Parts from an 86 Elan good on an 85?

Topic: Parts from an 86 Elan good on an 85? (Read 1041 times) previous topic - next topic

Parts from an 86 Elan good on an 85?

November 16, 2012, 10:49:16 PM

Can anyone tell me if there's any front end parts differences between the 1985 and 1986 Thunderbird E'lan? I'm looking to repair a Thunderbird 1985 E'lan (full front end,in front of radiator, including bumper reinforcement and left hand side fender, all headlights and headlight mouldings.) and have found a reasonable 1986 donor, and am not aware. Thank you for your assistance.

Parts from an 86 Elan good on an 85?

Reply #1 – November 16, 2012, 10:53:17 PM

85-86 exterior sheet metal, bumpers, and header panel are all the same :).

Parts from an 86 Elan good on an 85?

Reply #2 – November 16, 2012, 11:23:13 PM

Ahh, thank you so much! I can't wait to get it back on the road and looking legitimate again.

Interesting question you might be able to answer (I'm guessing by your wording you know quite a bit) -- the accident occurred while I was in the leftmost lane, saw a '70 pickup truck pulling out ahead of me on the right hand side out of a driveway to enter my direction of traffic flow, only to realize he was making a wiiiiiide turn all the way into the left hand lane, to come back to flow in to the right hand lane. I swerved for the right, but couldn't stop the T-bird fast enough once I realized he was not REMAINING in the left lane, so his back right came around and main point of impact was the front left point of my car, sing all the way down the left fender, but not hitting the door.

There's a ripple in the body somewhere just below the porthole triangle shaped window on the PASSENGER side of my car -- I've been told by two mechanics that I trust that I "MUST" have been rear ended for that to have been there, but I assure you neither at that time, or any other, was there a rear end point of impact.

Two things I was looking to get out of this, and any other input I'd consider a godsend .. :)

1. How badly could the frame/body be warped? Would pictures help?
2. Should I (and I believe I do) need to have the driver's side shock/strut mount, etc looked at or replaced?

Thank you again. Car has 87k original miles, with a 91 mustang engine and trans with less than 35k on those... cannot wait to see it looking like it should.

Parts from an 86 Elan good on an 85?

Reply #3 – November 17, 2012, 11:22:46 PM

I would post a picture. A front impact hard enough to damage the opposite side of the car would twist up the frame pretty bad. If you could post some pics we could at least guess at how bad the damage is.

Parts from an 86 Elan good on an 85?

Reply #4 – November 18, 2012, 12:16:58 AM

how hard did you hit the other vehicle?
is the other 1/4 warped anywhere
if you hit hard enough..your frame may be a racked
You might want to check the frame measurements...I dont have specs for an 85 though