I know it can be expensive, but I'm going to have to remove the S wing and supports from my 83 anyway to have some paint work done. My S wing was new in 1996 and has been garaged ever since, so it still looks great and I should be able to sell it to help combat the costs.

I know I have to replace the rear quarter window seals and all the trim pieces, but I can't figure out what pieces I need to mount an S4 or GTS wing to my 83.

Also, are there any aftermarket universal type wing options available that don't ook like they belong on a Civic?

Anyone who has done this conversion please chime in....

 

I'm currently working on undoing the damage caused by the 5spd's PO who tried this conversion on the cheap - with a big hammer.

Have a look at some of the pics on my 5spd web page to see what I am describing here.

Yes, you need to change the seals and the metal trim but to do it properly you need to change the glass too. The S glass has a blacked out wedge coresponding to the area covered by the old spoiler - once the spoiler's gone you can see it. There's a steel spoiler mounting lug that sticks out from the lower edge of the window that needs removed. I don't know yet whether it's a seperate part or integral. Removing the side 'tails' of the spoiler also leaves a couple of holes in the quarter panel that need fixed.

Removing the S spoiler from the hatch is easy - it's held on by numerous cross head screws and 4 hex nuts. You have to refit S4 metal edge trim (with the same screws and holes) around the edge of the glass.

There is a problem in fixing an S4 spoiler to an earlier hatch. The S4 hatch has a recess on each side to give clearance for the four spoiler fixing bolts, the earlier hatches which lack this recess don't have room to fit the bolts. On my 5spd page you can see the PO's solution!

As part of my leak fixing I am taking the opportunity to do this change properly. I have a replacement S4 hatch, side glass and trim turning up next week. I'm getting this from a breakers yard for £200 ($300). I will get new window seals from porsche and I aim to be fitting this sometime next week. I will post some pics of my progress.

Cheers
DaveW

 

Now that I've had a chance to look at my S spoiler, I can see what you are talking about. My problem is that I will need to remove the left and right side spoilers to have the paint fixed. I'm leary about putting the S spoiler back and having the same damage re-occur. It's caused by vibration of the mounting bracket braking the seal on the paint and letting water get between the paint layers. Switching to an S4 or GTS spoiler would solve this problem.

How are you addressing the rear wiper? Did you get an a wiper arm, etc, with the S4 hatch?

replacing my S hatch with an S4 hatch would solve another problem. The cellphone antenna was mounted to the hatch, so that's wouldn't need to be fixed.

 

Double Post

 

As far as I know the the actual wiper arm mechanism is the same on all models. What might change (and I'm not sure about this until I see the new hatch) is that the spigots that the arm mounts on may be longer on the S to give extra clearance for the thickness of the spoiler. If you take the spoiler off the wiper arm may look as if it's sticking out too far.

The only downer with getting a replacement hatch is having to repaint, unless you are lucky or persistent enough to track down the correct colour. I've also been warned to make sure to use new gaskets on the hinges to avoid future leaks.

I've got an old cellphone antenna stuck to my windscreen - wonderful 80's technology!

Cheers
DaveW

 

Well, black was a fairly common color. Problem is that finding a 928 in a junker yard here is next to impossible. I may move this to the back burner depending on what the local paint shop says about the fix.

Now, if I ran across a black S4 "parts" car.....

 

I have a black S4 wing I'd like to sell. It's an aftermarket wing, someone had mounted it on my 86 above the stock wing for a biplane effect. I removed it. It appears to be an S4 wing but fiberglass. I'm not sure what it's worth... $300?

I took some pics:

<a href="http://jilawww.colorado.edu/~frahm/wing1.jpg" target="_blank">http://jilawww.colorado.edu/~frahm/wing1.jpg</a>
<a href="http://jilawww.colorado.edu/~frahm/wing2.jpg" target="_blank">http://jilawww.colorado.edu/~frahm/wing2.jpg</a>
<a href="http://jilawww.colorado.edu/~frahm/wing3.jpg" target="_blank">http://jilawww.colorado.edu/~frahm/wing3.jpg</a>
<a href="http://jilawww.colorado.edu/~frahm/wing4.jpg" target="_blank">http://jilawww.colorado.edu/~frahm/wing4.jpg</a>

-Joel

 

When I updated my '83, I used an aftermarket S4 wing. It's a fibergalss job from<a href="http://www.americaninternationalracing.com/" target="_blank">A.I.R.</a> They have a crappy website - it's just scans of their crappy catalog!

Since I was doing a respray, I had a bodyshop fill in the holes and replace the seals. The seals are available, but the retaining trim for the rear glass is hard to find.

Good luck