Car's Workshop DIY

How to Remove a Rear Bumper

Car accidents can leave your car damaged and unsightly. The most typical accident is a bumper to bumper collision. Most bumpers on vehicles today are made out of plastic and they crack and break easily. It takes about as much work and the same cost to repair a bumper as it does to install a new bumper. Removing a rear bumper is simple with the correct tools and techniques.

Instructions

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     1. Open the trunk of your vehicle. Unscrew all the screws on the inside plastic trim that covers your bumper to trunk connection.
   • 2. Pry the plastic piece out with a flathead screwdriver. You will expose the bolts that attach the rear bumper to the trunk.
   • 3. Unscrew the bolts connecting to the inside of your rear bumper. There should be four bolts.
   • 4. Unscrew the two to four screws connecting to your bumper from the inside of the rear wheel tire wells. These screws are on the area of the tire well that is closet to the bumper.
   • 5. Slide under the rear of your car. Use a flathead screwdriver to pop the plastic rivets out of place along the underside of the rear bumper. There should be four to six rivets.
   • 6. Squat behind your car and firmly pull the bumper off. There will popping plastic sounds, this is the pop-in-place plastic rivets that are the last pieces that hold your rear bumper in place.

How to Install a Starter Push Button Switch

Push button switches can be used used to activate the starter in cars, trucks, and tractors. When an ignition switch has a defective start position a push button can be used instead of replacing the defective switch. This might be done if the car is so old a replacement for the ignition switch was either unavailable or prohibitively expensive, for example. Where the security of a key lock isn't important, such as a race car or a tractor, push button switches are used to control the starter and a simple toggle switch handles turning the ignition on and off.

Instructions

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     1. Disconnect the vehicle battery negative cable from the battery.
   • 2. Determine the best location for the push button switch. It should be in an area of the dashboard which can be easily reached by the driver.
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     3. Use an electric drill and a drill bit of sufficient size to drill a hole large enough to mount the switch. Check your switch for the size as it can vary from one brand to another.
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     4. Locate the starter solenoid. It will be found under the hood and on the inner fender, such as the one in the photo, or it will be built on to the starter.
   • 5. Strip approximately 1/4 inch of insulation from one end of the 14 gauge wire. Using the crimping tool, crimp a solderless terminal of the type necessary to fit the lugs on the back of your push button switch to the stripped end of this wire. Attach to the switch. Run the wire through the firewall and out to the solenoid.

   • 6. Install a solderless terminal which will fit the solenoid terminal to the wire and attach to the solenoid.
   • 7. Fabricate a second wire and attach it to the switch. Connect the opposite end to a 12 volt power source or directly to the positive terminal of the vehicle battery.
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     8. Mount the switch in the dash board and reconnect the vehicle battery.