Pre 85 Coupe nose job

[Capown]

Is there anything special in swapping these 2? In my search for a 85-86 I came up with a 83 5.0 Coupe I love the car all but the nose... Would this just be a plug and play swap?

[wraithracing]

The 79-84 cars use the same body side moldings and bumper moldings. Obviously the 79-82 cars are one noes, the 83/84 cars another. The 79 PC, 82 GT, and 80/81 Cobra use a unique nose.

The 85/86 cars use a different body side molding and matching rub strips in the bumper covers. To do a swap from any of the 79-84 cars and do it right requires a complete set of body side moldings (10 pieces) and the matching rear bumper cover. That is the only way to make the car look correct and "right" IMHO.

You can swap the front cover and leave the moldings and it will not affect anything other than the looks of the vehicle. You can also remove all the body side moldings and run bare, although IMHO it is not a "good" look, especially at the bumper covers since the rub strips on the bumper just end abruptly without the body side moldings. Last, of course is the rear bumper cover and if you match it to the front cover.

Although I am not a fan of the 83/84 nose, it is unique and you don't see many of them these days. The 83/84 nose does look much better IMHO as the 84.5 GT front cover with fog lights or with the Motorsport lower air dam to give the same look. The 84.5 GT covers are becoming more scarce by the day, but they do come up from time to time. The Motorsports air dam is a bit of a unicorn too, but they do pop up occasionally too. Good Luck!

[onetrackrider]

I say rock the 83 nose, be different. It's a dam fine looking nose IMHO...

[dagenham]

I had the Motorsport air dam on my 79 coupe back around 90-91.
It is pretty much the lower half of my SVO front end.