TL;DR This kit is a high price to pay for what ended up requiring a lot of customization to make it work. It's still not completely fine-tuned yet.
I know it's been two long months, but I finally got the chance to coordinate this install over at my brother's house yesterday. I have the sunburn and torn-up hands that go with the territory. I sure most of us modders can relate to this, LOL.
First things first: There were no formal instructions with this kit. It seems geared primarily toward DIY'ers who are accustomed to doing a lot of customization on the install to make everything work. I only had a few pics from Move Over Racing to go by on this install. I had email correspondence back and forth from them to get the pics/basic description. For the studs' hardware to have sufficient clearance on the side nearest the back with the hardware provided, I had to mount the passenger's side bracket on the driver's side upside-down:
As you can see in this pic, doing this brought the studs down low enough that the fender behind the bracket didn't present a clearance issue for the stud hardware. But I wanted to use the correct bracket on each side, so what I ended up doing is drilling new stud mounting holes. I didn't take a pic of this, but imagine the studs in this pic mounted about an inch higher on the bracket, then the whole bracket turned upside-down and put on the passenger's side, where it was intended. A better fix would be to use extra washers as spacers on the right black bolt in this picture (the bolt closest to back side of the Speed). I was supplied 3 washers for each of these locations (so 6 total). If I did it again, I'd use 5 or 6 instead washers for EACH of these bolts (so 12 total). That would've given sufficient clearance and not required drilling new holes, but my car was apart and I didn't have the opportunity to get extra hardware. I had to think on my feet.
For locating the studs, I used sticky tack and coated the stud tips with tire shine so that they didn't stick:
I was very meticulous about drilling/mounting location, but this is precision work. Here is the passenger side upon first mounting:
To fix the gap, I put a deep socket over each mounting stud and twisted the left stud down a tad and the right stud upwards. This is how the passenger's side ended up, after driving home:
Ironically, my driver's side looked about perfect, initially....
But this is what happened after the drive home:
So, I'll have to get back in there and do some stud twisting to get everything re-aligned.
The reasons for the shifting are twofold:
1) My initial check of alignment was done without having bolted the whole bumper back in place, both topside, and bottom side. The bumper distorts/bends some after everything is bolted in. Basically, the bumper is being pulled downward. which makes the front gap want to expand, and the back gap want to contract. This was oversight on my part. Hey, you live and you learn.
2) Wind, especially when driving on the highway (and most especially when doing 4th gear logging up to redline). This pulls the bumper down/back too, which does the same thing with the gaps that I mentioned above.
In summary, I do like the fact that the brackets make everything easier, but I definitely feel like the kit was overpriced in light of the customization required. And some of the customization could've been avoided if additional hardware were provided, and specific instructions with lots of pictures. I have a feeling that if I didn't have to do the drilling to move the stud mounting locations downwards for clearance, that the flexing/movement I'm getting after bolting the bumper in place would be lessened.
If you go with this kit, do yourself a favor and have lots of thick SS washers on hand to move the bracket out far enough so you'll be able to have sufficient clearance behind the brackets to lock the stud nuts in their originally intended place. Like I said, I'd probably use 3 thick washers on the frontside, and 6 on the back side.
I know it's been two long months, but I finally got the chance to coordinate this install over at my brother's house yesterday. I have the sunburn and torn-up hands that go with the territory. I sure most of us modders can relate to this, LOL.
First things first: There were no formal instructions with this kit. It seems geared primarily toward DIY'ers who are accustomed to doing a lot of customization on the install to make everything work. I only had a few pics from Move Over Racing to go by on this install. I had email correspondence back and forth from them to get the pics/basic description. For the studs' hardware to have sufficient clearance on the side nearest the back with the hardware provided, I had to mount the passenger's side bracket on the driver's side upside-down:
As you can see in this pic, doing this brought the studs down low enough that the fender behind the bracket didn't present a clearance issue for the stud hardware. But I wanted to use the correct bracket on each side, so what I ended up doing is drilling new stud mounting holes. I didn't take a pic of this, but imagine the studs in this pic mounted about an inch higher on the bracket, then the whole bracket turned upside-down and put on the passenger's side, where it was intended. A better fix would be to use extra washers as spacers on the right black bolt in this picture (the bolt closest to back side of the Speed). I was supplied 3 washers for each of these locations (so 6 total). If I did it again, I'd use 5 or 6 instead washers for EACH of these bolts (so 12 total). That would've given sufficient clearance and not required drilling new holes, but my car was apart and I didn't have the opportunity to get extra hardware. I had to think on my feet.
For locating the studs, I used sticky tack and coated the stud tips with tire shine so that they didn't stick:
I was very meticulous about drilling/mounting location, but this is precision work. Here is the passenger side upon first mounting:
To fix the gap, I put a deep socket over each mounting stud and twisted the left stud down a tad and the right stud upwards. This is how the passenger's side ended up, after driving home:
Ironically, my driver's side looked about perfect, initially....
But this is what happened after the drive home:
So, I'll have to get back in there and do some stud twisting to get everything re-aligned.
The reasons for the shifting are twofold:
1) My initial check of alignment was done without having bolted the whole bumper back in place, both topside, and bottom side. The bumper distorts/bends some after everything is bolted in. Basically, the bumper is being pulled downward. which makes the front gap want to expand, and the back gap want to contract. This was oversight on my part. Hey, you live and you learn.
2) Wind, especially when driving on the highway (and most especially when doing 4th gear logging up to redline). This pulls the bumper down/back too, which does the same thing with the gaps that I mentioned above.
In summary, I do like the fact that the brackets make everything easier, but I definitely feel like the kit was overpriced in light of the customization required. And some of the customization could've been avoided if additional hardware were provided, and specific instructions with lots of pictures. I have a feeling that if I didn't have to do the drilling to move the stud mounting locations downwards for clearance, that the flexing/movement I'm getting after bolting the bumper in place would be lessened.
If you go with this kit, do yourself a favor and have lots of thick SS washers on hand to move the bracket out far enough so you'll be able to have sufficient clearance behind the brackets to lock the stud nuts in their originally intended place. Like I said, I'd probably use 3 thick washers on the frontside, and 6 on the back side.
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