Hey guys, I recently was finally able to install the 20th Anniversary front bumper and while it seems to fit just fine, everything up top and on the sides lines up properly but the bottom of my original AP1 bumper attaches to the splash shield with 9 bolts. This new bumper has 8 holes but only the outer 2 on each side lined up.

Someone suggested that perhaps it was made for an AP2 even though the display car Honda showed it on at the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon is a 1999 AP1, and the rest of the bumper seemed to fit/line up on my AP1 perfectly.

Also - looking at pictures of the splash shield, it looks the same to me between AP1 and AP2 as far as bolt holes on the bottom.

What am I missing?

 

The AP2 and AP1 splash shield looks the same but is a bit different. You can prob fab up some bracket to make them mount up. BTW that tree behind your car looks freaking cool.

 

haha thanks about the tree - it looks even weirder if you see the whole thing.

Anyway about the splash shield now I'm even more confused.


part number 10 in that pic is the same part number for AP1 and AP2, front lower cover 74112-S2A-010

Now you're making me second guess things. Everything on the bumper lined up and fit flush 100% except that bottom row but that should all be identical between AP1 and AP2... going to have another look at the car and try to figure out what's going on.

*EDIT* ok at least I'm not completely crazy. The fender liners are different part numbers at least...

R front AP2 fender liner: 74100-S2A-010
L front AP2 fender liner: 74150-S2A-010

R front AP1 fender liner: 74101-S2A-020
L front AP1 fender liner: 74151-S2A-020

and for reference part 10 is a 'front lower cover', part 9 is the splash shield but they are both the same between AP1 and AP2

AP1 front lower cover: 74112-S2A-010
AP2 front lower cover: 74112-S2A-010
AP1 front splash shield: 74111-S2A-000
AP2 front splash shield: 74111-S2A-000

 

Yes, I'm talking about the 2 splash shields on the sides (fender liners). They are a bit diff between AP2 and AP1 but AP1 is so much cheaper (aftermarket version available) thus a few folks tweak it a bit to fit.

 

yeah I'm just confused how this anniversary bumper is supposed to fit since the middle pieces are the same between AP1 and AP2.

The middle is where it is not even close to lining up...

 

Here you can see what I mean about the side parts not lining up properly, and the middle is super not even remotely close.

Since we know that the middle pieces are the same between AP1 and AP2, I'm guessing maybe we're supposed to drill holes in the middle plastic piece?

And do you know if the AP2 fender liners would match up properly to this shape?

 

You’re suppose to drill a pair of 10 mm holes in the middle plastic liner and another pair of 8 mm holes in the outer liners. Source: https://cartune.me/notes/u8tYdHFnPC (recommend google translate). FWIW this Japanese blogger also has an AP1.

As far as AP2 liners go, I’ll update this thread with my findings when I get around to installing my anniversary bumper. It’s been sitting in a box for a year after it was painted, so I just gotta stop procrastinating lol.

 

Ah! That makes a lot more sense!

This is the hardware I didn't use yet..


pretty sure the two metal clips and bolts + nuts are for the license plate frame that doesn't come with the bumper.

I'm not sure what the single screw with it's matching clip are for.

the 2 pairs of different size plastic push clips match what that blogger said about needing to drill new holes and using these.

I have no idea what the 2 washers, the little plastic double-sided arrow, or those 'ALIGN' things are for either.

*EDIT* the little plastic arrow thing is for the tow hook cover piece. I just looked at my OEM bumper and it has the same arrow thing on the tow hook cover.

 

I believe the “align” pieces and arrows are paper templates used for aligning and drilling the necessary holes in the liners. I’ve installed some new OEM accessories on my FK8 and they use similar paper templates to help make sure the drilled holes are where they’re suppose to be. Usually the template is lined up next to a reference edge/corner and then taped in place (see picture for reference). Then you would punch the center of the cross on the template with a push pin to mark the center for drilling. Pretty nice but not necessary if you’ve got a good eye.

As for the other hardware my only guess is that they’re for the license plate mounting as you suspected. Since I don’t need front-mounted plates where I live, I’ll probably never figure it out unless someone else online shares their findings lol. As long as you have those 4 push clips in, I think you should be good to go with your bumper

 

Thanks - that makes sense. I'm not sure which 2 spots they'd be for aligning but since the bumper is already on the car I would imagine I can just drill the holes as is.

I also don't run a front plate - technically you are supposed to have one here but quite a while ago a bill passed that made it so cops can't pull you over for not having one. I've been pulled over probably 30+ times and ticketed twice - nobody ever mentioned a lack of front plate so I never run one on any vehicle.

Debating though if I should just drill the holes and install these 4 clips today or wait for some new fender liners anyway. I really wish we could get some comparison pics of the AP1 fender liners and AP2 fender liners as I was already going to replace mine since they're kind of damaged (and the front strakes at the same time since they are both kind of hammered as well).

Digging through some old threads on here from 2004-2010 or so confirmed that for AP1 owners to swap to an AP2 bumper they had to replace the fender liners which makes sense since they're different part numbers - but also they had to cut the actual metal bumper piece (and the styrofoam that fits it). This 20th Anniversary bumper cover clears my AP1 styrofoam/metal just fine and as I mentioned earlier lines up 100% with everything else on the top/sides... the only places that don't line up are those middle of the 3-per-side bolt holes and the two under the center splash cover; however since we figured out that the center cover is the same part between AP1 and AP2 I'm quite certain that AP2 owners would need to drill at least those 2 holes for the plastic clips.

Hmm though now that you're making me think about this... I don't think the AP2 liner would line up with all 3 holes because the Anniversary bumper hardware only includes 4 bolts to be used with those side-bottom holes. If it was meant to line up with all 3 I'd imagine it would have included 6 of those bolts instead of just 4.

I should probably just order new OEM AP1 fender liners and front strakes. For now I can probably drill the center splash shield and just wait on the fender liners until the new ones arrive since that area is held on by 2 bolts already.