Turning a GT into LX?...87-93

[black89stang]

I am wanting to take the moldings and bumpers off my GT to install LX moldings and bumpers with the Saleen kit on them.

Is this possible.

Can I change the Door/Front Fender Upper and Lower and Rear/Rear quarter panel/....MOLDINGS?

And install the LX front Bumper and Rear Bumper?

And be done?

Or is there something I'm over looking?

 

[BADPONYsc]

Yes it can be done. I just converted my 91' LX hatch to GT style with all the GT stuff from my wrecked 90' GT. Yours would just be the reverse of what I just did. You would just have to do the following:
1) remove front and rear bumper covers, install LX bumper covers.
2) remove side GT ground effects, drill out rivets that hold the ground effect mounting strips on.
3) drill out rivets for the mounting strips that mount the GT fender extentions on the front and rear.
4) remove door moldings (easier said than done)
5) install LX molding on doors, front fenders, and quarter panels (5 per side). The ones on the door and behind door install using double-sided tape, the ones on the fenders and on the quarter panels install with nuts/screws from behind. You may have to go ahead and install the front fender extentions also, as the Saleen air dam may need them there to install properly... not sure about that.
6) then, since you would be going with the Saleen style, you could just leave the holes that the GT mounting strips were mounted in and install all the new ground effects on top of everything, since that's how they're installed anyway.

One important note... when searching for the LX moldings, make sure you get the correct ones for the front fenders for your particular year. the 87'-90' ones are different than the 91'-93' ones due to the introduction of the pony rims in 91', which were larger than the wheels from previous years. The only thing that is different is the fenders, the fender moldings (front side only) and the fender extensions.

Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions.... by the way, I have all my old LX stuff in the garage that I will sell if you're interested. Bumpers, moldings, everything!
Good luck with it!

 

[NO_RICE]

He forgot to tell you that if you buy all that stuff new, it is going to cost about $800, not including getting the holes in the side of you car filled, and then getting it all painted on top of that. I have a saleen kit I can't use because of this.

 

[black89stang]

He forgot to tell you that if you buy all that stuff new, it is going to cost about $800, not including getting the holes in the side of you car filled, and then getting it all painted on top of that. I have a saleen kit I can't use because of this.

I can get all the peices for a LX pretty easy and cheap. But why did you not install the kit?

And what are the holes your talking about?

 

[BADPONYsc]

There are strips of metal that the ground effects "wedge" into to hold them on on thier tops, then they attatch to the bottom of the car and inside the fender lips with screws. There are strips on the tops of the side ground effects, level with the door molding, in front and behind the door... and longer strips on the rocker panels. Then there are strips at the tops of the front and rear bumper extensions, also level with the door moldings. There are 7 per side, I believe.
I really don't see why the holes would need to be filled, as the LX moldings would be mounted on top of where the holes are. At the most, if there were some rust at the holes, I would sand the rust off and spray some primer on them. But none of that is going to show anyway. The only reason that I can see that you would need to fill the holes, would be if you were converting it to a LX. But, since you're talking about a Saleen kit, that's alot easier.
I've never installed a Saleen kit, nor do I know anyone who has... so I could be wrong.


I'll attatch a pic of my car when I was installing my GT effects where you can see one of the mounting strips I'm talking about.
Hops this helps!

 

[90mustangGT]

I am thinking of the GT to LX conversion myself, alot of work. I'm going to try to find a LX in a junk yard my color so I can do the swap w/o looking too goofy before paint. I wanted a LX, but couldn't find a decent one for the right price.

 

[BADPONYsc]

Well, like I said, I have all the LX body stuff in the garage if anyone's interested. I have both bumper covers, all side moldings, and front fender extensions. It's the original silver color, the moldings are black.
Just thought I'd re-mention it.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Hey man forget the Saleen stuff just drop your side skirts and rear valance and swap them out with the LX stuff, but leave the front GT bumpers on. Gives the car a mean low front end racy look without being all jacked up in the back like a redneck. Hopefully this link works...it's John Lindsey's American Iron GT that has the same setup, only he has Cobra fender extensions on the front for aerodynamics. Sweeeet car though. http://forums.stangnet.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=13581

 

[NO_RICE]

I already have a cobra rear bumper and my Gt front is mangled pretty bad. I think that I should just start over. How much do you want for all that LX stuff, my car is silver, do you have pics of all the parts??

 

[BADPONYsc]

I haven't taken any yet, but I can go ahead if you want to see them. I'll take some and post them.

 

[Black331Stang]

hey black89stang, u stole the username i was supposed to change to. i dont like u lol jk

 

[black89stang]

hey black89stang, u stole the username i was supposed to change to. i dont like u lol jk

Soon If I can disable it, I will, since this Black89stang is going to be scraped.....

I mean my project. It's a wiring nightmare plus the car has not once in TEN years been taken car of.

My brother gave it to me for $800 and moved. But it is really tore up. I had hope for it.......But the hope is gone. The car is just totaly *******. Really......I have a list of parts needed to make it drivable and its a page long. And that dosn't cover making it look better...Like new lights, fog lamps, Carpeting and so on.

For it to be whole again will cost me $6000 to $7000 dollars and a lot of time....That I just don't have.......Nothing works right........Or workes at all....It really sucks.


For Turning it into a LX.....Thats not going to happen.