Decimus Meridias

iTrader: (5)

Hey all...long time member, frequent reader, occasional commenter, and owner of a gold 96 black leather 5 speed. I apologize in advance, there will be some rambling in this post. I have been looking for an 03 HLSD for years (contemplated many cross country trips to get many different cars that were for sale, but didn't commit until now). Finally found one this week in my town of Billings, MT! It is an 2003 silver SE 6 speed HLSD with almost every option (heated seats/steering wheel/mirrors, sunroof, black leather, etc.) It has 175k so it is burning oil, but I can swap engines later (will probably do 2nd gen DE swap from 10-14 max). My main question is how many things can I swap from my 4th gen to my 5th gen? My 4th gen has front and rear upper strut bars, rear sway bar, Tokico Illuminas with Custom Enterprise lowering springs. I already swapped the sway bar. I'm assuming the fstb and rstb will also swap over. Any idea if the struts/shocks/springs will swap over as well? Also, I'd appreciate commentary on what you think my 4th gen is worth (plan to sell fairly soon, has hail damage, and dings, I know you need pics to give an opinion). It has been 00vi swapped (upper and lower intake, 01 injectors and rail, no egr, stock 96 ecu street tuned with vafc2), stainless ebay headers, stock cat-back, and if the suspension doesn't transfer from 4th-5th gen, it will come with a nice setup. Will try to post some pics soon, because of course every thread is worthless without them. I'd appreciate any thoughts.

JSutter

iTrader: (46)

The front strut bar will not clear the intake plenum without modifying the mounting brackets or using some sort of spacer.
The rear strut bar won't fit without modifying the mounting brackets. The 5th gen has a bigger rear upper strut mount with wider spaced studs.
The springs will work. Use the A32 rear struts (larger spring seat), A32 rear springs (larger bottom coil), with the A33 upper mounts.
Front struts would need to be modded. The lower knuckle bolt spacing is wider on the A33. This was a common mod before the aftermarket caught up.

If you have a welder you can get it all set pretty easily. If you don't, then leave the stuff on the old car and buy new parts.

schmellyfart

iTrader: (46)

I would advise against installing 4th gen suspension (springs/struts) on a 5th gen. The 5th gen is a heavier car and may sit lower and ride on the bumpstops more than it did on the 4th gen.
source: buddy of mine "back in the day" had a 5.5 gen on 2" drop springs and was upgrading to coilovers, so naturally we tried putting them on my 4th gen. The car sat ridiculously high, close to stock ride height.
I went the opposite way and it didn't end well, I dont expect any better results in your situation.

Other parts worth transferring over:
SAFC, rear sway bar, headers/ypipe (will need 2 extra o2 bungs welded in and an exhaust hanger).