Diving Board to Plastic Bumper Conversion Questions

[Marvin_Hecht]

OK I'm getting ready to do this conversion and I've studied Jordan's
article on this site, various threads, helped a guy move his converted
bumpers from one car to another, but I still have some questions:

FRONT

1. Is the 88+ valence truly required in the front? How differently is
it shaped than the 86 valence I have - so the bumper will not slide
into it nicely and lineup without an 88 or later valence, right?

2. The front bumper shocks (tied to the body) stay the same, right?

3. At the picknpull there is a front plastic bumper skin in my color,
but not bumper core. Is there anything I can use to substitue for the
bumper core -- I know that at least one guy has previously mounted
his front bumper without the core to save weight for auto-x....maybe
I can get away with out it?

4. Are there plugs for my fog lights on my non-fog light car?

REAR

5. For the rear bumper shocks, I have both the stock 86 ones,
a pair of 88 (shorter ones), but do I use either of these?

When I was at the picknpull taking off the rear plastic bumper, it mounts
to a metal mount that has like vertical i-prongs. Is that the 89+
bumper shock, and will that fit on my car if I do the thing where I
extend the mounting slots upward?

6. Rear aprons--they seem hard to find. Good sources other than Ebay?
When you do find one, how is it supposed to mount? Attached directly to the rear (plastic) bumper?

Thanks, Marvin.

[Marvin_Hecht]

Bump - anybody know the answers to some or all of my questions? THanks in advance.

[Beej '86 325es]

Re: Diving Board to Plastic Bumper Conversion Questions

FRONT

2. The front bumper shocks (tied to the body) stay the same, right?

REAR

5. For the rear bumper shocks, I have both the stock 86 ones,
a pair of 88 (shorter ones), but do I use either of these?

Not sure about some of those questions, so I'll help with what I do know. You need the shorter '88 and up bumper shocks all the way around.

[Jordan]

You are exactly the kind of person I warn AGAINST doing this swap. You don't know what you are doing, and you will wind up with a horrid looking car.

You need a complete plastic bumper setup with the bumper covers/cores, their shocks, brakcets, front valance etc. You MUST modify the shock hole in the back.

[Marvin_Hecht]

Jordan-On the contrary, I am a perfectionist, and I am trying to research this precisely so that I don't mess it up. For example when I was helping Jason (Slyder - the guy who bought your wheels) transfer his rear bumper, he showed me how he slotted it a little higher than he did the last time and so the bumper lined up perfectly this time with the bodywork in the rear.

OK, so I need the 88 or later valence , complete bumper cores, bumper skins, bumper trim, and shocks that come with them, and brackests.

The thing I'm still confused about is at the picknpull after taking the rear bumper off, you can see it is mounted on this metal think that stick out and has an I shape - that's where the hex nut screws into. I need that obviously, but is THAT the rear bumper shock, or is/are the rear bumper shocks elsehwhere? That metal part certainly looks nothing like the rear 88 black short shocks I got with my 88 rear aluminum bumper.