PFL to Facelift rear end conversion

[GTOrange]

Hey guys.

Just wondering if anyone has done this before?
Im currently 70% through the conversion and can post pics if anyone else is interested.

Hunted for ages to find the FL legnum that I wanted but struggled to find one.
Then I found exactly what i wanted but as a 97 PFL. The price was right lol
So now just working through the changes haha

[Nick Mann]

That would be interesting. The mounting point for the gas struts are higher and the lights sit slightly higher too - I'm assuming that the lights aren't an easy bolt on change?

[Davezj]

isn't the shape of the boot lid different from PFL to FL which would mean a lot of metal work to make it fit, i seem to remember seeing a pic of someone trying to make it fit and it was metal clashing issues.
but i could be wrong i am not 100% sure.

[Nick Mann]

The rear wings are the same on the outside, but the shut panel is different, as the gas struts and lights mount at different heights. I don't know about the hinges or the bumper mounts but I'd be suprised if they were much different.

[scott.mohekey]

I think Quinten did it once. There was a lot of cutting and welding involved.

[crazydriver81]

I think Quinten did it once. There was a lot of cutting and welding involved.

Yep, it was Q who did it. It was a job of welding parts of the rear end panel to the PFL body. Afterwards it was p&p. He just changed the side parts, to make rear lights and FL rear bonnet fitting the shell...

[Gly]

id be keen on pics, something im considering for the V6.

from what i can tell the tailgate with the FL gas struts (which are way shorter)is bolt on the bump should bolt on,

only the metal parts around the lights should need altering/changing?

[adaxo]

Also it has been done in PL few years back (will try to dig out some photos) AFAIK it was a lot of welding and filler involve.

[GTOrange]

thanks for the replies guys.

Well ive actually completed it bar a rear bumper so i can clear up a few questions or myths about the conversion which is pretty straight forward. Just ask if there is anything you want to know.

The hardest part i found was finding info. there is bugger all info on the conversion. In the end i went into a pick a part which happeded to have FL and PFL and i basically did the conversion there one day before buying all the parts.

depending on how you want to do it, you dont even need a welder.

What you need to do it (the basics)
A tailgate, tail lights, rear bumper. Thats it!!!!

What you need to do it (the padantic way)
A tailgate, tail lights, rear bumper, gas struts, rear metal skin that taillights and bumper bolt into.

So they way ive done it requires no welding or filling. Only filling i did was the tailgate key lock and the pointless numberplate holders which dont get used.

SO the need to knows;
The FL tailgate bolts directly onto the PFL hinges or mounts. Its also the same width as the PFL so theres no difference between tailgate sides and body.
The FL gas struts are shorter than the PFL. the only reason for this is that on the FL tailgate 2 of 4 rubber stops are mounted directly inline with where the PFL gas struts fit. If you want to re-use the old gas struts, you will have to delete 2 of the 4 rubber stops. If you want to change over to the new FL struts, you'll have to drill new holes and put a nut on the back of the gas strut thread to clamp it to the skin.
The tailights electrical plugs are identical.
The tail lights sit abit higher than the PFL ones. you can either cut out a section of the skin to make them fit, or you can drill out the spot welds of the PFL skin and replace it completely with the FL skins. this is the only time you would need a welder. Ive done whole front end conversions before and believe me, this one you can get away with just making minor alterations to the existing skin. Its all hidden by the tailights in the end anyway
The FL tailgate shuts perfectly onto the PFL boot latch.
Both bumpers are different and infact the FL bumper sits a little further out. By chopping about 10mm by 50mm section out of the PFL bumper, im able to close the boot and this will do untill i find a FL bumper =)
PFL and FL boot locks are not interchangable. so either you have a 2nd key, or you delete the lock all together with like i did.

some pictures of the work so far. Sorry theyre ****ty android quality lol
The red dot is the rough location of the FL gas strut mounting point.
Dont worry, i tidyed up the hole I cut but forgot to take an aftershot. (actually made a new face out of fibreglass)
The hole in the bumper is whats needed to close the FL tailgate on the PFL bumper. You could glass it up and make it tidy if you wanted but i'd prefer a FL bumper lol
IMG_20130522_111021.jpgIMG_20130522_111032.jpgIMG_20130522_125403.jpgIMG_20130523_161834.jpgIMG_20130523_162007.jpg

More pics to come when i bolt everything up.

[GTOrange]

Its probably worth while pointing out the the "welding and bogging" is if you choose to replace the skin section between the FL and PFL models. Its probably an hours worth of cutting. 30mins of welding and abit of bog or silicon.

If done properly, this at its closest point, comes within 25mm of the external visibly body. SO is very easily hidden when the bootlid is closed.
The red line shows the skin that you would cut out and replace with the FL item.
The section itself is only spot welded in places, apart from that, the rest is just siliconed in place some comes apart quite easily.

IMG_20130522_111026.jpg

[Adam.Findlay]

Yep Q definatly did it, hes banned off here. but you can get to him on OZVR4.com if you want to ask him what issues he ran into.
Back into your VR4's again Marcus?

[GTOrange]

Lol Didnt see your name. Hey Adam. Never been far from them but sold the gts25t to get a legnum.
Why was he banned? sounds like he's made the job harder than it needed to be. Can be done in a day if it wasnt for the tailgate being the wrong colour

[Adam.Findlay]

Hope you got a manual one this time instead of a slush-o-matic!
the gist of it is he was ****ing people round, insulting people over PM and keeping "plates and tags" for later on which is illegal

Still got the orange I see, Hows progress with that?

[GTOrange]

Yea its manual. Did you ever hear bout the trans going on the old one?
Long story short, I had a mechanical warantee but Hart Holden ****ed up the claims process and they ended up getting landed the repair bill which was 8g lol. rebuilt by Marshall Transmissions in Hamilton. Never ran the same after that so sold it haha.

Sold the orange about 3 years ago now before I moved to Hamilton. Painted it, rebuilt the motor then flicked it off. Some jaffa bought it for a good price lol. Needed the money for study and was over it really lol

Hows ur vr4? You finished ur studies?

[Adam.Findlay]

Yea its manual. Did you ever hear bout the trans going on the old one?
Long story short, I had a mechanical warantee but Hart Holden ****ed up the claims process and they ended up getting landed the repair bill which was 8g lol. rebuilt by Marshall Transmissions in Hamilton. Never ran the same after that so sold it haha.

Sold the orange about 3 years ago now before I moved to Hamilton. Painted it, rebuilt the motor then flicked it off. Some jaffa bought it for a good price lol. Needed the money for study and was over it really lol

Hows ur vr4? You finished ur studies?

yeah heard about the disaster with the auto, hence why I wondered if you got manual this time.

fair enough cant complain as long as you get a good price for it. whats your plan for the vr4? just a daily or a bit of a project?

last year of study this year man hopefully get a job at the end of it all.
my cars slowly getting there, just got a link G4 for it and a few other bits plus all the **** in my signature. work for kennelly cams here in Chch so im halfway through making a set of custom billet cams for it (even more agressive than my current regrind) so that should be good.

[Gly]

nice bit info there, pretty straight forward swap as i suspected,

i have one question the very bottom bolt on the inside of the chassis holding the bumper, is a right bastard to get to, any tips or tricks for this one?

[Oggie]

ummm potentially late stupid question time..

would it not have been easier to throw on a facelift front end onto a pfl vr4?

[Gly]

front end conversions are just straight swap, but IMO the FL Legnum rear is better looking than the pfl

[GTOrange]

The FL front end will happen in time. My biggest mission was to get the FL rear end done on the PFL that i have. I really do like the FL rear so much more than the PFL rear. Fronts arnt too much different
Today i pretty much completed it.
Im hunting for a FL rear bumper now to complete it. Ive seen pics of its mounting but am yet to attempt to fit it haha.

Today I fitted the painted tailgate and the taillights. I must admit, it wasn't until i stood back and looked that i noticed slight gaps between taillight and tailgate that i wasnt happy with. Could be resolved by putting washers in between the taillights and the skin to pack the taillight out. Instead I formed a new shape to the original skin with a fiberglass bog.
Before ya hate on me for using bog,.. Let me at least tell ya its a very strong bog we make. In fact its so strong that the only thing stronger is titanium. (yes its stronger than S/S.)

Using clay I filled in the back of the taillight to the shape I wanted. Waxed the taillight and then laid the bog. While still soft I pressed the taillight into it while aligning it up with tailgate. Presto! New face thats stronger than the original. You should be able to see the "S" shape in the bog. this is abit of a difference to a flat back that the PFL tailights have.
The process was much like we make moulds of bodykits and stuff.

You can see the bog in the pic. Once applied, I ground back the rough bits and then a normal automotive bog fills in the gaps and tidies it up. Sorry forgot to take a pic.
Now im just left with a gap bellow the tail light. This is the difference between the PFL and FL rear bumpers. Picking a FL bumper up tomorow. Its really a last resort as it needs a **** load of work before its ready to paint, but there's just no parts out there atm.

Photo's dont do it justice

IMG_20130527_074907.jpgIMG_20130527_095406.jpgIMG_20130527_140835.jpgIMG_20130527_153530.jpgIMG_20130527_153547.jpg

Really happy with the look. sadly now the rear end looks 10 times better than the rest of the paintwork so a good cut and polish is on the cards and most likely a respray in the near future.

Im planning on fitting the PFL full tailgate spoiler to the FL tailgate also. I quite like the look of it and its different to the little wing thats on all the FL legnums. (which i dont mind anyways) Theres no doubt i'll make it fit but its just a question of how easy or hard it is lol.

Also had some lowering springs turn up and scored a full leather interior. (seats door cards and mint black carpets and mats) {they say leather but im sure it'll just be vinal}

Also painted the wood grain gunmetal grey lol.


Think I should start a build thread lol

[MarkSanne]

Great work here! Keep it going and indeed: change it into a project while you're at it