To R/T or not to R/T, that is the question

[Nationalmilkman]

I have a '92 ES and found a scrapped out R/T. Guy can't sell me the car but he will sell me all the parts I want. I know I want the sail panels but should I go all out with the bumpers, turns, tails and door/skirts? Any input? Getting car painted next spring, going stock black on the paint. I like the ES just because I don't see them offend but but I still want to be different.

[CoreyB]

I would get everything RT you can.

[Nationalmilkman]

I have a '92 R/T in my "parts bin" (backyard). But the junkyard one is black so the repaint would be better than over red R/T parts.

[CoreyB]

A repaint done correctly will not matter what color you start with.

[BadHabit]

make sure you get the front turns and when you take the tail lights make sure and get the pigtails(they unplug) because they are different.I did mine like that ,took a 92 es and put the front and back bumper on.I think it turned out alright.it is the one in my profile pic...
go for it!
BH

[Nationalmilkman]

Car looked good Badhabit. I have two rear bumpers in red and they are both N/A bumpers so I won't have the extra cutout for the exhaust. Did you change out the rear quarter windows when you went to the R/T sails? I will be doing so. It just finishes off the look.

[Austin@STM]

If you are repainting it and you like the r/t look i would say go for it. If you like how it looks already leave it alone, and just focus on painting it.

[BadHabit]

No,I did not change out the windows,I promised the frame (donor car) to someone so I wanted to keep all the windows in it.The sails were already on it.All I had to do was change out the front and rear bumper as well as the lights and hood.Kinda happy with the way it turned out.

[Nationalmilkman]

The car is going back to black. It's a simple and looks so good. I have red leather interior and it makes the black stand out when the door is opened.

[BadHabit]

2 issues you will have with the rear bumper:

1: tail light wiring. although the plug inside the car behind the plastic panels is the same a 3000GT/ES has 1 extra wire due to the extra bulb in the longer tail lights. I did a swap from 3K to R/T tails and never really got the wiring figured out perfectly, the issue is in the blinker (R/T has a dual element bulb and 3K/ES has seperate bulbs)2: R/T rear bumper. the bolt holes are all the same, but the mounting is set lower on an ES bumper and higher on an R/T bumper

As long as you use the pigtail for the lights from the R/T ,the lights are no problem,it will plug right up to the ES.
The bumper from the R/T ,you will need to make a couple of spacers to make up the difference in height.
BH

[BadHabit]

Unfortunately it won't, there is an extra wire coming from the chassis which is the turn signal. The pigtail will plug in but still won't have all your lights, I recently did this so I know first hand. And as far as using spacers, well you can try but you would have to make up close to 2 inches.

I beg to differ but,I did the exact thing,I took the pigtail from the RT ,with the taillights , plugged it in the base plug in, and brake,park and turn signals work,from what I can tell ,all Mitsu did was to spice 2 of the wires together originally.Your spacer needs to be 2.250 in length,You can drill and tap each end so it bolts to the mounting surface and the bumper.Just make sure you use all 3 retainers on top of the bumper flange.

BH

[BadHabit]

Maybe something changed between 1st & 2nd gen, I did the conversion on a 94 SL, but either way, to the OP, I would go full R/T if your gonna do anything.

That must be the difference,I did a 92 base with the parts from a 93 RT,You make a good point..thanks for that info..
BH

[Nationalmilkman]

Well I know I have to mount up the 99 wing to show people what's going on with that so I can get a replacement or just fix it myself. So for fall I'll be rockin the ES with the 99 wing with a banana delete! Lol

[IPD]

disregard everything smallz says.

the 3kgt will need an r/t blinker box. an es will not. don't know why that is, but that's the case. shooter's es's/bases had the same blinker box as the r/t's. my 3kgt needed a different box.

your other option would be a 3kgt rear, which is marginally less involved & requires significantly less bumper spacing to work. i have a complete 2g conversion for that if you're interested.

[Nationalmilkman]

Well I hope that will be my next driveable car, a 3000GT but I'm a Gen1 guy. I really like the evil eye hoods on the Gen2 and all but just can't do it and I see too many '99s around (internet) to really want one anymore. But thanks for the rear end offer.

[IPD]

did you ever get this finished? i know that es > r/t rear ends can be a bit of a PITA to do properly. my rear conversion doesn't have the corner mounts; the bumper is floating in the corners. :)

[RL7]

Make sure you get the fog light brackets!

I say the front end, door caps, and side skirts are a no brainer. You will have to cut off two small light brackets up front and remove the "es-panels" in the rear side skirt area.

I always kind of liked the es light bar rear, so I would consider replacing the front and sides and seeing how you like it, especially if you are keeping a single outlet exhaust. I changed to a rt rear specifically because I was going to a dual exhaust. I haven't replaced my sail panels, but I temporarily painted the es ones with bumper paint. I hear replacing the sail panels can be kind of a pain and I think the es trim doesn't look too bad painted black on a black car.

For the rear, I drilled out all the spot welds for the bumper cover bracket, bolted the bracket to the rt bumper, marked the new position on the car and welded it up. I sprayed a little paint over all of that to prevent rust and I filled any extra holes with seam sealer. I left all the rear wiring the same and cut an extra light hole in each rt light to accommodate the three bulbs. I haven't checked to see how bright the turn signals are in the rear.