Has anyone removed the rear bumper struts on a USA version (2v injected) 308? I am referring to the USA compliant "shock absorber" struts that the bumper attaches to the frame with. Most of the manuals only show a vague picture of what appears to be the Euro mounts. I did a search on previous threads for this, but came up empty. I have an '82 that I need to remove them for. One of the shocks has failed and just pushes in and out if you lean on it. Can anyone tell me how these are removed? Do you have to remove the entire trunk to get to the bolts that hold them in? Any imput would be appreciated. Thanks!
They are oil filled, but it's a pretty common mod to drill them out, adjust them to the setting you want, protrusion wise, and drill and tap a set screw into them..... Sounds like you are halfway there!
Anybody know of a source for a reasonable priced replacement? I would guess that in a rear end collision it would be helpful to have the bumper shocks working as designed rather than set rigidly with a set screw....
I think I have 1 good rear shock somewhere, will sell for $40 + shipping (from Europe, the Netherlands).
Do you really tjhink these "so called" bumpers really do anything in a rear or frontal collission? They're mandated decoration. Look how low your bumper is in relation to the point of impact of your average vehicle.. In the event that the bumper did get hit.. look at the attachement points and realized what it will do to the beautiful body work once they move past they're shallow absortion area. I'm just saying..
If you get hit at speed, the bumpers will just yield the full impact to the body. But I've been "bumped" 3 times. Each time it gave feedback to the other driver to stop (thankfully), Popped the bumper cartridge and saved my front end. I'm a believer
Mine were not oil filled but gas filled. To remove the rear ones you'll have to remove the floor of the trunk then pop off the panels that cover the mounting bolts.
In a major accident you're probably right, not going to do a whole lot to save you or the bodywork. However, in a low speed impact (5-10mph or less) those bumpers can definitely save the body work. Just the other day some goofy gal backed into my 308 and the rear bumper absorbed the impact just fine. The significance of the bumper shocks is that they spread the time of impact over a longer duration and this lessens the peak load - it does actually result in less damage to the car and works particularly well for low speed impacts.
Thank you Bert for the offer. Shipping from Holland will probably be prohibitively expensive however, but thank you.
Thank you for actually answering my question! I guess I will have to bite the bullet and begin "peeling the layers" of the trunk apart. What a pain! Didn't anyone ever tell the Ferrari factory that not everything needs to be riveted together?!
There is tons of rockwool in there (or it may be asbestos) which you want to get rid of anyways. Many times water gets in there and is soaked up by it, making sure everything slowly rots away from the inside. There are a lot of surprises under all that stuff in the trunk, engine, exhaust, etc area. Helmut
