Rear inner bumper parts drawings/availability

[Les Barbeux]

Hi all,
I recently had the misfortune to have a dozy mare run into my back end which at first sight appeared to have made an unholy mess of the rear bumper assembly. A visit to a local body shop offered precious little comfort! However, after a morning of sweat and toil in removing the afore mentioned bumper, I found that the damage is actually much less than I dared hope for. The right hand side chasis member has been pushed in by about an inch and that has now been rectified, there is need of replacement inner wheel arch covers (no big deal, as available from local scrapyard) but the steel inner bumper plate is totally trashed....mainly by rust I have to say, as indeed is the norm with this part. They used to be available from Volvo for around the £200 mark I believe, but I fancy making a replacement, maybe out of stainless......Before I start this project I could do with knowing what the missing (rusted out) bits are like.....so does anyone know if there are any detailed drawings available anywhere?.........unless of course someone has a spare one going at a reasonable cost???

Regards all,

Trevor

[Greengrass]

I am restoring my 1990 Volvo 480, which among other things, has a non existing rear bumper plate. They are not available from Volvo, as you know.

I have another 480 (1992) which has a new rear bumper plate installed 2008 (from Volvo).

My plan this summer is to disamble that plate, and have a workshop make a new one with this as a template.

Maybe I can take some photos and write down some measures.

This job is scheduled to be done in june 2012.

I do not know of any existing drawings of the bumper plate.

[GTT_nl]

Just a small piece of info before we (480-fans) start doing double work:

One of our Dutch forum members (Wilfredscherpenzeel) is in the proces of having a completely new rear inner bumper scanned by a local company.
The aim is, ofcourse to make drawings to reproduce these inner bumpers.

Perhaps it is worth to wait or contact him about this

BR
Miki

[Les Barbeux]

I am restoring my 1990 Volvo 480, which among other things, has a non existing rear bumper plate. They are not available from Volvo, as you know.

I have another 480 (1992) which has a new rear bumper plate installed 2008 (from Volvo).

My plan this summer is to disamble that plate, and have a workshop make a new one with this as a template.

Maybe I can take some photos and write down some measures.

This job is scheduled to be done in june 2012.

I do not know of any existing drawings of the bumper plate.

That would be most welcome.......perhaps you could drop me a PM or even publish your findings, I'm sure others would benefit from this too.

[Les Barbeux]

Just a small piece of info before we (480-fans) start doing double work:

One of our Dutch forum members (Wilfredscherpenzeel) is in the proces of having a completely new rear inner bumper scanned by a local company.
The aim is, ofcourse to make drawings to reproduce these inner bumpers.

Perhaps it is worth to wait or contact him about this

BR
Miki

That's really interesting.....let's hope he would be good enough to publish the results....perhaps I'll look him up and drop a PM....anyone know how good his English is? Knowing a few Dutch people as I do though, I'm sure it will be pretty good!

[Volvo480lover]

I think that indeed there is a market for this... so if the can do this give us all an update with the potential cost for let's say 10-15 pcs minimal and lets see what the reaction here will be.

[GTT_nl]

Just a small piece of info before we (480-fans) start doing double work:

One of our Dutch forum members (Wilfredscherpenzeel) is in the proces of having a completely new rear inner bumper scanned by a local company.
The aim is, ofcourse to mae drawings to reproduce these inner bumpers.

Perhaps it is worth to wait or contact him about this

BR
Miki

That's really interesting.....let's hope he would be good enough to publish the results....perhaps I'll look him up and drop a PM....anyone know how good his English is? Knowing a few Dutch people as I do though, I'm sure it will be pretty good!

I trust his English is fine, a PM to him wouldn't be a bad idea I guess, just to sync things.

<<I just dropped him a PM so he'll know about it in a short while.>>

Just a question: Could someone from the UK take it upon them to create a list of how many inner bumpers would be needed in the UK or for that matter other countries?
Costs would be around €70 (dealer price was around €140-150) with the production of 100 pcs.

BR

Miki

[Volvo480lover]

Do you have a sample for the quality? is it 100% guarenteed to be the same (or even better) as OEM?
Will it be painted and sealed to protect from rust?

I might be interested (incl shipping to Belgium)

[Les Barbeux]

Just a small piece of info before we (480-fans) start doing double work:

One of our Dutch forum members (Wilfredscherpenzeel) is in the proces of having a completely new rear inner bumper scanned by a local company.
The aim is, ofcourse to mae drawings to reproduce these inner bumpers.

Perhaps it is worth to wait or contact him about this

BR
Miki

That's really interesting.....let's hope he would be good enough to publish the results....perhaps I'll look him up and drop a PM....anyone know how good his English is? Knowing a few Dutch people as I do though, I'm sure it will be pretty good!

I trust his English is fine, a PM to him wouldn't be a bad idea I guess, just to sync things.

<<I just dropped him a PM so he'll know about it in a short while.>>

Just a question: Could someone from the UK take it upon them to create a list of how many inner bumpers would be needed in the UK or for that matter other countries?
Costs would be around €70 (dealer price was around €140-150) with the production of 100 pcs.

BR

Miki

Count me in for one at that sort of price!

[suddy]

I'll have one for sure. At the price it would make sense to buy two - if you intend to keep the car.

Somebody ought to reproduce these.

Stephen

[Volvo480lover]

sure, but all need to keep in mind it is part of the structural integrity of the car, especially when somebody rear-ends you in a crash...
Ok fair enough, a rusty one is also not helping, however if yo put something else you would like to be sure it is at least of the same quality (preferably better)...

[Les Barbeux]

sure, but all need to keep in mind it is part of the structural integrity of the car, especially when somebody rear-ends you in a crash...
Ok fair enough, a rusty one is also not helping, however if yo put something else you would like to be sure it is at least of the same quality (preferably better)...

Quality?.....not so sure that originals can be called quality....not the way they rust out!

[Greengrass]

How about plastic?

Probably not weaker. For sure lighter. Never rust.

The first one is expensive (about 1000 euro) beacouse making the mould.

Making two would cost 500 euro each.

20 would be around 200 euro each.

Materials for each one is about 100 euro so thats the bottom price.

[Greengrass]

Sorry, 10 would be 200 euro each.

20 would be 150 euro each and so on.

[GTT_nl]

Hi everybody,

Sounds like an interesting idea, but I'm not sure it would pass the MOT's in several country's involved.
I know for a fact that the German TÜV is pretty strict, even about approving lowering springs, sports steering wheels and other "simple" modifications.
Besides, does anyone know wether a plastic bumper wouldn't deform because of the nearby situated exhaust pipe, or am I just babling now?
Any new idea is welcome, but changing the materials would be a bit risky for the above mentioned and other reasons, I suppose.

Anyhow,
I received an answer from Wilfred (june 10th) about the preparations for the reproduction.
He mentions that the supervisor of the spare parts inventories at the Dutch Volvo Classics Association (Volvo Klassieker Vereniging) has confirmed receiving the scans of the inner bumper.
He might be able to help us on larger production scales.
Still waiting for further development on this.

Besides this Wilfred's planning to speak with Scandcar, a commercial party, therefore it would be wise to make an inventory of how many inner bumpers would be needed in several countries.
I'm pretty sure we can reach about a 100 pcs in total if we make an inventory, since there are already 37 in "pre-pre-order" just in the Netherlands...

The Dutch Volvo Classics Association is also trying to get their hands on the rear- and front-light cluster-drawings in Helmond, no cheering yet on this subject though, the archives are locked tight, Fort Knox seems like a picnic compared to the Volvo 400 archives...

I'll keep you guys & girls posted on any development on the subject,

On behalf of everyone many thanks to Willy

Kind regards,
Miki

[Volvo480lover]

lol, trying the same through Volvo Sweden HQ, when I get somewhere I'll let you know as well.