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02 Roundie body shell versus Square - difference?


2002ftw

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Hi folks,

 

did a search and couldnt find an answer.. apart from the obvious difference with the rear panel, are there any other differences between the bodyshell of say a '72 roundie versus a '73 square light 2002, would it be possible to use the '73 bodyshell and transplant everything from the '72 into it (having welded in the correct rear panel)

 

thanks

Edited by 2002ftw
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I'm assuming that you mean '74 as '73 was the last yr for roundies?

 

If so, the rear panel as you mentioned, the trunk floor and interior of the rear qtr panels which are all reinforced, the trunk lid as the roundel was moved from the tail panel to the lid in '74 and the nose which is stamped differently for the revised plastic grills, center kidney grill and bumper shocks.

 

I think that's it?

 

Sent from my LGMP260 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

'74 Sahara/Beige 2002 HS car, long, long ago...

'73 Polaris/Navy 2002 tii lost to Canada

'73 Malaga/Saddle 2002 current project

'73 Taiga/Black 2002 tii in my dreams

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Thanks. I was told it was a 1973 but he may be mistaken must be 1974 or later.

So would I have to replace the front panel as well? Or can it be adapted to accept the 1972 grills and centre kidney / bumper? Also when you say the rear qtr panels are reinforced, do you mean reinforced on the square light shell?, does that mean no action needed, or does the reinforcement affect interior trim fit etc?

I must clarify these are euro cars. Would that make any difference?

Edited by 2002ftw
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16 hours ago, Gordon said:

If these are Euro cars, it should not make a difference except for the rear panel.

 

 

 

And, for the sake of completeness, you’ll still need to swap or modify the front panel...

 

A few people have massaged front panels from the early (round taillight) style to the late (square taillight) style, or vice versa, but swapping the entire nosepiece (between the front fenders) is probably more common as a solution. “Correcting” nosepieces is not a frequent practice, but it happens occasionally.

 

Although the square taillight’s rear panel is distinctly different, you will find that the quarter panels did not change with the round-to-square facelift. The photos below show my quite-original ‘76 during its recent Big Re-Paint, notice the round taillight cut-outs on the original quarter panels: these are covered over by the large square taillights.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

FFC0E4F4-8149-489D-B18D-A701D69D378A.jpeg

0731D108-5469-461D-B6BD-5ED9980D1158.jpeg

Edited by Conserv
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1976 2002 Polaris, 2742541 (original owner)

1973 2002tii Inka, 2762757 (not-the-original owner)

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Squarelights have welded-in battery boxes, while on roundies they're  bolted in.  And if you're doing the swapping, the doors on the squearelight have impact beams, and the roundie doors don't. 

 

The reinforcements in the US squarelight trunk sides and floor (to support those 5 mph bumpers) won't affect using the trunk floor panels, gas tank etc from the earlier car; however, you may have to do a little finagling to fit chrome bumpers in front if you want 'em the same height as they're fitted on a roundie.  Lots of material in the archives on how to do this...

 

mike

'69 Nevada sunroof-Wolfgang-bought new
'73 Sahara sunroof-Ludwig-since '78
'91 Brillantrot 318is sunroof-Georg Friederich 
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If you have the necessary welding skills, to modify the front nose panel from '74 to earlier you can use just the centre section. However, I think the spacing for the 4 (each side) left & right grill mounting points maybe different.

350568826_FrontNoseweldsection-early.jpg.13716eacc0cee56055dd6f5ac7844b7b.jpg

Edited by 02Les

Les

'74 '02 - Jade Touring (RHD)

'76 '02 - Delk's "Da Beater"

FAQ Member #17

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6 hours ago, 2002ftw said:

thanks-so if we assume we are not going to finagle or massage, am i correct in summarising that we would need a '70-'73 front panel, rear quarter panels and the rear panel in order to convert a euro square to a roundie? 

 

Almost:

 

You need a round taillight front panel, which is the same for the 1966 through 1973 model years. And you need a round taillight rear panel, which is the same for the 1966 through 1973 model years.

 

The rear quarter panels are un-changed from 1966 through 1977, so you are not changing quarter panels. (My prior post was intended to illustrate that square taillight cars continued to use the same quarter panels as round taillight cars.)

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited by Conserv

1976 2002 Polaris, 2742541 (original owner)

1973 2002tii Inka, 2762757 (not-the-original owner)

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7 minutes ago, tzei said:

This i haven't seen on euro cars/doors. Does somebody have a pic of these?

 

The impact beams are only on U.S.-spec cars.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited by Conserv

1976 2002 Polaris, 2742541 (original owner)

1973 2002tii Inka, 2762757 (not-the-original owner)

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In addition to what the others mentioned, the square tail car body shells also had holes drilled for the rear (and also front) bumper accordion trim and the black side trim that fits between the accordion and the wheel well arch in the rear.  Additionally on US spec square tail cars the front subframe is reinforced and built differently to accommodate the bumper shocks and the trunk floor is also modified to accommodate the rear bumper shocks. 

Edited by Brandon

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