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When I picked up our just purchased ’05 T-Bird I ask the dealer why there was no front license plate bracket. He told me a lot of owners didn’t want to drill holes in their car’s bumper and others just didn’t want to cover the clean lines of the T-Bird with a license plate. Our car was sold new by this same dealer and has always been a Texas car. Texas requires a front license plate and the previous owner had not installed one.
I am not a purest car enthusiast – this ’05 T-Bird is the first car of this type I have ever owned - and didn’t really have any feelings one way or the other about drilling holes in the bumper or installing a front plate. When I picked up the license plates from the dealer he also gave me the original Ford front plate bracket. After owning the car for a few days I decided I didn’t want to drill holes in the front bumper.
On our first outing in the T-Bird I was pulled over and warned, sort of,
See here: http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...ad.php?t=20795
for not having a front plate. I had read a thread on TBN about installing the front plate without drilling holes in the bumper, so my goal was to do just that.
See here: http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...ad.php?t=18242
I sent dbsupercrew an email to inquire if his design was still viable. In true fashion of a fellow TBN’er, he responded telling me he had made only one small modification and his bracket was working fine. Thanks Darrell. I also sent an email to maxkemp who had responded to the above thread with his own idea to modify Darrell’s design. He too responded and gave me the details of his modifications. Thanks Max. Both of these designs are working and are an option for the installation.
I used the original Ford bracket, which does detract from the smooth lines of the front of the car, and designed an installation without drilling the bumper.
The Ford bracket hooks over the bottom lip of the bumper. I used two alum. plates to clamp the bracket to the bumper. The pictures should explain the installation.
Materials: 2 - alum. plates 2”x1/8"x7”
4 – ¼’x3/4’ bolts w/jam nuts
12 – lock washers (flat tooth type)
8 – 1/4” flat washers
The Ford bracket and the bumper lip could have been drilled so the bolts passed through the alum. plate, bracket, bottom lip of bumper, and alum. plate. However I chose to not drill through the bumper. Doing it this way requires spacers between the alum. plates so they remain parallel and will clamp with their entire surfaces touching the bracket and bumper. The spacers need to be just slightly thinner that the total thickness of the bracket plus the bumper lip.
The installation is fairly simple, requiring only a boxed end wrench to fit the jam nuts and a socket wrench for the bolt heads. The space behind the bumper is small but I was able to get the wrench on the jam nuts and my hands are fairly large.
Since the Ford bracket is attached to the bottom of the bumper, there is a small amount of movement (flop) at the top of the bracket. I haven’t done anything about that yet as I don’t think the movement is enough to be a problem. If I decide to secure the top of the bracket, then I will drill two holes in the bracket, behind the lic. plate, and run a plastic tie through the bracket and loop it around the center upright of the grille. This part of the grille is hidden behind the bracket and the tie will not be visible except on close examination.
If anyone has any additional modifications or suggestions I would like to hear from them.
Cliff
I am not a purest car enthusiast – this ’05 T-Bird is the first car of this type I have ever owned - and didn’t really have any feelings one way or the other about drilling holes in the bumper or installing a front plate. When I picked up the license plates from the dealer he also gave me the original Ford front plate bracket. After owning the car for a few days I decided I didn’t want to drill holes in the front bumper.
On our first outing in the T-Bird I was pulled over and warned, sort of,
See here: http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...ad.php?t=20795
for not having a front plate. I had read a thread on TBN about installing the front plate without drilling holes in the bumper, so my goal was to do just that.
See here: http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...ad.php?t=18242
I sent dbsupercrew an email to inquire if his design was still viable. In true fashion of a fellow TBN’er, he responded telling me he had made only one small modification and his bracket was working fine. Thanks Darrell. I also sent an email to maxkemp who had responded to the above thread with his own idea to modify Darrell’s design. He too responded and gave me the details of his modifications. Thanks Max. Both of these designs are working and are an option for the installation.
I used the original Ford bracket, which does detract from the smooth lines of the front of the car, and designed an installation without drilling the bumper.
The Ford bracket hooks over the bottom lip of the bumper. I used two alum. plates to clamp the bracket to the bumper. The pictures should explain the installation.
Materials: 2 - alum. plates 2”x1/8"x7”
4 – ¼’x3/4’ bolts w/jam nuts
12 – lock washers (flat tooth type)
8 – 1/4” flat washers
The Ford bracket and the bumper lip could have been drilled so the bolts passed through the alum. plate, bracket, bottom lip of bumper, and alum. plate. However I chose to not drill through the bumper. Doing it this way requires spacers between the alum. plates so they remain parallel and will clamp with their entire surfaces touching the bracket and bumper. The spacers need to be just slightly thinner that the total thickness of the bracket plus the bumper lip.
The installation is fairly simple, requiring only a boxed end wrench to fit the jam nuts and a socket wrench for the bolt heads. The space behind the bumper is small but I was able to get the wrench on the jam nuts and my hands are fairly large.
Since the Ford bracket is attached to the bottom of the bumper, there is a small amount of movement (flop) at the top of the bracket. I haven’t done anything about that yet as I don’t think the movement is enough to be a problem. If I decide to secure the top of the bracket, then I will drill two holes in the bracket, behind the lic. plate, and run a plastic tie through the bracket and loop it around the center upright of the grille. This part of the grille is hidden behind the bracket and the tie will not be visible except on close examination.
If anyone has any additional modifications or suggestions I would like to hear from them.
Cliff
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