Well, I have set out to disassemble my Talon piece by piece (or so it seems....). The old girl must be silently crying - on jackstands, without wheels, intercooler, intake, downpipe, turbo, manifold. And it's only just begun.

I attempted to remove my front bumper yesterday for an FMIC install, and got down to the four plastic "screw within a clip" jobbers that are beneath the headlights (two per side). An archive search on several boards resulted in one of two methods to complete the bumper cover removal - stick a flat-top screwdriver in there and bust the clips off, or just grab the bumper cover and yank real hard. Now, I'd rather do this properly without destroying anything, so I decided to remove the headlights for access to the clips. When talking to Marco today on an unrelated matter (the turbo's gonna be sweet Marco, I just know it... ), he suggested that there are just three bolts holding each headlight assembly. I removed three bolts on the passenger side headlight tonight, and it's loosened up quite a bit, but it just doesn't want to come out (seems like it's still hung-up or attached somewhere).

Any 2g'ers out there with advice on headlight removal..? Is there a mystery fourth bolt somewhere..? Or maybe someone has an alternate (i.e. less destructive) method of removing the bumper cover without removing the headlights..? Any help would be appreciated.

This is for a 95. Remove the foglight, there is a bolt that holds the headlight. use an extension and stick your hand up through the foglight opening underneath the headlight.once the headlights are removed its easy. remove the inner fenders and there are 2 bolts(10mm) on each side holding the bumper. Get ready to do some grinding if you have the Greddy FMIC. good luck.

Thanks Paul. I've actually been searching a bunch more, and found some pretty good info on removing the headlights.

Just a follow-up for the archives, for those guys like me who might otherwise spend days agonizing over how to remove the freaking bumper on their 97 Talon.

Probably specific to a 97/98 Talon, but removing the foglights did not grant me any access to the fourth headlight bolt whatsoever. The sculpted plastic panelling behind the bumper cover was blocking every possible access route.

It turns out that the bumper removal was very simple after all.

Assuming that you've gotten access through the wheel well covers on each side, and that you've disconnected the foglight and corner marker electrical plugs:
1. Remove the bolts attaching each end of the bumper cover to each fender (10mm bolts, 4 total or 2 per side, just above the corner markers).
2. Remove the bolts holding the metal piece in front of the radiator, in the area of the hood latch (10mm bolts, 9 of them in total, I believe).
3. Remove the bolts attaching the bumper assembly to the chassis, accessed from underneath the car (14mm bolts, 4 total or 2 per side, you'll see them "inset" in holes in the chassis rails).
4. Pull off the bumper assembly.

At this point, the difficult fourth headlight bolt is in plain view (if the headlights are your ultimate goal). Dismantling of the bumper assembly for FMIC install becomes a piece of cake - the four previously inaccessible clips are also in plain view.

Now I can finally get to work.