My Evo IX went in the body shop a few months ago because someone backed into the front of it in a parking lot, wrinkling the hood and scraping the front bumper. I got the car back and everything looks fine.

Not long ago I removed the front bumper (actually used the How-to section's instructions for half-removing it, duct tape and all ) to get to my head light housings for a Sylvania Silverstar installation. While I was removing the upper bolts on the head light housings I noticed that there are two plastic or rubber moldings on either side of the radiator that were just flopping around up top but connected on bottom. It looks like there should have been plastic fasteners in these top holes. I also noticed that there are two bolts holes that screw into the top corners of the radiator to mount it to the car. The passenger side has a bolt in it. The driver's side does not. It's like they removed my radiator or something and then didn't put everything back together.

I wish I had my digital camera (I just moved to a new part of the country) so I could take a picture of the two molding pieces. You can see them on the left and right of the radiator if you look through the front grill. I've been driving my car for awhile like this without knowing it. What are those pieces for. Also, the radiator bolt being gone didn't seem like too big an issue because it is held in place where the radiator mount is on top. What size is this bolt? I could probably just zip-tie the molding back down until the parts department gets me the right size fastener.

 

check out some of the engine bay threads on here with pics so you can compare yours with theres and see if maybe they just forgot a bolt wich could have happened. If it wrinkled the hood maybe it was enough to break one of the mounting bolts or even a weld at the front part of the car.

 

I think they did. It's the top bolt that holds the silver cylinder on the drivers side (forgive me for not knowing what it is exactly). I just went out and looked again. To confirm. Witht he bolt out I can put my finger under there and move the front portion (the part you can see) up and down on the driver's side because the bolt isn't there. The passenger side bolt is there so it stays put. It feels like it is stable in there for the time being. I just need to find the correct size bolt to secure it again. The corresponding bolt on the passenger side looks the same size as the bolts that hold the top portion of the bumper on and has a "4" on the top. I'm wondering if I have something laying around my garage that will fit.

I had no broken welds or damage other than a wrinkled hood. Perhaps they were checking for more and forgot to put my bolt and two molding fasteners back on.

 

Sounds like they didn't know wtf they were doing - or were in too much of a hurry to care.