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DIY MY13 Impreza cheap front plate mounts, without drilling more holes

2K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  AFP520 
#1 ·
Apologies for the lack of photos here. I'm usually too busy wrenching to document the whole thing.

Since NJ requires a front plate on the car, I started looking at the options I had.

1. Grimmspeed $70 kit.
2. Totsubo $35 kit.
3. Let the dealer drill holes in the bumper.

Unfortunately none of those options really worked for me. I wanted to mount the plate without drilling holes, and not spend a fortune to do it. So after looking around, I stumbled upon this thread: Subaru Impreza WRX STI Forums: IWSTI.com - The Largest Subaru STi Specific Forum in the World!

I did a couple of things different. I ended up using different sized well nuts. Mine were 10-32 x 5/8" fine thread found at home depot: Crown Bolt #10-32 x 5/8 in. Brass Expansion Nut-83978 at The Home Depot

For the screws, you could choose any style you want as long as it's 10-32 fine and not more than 3/4" in length overall.

First thing is first, put the well nuts into the bumper brass side first. This should look like there are 2 rubber washers sitting against the front bumper. While this looks like it would be the perfect way to mount the plate, the well nut has nothing to catch when it expands and they would just come out. The reason for doing this is so you will know where to drill the new holes for the front plate. Grab yourself some colored chalk, and douche the top of the well nuts with it. Make sure your plate is clean and dry, then you will want to press the plate against the bumper over the well nuts. The chalk will transfer from the well nut onto the plate. I took a sharpie to fill in the center where the chalk didn't transfer, now you have perfect holes. You could bypass this step and just drill it out after it transfers if you want. I have been piece-mealing this whole thing together, so I had to wait a few days to drill.

I first tried to follow the same method in that thread by cutting the well nuts so they would go in easier. While that DID work, it also made them extremely easy to come back out with very little effort. I decided to go back and buy another 2 well nuts of the same size. I put the screws in on the brass side first, and then used that as extra leverage to push the whole top of the well nut through the holes. While it took a bit of convincing to go through, this made me much more comfortable knowing it would not be easy for them to come back out.

I had bought some 3M double sided tape to put on the back of the plate so that it would not scratch the paint. After seeing how the plate sits on the car, the 3M tape wasn't really large enough. I ended up just wrapping the entire back of the plate in painters tape. To be honest, I didn't do the cleanest of jobs with the tape because getting the plate on was a priority. My whole plan would have been flawed with a $50 ticket for no front plate. I will clean it up in the summer when I have more time and my balls aren't forming icicles

I put a couple of small neoprene washers on the backside of the plate just to bulge it out a tad. Picture of the final product. If you guys have any Q's, let me know. Total cost of this was less than $10 and should not take you more than 10 minutes.

 
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#5 ·
True the grimmspeed is a relocation kit, the totsubo keeps the plate in the factory spot. When I looked into that kit more, they were also using well nuts. So do you really want to pay ~$32 for some metal pieces instead of drilling holes? That's up to you.
 
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