Hey everyone,

I have seen a few photos of S2 rear tail lights on S1 8's which look terrible. There seems to be a lot of varied information about whether they fit or not so I thought i would start this thread and give you guys the information you will need to do it properly.

First of all, my S2 lights sit in the EXACT same position as it would on an S2 rx8. Everything lines up, looks OEM no bulging or hideous gaps. To get to this, work is definitely required but its completely doable.

Rear Qtr panels 'DO NOT' need to be modified. The corner lines of the lights will match the Qtr panels perfectly. The S1 rear bumper however will not house the lights seamlessly, in fact any aftermarket rear bumper for an S1 rx8 will not house the lights. the lower corner of the lights will bulge out and it will look hideous. I really loved the S1 bumper and toyed around with the idea to modify the bumper to house the lights, but even then it would look odd and cost mega bucks.

The secret is to use an S2 rear bar, it bolts right up!! But raises some problems. The S2 bar runs slightly lower than the S1 bar, this unfortunately means that the exhaust tips will not match up to the exhaust openings on the S2 bar. You have 4 options here,

1. you can go to any exhaust shop and have the tips angled downward slightly, it is a very slight incline not noticeable from the rear but more noticeable from the sides.

2. You can have the same exhaust shop rebuild the exhaust hangers to line up the tips. Only problem here is that the OEM muffler will be lower and will scrape depending on how low the car is, in my case it would scrape on everything. Aftermarket shallower mufflers might be ok! (OEM one is a tank!!)

3. have the muffler exits re built to line up the tips perfectly. (Best option if you have a kick *** exhaust)

or 4. Get a custom exhaust, which is what I did since I was still running the stock exhaust.

Now technically speaking the S2 lights do not fit into the opening on the rear metal panel so cutting the opening to make them bigger is necessary to physically fit the S2 lights in snug. It isnt heaps of cutting and you will easily see were and how much to cut once you start trying to get the light into the opening. Also you will need to drill new holes for the light to be bolted to the chassis, very easy to do!

Stock wiring can be retained for the lights 'BUT', the connectors (Part with globe attached that twist locks on to the light assembly) will not fit on to the S2 lights assembly. these will need to be cut off, the wire ends stripped and fitted with a crimp terminal to stick into the S2 globe connectors. From memory one of the S1 globe connectors does fit into the S2 light assembly which was a nice freebee!

Finally, the rear bumper whilst bolting in no problem does have a 'BUT'. There are tabs on the rear bumper that click in to a plastic bracket running just below the light assembly. This is to ensure the bumper clicks in flush with the Qtr Panel. The tabs on the S2 bumper do not line up with the S1 bracket so you will need to purchase a s2 bracket for the bumper to click in flush. Without this the S2 bumper has a very slight raise along the Qtr panel line. Not noticeable on a black car but other colours may be more revealing. Mazda took 10 weeks to get me the brackets which I received today, so I will take photos of what I mean and other photos to aid in this post when I get to installing it tomorrow.

All in all there are many steps involved to do it right, but none of the steps are overly hard, taking it one step at a time is the way to go otherwise you will psych yourself out thinking about it all at once. Trust me, it is totally doable!

You will loose the ability to open the boot lid with a key though, as the barrel is shorter to accommodate the shallower S1 light housing. I guess you could change the barrel, but I have not once ever used the key to open the boot lid LOL.

I will post decent photos in the coming days of some of the finer details. I will say that the S2 rear bumper adds significant fatness to the rear of the car, just love it!!

 

I just want to thank you for posting this. Its a project I have been wanting to do for a while but really didnt know how to go about it. This info clears it up.
Now to search for the parts and to save for the budget.

 

I should also state that 'Tubs' from the .com.au forum performed the heavy lifting for this mod. He has completely converted his 03 into an S2. Some pics below!

 

I was very fortunate to find a wrecked S2 with perfect rear lights and bumper. The price brand new for these parts is SCARY!!

 

Cool. By rear bar do you mean rear crash bar?

 

No I mean rear bumper. Must be an Ozzie thing!

 

Ah Okay, cool. Thanks for sharing. It would look even better with the new Spirit R tail lights.

 

Thanks for posting, it's nice to see that people are still coming up with solutions like this for our cars.

 

depends what you call a solution

 

Solution as if I wanted to install an S2 style rear as specified, not my cup of tea, but it is nicely explained if someone wants to do it.

 

Looks pretty darn cool, but i will leave it the way it is.

 

uuuhh those uhhh wheels yeaaa! cool mod the tail lights.

 

Not a massive difference really, ok so the shiny plastic is painted black... Meh..

When I saw the S2 lights I couldn't resist, I could never go back to S1's..

Some photos of light assembly holes and bumper Brackets (Which bolt up no probs).

I took photos of the holes before I smoothed the cut metal and painted to make sure you can see where to cut approximately.

The white bracket is from S1!

End of the day I just want people who are keen to do this to have as much info as possible, its not for everyone but far out does the right info help when doing it!

 

Thanks for post. Great to have all the info in one thread! I did not know about the bumper bracket needing to be replaced but was aware of everything else.

 

actually, you can use Mazdatrix's rear bumper. They made it to bolt up to S2 lights.

This is a quote from their website
"Note- DOES fit on 04-08 (as shown in pictures), BUT the lights are a slightly different shape at the bottom.
Take a look at the pictures and decide if it is worth doing anything about it - we are going to leave it alone on our Time Attack car."







I used to have an S2, and its the one thing i miss about it. All in all, can you break down how much this whole project costed you?

 

Ah yes Mazdatrix, not a bad looking bumper actually!!

$1600 AU for the lights and bumper (Un painted) off a wrecked S2

$300 AU Bumper paint job

2-3 hours labour if you know what your doing (Which now you do)

$60 AU 2 x Rear bumper brackets

$120 doctors fee for Dremel kicking my ***

This doesn't include exhaust mod (depending which one you do) best to go to an exhaust shop and get this done.

 

So I didn’t realize that the S2 tail lights require cutting sheet metal. Technically I can only do a true bolt-on conversion, which apparently some people called this a bolt-on, but it’s not really in the true sense. That’s what I get for trusting the average poster here.

I have some racing reasons for wanting to use the S2 rear bumper though. Which is all I really wanted, but am unsure how an S2 rear bumper looks with S1 tail lights? I’ve only seen pics of S2 tail lights on an S1 rear bumper. Which technically the cosmetics don’t matter for the rule allowances. So rear bumper being a direct bolt-on is allowed. Just wasn’t sure if anyone might have a feel for the combination of how those two will look together.

 

I bought some of the S2 tinted look-a-likes on ChinaBay. They're designed for the s1 but fit pretty much fit pefect for the S2. So far I have had 0 issues, pretty impressed. Not taking a dremel to my car for some tail lights personally...

 

I have to use the factory parts, well I’ll probably just have to pop it on there and see for myself.

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What I am wondering is what all do I need to put a S1 rear bumper on an S2? I know that I would need the tail lights and I dont think I will need the trunk lid but what all would I need that is "under the skin" I guess you could say? I know I need the tail lights and obviously the bumper itself but would I need exhaust hangers and other stuff that wouldnt be common sense? Would I need the bash bar from an S1 aswell?

 

why? Why go through this?

 

the entire S1 bumper cover assembly, the S1 rear taillights, the two bolt-on S1 plastic mounting tabs where the bumper attaches to them at the upper corner of the rear fender wells

oh, and an S1 rear exhaust assembly because the S2 exhaust tips are positioned quite a bit differently
.

 

Because I can and I want to. I just bought an S2 for a good price so I have the a more reliable motor and 6 speed over the S1 renesis and 6 speed. To get an S1 that is in as good of shape as my S2 is, I would have paid a lot more. It was either do an S2 motor and trans swap on an S1 or an S1 front end and rear bumper swap on an S2. Now, which one will take less time and be more cost effective? I'm pretty sure that it will be doing the S1 front end and rear bumper conversion to an S2. Not to be rude or anything but when someone asks what they would need for something like this, dont question them and ask them "Why? Why go through this?" because it isnt your car. If you dont have an answer for my question then what you do is simple, just dont reply to my question.

 

you have a lot to learn still, oh and you’re welcome too
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