Finishline License Plate Holder Instal on ERA

[luke-44]

This posting is meant as a technical article to help those who may come after me. If you have an ERA and live in a state where you must have a front license plate, deciding how to mount it can be a real problem. These instructions may also work for other cars...

Finishline makes a real nice stainless steel plate holder, but – does it fit an ERA? Well, yes...and no.

Here is how to install the Finishline holder. Allow a good 4 hours.

Step #1 – the holder from Finishline is actually 2 pieces – the license plate bracket, and a support piece that goes under the left front turn signal. The first step is to drill out holes in the support piece so it will sit flat behind the lens assembly. Be sure to buy high quality drills (2 drills... a starter and a finisher...both in titanium - about 5 bucks each at Lowes, oh yeah...you need a center punch too...)– this material is HARD to drill, and 4 holes are required. Don’t worry about the hole size – in fact, make the holes oversize – first of all, this piece where drilled doesn’t show when finished, and secondly, it is may be necessary to rotate the bracket slightly as you fit everything together. See picture #1 here to see where to drill. (Listen up Finishline – Do your customers a favor and pre-drill this piece. It is HARD to drill!)





After drilling, the support piece should fit onto the signal light like this (the rubber gasket fits between this piece and the body):



Next, comes a critical step – the tubes covering the bumper support rods must be cut exactly right. The 2 rods are different lengths, and are cut differently. To do this, I re-recreated the tubes in plastic ($3.00 at Lowes) , so that if I made a mistake, I was only out a few dollars rather than the big $$ I am sure these pieces would cost from ERA. Here is a picture of the original and plastic brackets side by side before cutting.



Next, I reinstalled the bumper and marked where to cut the tubes. In my case, I cut the top tube at 1 5/16”, and the bottom tube at 15/16”. I do not guarantee these numbers! I suggest you check your own!! Be very exacting with this dimension…it is critical.



Refit everything with the plate holder, and snug up to check the fit. If everything clears, then go ahead and cut the aluminum tubes. This pic is taken looking down.....




If there is any interference, adjust accordingly. If necessary, make another plastic tube set and refit. (In my case, the cutting dimensions above were perfect). Remember – cut the plastic sets as often as you want, but only cut the aluminum tubes once. I used a steel cutting wheel on my miter saw to get a perfect 90 when I was satisfied.


Next, fit it all up and reinstall the turn signal and bumper.

Voila! A real nice front plate holder.

[Lowell W]

Bruce,

Thanks for the detailed tech article. My only advice would be to use cobalt drill bits, as they're quite a bit harder than HSS. Some stainless steel (304, for example) will actually work harden ahead of the drill so if you don't bull through the work it gets harder and harder. I looked at the pictures of the Finishline bracket on their website and asked them to email me a picture of one installed on the car. They said they didn't have one and to go look on CC. OK, fine.

I guess I didn't have your faith that the bracket would look the way I wanted, so I elected to mount the front plate in the grille opening. I made a bracket from 2 x 2 x 1/16" aluminum angle, marked and drilled two holes on each end for the oil cooler mounting screws and cut two slots to clear the oil cooler fittings. I used a stainless steel license plate bracket which I got from Griot's (about $30.00!) to strengthen the plate and give the assembly a finished look. It started out to be an expedient bracket until I could find what I really wanted but once I stepped back and looked at it, I decided I like the way it looks just fine. I'll have to wait for hot weather to see whether it has any effect on cooling. My guess is that it won't.

[Steve Dickey]

Bruce,
You did a great job and I relly appreciate you sharing your methods, especially with the pictures, Would you mind taking one additional full frontal shot of the whole car and posting it when you get a chance?
Thanks, Steve

[luke-44]

Hi Steve....here is the front of ERA601 with a temporary setup before....



and after....

[Steve Dickey]

Bruce,
Thanks, that is one of the best before and after shots I've seen. As I scrolled down and first saw the "before" I thought someone had posted it as a joke.
Thanks again, it looks great, Steve

[TampaFla]

Another reason I'm glad I moved from Virginia (car tax and front tag) to Florida (not to mention the better driving weather - & no snow).

[Back in Black]

Cable-tied mine to the bottom of the bumper "O".. it pivots back under the wind and is almost invisible to the casual observer but it IS there and visible so it's "legal". Never had any cop stop me or say anything about it.

I put a small bead of black 100 mph tape on the bottom back edge in case it pivots back far enough to hit the paint, but it does not seem to want to go that far back.

[HI Cobra]

I took the easy way also-

I have a black 1" x 2" wire grill set just behind the opening to provide
protection to the radiator. The fan is on the engine side so I have a lot
of clearance. I used small SS rings to hang the plate from the top and
centered it on the rear side of the grill. When the car is parked the plate
can be seen but isn't that visable and once I'm rolling it just swings back
so cooling has never been a problem and the police have never said
anything either - no 50$ fines!

Flip