The official 92-94 front end conversion thread...

[dnhieu]

alright the other day i got backed into at school and i will probably be getting around 1500 dollars give or take a few hundred dollars to fix the damage. what im wanting to do is put a 92-94 eclipse/talon front end on my talon. my question is how much work is actually involved? is there any wiring of bulbs or pulgs needed? does everything just "bolt on". im just simply trying to get an idea of the task im trying to complete so i dont go into this blind folded and a 1 day project turns into a 3 week project because of parts needed....

parts needed off the top of my head....

1.hood
2.head lights
3.corner lights
4.fenders
5.bumper.

thanks for the help tuners...
david

 

[Auto RS T]

Its been a few years since I did this but I will give what I can remember.

Get the sockets with the new headlights, you will have to wire them in, the old headlights are sealed beam and the new are not, the plugs are different. See diagrams to figure this out.

Also I remember having to cut a bracket off. But thats it, I don't even know which ones I cut off, I just remember getting out the plasma cutter, noob back then... still feel like it sometimes.

Be prepared to drill and tap holes, most the old bolts will snap off.

 

[Rex2342]

You'll need a hood, fenders, lights, maybe a bumper cover, and 4 brackets from the 1gb style. The brackets are a pain to get because they are spot welded in place and if you bend them you're light will not be alligned properly.. Once you get everything you'll just need to swap it all over. The 1ga's also have spot welded brackets in the same place as the 1gb. You'll need to remove these and replace them with the ones from the 1gb. You can either spot weld them of do like my buddy and bolt them in. I'll try to find a pic of the brackets I'm talking about and you can also check the vfaq because I remember reading about this there before.

 

[dnhieu]

damn, so im gonna have to find a 1gb in town in a junk yard or soemthing for thoes headlight/clear corner brackets? i think the bracket you guys are talking about is already bent on my car from the accident. here are some pics...

thanks for the help guys its really appreciated....

 

[Rex2342]

The vfaq doesn't have any pics of the brackets I'm talking about. If I'm remembering right there 2 for each side to make a total of 4. The one you have circled is one, the other is under the bumper cover but again my memory might not be right.

 

[dnhieu]

alright i think i know what your talking about now. the bracket that the front head lights bolt into and the bracket that the corner lights bolt into.....

thanks for the help man. btw dont throw up too much from looking at my once VERY clean 1g to nasty 1g....

 

[Auto RS T]

The car will be clean once again I'm sure, 1gb style

If the brackets are spot welded then I would definatley just drill them out, instead of using the plasma cutter, should make things a lot cleaner. I still can't remember the exact brackets, that car is long gone. Did you do some more searching? I am sure you will find everything you need to know somewhere. You are definately off to a good start with the parts you have.

You make me thnk about changing mine over to match the rear.

Maybe you could make a tech article out of it?

 

[dnhieu]

thanks man...

i was thinking about making a tech article but every time i think about doing it i get to motivated to do it that i forget to take pics. but im still thinking about doing it. the way i see it if i can get the crystal clear head light and clear corners, hood, fenders, and ebay eclipse front bumper for about 500 i can do the swap and have about 1k for a decent paint job. the problem is finding 92-94 eclipse, talon, laser to find the brackets and plugs for the head light. there is like no 92 and up first gens around here.

also i just thought about something else. what about the bulbs for the head lights? i would have to get them too! damn this list is getting LONG!!!

 

[Auto RS T]

The same thing happens to me when I want to make tech articles, I get going, pass a few steps and forget to take pictures, boom! Tech article done for

To cheapen the setup even more you could look in the classifieds for someone parting out a whole car. Get the stock bumper, even if the paint is cracked/chipped, maybe slightly torn you can still repair it or plastic weld the bumper. You could talk them into drilling those brackets off for you for a small price.

I would think though, once you have all the parts, you could probally fab up some of your own brackets, it may take a while to get the aim right but it is definately feasible.

A full set up bulbs is pretty cheap on ebay, I purchased all four high/low for $13.00 shipped 8500k. They are still working too.

 

[dnhieu]

well im really worried about the hood. shipping is gonna be a royal pain in the ass for that thing. maybe i can save up a little for a carbon fiber on and get it all painted all at once....

 

[Auto RS T]

Maybe someone close to you is selling one. You could pick it up.

Carbon Fiber is always nice.

Are you going to paint it yourself? It would be cheaper to prep the car out yourself, if you are not going to.

 

[Rex2342]

The vfaq says you don't need a bumper cover and that with some minor changes the 1ga one will work. If your cover isn't to banged up you could leave it and save a bit of cash. Also if you plan on getting it painted I would suggest doing the whole car. My friends car got hit up front and after he fixed it and repainted the front end the rest of the car looked like crap . Yours is white too so it will be even harder to match up. You should be able to get most of the parts from ebay, the classifieds, and the DSMtrader is back too. Try to find someone parting out a 1gb and get the brackets and maybe even the rest from there.

 

[dnhieu]

first off thanks for all the help guys....

i wish i knew how to do body work but i dont. i have a few friends that know how to do it and i just cant seem to get ahold of them at the moment. i have some minor dings and small rust spots on my car that i want to get rid of but i dont have the knoledge of doing body work so i dont want to mess with it, but that is the route i want to go if i get the chance to save a little extra money. plus i will have satisfaction i did it MYSELF...

im gonna go check out a few junk yards on tuesday and see what i can come up with. ill keep you guys informed...

thanks again
david