My 1986 four door has had it .the wires again, its just to far burned out.
I happen to find a perfect color match1990 cavalier. I checked the web for details and what to look for if comes with any issues in swamping noses. "I found nothing" just talk of doing.
Any help or advice will be great. Only problem I have is I have to do this fast.! I live dead center in NYC and no drive way or any place but the street. its got to be done in a day.
1. I do know the doors are the same on first and second gen for fender lines.
2. I do know I will have to blend out the paint for a color match
3. I do know the back is more rounder and I don't mind.
Not sure of:
1. Bumper and frame lining up
2. how far back the hood gos to the windshield.
3. my biggest fear is headlight wires. if my wife sees me touch one more wire she will shoot me.
and I want my 86 back bumper on the 1990. not so sure at all it will fit. no big deal if it dont.
Carl Himmel wrote:My 1986 four door has had it .the wires again, its just to far burned out.
I happen to find a perfect color match1990 cavalier. I checked the web for details and what to look for if comes with any issues in swamping noses. "I found nothing" just talk of doing.
Any help or advice will be great. Only problem I have is I have to do this fast.! I live dead center in NYC and no drive way or any place but the street. its got to be done in a day.
1. I do know the doors are the same on first and second gen for fender lines.
2. I do know I will have to blend out the paint for a color match
3. I do know the back is more rounder and I don't mind.
Not sure of:
1. Bumper and frame lining up
2. how far back the hood gos to the windshield.
3. my biggest fear is headlight wires. if my wife sees me touch one more wire she will shoot me.
and I want my 86 back bumper on the 1990. not so sure at all it will fit. no big deal if it dont.
The front clip will work, but the rear bumper will not fit.
It's been done a few times, just look on v6z24,
a few examples would be:
Plus, think of the wagons. Nothing really changed with them exept their front clips through the years.
The only thing that you will have to change is the you connectors for your head lights. First gens use sealed beam head lights were as second gens use composite head lights with replaceable bulbs. You could probably mount the rear bumper but it won't look right since the second gens are more rounded.
did this swap myself. the wiring harness for the headlights will connect the same as the first gen wire harness. just unbolt it at the fire wall and swap. you will have to swap the wiper cowl... the hardest part of this swap is the hood hinge pins.... i forget what i did. lol there is an added lil flange if you will on the 88+ j's for the very front of the fender. its for 1 bolt and thus not really needed. i did the whole front end swap on a saturday afternoon. the thing that took the longest was lining up the hood. proper spacing blah blah blah...
i can also tell you that the second gen 4-door trunk lid will fit on a two door. but the body lines will not line up. front and rear end swaps will be something i will do again when i get myself another 1st gen 2-door.
2nd gen rear bumpers also wrap around to the rear wheel arch but some have gotten away with this with the wagons and Z24 bumpers.
if you have any questions feel free to hit me up.
I would swap the doors too. The 2nd gens do not have metal under the mirror, the mirror triangle on a 2nd gen is bigger and in my opinion looks better. Although I believe the 4 doors kept the first gen doors till 91 or 92 I believe for some odd reason.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
Rob Dotterer wrote:I would swap the doors too. The 2nd gens do not have metal under the mirror, the mirror triangle on a 2nd gen is bigger and in my opinion looks better. Although I believe the 4 doors kept the first gen doors till 91 or 92 I believe for some odd reason.
1st gen and second gen doors are the exact same. It's just the trim that makes it look different(which will work anyway).
I've got a 89 door on my 82 haha.
lol miss read the post. so you will still have issues with the hinge pins for the hood as the hinges mount to the hoods differently. and you will have to remove the little added brackets on the front of the frame to allow clearence for the first gen fenders.
Rob Dotterer wrote:I would swap the doors too. The 2nd gens do not have metal under the mirror, the mirror triangle on a 2nd gen is bigger and in my opinion looks better. Although I believe the 4 doors kept the first gen doors till 91 or 92 I believe for some odd reason.
This is not always true. Lately I have been coming across 88-90 2nd gen coupes with 1st gen doors on them. Never seen it on a Z24 but it seems like I find it on mostly base model cars.
Right when I was about to junk the 86 I changed my mind.
Some how figured out way to get the battery up to 14 again and all lights working. 90% done. just need to jump the starter for now with a switch.
one lights dull and it did'nt start last night. thinking radio needs to be reinstalled.
Glad you decided to keep on trying. I'm sure within weeks after you get rid of what was left you would have regrets. Your dim headlight looks to me like a bad ground on that side. Easy temporary fix for the battery drain is to disconnect the battery after last run for the day - reconnect it when you need it tomorrow. A hassle but effective. You still have something to salvage here. If the wiring shorted out and the car burned up - yeah I'd say it was time to throw in the towel.
Ole country boy way of fighting a battery drain. Rig up a 12V light between the posative battery terminal and the positive cable so all the juce has to go through the light bulb.. As current is drawn the light will light up. Next try removing fuses one at a time and checking to see if the light goes out. If you are lucky one of those fuses will indeed kill the drain and the light will go out. If not - well you might have more than one issue. Plan B would be to pull all the fuses at once and see if the issue is fuse related. If the bulb goes out replace the fuses one at a time and watch to see when the light does come back on - telling you which circuits you need to work on. If none of this works - try disconnecting your Alternator. You might have a bad one.
A radio shouldn't be drawing enough power to kill your battery overnight unless you got a weak battery. A powerful Amp is another beastie al together!!
Good Luck!!
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Mr Brown I will do that bulb trick. really cool idea. thanks man.
