looking for knowledge on buick procars

[Shelby]

I went through this kind of B.S. with my '89 Olds. It was considered a base 88 which in that model year is a small car. Most of the older cars that are the correct body style be interchangeable, just make sure it's a wagon. For some reason the were a few inches wider than the sedans. In the end I found it easier to just buy a Custom Cruiser woody wagon with a busted frame and gut it.

[Bob Ensinger]

I have the same issue with budget. I have an 83 Lesabre hearse, what I did with the bumper filler is I drilled out the shocks on the bumper and pushed it in! LOL. Not a fix for everyone but worked for me!

[Bob Ensinger]

Nevermind on my last post. I believe your grill turns in under the bumper. If so wouldn't work for yours.

[sgath92]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]9089[/ATTACH] This is the piece

Those filler panels are used on virtually all the 80s GM b-bodies [Olds had one, Chevy had one, Buick had one, don't recall if Cadillac did]. They're almost always cracked up like yours is when you do find one in a junk yard.

If you want your car to be completely as it left the coach builder I don't have any advice besides to keep looking at junkyard B-body wagons until you luck into a good one [don't hold your breath while you wait]. But if you're willing to make a few changes what you can do is customize the bumper so it fits better against the car. The reason for the filler panels & the reason why they're usually all cracked up [besides the fact that they're plastic] is because the car was designed to let the bumper move inward during small fender benders in parking lots. If you drill out your bumper shocks [illegal in some places] and take the fillers out you'll see the bumper will slide all the way in so it's against the car's body. This will look better, without any cutting & welding. Or if you're willing to put more work into it you can cut up the bumper and weld it back together so that it sits flush against the car, or you could make your own bumper mount [ditch the shocks] and then weld a small strip of metal on the fender to fill in the last remaining gap. Some states will fail you if you don't have shocks.

My flatmates went though this with both their olds wagons:



I don't remember if this picture was taken with drilled out shocks, or with custom mounts but it looks a lot better and the tiny gap that remains can be filled in by welding a small piece of metal to the fender. You can buy sections of aluminum I-beam online to use as your bumper support bracket and also have a decent weight savings over those heavy bumper shocks.

I went through this kind of B.S. with my '89 Olds. It was considered a base 88 which in that model year is a small car. Most of the older cars that are the correct body style be interchangeable, just make sure it's a wagon. For some reason the were a few inches wider than the sedans. In the end I found it easier to just buy a Custom Cruiser woody wagon with a busted frame and gut it.

The B-body wagons had a unique stance because the design criteria GM corp gave their designers was: A 8x4 sheet of plywood MUST be able to lay flat inside the car between the rear wheel humps. None of the other GM wagons of the 80s could accomplish this feat. They actually designed those wagons around this requirement.