'88 Diving board shocks - unstick vs single use?

[Maybe Magpie]

Hi all,

Long story short, I booped a parking lot dirt and woodchip berm just hard enough to give my bumper an accidental tuck - still getting used to my short shifter and I somehow managed to put her in first rather than reverse (in my defense I'm new at manual in general). I did a thorough inspection afterwards and to my relief, there's no permanent damage. Radiator and hood are all in perfectly fine position, no panel line changes, valance normal, no stickiness or resistance for doors or hood hinges, no leaks that didn't exist already, no visible chassis damage, no skewing when rolling, the fans clear the radiator, grilles are aligned, headlights and foglights are fine, oil cooler is fine. Nothing is visibly bent outside of my plastic front plate surround (amazingly, none of the plastic has so much as a crack in it). The diving boards did their job magnificently, I shudder to think of how many hundreds of bucks I'd be out to fix this if I had plastics or euros.

I found the factory spec for the bumper shocks that specify "Distance A" - the measurement between the vertical mounting tube bit for the bumper support bracket tab things, and the flat plate bit that's perpendicular to the main shock body - should be 52mm plus or minus 1mm or else they should be replaced. I intend to remove my bumper and check that the measurement is proper. I was under the impression diving boards should pop back out after an under 5mph impact (which this was, into a soft material no less), but despite the fact my shocks aren't drilled the bumper seems to be stuck in the back/tucked position. If they're still 52mm+-1, is there a best practice to pull them back out? I suspect that they're just stuck due to age.

I'm not too concerned because the chassis and all the other parts seem totally unharmed, but as a certified diving board defense squad member I just wanna put 'em back to how they're supposed to be. New ones are NLA obviously, but I'm willing to recondition a set if there's a way to that isn't a total nightmare. Any pointers or is it just a matter of some lubrication and a really hard yank? I'd rather not buy a new pair if I don't have to, but I will if that's my only option. The PN for my car seems to be 51111971852 or 51111911296, i.e. the symmetrical ones rather than the left and right versions '87 and earlier had if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks.

[82eye]

if they don't bounce back out on their own they won't come back at all. new is the only real replacement for them. sometimes they can be pulled out but they no longer function as intended.

[Maybe Magpie]

if they don't bounce back out on their own they won't come back at all. new is the only real replacement for them. sometimes they can be pulled out but they no longer function as intended.

Ah, noted. That's irritating given they're NLA and they seem to be surprisingly pricey these days given I remember they practically couldn't be given away once upon a time. There's a few salvage yards I asked for quotes from for the part (obviously ones that didn't hit anything on the front) so we'll see where that gets me. My question is if the distance A is still good, what internally would be the issue that would prevent them from working properly? They didn't blow out as far as I can tell, I haven't seen any of their oil leaking. There's really no way to refurbish them properly? Bummer. I'm surprised, this was into a soft (woodchips and dirt) surface at below 5mph. I know that's still a significant amount of energy given the weight of a car, but you'd think that's within its capability given they're designed for up to 5mph impacts with harder surfaces.

One other question; I know the earlier cars have asymmetric (i.e. side-specific) shocks, will those still fit an '88 with diving boards? There seems to be some overlap of PNs.

[reelizmpro]

Those 88 shocks are unique and you'd be looking for a needle in a haystack. They are very short and I'd say one time use. A long time ago, I once bought some from a junkyard so I could tuck the bumpers on my 85 because drilling the shocks wasn't a thing yet. I would not use the earlier shocks on your 88 as they stick out farther. Mind as well upgrade to plastics or even M tech 2 at this point.

[Maybe Magpie]

Those 88 shocks are unique and you'd be looking for a needle in a haystack. They are very short and I'd say one time use. A long time ago, I once bought some from a junkyard so I could tuck the bumpers on my 85 because drilling the shocks wasn't a thing yet. I would not use the earlier shocks on your 88 as they stick out farther. Mind as well upgrade to plastics or even M tech 2 at this point.

Noted, though I've found several of the correct P/N and year via salvage yard search engines and have reached out to the yards to see what they'll let 'em go for. I definitely get your point, but frankly I can't really justify a plastic swap or MT2 kit financially right now and even if I could I honestly like the diving boards both functionally and as a charming holdover of their era.

[reelizmpro]

I'm skeptical of junkyards correctly cataloging 40 year old bumper shocks. Just make sure you get pictures first so you can confirm what you're getting. Those are 1 year only parts but many people think they are just early model shocks.

[2mAn]

I think I have some stock uncompressed shocks stashed, not sure if they are fronts or rears, nor if they are 88 or earlier… LMK if you want em, I have to dig em out

[Maybe Magpie]

I think I have some stock uncompressed shocks stashed, not sure if they are fronts or rears, nor if they are 88 or earlier… LMK if you want em, I have to dig em out

If they're '88 fronts (51111971852 or 51111911296) and the price is right I'll gladly take them. Apparently the '87 and the '84-'86 ones are different, as are the late-late ones.