Gearheads: Cavalier Body Parts questions.

Factual Questions
1

So I bought a 2000 Cavalier that runs like a champ for a great price today ($2000). There are no mechanical issues with the car and the interior is spotless and the body is pristine EXCEPT…

I bought it off a Chinese exchange student who didn’t know how to drive when he came to the US. When he was practicing with this car he hit a light pole a couple of times. The damage is not too bad and I’m confident that there are no structural issues with the vechicle. I am going to have to replace the the front bumper for sure as well as (probably) the front fenders because they are a little bit tweaked from where the bumper pushed to the right on impact.

My questions are regarding the bumper. I’ve been looking at the bumper removal page on Autozone just to get an idea of what I’m looking at and it looks pretty simple. http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/19/2c/3f/0900823d80192c3f/repairInfoPages.htm

I’ve found a replacement bumper on this site (I’m looking at the $38 one at the top of the page) http://cpwstore.carpartswholesale.com/catalog/?N=9278&Nr=OR(AND(make:Chevrolet,model:Cavalier,year:2000),AND(universal:1))&Vi=9893+1588+4294966995&y=2000&mk=Chevrolet&md=Cavalier

I’m wondering if this replacement bumper has (what the Autozone site refers to as ) the impact bar? Or is it just the front shell? What is standard? I can’t find an item from that parts page called “impact bar” so I’m assuming it comes with the bumper?

Anyone ever worked on one of these? Any tips? I’ve heard they are really easy to work on.

2

My best guess, looking at the diagrams is that the impact bar is the piece that goes between the honeycomb-like energy absorber and the car’s frame rails.

For $38, you’re only getting the outer shell, or what’s called a bumper cover. If it’s been severely damaged, you’ll probably also need a new energy absorber. Also, it will be plain, raw plastic - if you’re planning to paint it to match the car, you might want to spring for the $58 version, which is cleaned up and primed.

3

I can’t for the life of me find the absorber on the sites I’m looking at. Does it have otehr names?

4

Anyone have any more insight?