Has anyone ever swapped 87-93 Mustang quarter trim to SVO?

[phils85svo]

My interior quarter panel trim (runs from back seat to hatch) has seen better days. About a year ago I bought a pair of these trim panels from an 1990 LX, complete with the hatch trim (covers the tail light access, two pieces) and the 90 trim pieces are in excellent condition. I would like to paint the 90 LX trim the charcoal grey, the same color as the rest of the SVO interior and swap it in to replace me degraded SVO trim. I am eventually going to restore my original SVO trim.

I know the trim will actually fit, but there is one area that is very different and that is the quarter window access. The 87-93 have a smaller quarter window due to a different design. I was wondering has ever made this swap and overcame this obstacle? I was thinking about actually swapping to the 87-93 style quarter windows and tracking down some of the Saleen SVO sail panels from the 87-?? Saleen Mustangs. They were self adhered to the 87-93 quarter windows.

I know there will be some out there that would highly frown upon this because they are purists, but I think it would look great!

Anyone care to chime in?

thanks, Phil

[dagenham]

I didnt even know about the Saleen sail panels until I saw a car in Charlotte last month. It looked pretty good.
I know the area around the 1/4 window looks to stick out a lot compared to the SVO, and I am wondering about the back seat fitting in.

[phils85svo]

I don't think the back seat bottom itself will be an issue. Check out these pics....

http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/x400/phils89sc/87-93GTBackSeat_zpse770bba6.jpg This is the 87-93 back seat
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/x400/phils89sc/SVObackseat_zps790f5ab0.jpg This is the 79-86 style

I think the seat itself will fit fine, just gotta figure out what to do with the quarter window trim.

[svono50]

I haven't done it, but a friend of mine back in the day tried it in his 84 GT. If I remember right the opening in the 87-93 panel is actually a bit smaller, but that was a solid 20 years ago. He first started by looking to retrofit the 87-93 rear quarter glass in, but the front edge mounting screws for that glass would be visible in the opening of the 84 trim panel. He could only find 1 good interior panel, so we never got things finished and he ended up keeping the stock setup when he had the car painted. The seat backs fit right in no problem, it was simply an issue around the quarter window. Let us know what you work out.

[phils85svo]

Yeah, I took my passenger side quarter panel trim out (original 85) and put in the 89 panel and everything is good save for the quarter window area. What I am going to try to do is trim back the plastic in the 89 panel around the quarter window opening by about an inch maybe, whatever it takes to allow that panel to fit up against the quarter glass. Once I get this trimmed, I am going to measure it out against the window, then tint or even spray the area around the inside of the quarter window, so looking into the car, you will not see the gap between the panel and the edge of the glass. This may sound ghetto-fabulous, but I think in the end it will look pretty good.

[svono50]

From 5 feet I doubt you would even notice the difference. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[Mallethead]

This is awesome! My 85 interior quarters have seen much better days! I am going to a pull it junk yard to see about getting some GT or LX panels. Thanks again!!

[phils85svo]

This is awesome! My 85 interior quarters have seen much better days! I am going to a pull it junk yard to see about getting some GT or LX panels. Thanks again!!

Here is an update on my swap to the 87-93 interior quarter trim. I have just about got the swap done, and there are a a few more items that need to be addressed than just the quarter window area. There are some screw holes that don't line up just right, especially in the hatch area. i will post more on those tomorrow. I have some pics of my progress and will post them tomorrow.

[Mallethead]

Phil,
Just wondering how it came out...did you fill in the plastic screw holes and redrill, or did you find a better option? Did you ever take pics?

[phils85svo]

I do have some pics. Still haven't permanently mounted everything up. The screw are hard to get in there lots of the time because they are blind holes and you kind of have to move around alot to get the screws in there just right. Here are some pics thus far...

The only major change I made thus far to the quarter panel mounting was to the screw hole about mid way down the hatch (pictured close up). Since the attachment point on the body itself was so far off, What I did was take and cut a small rectangular section of aluminum, a little thicker than sheetmetal, about 3 inches long and would fit behind the original mounting pad. I pop-riveted it to the pad so it acts like an extension basically. I then aligned the trim and drilled out a new hole through the 87-93 original quarter panel hole into the extended piece and ran the factory screw into it. This way, no filling or modification is needed to the new quarter trim panels. I will try to take a pic tonight to show you what I mean.