C4 to C5 Kit
Front Bumper
Most customers take out the honeycomb. You don’t really need it anymore, and if you take it out, you can change the bulbs in your new lights easier as well on down the road. The instructions recommend to shave off 5 inches from each side, but 99% of the customers have taken it all out.
You may have to shave off 1/4 inch off of each side of your impact bar for the bumper to clear for fitment. Also that impact bar moves up, down, left, right, backwards and forwards. That is very helpful for aligning the bumper just right. There is a metal lip that needs to connect to the top inside of the front bumper. That metal lip is by the hood. A trick is to install that metal lip while the bumper is off the car. Turn the bumper upside down and install the lip on the underside of the bumper. When you put the bumper on, be sure not to get it too close to the hood so the parts don’t crack.
Rear Bumper
Rear bumper is usually fairly easy. Some of the support bars will need to be taken off, but you can reinstall them at an angle once the new rear bumper is on. If you have issues with the sides of the rear bumper not lining up with the rear quarters, just make two small pie shaped notches out of the rear quarters and bolt the bumper up.
Side Skirts
First check to see how they are fitting. They need to be a tight fit so if you have to do any sanding, sand a small amount at a time. If you need more room (if the skirts seem too short) just sand on the inside of one or both ends to gain some clearance room. You will gain more than you think. If you feel you have sanded as thin as you want to go, but you still need them longer, you may grind flat the lip that is located in the back of the wheel well. It will not hurt your car. Then, the skirts should snap into place.
Side Vents
These just get placed where your old ones were. I should have mentioned this earlier…before putting the kit on, take a walk around your car and make sure your stock parts are lining up as the factory intended. Those parts being the hood and doors mostly. This kit was tooled off a mint C4 that had no misalignment issues. The vents would probably be best to install last because you are lining them up with the hood, side skirts and door panel.
Door Panels
These simply get bonded onto your door. They set right above the side skirts. Use sand paper to scruff up the lower portion of your door so the epoxy will hold the door panel on tightly without ever falling off. You get one shot at it, so make all of your preliminary marks where the panel needs to go before you epoxy it on your car. You may chose to go out and get an epoxy that sets at a slower rate just in case you need to move the door panel around a little. Then when you are done, clamp it down into place and let it set the proper amount of time for the glue to set.
Lights
You will need to fabricate your own brackets for the lights. GM does not sell any. The lights on the front bumper get installed from the back of the bumper. They set behind the openings, not in them. The holes for the lights do not get cut out by us. We do not keep the lights in house, so we prefer to have the customer cut them so they get the proper size cut out. When installing the rear tail lights, you may need to sand slightly on the sides of the housings for them to slip into place. They need to be in there tight, so be careful not to sand too much.
Prep Work
Please do not use any chemicals on the parts. Some people try to wash off the black gelkote rather than sanding it. That will result in wavy, warped parts. Rough them up with 80 grit sand paper while doing necessary body work. Be sure to have Dura-Glass or other types of bondo with fiberglass in it. Also fiberglass pinhole filler may not be a bad idea. It will be a good investment. Then smooth it out with 300 grit paper, or similar grit, use a high seal primer and you are good to go. We recommend to do a dry fit of the parts first, then install them before painting. Make your adjustments to the parts according to your Corvette, then take them off for paint. One other thing, in the bumpers you will see where there are indentations where the bolts would go. You do not need to feel like you have to bolt along those guidelines. You may use the bolts anywhere it fits best for you.