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The guy that I bought my mx3 from kept telling me that there is some kind of beam that goes under the hood that holds up the bumper but since he rear ended someone, it does not exist on my car. So as of right now my bumper is being held up by zip ties. Do you guys have any idea about what I'm talking about? I'll post pics as soon as I can but if you guys know what this beam is called and where can I find one on the cheap side, let me know.

That beam is probably just the mounting brace that is glued/riveted to the top of the bumper . It has 2 brackets on it that bolt to the front crossmember/rad support thingy. You should be able to find one at a local junkyard (provided those weren't front-ended, lol)

Sometimes body work requires a certain amount of ingenuity. I straightened my front bumper with strips of plastic I cut off a bread board I bought from a Dollar store. Worked great and helped support the metal factory brackets.

You do have the fiber rebar support still right? If not go back and slap him upside the head

So this is what I'm dealing with.

Thanks for the input guys, I really appreciate it but I have to ask if you can dumb it down for some one like me. I'm not auto savvy by any means, so if you could translate it in a way that I could understand, that would be awesome.

Feel behind where your license plate is, there should be a large black fiberglass type support that runs across the front. thats your actual bumper and the most important piece to have there. its about 4-5" tall and runs across the front from headlamp to headlamp.

Ok, I'll try to simplify it. You see those 2 brackets that have the tie-wraps next to them? there's supposed to be a metal brace that connects the two of those to the bumper. You'd have to find a stock bumper in order to get that piece. It also wraps around under the headlights and helps suck in the sides of the bumper. (that's the part I was first referring to) It also looks like you might be missing the core bumper (crash bumper/inner bumper) as well. It'll either be black or maybe a white-ish color. Its plastic. There are 2 screws behind the turn signals (one on each side) that screw into the core bumper that help support some of the weight to reduce the sagging. The core bumper is held on by like 8 bolts or something.

Hope that helps.

You're definitely missing the bumper rebar. Looks like this:



Hit up the wreckers and get a new one, if yours is missing and you rear end someone or get in a head on your in big trouble.

solo_ryder wrote:Hit up the wreckers and get a new one, if yours is missing and you rear end someone or get in a head on your in big trouble.

By big trouble he means you'll have your engine sitting in your lap.

Thanks a lot guys, this really helped. Only problem is that I can't find this car in any junk yard within a 50 mile radius. But my buddy keeps telling me that there are a few across the border, so I'll have to come up with some cash for my passport and then the money for parts.

Daninski wrote:Sometimes body work requires a certain amount of ingenuity. I straightened my front bumper with strips of plastic I cut off a bread board I bought from a Dollar store. Worked great and helped support the metal factory brackets.

I would've thought you of all people would suggest he buy a bra.

I wouldn't drive any car without the crash bumper... Get one ASAP, before you worry about cosmetics. Although, buying a few things together may help your price a bit. Where are you located? If you're anywhere near me, we have a few MX-3s with solid front ends in the Junkyards here.

I am in San Diego CA. From the looks of it, it's made out of plastic right?

The unfortunate thing about fiberglass front bumpers is that most of them do not work with the stock bumper support. Then when the front gets hit the fiberglass bumper explodes, the rad gets crushed, bent rad support and depending on how hard of a hit.....well i've seen some bad hits with no bumper crash bar.

you + sleepy + pole - bumper = death.

They are ABS plastic, nothing a sawzall cant fix if it wont fit correctly. a little bit of something is better than nothing rite?
your missing the metal strip that runs left to right on the two upper mounts in the center, that will fix most of your sagging issues and broken out mounting holes. with a fiberglass bumper cover its also important to mount the bottom edge and two corners in the wheel well other wise you get sag cause they are always flapping in the wind as you drive down the road.