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Date:         Sat, 17 Mar 2001 18:12:25 -0800
Reply-To:     George Wietor <wietorg@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         George Wietor <wietorg@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Stud vs bolt / Merits of Macho Bumpers
Comments: To: JKrevnov@AOL.COM
In-Reply-To:  <d1.3d95335.27e54f4d@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

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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