2004 Coupe, NA, 6 speed

It seems that every bit of plastic on this car has become brittle and will break if you just glance at it. I cringe when my wife closes the door with her normal vigor.

I noticed the passenger side fog light hanging down inside the bumper, held by one screw. Lots of potholes around here. I try to avoid them but I hit them now and then. Of course the mounts are plastic.

I think the driver side light probably needs attention to save it before it breaks. I thought about getting a used unit, there are a few on eBay for around $130. Then I looked at new, they are $250 each. Then I saw someone on eBay has designed a 3D print part that adapts a morimoto light. That solution would end up costing 5 or 600.

Ultimately I decided to fix it with JB weld. I have more time than money these days. First I reattached one arm that was salvageable. At the same time I reinforced the arm and the last remaining good arm with JB. The last arm had more or less shattered leaving little to work with. I found a small sheet metal strap that had the right size hole in it and so I modified it to fit. I had to find the hole distance and it’s rather difficult to see in there even with the tire off. So I put a piece of paper in and pressed in on the holes, which gave me the distance between them.

Here are a few pictures of the process. I just finished epoxying the metal tab, once it’s cured I will install and post a picture of it inside the bumper. I may go for the morimoto adapters in the future but this will be good enough for now.



Modified metal strap

Reattached and reinforced

Reinforced this tab a little

This one wasn’t broken but reinforced now

Positioning the tab

View of all three

An old sharpening stone and a random piece of wood were the correct height