Magnum Spoiler removal 101.

**monkey** · 08-08-2005, 01:41 AM

I had an exciting and busy weekend going back to my hometown for a class reunion, my niece's birthday party, and to pick up some of the parts I was having painted at the GM dealership my brother works at. I know there has been some buzz on the boards about painting the spoiler since blackhemimag and some others posted pictures of how nice it looks. I took some pictures of the swap so anyone wanting to do this could have a reference. I found the repair manual too general and not helpful. Grinner was generous enough to send me blackhemimag's spoiler in exchange for mine so i didn't have to be spoilerless for a week. Thanks Grin, you rock!

Open the hatch and remove the 2 screws in the pull down handle on the liftgate.

wedge your fingers under the panel and firmly pull the panel away from the liftgate. When it gives it makes a horrible creaking noise that will make you wince and your buttcheeks will tighten up because you think you just broke it.

disconnect the interior light before lowering the panel all the way. The lower panel also has tabs connecting it to the upper liftgate interior panel. wiggle it around until it comes off.

remove these 2 screws from the upper panel, and pull it off just like the lower one...creaking noise and all. at this point examine the backs of both panels you removed to verify the plastic christmas tree pins all stayed connected. I had 1 pin let go of the panel and stay stuck in the plastic grommet. I had to pry this one out and re-clip it to the panel. I bought a few extra plastic grommets in case I damaged one. this didnt happen, so I will ship them off with my core for grinner.

At this point I remember folks on the forum talking about having a rattle fixed somewhere back here, so I start wiggling everything and found this wiring harness made noise. I pulled it out of its mounting hole, put some leftover foam gasket around the exposed hole, and then after clipping the harness back in, I duct taped the wires to the liftgate.

REMOVING the SPOILER:
1. remove the 2 10mm nuts holding this doohickey in place and let it hang down by its wires
2. remove the 3 10mm nuts in the holes illustrated.
3. there are 2 plastic clips that there is no access to on the ends of the spoiler. close the lid, and with careful firm pressure lift one side of the spoiler at a time until the pin on that side breaks. another buttcheek tightening noise will follow. ****be careful not to apply so much force that the 2 plastic pins in the center of the spoiler break too!
4. This is where another set of hands is helpful. the only thing holding the spoiler on is the 2 pins that you have access to. Have someone hold and apply a lght pressure to the spoiler away from the lift gate. use a needlenose pliers to squeeze each pin to release.

carefully pull on this hose fitting to disconnect. some washer fluid may spill out. unplug the brake light wire here too. pull these parts and the rubber grommet through the hole and the spoiler is off.

check the foam gasket around the edge of the spoiler you will be putting on the car. The stock gasket is very soft and thin. I bought a roll of all purpose self adhesive sponge rubber weather stripping from ace hardware (not too many other options in my little hometown) the super firm stripping is 3/8" wide and 1/8" thick. much thicker and firmer than the stock stuff. Some other forum goers suggested a 3M foam strip the has adhesive on 2 sides which would work too, but wasnt available at the hardware store I went to. In my typical over estimation, I got an extra roll to be sure I'd have enough and didn't even open it. Grinner this will be with the core too. 1 10' roll is enough to do 1 spoiler.

at this point I cleaned the gunk that was under the spoiler on the liftgate which wasnt too bad, my gasket was completely in tact so the was just a little dirt. Then I test fit the new painted spoiler (from blackhemimags car) by REMOVING all the plastic clips and leaving only the threaded studs. you dont want to have to break anymore clips during this test. I ran the brake wire and washer hose through the window and reconnected them to see if they both still worked. now would be the time to swap my brake light to the new spoiler if blackhemimags didnt work, but it did. I also wanted to test the sprayer because the body shop did paint it and I wanted to make sure it was not clogged up. Note all the crap on my car. My parent's meathead neighbor decided to mow his dustbowl dead yard while I was doing this and he kicked up all sorts of dust into the air. Nothing the california duster couldn't handle though.

now its time to put the spoiler on for good. I disconnected it from the test and took the plastic pins off my original spoiler I put the 2 that I was able to salvage out on the ends and the 2 broken ones in the middle spots where the threaded studs will be doing all the attachment work. If you dont want to use the broken pins, you can use a small carriage bolt and nut in these locations. Place the spoiler in its location and press until the pins click. reverse the above steps to reassemble your car.

Now I will be sending the spoiler I took off to Grinner so he can mod his car some more. I didnt get around to installing the grills I bought from sweeper6 this weekend. I know there is a KB article on how to do this, but my folks no longer have a computer and I didn't want to try to figure it out. I had the grills painted brilliant black too. It should look sharp, but im concerned it may look funny with my R/T chrome lights....I may have to find an SXT swap partner.

**rozkopeeko** · 09-21-2005, 09:30 AM

i hear ya i just purchase the front facia and grill ( srt8 ) and i'm searching for black head lights CAN ANYONE HELP will purchase , if reasonable or trade for the chrome rt's i have .

**bipto** · 09-21-2005, 10:56 AM

Awesome tutorial, Monkey - thanks for documenting this task!

This belongs in the KB so I can find it when I go to paint mine in the spring... DMAG..?

**70GT6** · 12-14-2005, 06:48 PM

Great write up. Only one thing I found easier. The white clips (the accessable ones anyway) have a slit in them. A slight, less than 1/4 of a turn, with a straight blade screwdriver releases these very easily, much easier than using kneedle-nose pliers and a second person is not required.

**nbkbms5** · 12-15-2005, 09:52 PM

check on Ebay. There are tons for sale.

**hemiboy29** · 05-07-2006, 01:06 PM

Do you know where i can find the part number of those broken clips????

**Ronin** · 06-10-2006, 06:30 PM

Much thanks to Monkey and the other helpful advice here. I got my Avon color matched spoiler installed in just over a half hour since I knew exactly what to do. Didn't break one clip on the old one either.

The only thing that I would add is that the outboard plastic retaining clips are accessible with a long screwdriver. Pushing down on one side at a time while pulling up slightly on the spoiler with your free hand and it came right up...

Pics coming (after a car wash, of course). The old spoiler had a real crappy gasket that was poking out in places and looked gaff. The new one that Ernie sent had one pad on each corner; that's it. It locked down perfectly! Whadda difference!!!

Thanks again,

Matt

**Darthvader** · 06-10-2006, 06:32 PM

Thanks Monkey gotta save that nice write up.

Guest · 06-10-2006, 06:43 PM

Nice job Monkey!

**Darthvader** · 06-18-2006, 09:24 PM

What's Grinner going to do with the core? Inquiring minds want to know

**Jaak** · 06-18-2006, 09:36 PM

And if you can't get to the clips with that long screwdriver, break the left one, release the others you can get to, then gently turn the spoiler's left side towards the back, and the right side one will pop out because the hole is an oval, and the clips will pop through it.

No need to break two clips. Heck if you can get the left one with the screwdriver, you're home free!

**FreebirdSRT** · 11-16-2008, 12:50 PM

Nice write up. Getting ready to remove my stock spoiler and I found this thread.

Thanks again.

**JarZ** · 11-16-2008, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by FreebirdSRT

Nice write up. Getting ready to remove my stock spoiler and I found this thread.

Thanks again.

I just did it last week. The biggest PITA is by far the little white clips. Use a long flat head screwdriver to push HARD against them in that little slit they have in them (like if they were screws) and simultaneously TURN them while you push. They will pop through the holes and the two center spots on the spoiler will be detached. As Jaak said, the easiest way after that is to break the left clip by pulling up on the spoiler on the left side and then turn the spoiler outward toward yourself and the right side should pop out on its own.

If you have the right tools handy, it should take you less than 1 hour. It took me about 1.5 hours because I couldn't find the right tools to begin with.
Good luck

**FreebirdSRT** · 11-17-2008, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by JarZ

I just did it last week. The biggest PITA is by far the little white clips. Use a long flat head screwdriver to push HARD against them in that little slit they have in them (like if they were screws) and simultaneously TURN them while you push. They will pop through the holes and the two center spots on the spoiler will be detached. As Jaak said, the easiest way after that is to break the left clip by pulling up on the spoiler on the left side and then turn the spoiler outward toward yourself and the right side should pop out on its own.

If you have the right tools handy, it should take you less than 1 hour. It took me about 1.5 hours because I couldn't find the right tools to begin with.
Good luck

I had some extra time before the sun set yesterday and was able to remove the stock magnum spoiler in about 20 minutes. The interior panels came off easily. Then I removed all the screws and then the outer clips and the interior clips. Very easy to do and thanks to Monkeys write up, it made the removal of the spoiler go that much faster....

Spoiler in the Magnum to take to UPS to ship to Ernie.

Backside of stock spoiler.