Pre vs post facelift body parts

[snugani]

Recently my beloved pre facelift 850 was t- boned by a pickup truck. Thankfully nobody was hurt, it actually took the impact very well. I just bought a 96 wagon that's pretty nice overall. I'm wondering if anyone here knows if the pre facelift fenders and doors will fit on the post facelift. I can see the trim is different but I'm hoping that can be swapped, I'm not sure if they attach any differently though.

I just can't decide if it’s worth it to go and pull the fender and doors off my old car vs just touching up a few spots that bother me on the new one. I would also have to swap the door cards as the new one has the charcoal interior and my old one had tan.

[misha]

They will fit perfectly.

[scot850]

Hey Misha, my memory is not so good on this. As I recall the 93-4 cars had different headlights, and I think the strip under the headlights were different. If you are transferring everything over then will these need swapped too?

Neil.

[misha]

He asked about fenders and doors Neil...they are interchangeable.
Headlights,tail lights and front position lights/blinkers are different.
Bumpers are also different.

[Clemens]

I actually doubt they will fit. The early headlights are larger and accordingly are the turn signal units (they are definitely larger, I couldn't fit them in my 94-96 cars). Therefore the cutout in the front fenders has to be larger on the pre facelift cars.
I have a few fenders in storage, I can measure the next time I'm there but most certainly they are different.

[misha]

Cutouts for turn signals on pre facelift cars are the same as for later cars and they are not the problem because later cars have bigger trims which goes under them to fill the gap for smaller turn signal lights.

Compare a fender from early and later cars and you will see that they are the same...except the side trims which are smaller on early cars.

[Clemens]

I'll give it a try, Misha.
I just wonder why I couldn't get these '92 turn signal units to fit in the '96.

[misha]

Probably because of a carrier/frame which holds headlights,turn signals,radiators and horns.
Openings for them are bigger for early cars since headlights and turn signals are bigger.

You can swap whole front end (headlights,turn signals,bumper)between early and later cars as long as you have matched front carrier/frame for the car.

This:

[misha]

I have a little dent on front passenger fender and found locally a perfect matched color fender from early car to swap it when i have time.
I also had doubts will it fit...but when you compare it closely...it is the same...minus a narrower trim...which can also be swapped from my fender.

[Clemens]

Now I'm glad I pulled all parts off that 92 I parted out 2 yrs ago...