Charger Fascia Removal - Step by Step

[Junior]

If you need to remove the headlights for any reason, or any number of other projects that require you to expose the front mechanicals, you'll need to remove the front fascia. I hope to show that there's not much to it at all. There's a total of six nuts and bolts, a handful of plastic fasteners, and just a bit of creative wiggling.

Your first time, this may take 45 minutes or so - but once you know the locations of things and what has to happen, it goes very quickly. I've had mine off four or five times, and I can go from "wheels on" to the picture above in about 15 minutes.

So first off, a starting point. Jack up the front end, and place the car on two jackstands. Remove the front wheels (but remember to break the lugnuts loose while the wheels are still on the ground, but not before lifting the jack up enough to support the weight just in case).

Remove the black plastic bellypan that goes from the front lip back. I didn't include this step in the write-up, as I haven't had mine on there since the day I bought it. Once the car's up on stands, you should be able to get underneath and see what needs to happen.

Here's where we begin:


There are eight two-piece plastic push rivets along the top front of the fascia:


Go ahead and remove these. It helps to use a large flat screwdriver, with a pair of pliers or something to use as a fulcrum. A plastic panel tool works well too.


You're prying only the INSIDE part of the two-piece rivet. Once it's up, you can pull the whole thing out:


There are three Christmas-tree type push rivets along the front outer edge of each wheelwell:


Go ahead and pull the rivets from the edge of the fender liners. As shown below, I've replaced the Christmas tree-type push rivets with three of the two-piece push rivets, same as the others inside the wheelwell. These are different than the eight on the top of the fascia. I recommend you do this as well, as they're cheap, reusable, and hold much better than the stock ones at this location. If you have the stock rivets in there, just pry with the big flatblade or a panel tool between the liner and the fascia - they'll pop. If you have replacements already, and you don't need to save the stock rivets, just get under them with your sidecutters, and kill 'em.


Now I mentioned before that I haven't had the bellypan on since day one. If you choose to run without it, as many of us have done, you MUST do something like this to secure the front of the fender liner to the fascia. Otherwise, the airflow at speed will cause the fender liners to pull back into the front tires, and ruin them. This is especially true if you're still using the Christmas tree type push rivets. Simply run a good zip-tie through the fender liner and through a corresponding hole on the fascia. At this point, though, stuff's coming off, so clip that bad boy with some sidecutters.


Inside the wheelwell, there are three more two-part rivets as shown below. The easiest way to remove these guys is to use some side-cutters or nippers to get underneath the sides of the inside piece - not to cut them, just to get underneath the "mushroom head" and pry them up. A panel tool will also work well here. If the inside part pops out of the outer part, don't sweat it - they pop right back together.


The ESP/BAS sensor connector shown below also needs to come off.


That one pulls right out if you simply pry the wire clip out a bit, like this:


Once he's loose, just tuck him out of the way down in the other brake lines.


At this point, double-check to see that all the plastic rivets and the ESP/BAS connector have been removed. If so, you're ready to start peeling the fender liner back. Look at the top of the wheelwell, and see how the liner fits into some channels in the sheetmetal there. Here's where a little bit of creative wiggling comes into play, but look at what you're doing, and it all makes sense. Start at the ESP/BAS connector hub, and lift the liner away from that point first. Then pull the liner toward the inside enough to pull it out of the channel.


Don't worry about the rear of the wheelwell, just the front half or so, and the object is to be able to move the fender liner behind the front hub, and out of the way, like so:


So far so good - grab a beer and a 10mm socket and a ratchet.

[Junior]

Part Two:

There are three threaded fasteners on each side (two bolts and a nut), each of which is removed with a 10mm socket. The approximate location and orientation of these is indicated below:




Here's the top one, it's a bolt, and the socket wrench will be oriented like this:


Here's the resulting hole:


Here's the next one, another bolt, at the front of the wheelwell.


You want to remove the unpainted one, NOT the body color one in front of it. (Though it'll help to loosen that one slightly - one full turn or so).


Then, inside the front fender, up towards the front, there's a nut. This is the one indicated by the uppermost red line, in the first picture of this post.


While you're in there, go ahead and remove the Foglamp bulb from its socket. Counter-clockwise until it stops (an eighth-turn or so), and pull it out.


Then, on the outside of the headlamp assembly, there's a clip on the sidemarker - push it towards the outside to release it. You can disconnect the wiring connector before or after you pop the sidemarker out.








Okay, folks - you're detached. Take a breath, and clear the area in front of the vehicle.

On each side, the rearmost part of the fascia needs to be pulled out from the body about a half inch or so. Gently pull out and forward at the same time, to get this:


Here's the stud that the nut came off of:


Do that for both sides, and then standing in the middle front of the car, grab the top of the fascia, and lift and pull away from the vehicle slowly. Take it slow, and MAKE SURE NOTHING'S STILL CONNECTED as you pull the fascia away. Set that joker down on the ground, and TADA!




Installation is essentially the reverse of removal, but here are a couple things:

- Take care to line up the studs and alignment pins when you set the fascia back on there. Make sure stuff goes in its proper hole (It's a no-brainer, but if the stud is off-center and misses its hole, it may bend or break).

- Make sure to line up the fascia-to-fender seam as well as you can before snugging up the nuts and bolts.

[magnumguy]

Wow, that's a great write-up....u missed your calling...I'm installing fog lites, and this how-to is just what I needed. So the whole facia needs to be removed in order to replace headlites, also?

[Junior]

Thanks man - You can do foglights without removing the fascia, and you can do headlight bulbs also, but to remove the headlight buckets, you'll have to pull the fascia.

It's a little easier on a Magnum, and there are some comments on that on the other instance of this thread, over here:

Fascia Removal - Step by Step

(Maybe I should get the mods to merge the two...)

[Mr.PEZO]

WOW now this is GOOD!!!! Great Job.

[dredog95]

NICE WORK!

[MAGFX]

Wow, that is one of the most clear and informative "how to" write ups that I have ever seen.

Great job, Mike!



...in fact, that write up was so inspiring that I just went down the street, in my neighborhood, removed and then installed the fascia on the first Charger that I came across. It was a bit chilly out tonight though.

[Junior]

...in fact, that write up was so inspiring that I just went down the street, in my neighborhood, removed and then installed the fascia on the first Charger that I came across. It was a bit chilly out tonight though.

BwaahaaaahaaahaHAaaHaa! That got me good. You oughta swap a couple, maybe a Torred onto a Brilliant Black - that'll confound 'em!

[Junior]

More on this:

So the whole facia needs to be removed in order to replace headlites, also?

You can change the bulbs from inside the engine bay or from underneath without removing the fascia, but to get at the headlight assemblies themselves (the buckets), you've gotta yank the fascia. Here's why:

These are the mounting screw locations. These are an 8mm hex head, or a Torx T30 (either one works fine).





Don't forget to undo all the electrical from the rear of the assemblies first (though you can leave it on there and pull the headlight out a little bit first if you prefer).

This silver one is NOT a mounting screw - this is the headlight beam height adjuster, and it's accessable anytime, with the fascia on.

[1 FINE RT]

Unbelievable! Thanks Junior, with the help of guys like you and LX forums I feel like we can do anything with no worries. I just received my new Halo Demon eyes today and your write-up is just what I needed. Your car looks great...keep up the good work!

[Junior]

Cool, man! Glad it helped!

[1BIGDAN]

What tools were needed? Great Job...

[Junior]

What tools were needed? Great Job...

Hey Danny - thanks man.

Let's see, you'll need the stuff for pulling the wheels (jacks, jackstands, torque wrench or a breaker bar at least, lug nut socket).

Then you'll need sockets for the stuff on the underside - the belly pan. I think it's a 7mm for the front ones and a 10mm for the rear ones?

Something to pull the rivets out - panel tool, flatblade, sidecutters, nippers - something to get the heads of the rivets up.

Small flatblade to pry the wire clip to the side, to remove the ESP/BAS sensor.

10mm socket for the threaded fasteners.

8mm socket for the headlights if you're pulling those.


That's it, off the top of my head. Short answer is that you can do it with a basic set of tools - you don't need anything specialized. A little creativity goes a long way when you don't have the "ideal" tool.

[1FST4DR]

Man Junior,This was a great write up,Just used ot too install some new Headlights on
a forum members charger..BEANS FOR YOU!!!!!!!!

[iceman-5076Hemi]

Awesome job Junior!!

Is this the same process for removing front fascia for a Magnum? I've searched high and low and cannot find a thread on it.

Forgive me, I'm not trying to hijack the thread...just getting ready to install my oil cooler, guages etc. I need to remove the front fascia and I'm not sure how to and where everything is. I guess I'll need to get a bag of the plastic rivets / retainers as well.

Thanks for any help you could be.