HMMM....I have a spare set of the older Volvo 240
heavy aluminum bumpers. I think that they have oil
shock struts as mounts. Maybe with a diamond-pattern
aluminum top surface to act as a step...Wonderif they
will fit my '87 Vanagon?    George
--- Rico Sapolich <JKrevnov@AOL.COM> wrote:
> In a message dated 3/17/01 2:17:56 PM,
> radish150@EARTHLINK.NET writes:
>
> << One more thing, I'm planning on building some
> burly custom pipe bumpers
> for this van, I like the idea of getting rear ended
> at 20mph and not having a
> scratch on the van. >>
>
> About a year and a half ago a nearly full length of
> 3 X 6 X .375 6061 AL
> structural channel came my way.  I started to go
> through the process of
> turning it into a fine set of bumpers for my newer
> Syncro.  I talked to my
> buddy at a fab shop and he said he would be able to
> roll the curves into it
> to match the original bumpers.  If I did the fitting
> and finishing on the
> bumper ends he would do the weld up.
>
> I was all set to do this when my daily driver Syncro
> was ass-ended.  As I
> have mentioned before, I was stopped at the bottom
> of a rather steep hill
> when I was hit by a 101 year old guy.  He claimed
> his brakes had failed, but,
> in reality, he had mistaken the throttle for the
> brake pedal and no matter
> how hard he pushed on it, his car refused to stop.
> The damage amounted to
> the left rear corner of the van going bye-bye.  The
> left end of the bumper
> was flattened and had a hinge bend at the bumper
> mount.  The lower left
> corner of the hatch opening was moved forward about
> 2 inches, the corner
> panel was bulged from the beltline down and the
> trailing wheel opening was
> gone.  But, all in all, the damage was skin deep.  I
> then thought of what
> might have happened if all the kinetic energy from
> the collision had gone
> into a rigid bumper.  Would the damage have been so
> easily repaired or would
> a sturdy bumper have transferred the forces more
> deeply into the structural
> elements of the van requiring repairs which are
> seldom done correctly?  I
> have opted to run the stock bumpers and have my
> buddy, Chuck the bodyman,
> bump out the fenderbenders as they occur instead of
> him having to strap the
> van into his frame machine to try to make it whole
> again.
>
> Rich

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