Here's the before:
Here's the after:
Originally purchased in August, the grill sat boxed up in my shed for several months since I was too busy playing soccer and sleeping on the weekends. I know -- poor excuses for not attending to my beloved MINI ...The install process took me about two hours. I think for the more inclined grease monkey, it should only take around an hour, but since I am such a perfectionist (and newbie) I took my sweet time making sure the grill was installed right the first time.
The thing that took the longest was removing the front bumper skin. I searched the NAM message boards for a how-to on this mod, but came up with nothing. I ended up using an official MINI technical spec diagram to figure out what screws/bolts needed to be removed. I also looked at pictures of another MINI owner/blogger to see how the install process went for him.
Basically there are two #30 Torx bolts that get removed first. These are the easiest bolts to get to ... all the others require you get on your back and remove them from the underside of the bumper (5 in all).
After busting my knuckles and removing the two 8mm bolts that are below the headlamps in the wheel well area, I was ready to pull the bumper skin off ... wait a minute ... I forgot to disconnect the connectors for the headlamps, side indicators and fogs. Once all six of these connectors were unplugged, I was really ready to remove the bumper.
Above Photo: Inside of the bumper skin once it is removed. The orange connector goes to the side indicator light. The grey connector goes to the headlght.
I followed the included instructions with the grill to install it. They are very straight forward.
After I zip-tied the temperature sensor to the aluminum bumper strucure, I was ready to put the bumper skin back on. Putting it on was really easy.
Voila!
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