stay bolt was as low as possible in the T shaped bracket hole.

What is the OE spec for the distance between the lower edge of the headlights and the top of the bumper cover, or at least, what amount of distance should I be aiming for? ... A 1/2" seems like way too much.

My bigger concern is that, when I look at the inner bumper beam bracket's position on the stayplate bolt, I can see that the bracket is sitting way too low on the stayplate, which means that the stayplate bolt is too high in the T shaped bracket hole, so, the holding power/stress is placed on the two bracket bolts. That could eventually cause a safety problem if it comes loose. Is the trick to getting the brackets up high on the stay plate to have someone hold the bumper in position when while you install the bracket bolts?

 

I do it this way.
I first mount the headlamps such the the side corner lamps sit square in the fender cutout made for them.
Once you get that straight, that will properly position the center grille (as it mounts off the inner portion of the headlamp capsule).
Now you can mount the front bumper cover. I look for a distance of about 3/16" or about the thickness of a paint mixing stick between the cover and the headlamp capsules.
Once this is done, you can make fine adjustments and bring the Hood into alignment as well.

P

 

Ok, that sounds like a good plan. I'll get two of those paint mixing sticks and set them on the top of the bumper.

One other thing. When it becomes too hard to get the inner beam brackets high up on the stay plate, what is the reason(s) why? I had a really hard time getting that bumper any higher but I wasnt sure why, since, as I said before, I was able to do that when the cover was not on the beam.

 

The lower part of the radiator support may have been pushed back from a previous impact, causing the whole panel to effectively rotate down.

P

 

What I did to align mine was stick my arm through the bumper light or middle grill and sitting down on the ground push upwards with both my knees AND lift up on the bracket with my hand (the one I stuck through the hole) that seemed to work perfectly.

 

Yeah, that makes sense to me. It is similar to how I got the beam up when the bumper was off the beam. I think perhaps that what body shops do is have two guys hold each end of the bumper while pushing up, and a third guy torques the bolts down, at least that would seem to be one ideal way to do it. I'm wondering if I torque both ends down and then go back and try to move one end up, and go back and forth like that if it would even move ... Did you have the bolts out, or in loose or tight, on the end opposite that you were pushing up?

 

This vehicle had been hit before in the front, but it was more cosmetic than serious. I was able to pull most of it out with a friend, and it was only the thinner sheet metal that seemed to have been affected -- but I didn't go around taking specs either. Mostly because this is an older high mileage vehicle that I might not even use, and might sell, but if I keep it, the body repairs were utility repairs and no attempt to restore the vehicle to showroom condition was considered [too impractical and costly]. The support bracket is 1/4" down [my estimation] about midway from the underbody to the top of the rad, on the passengers side, where the headlight cowling meets the side of the rad support. It resulted in a small crimp that the impact caused. I had pullers, pushers, hammers, dollies, and what not, but no winch hanging from above to raise it up that 1/4." But I'm not so sure that even matters. I checked the flatness of the stay plate area and that is ok, but I didn't check for plumbness. Perhaps being plumb is what you are referring to. I will do that asap. I'm curious to see if that is a contributing factor. But as I said previously, I was able to get the inner beam on just about perfectly, but only when the bumper cover was off. So, I'm not sure why that is, because I'm certainly aware that I need to push up on it.

Btw, what is the purpose of that heavy pepperoni, sausage looking part [lol], that is stuck in the bumper cover? Anyone know?

 

It is there to reduce vibration yoi can see the rubber mounts on it you can safely unbolt it and to the earlier question I had the bolts loosely in before pulling upwards and tightening