308 GTSi Euro Bumper Swap

I understand it's significant weight savings, but US bumpers are the best for smacking US cars IMO.

 

I use my (US) 308 at the track and switched to Euro bumpers. The weight savings is significant. Looks better too IMO. Yes, if you do more than "nudge" something you might need to pay the piper, but you are careful in close quarters, right? As careful as those Italians, Brits and anyone else that drove cars on the other side of the pond. At any kind of speed it is not going to make a difference.

I think the biggest issue is when you leave it in a prking lot and Great Uncle Frank or Grand Auntie Mary are picking up some groceries in the 74 Lincoln and...well you get the picture.

It's a straight bolt on.

 

Flashman--it's also possible to push your US bumper in quite a bit via drilliing a small hole into each bumper shock and carfully easing the car into a strong , flat wall. The shocks compress and the bumper moves in closer to the clip. It still doesn't look as clean as a Euro, but it is an improvement in looks

 

Doc's response may seem strange, but he's right on.

Do a search on the archived Ferrarichat pages, and you'll find pictures of this solution.

When you weigh the costs and the benefits, I think that it's the way to go.

If you really want to reduce weight, and impact resistance isn't that important to you, remove the bumper shocks, and re-mount your current bumpers with new brackets (that you'd have to fabricate yourself.)

--Matt

 

, you're right. I've got euro bumpers on mine, it saved about 35 lbs per bumper, but as bumpers they make really good turn signal brackets.

 

I'm with Matt, ditch the bumper shocks, and fabricate or use the euro brackets and save even more weight.

 

Why drill a hole?

 

Bumper replacement. Front: Remove 4 nuts attached to inside mount of bumpers. Disconnect turn signal light connector each side. Remove TS from bumper, mount to new bumper. Reconnect 4 nuts. Tighten.

Rear. Remove 4 nuts, remove bumper. Place new bumper in position. Use washers to shim as needed for alignment. Tighten nuts.

Time 30 minutes for both.

No you don't need to remove the bumper shocks, although you can and will save more weight by doing so.

 

The bumpers on my '83 were pushed in front and rear but they still were not compact enough. So I took off the rear and removed the inch and a half aluminum block from between the bumper and the shock. I then used a die to cut the threads down into the studs that are permanently inserted into the bumper (at least on mine). Off the top of my head I can't remember what the die size was though. Then I remounted the bumper. Biggest problem was trying to tighten the bolts. When you take out the spacer there is not much room in there. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.

 

I have Euro bumpers front and rear. They bolt directly on to the existing brackets. See prfile. I had the front prof painted and clear coated.

These are after market repro's designed to bolt on to US cars.

Original Euro bumpers will no fit without changing the mounts/shock or fabricating new mounts.