Mazda5 Second Gen (08/09) to Third Gen (2012) Front Bumper Swap

[MolarCraft]

I can't seem to find any info on someone doing this already, but does anyone know if the second gen front bumpers will fit on the third gen MZ5s?
I don't like the big smiley face...

I can probably find a second gen bumper and test it myself, but its the "having it sit in the middle of my apartment if it doesn't fit" that I can't live with.

 

[negusm]

I doubt it. There were a lot of new lines added to the body. Maybe the bumper underneath will fit. But I doubt the bumper cover.

 

[Silentnoise713]

Bc headlights, you'll need fenders and hood. Otherwise I think it should fit. I wouldn't mind a +2012 interior with a <2010 bumper . I still cannot accept any Mazda with the goofy looking Nagare design language -good bye, good riddance.

 

[MolarCraft]

Thanks for the replies!

Lucky me a 2010 just rolled into the scrapyard. I might spend some time and pull the bumper, hood, and quarter panels...maybe rent out some storage space in a friend's garage lol...

 

[MolarCraft]

Well I pulled the bumper, hood, and headlights from the yard today. Would have grabbed the fenders, but the bolts at the pinch welds were rusted beyond any hope of removal and I didn't bring my drill bits.

I can definitely see how these parts are all necessary. The headlights really changed all of those just enough to be so.

Against my initial "I can't live with this", the pieces are, in fact, sitting in the middle of my apartment. Will grab the fenders next weekend.

As a bonus, the headlights I grabbed are HIDs and the bumper comes with foglights, so an upgrade for me!

 

[Silentnoise713]

Well I pulled the bumper, hood, and headlights from the yard today. Would have grabbed the fenders, but the bolts at the pinch welds were rusted beyond any hope of removal and I didn't bring my drill bits.

I can definitely see how these parts are all necessary. The headlights really changed all of those just enough to be so.

Against my initial "I can't live with this", the pieces are, in fact, sitting in the middle of my apartment. Will grab the fenders next weekend.

As a bonus, the headlights I grabbed are HIDs and the bumper comes with foglights, so an upgrade for me!

Are you pulling from a car of the same color code? If you plan to get it painted, you could have just pulled the bumper cover and do some plastic cut/modeling to fit headlights and get it repainted. If you are pulling from a GT wrecker (AND if they are dirt cheap), you can also consider the side sills/skirt. Forewarning, you'll need to do a bit of work such as drilling multiple holes for the fasteners and clips (rust prep) and I cannot technically no guarantee any of these align/fit.

This reminds me of friend who grafted a Civic bumper on his CRX, which we coined the Honda Crisis (came out really nice)

 

[MolarCraft]

Are you pulling from a car of the same color code? If you plan to get it painted, you could have just pulled the bumper cover and do some plastic cut/modeling to fit headlights and get it repainted. If you are pulling from a GT wrecker (AND if they are dirt cheap), you can also consider the side sills/skirt. Forewarning, you'll need to do a bit of work such as drilling multiple holes for the fasteners and clips (rust prep) and I cannot technically no guarantee any of these align/fit.

This reminds me of friend who grafted a Civic bumper on his CRX, which we coined the Honda Crisis (came out really nice)

The color is different, but I plan on getting it resprayed anyway. There are so many scratches on the sides and bad paint coverup jobs...

I thought about just getting the bumper and then moulding the rest to fit, but the cost of the extra parts is lower than what I think it would cost to have body work done by someone who knows what they're doing lol.

I'm here for the frankenstein cars! People already make fun of the van and I don't expect an incredible amount of street cred from it, might as well just try stuff out and make it work, even if its not really supposed to. A friend's suggestion of a name was, "the milf-lenium falcon"

 

[MolarCraft]

Grabbed the fenders and radiator support on Saturday. The bedroom is getting full and I keep bashing my foot on the hood on the floor.

Hopefully I can try and fit these soon. Probably gonna be a week or two.

 

[MolarCraft]

Bad, and probably obvious, news:
Things didn't work out as I hoped :C

Started out by making sure the headlights would hook up to the connectors so I could drive it somewhere at all, and the HID connections didn't match up, not to mention the mount points.

I think the closest thing that would have made it would have been the fenders and then the hood.

Oh well, worth a shot I guess.

 

[theblooms]

I guess I'm confused. Where are you located?
There are only 2 generations of MZ5, the 06-10, and the 12-15. (And notice there's no 2011 MZ5)
What other generation do you know about?

 

[Silentnoise713]

Bad, and probably obvious, news:
Things didn't work out as I hoped :C

Started out by making sure the headlights would hook up to the connectors so I could drive it somewhere at all, and the HID connections didn't match up, not to mention the mount points.

I think the closest thing that would have made it would have been the fenders and then the hood.

Oh well, worth a shot I guess.

Bummer to hear. Can you confirm the details of what is not matching?

HID connections didn't match up
You are going from 2012 Sport halogen bulbs (H11?) to HIDs (D1S), are you using an adapter that does not fit? In terms of wiring, you are effectively doing what this person has done (going from halogen to HID headlight) OEM Xenon Conversion 2008-2010 Mazda5?

mount points
I couldn't find any good pics of 2012 unibody chassis to get a visual so I have no idea. Take a good look under the hood of your 2012. Is it vastly different than <2010 or simply missing brackets? 2005-2010 Mazda 5 Body Structure (MAZDA5) - Boron Extrication

Not that you can get it in here but the Nissan Lafesta front bumper would have been the easiest fix; it is a carbon copy of the +2012 Mazda 5 minus the Nagare design (front bumper and doors).

 

[MolarCraft]

I guess I'm confused. Where are you located?
There are only 2 generations of MZ5, the 06-10, and the 12-15. (And notice there's no 2011 MZ5)
What other generation do you know about?

Ope, I might have been including the Premacy in there, my bad!

Bummer to hear. Can you confirm the details of what is not matching?

HID connections didn't match up
You are going from 2012 Sport halogen bulbs (H11?) to HIDs (D1S), are you using an adapter that does not fit? In terms of wiring, you are effectively doing what this person has done (going from halogen to HID headlight) OEM Xenon Conversion 2008-2010 Mazda5?

mount points
I couldn't find any good pics of 2012 unibody chassis to get a visual so I have no idea. Take a good look under the hood of your 2012. Is it vastly different than <2010 or simply missing brackets? 2005-2010 Mazda 5 Body Structure (MAZDA5) - Boron Extrication

Not that you can get it in here but the Nissan Lafesta front bumper would have been the easiest fix; it is a carbon copy of the +2012 Mazda 5 minus the Nagare design (front bumper and doors).

I didn't move forward with taking things apart after the headlights wouldn't connect up, so I can't say for certain, but having the '10 next to the '12 to compare it looked like the mount points for the headlights and the hood hinges to the frame. If I had a garage, I'd take more time disassembling everything and testing it out a bit more.