After looking at many options for mounting the dreaded front CA license plate, I did some measuring and figured out a way to mount it under the front nose cone. Here are the the steps with photos below and the end result. I'm pretty happy the visual menace of the ugly U.S. plates is minimized and I did not have to drill holes in the front of the nose.
1. Remove the nose cone.
2. Test fit your license plate directly to the inner bumper support and see where it would need to drop through the bottom of your nose cone and sit flush with the part of the bumper cover that divides the lower grill. In my case this meant a slot approximately 1-1.25 inches in from the back most edge of the nose cone.
3. Clamp your nose cone to your work table so you can safely cut a slot in it for your plate to go through. In this case I used a 2x4 with a cloth diaper laid over it so I would not scratch the nose cone and I would have a disposable surface that I would not worry about cutting into later.
4. Sketch out the slot you want to cut on the inside of the nose cone. In my case it was approximately 1.1 inches from the back edge of the nose cone and slightly wider than the license plate which lined with the end of a very slight lip on the back of the nose cone on each side.
5. Drill holes that will form the end of each slot. I started with an 1/8 in pilot and then a 1/4 in hole for the 1/4 in slot width. I could have gone slightly wider to make it easier to get the plate through later.
6. Tape or mark lines between your hole edges to lay out the slot.
7. Dremel the slot from hole to hole. If I still had access to a mill, this would have been much easier and cleaner to mill.
8. File or sand down your edges.
9. Double stick or drill and mount your plate directly to the inner bumper support. I also put foam tap on the back of the plate to protect the places where it contacts the bumper cover.
10. Assemble the nose cone to the car sliding the plate down through the slot as you get it close to the car. You may have to bend the plate a bit temporarily to get the plate through the slot as you are bringing the nose cone towards the car.
1. Remove the nose cone.
2. Test fit your license plate directly to the inner bumper support and see where it would need to drop through the bottom of your nose cone and sit flush with the part of the bumper cover that divides the lower grill. In my case this meant a slot approximately 1-1.25 inches in from the back most edge of the nose cone.
3. Clamp your nose cone to your work table so you can safely cut a slot in it for your plate to go through. In this case I used a 2x4 with a cloth diaper laid over it so I would not scratch the nose cone and I would have a disposable surface that I would not worry about cutting into later.
4. Sketch out the slot you want to cut on the inside of the nose cone. In my case it was approximately 1.1 inches from the back edge of the nose cone and slightly wider than the license plate which lined with the end of a very slight lip on the back of the nose cone on each side.
5. Drill holes that will form the end of each slot. I started with an 1/8 in pilot and then a 1/4 in hole for the 1/4 in slot width. I could have gone slightly wider to make it easier to get the plate through later.
6. Tape or mark lines between your hole edges to lay out the slot.
7. Dremel the slot from hole to hole. If I still had access to a mill, this would have been much easier and cleaner to mill.
8. File or sand down your edges.
9. Double stick or drill and mount your plate directly to the inner bumper support. I also put foam tap on the back of the plate to protect the places where it contacts the bumper cover.
10. Assemble the nose cone to the car sliding the plate down through the slot as you get it close to the car. You may have to bend the plate a bit temporarily to get the plate through the slot as you are bringing the nose cone towards the car.
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