My First Write Up: Grill and Headlight Replacement

25437 Views 22 Replies 12 Participants Last post by DBAND, Mar 14, 2013

lazerz69

Discussion Starter · Aug 8, 2010

This is my first write up. It is not a difficult project, but I thought some one may be interested in the write up.

I was not particularly fond of the white on white color scheme and wanted to replace the grill and headlight mounts with chrome . . . so I did.

Here is the "target" truck.

Here is the "donor" truck with grill and headlight assemblies already removed.

Here are two additional pics of the "target" truck.

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lazerz69

Discussion Starter · #2 · Aug 8, 2010

In order to remove the grill you need to remove 5 screws. There are four on the top under the hood and one screw is under the Ford emblem on the grill.

Here are pictures of the screws that hold the headlight assembly. These are the same screws used to hold the grill in place. The grill was easy to remove. These screws must be removed in order to remove the headlight assembly.

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lazerz69

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 8, 2010

Once you remove the screws shown in the previous post, there are [ONLY] two screws that hold the outer headlight assembly. The screws are 7/16. They can be hard to locate if you do not know where to look. I was not able to get pictures of the location of the screws. The screws closest to the firewall, (both driver and passenger side), can be accessed from the same hole where the lower yellow running light is located. However, in order to get to the screw on the driver side you must remove the coolant reservoir and to get to the screw on the driver side you must remove the battery.

The other screws are located in a opening closest to the radiator. They are easy to locate and access. Here is a picture of the back of the headlight frame already removed. I have circled the bolts that are used to attach the frame to the truck.

Here is a picture of the front of the headlight frame.

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lazerz69

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 8, 2010

Once the two screws on the top are removed and the two 7/16 nuts are removed from the inside of the engine compartment the headlight assembly pulls straight out. Removal of the actual headlight assembly itself was a little more difficult because of the clips, which were a PITA to remove. I broke two of the clips. Luckily I had replacements from the donor truck.

Here is a picture of the clips that hold the headlight assembly. There are 3 of these clips. Two are located on the top. The third is located underneath the headlight assembly. There is probably a special tool that would make removal of the clips easier. I have put two red arrows showing, ( I do not know what to call them), two places where you can insert a "tool" to spread the clips away from the plastic clip connected to the headlight assembly.

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lazerz69

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 8, 2010

Once all three clips are removed, the headlight assembly falls out.

Here is a picture as to how you can access the clip that is located under the headlight assembly. As you can see, I used a 90 degree pick tool to pull out the clip. Once the headlight FRAME assembly is removed, it is easy to locate this access port.

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lazerz69

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 8, 2010

Putting everything back together was a piece of cake. Just do everything in reverse order.

Here is a picture of the gap where the headlight assembly and headlight frame assembly fit into the truck. I have circled the holes where the headlight frame assembly bolts go in to. You can see the bolts in one of the pictures posted earlier.

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lazerz69

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 8, 2010

As a side note, be careful with the wires going to the horn located on the passenger side. As I was removing the lower yellow running light I almost ripped the horn wires off. The are in the same harness as the lower yellow light.

Here is a picture of the horn wires.

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lazerz69

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 8, 2010

It became too dark to take a picture of the truck with the chrome grill and headlight frame assemblies in place. I will post a picture showing everything in place.

Also, I will be removing the chrome bumper from the donor truck and will be putting that on the target as well. I will post pics when that is done.

lazerz69

Discussion Starter · #9 · Aug 8, 2010

Here is my Bronco with the chrome front end and bumper completed.

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foxbravo

· #10 · Oct 12, 2010

I recently replaced my chrome bumper and noticed the gap between the bumper and grill/lights you can crawl under the front and hold the bumper up while you tighten it with the other hand it will close that gap up.

1995f1504x4

· #11 · Dec 1, 2010

is it at all possible to mask off only the front part of the grille and the outer part of the headlight assembly and paint those? i was thinking about painting those parts blue. my truck is white and i was eventually gonna paint the body indent down the side with blue.

would painting the grille masked off like that be worth while and look decent or would i be wasting time and money

AZ79Bronco

· #12 · Dec 1, 2010

1995f1504x4 said:
is it at all possible to mask off only the front part of the grille and the outer part of the headlight assembly and paint those? i was thinking about painting those parts blue. my truck is white and i was eventually gonna paint the body indent down the side with blue.

would painting the grille masked off like that be worth while and look decent or would i be wasting time and money

If you take the time to do it right and mask everything off then trim with an exacto knife to could get by. But Remember overspray and hidden parts, what you can't see you can't paint. But in the same time you could just pull off the grill to paint it alone. I've painted the front grill on before then realized I missed a couple spots that had lite coverage. Since then I've always taken the time to pull it and hang it from somewhere to ensure full coverage.

1995f1504x4

· #13 · Dec 2, 2010

i would remove it definitely. i dont want overspray or light spots. is there a way to remove the amber light from the headlight frames?

and would painting it blue be worthwhile or would it look bad on a white truck.

and the bronco posted is sweet. clean. nice work on replacing those lights/grille. decent pictures too

rocknrod

· #14 · Mar 25, 2011

How do you get the emblem off? The screw behind it?

td152

· #15 · Mar 25, 2011

rocknrod said:
How do you get the emblem off? The screw behind it?

Two 10mm psuedo nuts holding it in place. Really they are just caps with a 10mm bolt pattern. super easy to get off

Nice work getting the grill to be flush with the headlight assemblies. Looks great:thumbup

Cferguson

· #16 · Mar 29, 2011

That really came out great!! Im actually getting ready for a similar project. The grill on my truck is broke so Im just waiting for the new one to come in so I can swap it out. Glad to see its a faily simple swap.

1995f1504x4

· #17 · Apr 12, 2011

where exactly are those plastic clips? are they on the amber/turn lights? or on the actual headlight

rocknrod

· #18 · May 19, 2011

lazerz69 said:
... Removal of the actual headlight assembly itself was a little more difficult because of the clips, which were a PITA to remove. I broke two of the clips. Luckily I had replacements from the donor truck.

Here is a picture of the clips that hold the headlight assembly. There are 3 of these clips. Two are located on the top. The third is located underneath the headlight assembly. There is probably a special tool that would make removal of the clips easier. I have put two red arrows showing, ( I do not know what to call them), two places where you can insert a "tool" to spread the clips away from the plastic clip connected to the headlight assembly.

Okay - i just received a new grill, headlight trim and new headlights so i want to put them on.
Those clips - can you just pull them out? or do you have to spread the spring thingys first?\And is there a tool for all that?

weasel-like animal

· #19 · Jun 14, 2011

rocknrod said:
Okay - i just received a new grill, headlight trim and new headlights so i want to put them on.
Those clips - can you just pull them out? or do you have to spread the spring thingys first?\And is there a tool for all that?

Best way to remove those is with pick hooks. Spread the two sides (red arrows) and pull UP on the clip. Should pop right out! It helps having two sets of hands to pull out/up, but one person can jimmy the clips out of the retaining slots far enough to yank up and remove them.

goladdgrs

· #20 · Jun 28, 2011 (Edited)

I just did the same thing and regarding those clips they can be pretty brittle with age and oxidation. I searched where to buy those here on FSB also for a part number but couldn't find anything.

So I was going to go find a decent set at the junkyard tomorrow but figured i'd search Napa online and found them so I figured i'd post the part number for posterity instead of starting a new thread...

https://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/...445_0066737515&An=599001+101992+50028+2028004

NAPA PART NUMBER: BK 6652445

opc1:

EDIT:
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Napa didn't have them in stock and had to order them so I had to junkyard it and found ZERO 92-96 Broncos. However, ALL 90's and 2000ish Windstars I found had the same exact clips in brand new shape

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