DIY: Installing Amuse Vestito Front/Rear Bumpers

V1H

Install your new Powerhouse Amuse Vestito front & rear bumpers yourself and save some money

Got my Amuse bumpers thru Bulletproofautomotive. Manufactured in Japan, shipped to U.K. via California. Been a long 28 weeks wait in an effort to curb shipping costs. Well worth it. Many thx to Mark & Co
I searched for any DIY advice on how to install the bumpers... nothing. Common advice: It's elaborate and laborious, get it installed by an experienced workshop...
I thought how the heck would I find an experienced installer 'round here? I'm perhaps the only one in the midlands of U.K. with an Amuse kit on his Z Besides, I installed wet NOS and Pistons and con-rods on my former VTEC for breakfast, How bloody hard can a bumper install be?
So I went on and successfully installed both bumpers alone in my undersized garage and write this DIY guide for everyone else. Enjoy!

Skill level: you don't need to be able to upgrade engine internals yourself. Just a bit of dexterity and time. I took a couple of hours during a couple of quiet days before Xmas.
Number of hands: My wife has a bad back, I did everything alone, no probs, but a second pair of hands helps during test fitting.
Space: My integral garage is tiny (2.5m x 5m). I stored the OEM and modified the Amuse bumpers in the adjacent room, i.e. living room. More space is better
Fitment: It's not OEM fitment but very good for an aftermarket product. On the rear bumper four clip holes were missing, and for the electrics assembly unit (license plate lights/hatch release/rear camera) only the lower mount was present, the upper mount is missing. The assy is unacceptably floppy w/t it. Front bumper requires numerous cut-outs, depending on your model, and a couple of clip hole needed minor realignment (eg. with dremel tool). The wheel liners need to be trimmed, too, which came as a surprise to me.

Install Guide
Get a professional to paint the bumpers to your liking. Mine are Pearl White and matte black
Front Bumper:
I worked on 1 bumper at a time before doing the other bumper due to spatial constrains.
Put your car on ramps. I had to make the slopes shallower with ramp extensions (not shown) to clear the OEM bumper on drive-on and the Amuse bumper on drive-off.
Uninstall OEM front bumper and the lower splash shield (will not be re-used). Keep all bolts and clips safe. Take your time with the headlight washer system and the three Airbag collision sensors mounted inside it!
Remove lower aluminium cross bar and polystyrene impact absorber. They will interfere with the Amuse front Bumper.

I had to modify my front bumper with cut-outs shown below in order to accommodate my stock P/S cooler (I guess Amuse designed the bumper for an older 370Z model with a smaller P/S cooler), as well as, my external 25-row oil cooler. Add the rectangular cut-outs for the headlight washer system exactly where the OEM bumper has them. I fixed the front centre mesh with short screws but gluing is fine, too. Finally I drilled holes to mount the three Airbag sensors close to their stock locations. The Amuse bumper has ample provisions around the centre. Don't place the left and right mounts too high, though, they interfered with some of my car parts so I had to lower them by a few centimetres.

Before you can install the front bumper, you will have to remove the forward-halves of the liners of the wheel housing. The Amuse bumper has such a high lip around this area it will not wrap around the wheel liners without breaking stuff!
I removed the liner halves, installed the front bumper, and then trimmed the liners as shown below and re-fitted them at the end. But since I give you the required trim you may modify the liners before fitting the Bumper. This way you may avoid taking off the front wheels for access as I had to do


Rear Bumper:
Again, I ramped my car (no extensions needed). Uninstalled the OEM bumper and removed the rear fog light and aforementioned electric assembly unit. The Amuse bumper misses each 2 clip holes around the rear light areas. Drill them exactly in size and position to the stock bumper.

A 5th clip hole is missing, just below the fog light. I positioned the hole via a test fit. My electric assy unit required 3 additional cut-outs into the lower mounting flange, shown below. As said, the Amuse misses an upper mounting, which is essential for safe fitting. So I made one by gluing a zinc plated angle bracket (DIY store) with sheets of fiber glass and resin (from a body repair kit) and re-use one of the original 'nut-clips' (or what they are called) to screw into. It secured the assy unit rock solid and the operation of the hatch release button won't leave u feel cheap

Now install the assembly unit and fog light. Transfer the two stock foam buffers. And on goes the rear bumper without delay.
Don't forget to mount the front and rear license plates. Amuse supplied 2 steel brackets for mounting the front plate. The rear plate was affixed via sticky foam tape on my OEM bumper. I'm going with that again.

Enjoy your pimped ride like I do

GaleForce

Good stuff!

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6MT-Z34

Nice write up!!

Zbrah

Good stuff. Repped!

V1H

Thx guys

6MT-Z34

More pics!!! Lol

370Zsteve

I wish there was a better description of the fabricated mount using the angle bracket (rear fascia). Or more detailed pics. Oh well.

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SOLD MY Z MARCH 2018 - another Core OG moves on - new ride 2019 Z Corvette Grand Sport - no mods necessary but already have eyes on HFC and intakes LOL IT NEVER ENDS.

Kzonts

Nice job! The car looks great...

Augustus.

I know this is reviving a long dead post, but.... The pictures have all gone. Any way to get them again?

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