It's been a while (a couple of months) since I made a status update and I honestly needed to read over my previous posts to see where I had left off - executive summary: She's done!
It took a couple of weeks in February/March to get the front bumper, fender, and hood painted and matched to the original body color. Nonetheless, one sunny afternoon I got a call that they were done so I took the truck down to pick them up. I was quite pleased upon first inspection with the work that the paint shop had done. I cautiously rushed (acting like a newborn was in the vehicle) home and started buttoning things up for the final (?) time.
The hood hinge adjustment WRT fender gaps had already been completed with the parts unpainted. I found this to be a good approach because it lets you handle the parts easier without fear of scratching them while you're adjusting the numerous fixture points to get the "right" look. With the hood positioned approximately where desired, I installed the left and right fenders loosely. Over a few different trails I got the fenders shifted to align nicely with the hood and then lower bumper support and bumper assembly. What a turd! I had never installed a bumper before on a Giulia and found this to be a very challenging step in the assembly - NOT because it was physically hard to the concept was difficult to understand, but because it was newly painted, going onto newly painted parts, and being handled by only one person. In addition, it'd been a while since I had taken the bumper off of the G2 car and it took my a while to conceive how to "wrap" the bumper back onto the body. I say "wrap" because the method that I used to get it reinstalled was this:
- Essentially place the top center of the bumper in approx. the right location on the center of the upper radiator core support.
- Then, I had to flex the bumper wider (vertically) to stretch it over the lower bumper support and radiator air vanes
- Working on the passenger side of the bumper I pulled and flexed the parts to stretch the plastic bumper over the headlights where I could insert the ever-fragile assembly tabs into the fender clips.
- Moving to the right side of the bumper, I wiggled and pulled the parts until I could get the driver side tabs around that headlight and into its corresponding fender clips.
- At the point that all of the mounting tabs were in place, I did a once over of the fit and checked that everything was properly placed prior to installing any screws to secure it in place.
After the bumper was locked down with the fasteners at the engine support and below at the engine cradle, I set to work fine-tuning my fender/hood/bumper alignment. I would say it took a few hours to get things aligned nicely and I did the work with the wheels off to allow for maximum access to the various panels insides and fasteners. I did find, after having the bumper installed, that I needed to adjust the hood closure a bit through the tightening/loosening of the rubber, black, closure stops. Once done though, I was pretty thrilled with the results - so much so that I completely forgot to take pictures of any of these steps and instead powered right into reinstalling all of the splash guards, engine covers, windshield wiper fluid reservoir, etc. By this point I had already done some test driving of the car with the unpainted parts so I had already worked through any error codes and the car was ready to drive!
My first legitimate drive into town was to the inspection office of the county sheriff. To be honest, there was quite a pucker factor on that drive. As anyone who's done their own mechanic work knows, after a job is done you are listening for every little creak, whine, and thud as you drive trying to determine if any are an issue due to your handwork. Likewise, any car passing by that smells of burning oil, immediately gets your head thinking that you screwed something up on you own car. I drove like I was a first timer and eventually made it up to the sheriff. While I'm sure everyone has different stories to tell, my experience with the inspection was pretty benign. I submitted my paperwork and receipts for used parts that I had purchased, sat for about half an hour, then was called out to give an overview of the car. About 10 minutes later I got a handshake and a "that's the most complete set of paperwork I've ever received" from the sheriff and was informed my new title could be picked up from the county admin building - done!
This time, I took the long way home to enjoy the drive a bit more.
). A daunting task for a first timer, but I’ve always been a tinker and have rebuilt other vehicles (farm tractors, motorcycles, etc. ) so I know sometimes the first step is just getting into it.
