# How to replace a Cadillac bumper filler



## Stealth (Jun 7, 2003)

I wrote an article for the guy whos company i bought the bumper fillers from. I thought it might come in handy for people on here too, so i'll just post it, and i'm sure someone in the future will find it useful.





*Car: 1980 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham*
My process should work for all 1980 - 1992 big-body RWD cadillacs, because they're all based on the same body style. There might be minor changes as the years get closer to 1992, but they won't be significant, and the general process will stay the same.

_If the picture doesn't show up, click the link below it_ - I have the pictures hosted on two seperate servers, so that if one day in the future one server goes down (temporarily or permanently) then there's still the other one. If for some reason or another you'd like to contact me (if BOTH servers go down, if you have a question, etc.) then please send me an email through the EZ-Board system. Here we go...

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Let me introduce you to my car's former bumper fillers:








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...s/sequence1.jpg
That's the left side. Here's the right side:








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...s/sequence2.jpg


As you can see, they were just begging to be replaced. The left one wasn't so bad, but the paint was starting to peel, and it wasn't very strong, it was on its last legs. The right side had been deteriorating slowly but surely, and eventually i just took scotch take and (attempted to) repair it. It didn't work for long 

I'd been putting it off for too long. Called up Art, ordered two rear bumper fillers... got them in the mail a few days later:








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...s/sequence3.jpg








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...s/sequence4.jpg


Two days later I took them to my body shop. Picked them up the next morning. The fillers are already painted and primed, so all that had to be done was paint it, and then the protective coat over it. looking good:








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...s/sequence5.jpg


Two more days pass, and I spend my Sunday afternoon installing them. Here's where the fun starts. Before you attempt to try this, here's the tools you'll be needing:








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...lsforthejob.jpg


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## Stealth (Jun 7, 2003)

Naaa, i'm just kidding  It's actually a lot simpler than that. I started out with a whole tool box of tools, but each tool I needed during the process I set aside, and these were, in the end, the only ones i used! :








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...lsforthejob.jpg


Very simple... Now, remove the chrome bezel with the allen keys. There's two of them, one at the top, one at the bottom. This is the only time you'll be needing these. In reality, there's a GM screwdriver you're _supposed_ to use, but most of us dont' have that, and don't want to buy one just for this project, so if you're gentle, the allen keys will work fine and won't do any harm:








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...s/sequence6.jpg


Once you get that chrome piece off, get out your phillips screwdriver, and unscrew the light. There's a screw on the top center, and on the bottom center of the light:








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...s/sequence7.jpg


Disconnect the lights. Remember which light goes where. There's two sockets that look identical, but you mustn't mix them up. Also, here's where it will change... 1990-1992 (if my memory serves me correctly) have a different taillight wiring setup. But you get the idea, so don't go straight from my pictures, my pictures are just to give you an idea, and the actual setup is subject to change according to the car you're performing this on:








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...s/sequence8.jpg


Now what I recommend is that you feed the lights, and the fiber-optic cable (that's what that skinny black lead is. It runs to right above the rear window, in the center. two little lights that you can see if you look in your rearview mirror that go on when you have your lights on or when you depress the brake pedal. they're an easy way to tell if your brake lights are working, or if your tail lights are on at night. i use them all the time  ). Anyway, feed the wires through the inside and then down. this gets them out of the way and ensures you don't get them caught when you remove the chrome taillight housing (the big piece of chrome that the tail light goes inside).








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...s/sequence9.JPG


There's three sizeable bolts holding the chrome taillight housing onto the bumper. there's two in dead-center, and one at the bottom (hard to get to). the ones shown in the picture below (the center ones) are easy to get to once you've removed the taillight, so take out your ratchet, and remove these two bolts:








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence10.JPG


Now for a hard part: The third bolt is extremely hard to get to. It's at the bottom of the chrome taillight housing, and the only way to reach it is going under the car. You can make it easier on yourself (as i did) by ripping away the old bumper filler, so you can go in from the side  But better psych yourself up for tightening the bolt when you put everything back together again, because you won't have a handy side-entrance... the new bumper filler is in the way, and you'll have to go from underneath. This really is a pain, but it's fairly easy to do. Luckily Cadillac thought about this, and put the bolt in backward (the head of the bolt facing the front of the car, and the thread of the bolt facing the back) the chrome taillight housing has the nut welded onto it, so you don't have to worry about turning the bolt and the nut turning too. you can just concentrate on turning the bolt, and getting it out.








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence11.JPG


Now remove the entire chrome taillight housing. This is an easy step 








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence12.JPG


There's five nuts (or there may be four. On my car there were four) holding a bracket in place. This bracket holds the bumper filler firmly against the body of the car, prevents water getting in, and keeps it steady. Remove the nuts holding it in place (outlined in red in the picture below). Note that this picture was taken after i'd ripped away the old, rotting bumper filler. You may or may not want to do this, depending how brave you are. I'd personally not recommend doing it, and in the end I only did it on the one side, the other side I just left the bumper filler on and removed it properly, when it was loose.








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence13.JPG


Now remove the bracket. (If the old bumper filler piece is still attached (it should still be, there's still more bolts to remove to completely remove it) then you'll have to move the bracket toward you (toward the back of the car), then slide it up and out of the old bumper filler)








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence14.JPG


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## Stealth (Jun 7, 2003)

Now there's a part that holds the part of the bumper filler closest to the trunk firm, and against the metal. The old (original) bumper fillers had tabs that clipped onto this piece of metal, which in turn bolts onto the car. The bumper fillers you bought from Autorifix do not have these little tabs. Remove the nut that's facing you (the bottom red circle in the picture, behind the hand obviously). Now make sure your trunk's open. Keep it open from now on, it'll make removal and installation a heck of a lot easier. Get inside the trunk, and where the top red circle is in the picture below, inside the trunk is a little nut. I unscrewed it with my hands, it was so loose, but you may need to use the pair of pliers, because with the odd angle i couldn't fit a ratchet in. *NOTE:* I found it a _lot_ easier to remove the part of the piece you just removed that has the tabs attached to it. There's three bolts holding that piece on, as shown in the second picture below. You won't be needing the piece you remove, but keep the piece with the two bolts on it, you'll be needing that. (i.e. dispose of the part with the tabs and the three bolts attached to it








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence15.JPG








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...comparison7.jpg


Now the old bumper filler (or what's left of it) should come off








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence16.JPG


Now this part's tricky. The bumper filler you bought from Autorifix isn't going to fit exactly (well mine didn't anyway). You're going to probably have to play around with it. I just used a knife to enlarge the holes a little, and in some cases i had to cut (with the cutters) the holes completely out to allow me to slide the bumper filler left and right, to align the outside with the body, so it's nice and level. Remember that the long bracket with the five holes that you removed a few steps ago is going to go over these holes to hold the bumper filler down, so the bumper filler for now just has to fit and be nice and level, the bracket's going to be holding it, so don't be afraid to make the filler holes too big. use your discretion. don't enlarge the holes so that they go around the corner of the filler, thereby being exposed to the outside of the car once they're installed. *Note:* - To get the new bumper filler to fit flush against the body, you may have to file down some pieces. I had to, on the left bumper filler installation, file down the top corner just a little.








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence17.JPG


To get the new bumper filler to line up (the part closest to the middle of the bumper) you'll probably have to cut some pieces away so that it fits along the bumper's curves. i just marked it with a knife, and then cut with the cutters.








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...s/finished2.jpg


Now put the long bracket in, along with the other piece that had the two bolts (one of them where you had to get inside the trunk to reach). Don't tighten them yet. Keep them loose. The bumper filler's most likely not going to line up exactly with the body of the car (yet). You'll probably have to reach inside and push it in or out so it lines up along with the car's exterior. Do this, and once you have it in the right position and you're happy with it, tighten the nuts. It's useful to have someone else here to do this. Don't overtighten, or you'll strip them. The bracket should hold the bumper filler pretty firmly.








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence18.JPG


Now put the chrome taillight housing on. I found it easiest to screw the two bolts in first (the ones in the center of the housing), but don't tighten them. Now you can climb under the car, and fiddle around with the bottom bolt. tighten all three. i found it personally better to tighten the two middle ones, and then work on tightening the bottom one. *Note:* - Remember to get the lip of the bumper filler facing the back of the car INSIDE the chrome taillight housing... all the way around.








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence19.JPG


Now feed the wires for the taillights back out the taillight housing, and connect the light back up. On mine there were three bulbs (one tiny one on the side, and two going to the main taillight) and the fiber-optic cable connection. Remember to connect them to the same socket you removed them from. Not sure what would happen if you didn't, i didn't take the time to think about it... i'm sure it wouldn't hurt anything, but it might look a bit funny when you brake and the bottom half of your taillight lights up on the right side and the top half on the left, etc. i dunno.








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence20.JPG


Now put the taillight back inside the chrome housing. I had trouble getting them out, _and_ putting them back in... i found the best way to do it is to put the TOP in first, then slide it up, then slide the bottom in. it's going to be a very close fit, so don't be afraid if you have to scrape it along to get it in.








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence21.JPG


Using the allen keys, screw the two little bolts back in on the chrome "outline", or bezel, or whatever you call it, and that's it. you should be set.








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04.../sequence22.JPG


Now some of us with 80-92 caddys have a chrome strip at the bottom, but they're all attached differently, so i didn't go into details on how to remove those, or replace them afterward. Some of them are riveted in, some have a screw on the inside you have to unscrew, and there's other ways they can be attached too. That shouldn't be too hard, and any body shop will know how to do it if you can't figure it out.
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Total time it took me to replace them both: 3 hours. but that included breaks, talking to my neighbor, etc. I'd say if you worked non-stop, you could be done with both sides in under two hours fairly easily. The longest, most time-consuming thing for me was cutting the holes and lining the bumper filler up. That took time. The rest was childs play.

If you have any questions or comments or suggestions or anything about or regarding my "tutorial", then please contact me (use my EZBOARD info and Email me). Note that I am not responsible for any damages to your car, property, etc. due to this tutorial. This tutorial is not official, and neither it nor I am affiliated with Autorifix, or any company. I made it just to give people an idea, not show them exactly how it's done. Obviously different cars are going to be setup differently, but I'm pretty sure 1980-1989 at least will be pretty close, with 1990-1992 being very similar. 

Just hope these pictures give you an idea on how to do it. The final result was better than i expected it to be originally.


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## Stealth (Jun 7, 2003)

Here's some pictures of how it came out in the end. There's minor things to be done now, like... wash the car  but for the most part it's done. Also you'll notice the little white trim stickers that go along the car I haven't had a chance to put on the bumper. Different cars will have different trim lines. You can get these stickers (if your car has them) from pretty much any body shop, and i'm sure stores like AutoZone, or O'Reillys will have them too.








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...lers/after2.jpg








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...lers/after3.jpg








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...lers/after4.jpg








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...lers/after5.jpg








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...lers/after6.jpg








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...lers/after7.jpg


Now after a good wash, I'm ready to go 








http://swooh.com/lorenzo/pictures/09-26-04...lers/after8.jpg

Hope this helped 

~Lorenzo


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## Sixteen Switches (Jul 1, 2004)

whered u get the filers?


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## Stealth (Jun 7, 2003)

www.bumper-fillers.com

great guy to work with. if you break one of them while you're trying to install it? he'll send you a new one. free of charge. he's a great guy. wish all the people i did business with were like this.


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## 816customshop (Sep 8, 2003)

be careful with the fiber optic light wire its fragile and a bitch to replace if it cracks


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## Stealth (Jun 7, 2003)

mine's been cracked for a while on the right side 

exactly how hard is it to replace


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