shift1313 Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 Anyone besides the mitsu race team ever done this. My 84 is going to need some body work for the normal rust spots and since im going to have to cut and weld in some parts of the fenders i wanted to see what it would take to give it some wide body fenders. Is the ground effect under the door bolted on? are the doors any different? Any ideas would be great. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burton Posted March 30, 2003 Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 the panels under the door are bolted. And I think the doors are the same. All you have to do is get new widebody fenders for the front, the skirts under the doors, and then weld in new rear quaurters. Oh, and the front air dam. It would all be easy except welding the rear quarters. If you've never welded panels in in a car leave, this up to a professional. Otherwise, it should be pretty easy burton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88BlueTSiquest Posted March 30, 2003 Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 If you don't do the rear quarters yourself, and you can't find them used. You are more than likely going to pay more for the conversion, than simply buying a widebody. The body work alone that a pro will cost you will most likely buy a widebody. I would say that if you were planning on doing this with JY parts, get the full rear quarters, starting at the roof line. This way you'll only have 1 8" weld that will be visible. All the rest of the welds will be spot welds, it's just where the Quarter and roof meet that will need to be finished proffesionally. Where the conversion could be tricky will be the skirts. I don't know what the flat body's rocker panel looks like, but the widebody's panel is, for the most part, unfinished. You can look at my body work pictures to get a hint of how that area looks on the widebody, here. Scroll down to where I have the skin on, you can better see how it all goes together at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted March 30, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 it was just an idea i had floating around. i might have access to a widebody that i could tear apart and my car has rust spots in the lower corners from sitting and water running down the panels. i believe the rear quarter is welded in the same place your is inside the door frame. since id have to cut and weld in small pieces i figure it would be nice to weld in larger wide body pieces. I like the look of the widebody and to have an 84 widebody would be unique. i dont want the weight of all the gizmos it came with though, power seatbelts/locks, power yada yada. id do most of the work myself, cutting and welding everything and try to finish off the body but probobly have a proffesional paint it, i might paint it, dont know that yet either. ive considered fabricating my own custom widebody kit but think it would be a whole lot easier to have a factory one to weld in. hows your body work coming along, looked good from the pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ESIrType? Posted March 30, 2003 Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 I'm pretty sure that there is a guy from the UK who has converted his flat side to a wide body. I'll have to look for him, he's on the board here. Shawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88BlueTSiquest Posted March 30, 2003 Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 hows your body work coming along, looked good from the pics Those pics are how it sits right now. I'm off Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'll be hard at work at it again, and will be posting more pics of hopefully the finished job. I'll be painting it myself later on down the road when I get everything squared away on it. After the rust repair, I have some hail damage to work out of it. Then it'll get a fresh coat of paint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penick000 Posted April 1, 2003 Report Share Posted April 1, 2003 the door skins on the widebodies are different than those on the narrowbodies. So, you'd have to change those too. pen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzurc Posted April 1, 2003 Report Share Posted April 1, 2003 Or, you could just put the 84 up for sale and us the money to buy one of the more common widebody's. It'd be more expensive, but there are some weirdo's like me who like the flatsiders, and it seems as though they are getting harder and harder to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted April 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2003 NO WAY i love the car, i dont think i would ever do it to this car, it was more theoretical and if i found a flatsider that was worse off then yes it would get choppin. if it did it would probobly also get gullwing doors:) if it was an easy conversion i might consider it but right now i have way too much on my plate to tackle this. thanks for all the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starion_t Posted April 9, 2003 Report Share Posted April 9, 2003 One idea I've though about was to put a flat side frount clip on a wide body car. I know you would have to find different frount rims but it would look cool. I almost did this when I smashed the rear of my 85 quest and found a smashed 89 quest (frount was totaled) in a local junk yard. later Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Schouenborg Posted April 9, 2003 Report Share Posted April 9, 2003 I have done the full conversion..........possible but takes a lot of welding. Its pretty easy to weld the rearfenders so that you wont have much filling to do (weld it under the rear spoiler and under sidevents and inside door frame) but the front bumber will fit with almost no modifiactions as far as I remember, doors are the same, but sideskirts will need a bit drilling and welding (no bigie). David Schouenborg (Denmark) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev Posted April 11, 2003 Report Share Posted April 11, 2003 Put the suspension from a tsi on the flatsider to get it to look right as well The quarters would be the hardest part, if you are good at welding and have a good non-rusted widebody laying in your back yard, it will not be hard. But I side with the others especially because you have an 84 ES (which is much more rare than all the widebodies). I would just look around for a fixible widebody car and fix it up. I just bought another starion (86 esir) this past weekend for $350 actually. Completely solid body too! kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted April 11, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2003 thanks kev, i dont think im going to do it to this flatsider but if i come across another one i probobly would. i am regardless doing the wheel brake swap from a widebody. also planning on the tranny and rear end from an 88-89. the body on this one is staying stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_Venable Posted April 12, 2003 Report Share Posted April 12, 2003 If your going to go widebody, why not do something different? For example, why not make your own design similar to the BMW widebody kits. Just an idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted April 13, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2003 thats a good idea. maybe one day ill have the resources to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts