I dont want to talk about what happened. I'm still in shock, really. Anyways, I want to try to repair the bumper. I think the hood is a lost cause, in which case I will pull the vents off and try to sell them to cover SOME of the costs I am about to encur. But yeah I want to try to fix this bumper rather than having to pay for a new one, and the shipping and all that. So is there a good way to fix a urethane bumper? Is it like other plastics where I can use acetone to rebond it? The other thing I need help with is the hood. I know I wont be able to find a TA hood around here, but I have always wanted a cowl hood. So what I was thinking I could do is get a base firebird hood and put a harwood fiberflass cowl on it, or possibly an ABS one from Summit. I like the price and the dimensions of the Summit one a little better. I already read through those two threads on how to attatch a scoop like that, but they didnt really help me. I know some guys will tell me not to, but I do NOT have the money to buy a complete cowl hood, nor do I have the money to buy a TA hood and pay to have it shipped. So what would be the best way to mount a fiberglass/abs plastic cowl to a stock hood? Thanks

All i can say is daaaaaaamn . Looks like you ran under neath the back end of a truck.

Anyways, about the plastic repair, there's a sticky here that you can go to to try and fix it but looks like you might need a new bumber.

And for the hood, if you want a cowl i'd wait, it'd be easier to find a normal firebird hood, cut out the vent slots and put the old vents in. Or if you want to go ahead and try and add a cowl be my guest. It's going to be more work though

Well I'm willing to give it a shot. I think I already know all what's involved, and I already have most of it planned out in my head. And the thing about the vents is that one in the front is in fact cracked. Hey how do they come out, anyway? I couldnt figure it out.

And yeah, the truck was fine. The guy got out, told me he was fine, looked at his truck, told me it was fine, said sorry for the bad luck, and took off.

And then my dad nearly killed me dead.

i bet........who paid for the car?

lmao so i was right about the truck. I couldn't exactly tell you how the vents come out, i don't have a bird so i wouldn't know. And if one of the vents is cracked then i'd say go for the cowl also. It's worth a shot.

And also for the bumper, see if you could find some fiberglass or something to lay over the seems when you're done repairing it (not bondo). That should help strengthen it so it doesn't crack again.

Where in Canada are you?
I can get you new parts cheap, if you are in B.C

I did. I'm not one of those kids who got daddy to pay for everything. Matter of fact, Daddy hasnt paid for anything.

I'm in Alberta... If that works?

post some more pics...maybe with the hood up and some pics around where the fender meets the doors

doesnt look too too bad.

I just had a wrect myself, cars comin back tommaro and its costing me around $900-1100. Thats not including what the other car cost...

good luck man.

Ok here we go.. The finder to door gap is fine. Exactly the same as it is on the other side. Oh and I cant get the hood open. I think the latch is screwed so I have to crawl under and try to get it to release by hand.






This one I'm leaving higher res. See the fiberglass in there?



Ok, off to the junkyard. And thanks for all the support guys.

o man that sucks so bad, at least their wont be any isurance stuff that you have to pay out or higher premiums. I think get a cowl hood, dont mold one , and get new fenders or just a new fender and get a bra for the car, then you dont have to worry about fixing it , i think the bra would be the best and easiest, but if you have to get a new hood and fender painted why not get a new nose and have it done too.

That's not that bad. A junkyard around here would charge $50 for a fender, $75 for a bumper and $100 for a hood. You'd be better off getting a new bumper becuase when they flex the repair section may break. Ask me how I know...

Heh well I just got back.

I got:

- a Firebird hood ($34.99) Stock no vents. This will be what I mold the cowl to. [I do not have the money for an actual fiberglass one. trying to do this repair for as cheap as possible]

- a Firebird fender ($34.99) Again, just a base model one. But I think I can cut a hole in it for the vent and attatch the mounts for the GFX pretty easy.

- 2 perfect signal lights (really freaking hard to find around here)

- a headlight assembly with the door. But I dont know if it will work. It's broken and I cant figure out how it goes together so I will have to probably go back soon and keep looking

And all this came to about 100 bucks, canadian. So I'm pretty happy. I'm going to shave off the antenna on the new fender and remove my power one. I'm a teacher's assistant at a highschool shop so I will get my students to sand the fender and the hood. Then I dont know what to do about the bumper. I guess I will have to call some other wreckers and ask around..

All in all, I think I had a pretty good run.

And after doing more research on bonding a fiberglass/plastic scoop to a metal hood, I am afraid. So I have started trying to think of different things I can do. One thought that crossed my mind was to buy a metal cowl, but I cant find any. So I was thinking, What if I made something out of wood that was solid and shaped like the cowl I want, and then got some sheet metal and heated it and bent it over the wood, like a mold? Then I can take the wood out and bam, metal cowl to weld to my new junkyard hood. Thoughts?

sorry to hear about the car it was a good lookin car. anyway as far as the hood goes just throw the stock bird one on for now and save up for a new hood for later on. the base fender you can get the gfx to attached by adding the hardware from your old fender but the vent is a diff sorry. for the vent you need to graft the mounting hole from you fender onto the new one. i did it once its not that hard. your going to need a bumper for sure. there is no easy reliable way to repair yours. if it was just a few small crackes maybe but theres chunks missing. it would be cheaper to find a new one. and what ever you do dont mold a cowl onto the hood. it will crack in no time thes cars flex like crazy.
matt

Sorry about your car. But atleast the core support did not get messed up. One up side. I agree about replaceing the bumper. I'm real good at fixing bumper and that one would get a new one. And also agree about the hood. Just put the stock one on for now till get some more cash for a fiberglass one. U will be out more money if it cracks on u alot more money. Good luck hope it works out for ya

Alright, screw trying to mold a cowl on. I'm still thinking a metal one might be cool. The thing is, I do NOT want to spend money on the looks of the car. I mean, I want it to look good to an extent, but I would never spend the money on a fiberglass hood, because that money would be way better spent on the engine. I have all the supplies needed to fab a steel one at my shop, so after spring break I will start playing around with that. If I can get one made up that looks good, I'll be set.

As for the bumper... Damn. Will start phoning salvage yards, I guess...

ouch! geez, and all the snow is melting now... that's gotta hurt...


I'd say to make out of wood/cardboard an idea for your cowl. set it on the hood where you want it. glue it down or something (this is after grinding to bare metal 3" or so around where you want the cowl. cover with tinfoil.
lay down fiberglass with resin a few layers thick. then using an angle grinder, cut the metal out beneath. out will come your mold and you'll be left with a cowl induction hood. then just bondo it smooth and sand the crap out of it. primer and match the paint.
then seal it to your air cleaner however you like.


what about structural damage? none? no cracked rad or anything eh? lemme know how your noseclip goes, mine is dented and kinda chewed up, and i'd love to fix it rather then replacing it....

which fender did you get? right/left? are both messed up?
Well you're lucky, you have a (well equipped?) high school shop, with lackeys. rock on. -J

heh just the one fender is fuxx0red. And there is absolutely no structural damage. The bumper cover looks fine, the rad support, everything is all fine. The hood even latches.

I love my lackeys that had to get me to show them where the oil drain plug is...

"Where is the drain plug?"

"It's over there. On the bottom of the oil pan on the other side"

"Where is the oil pan?"

"uh, on the bottom of the engine?"

"oh.. is it that bolt sticking out?"

"...yes, yes it is."

Ouch I would be suprised if the frame wasnt bent down some in the front. Actually im pretty sure it is by looking at it i would get that checked.

make it look better then before.....you have the technology!! i think....

DOOO ITTT........sorry, had to show everyone

*chases you around, swinging his gimped fender around above his head*

you ever get the hood up? The vents, if i remember correctly, are just held on by 4 self cutting nuts in the underside of the hood. Now that i'm thinking about it i think it's only 2. I dont have a pontiac so im not positive but i got a set of vents for the camaro awhile back from one of those hoods and i think thats all it was. like the front slide sown into a notch type deal and the back bolted down. Come on pontiac guys help him out

Just take the hood insulation off and look you'll see it.

Ok I'll take a look today. The hood actually even latches properly. Well you have to push on it a bit, but it does latch.

I bought that base model Firebird hood the other day, and I was going to put it on, but it's brownish grey and has some small rust spots on it, and I just couldnt bring myself to do it. Have to remove the hinge to get the fender off anyway.

What do you guys think about my sheetmetal cowl idea? Or failing that, does anyone know someone who sells sheet metal weld-on cowls?

K I have also been thinking about the cowl idea, and how I would paint it. One thing I was thinking of is what if I got a fiberglass cowl, riveted it on and just sanded the edges of the cowl to smoothly meet up with the hood? Then I would need little to no extra bondo/fiberglass... Also, what if I left the whole thing primer black? Then I could wait a few months and see if I have any problems and then address them as needed. After that, Maybe I would paint it black to go with the black spoiler, roof, and the rims I plan on painting black...



Opinions? I know it's a REALLY awful photoshop but I just made it real quick before I had to go to work last night.. If you squint, it looks ok.

Core support looks bent down in this pic.

If u do the black hood u have to to the headlight doors black to. Don't look right with them white. And about riviting the cowl on. Are these hoods strong enuff to cut that much of it out with out if bowing in?

I think so. I would only cut a circle above the air cleaner out, and I would leave all the supports intact. If I was worried, I could always weld in some extra supports. Then I just need to find a way to seal the hole to the air cleaner. Or raise up the air cleaner outside the hole and weld supports all around the hole where I would have to cut them out.


I'm going to go have a look at that core support right now.

edit: I think everything is ok in there.


In this one you can see the rad support bowed up a bit, but it's always been that way.





Actually, those pictures do make it look a little messed up. But it looks fine in person. *shrug* Keep in mind, I'm pretty sure this thing was hit in the front once before... Oh and in the pics the battery has been moved forward. It doesnt actually sit like that.

hey man, if your looking for exact match paint, PPG behind canadian tire is friggen awsome. When I had some body work done I went there and it matched up perfectly.

But yea, did you find that hood at pick-and-pull?

edit:

http://motorsportspartsusa.com/Merch...ct_Code=SC0012

Havent gone yet. I was just leaving...

Ouch theres def a lil bendage in there would be nice to get a new core support but first you would need to pull the frame some.

i had a wreck simiular to that one. ran under a truck. crumbled the hood the same way, and completely tore apart both headlights and turn signals. the bumper was cracked at the top and the fenders bent inwards due to the radiator support being bent in. all i did was switch out the damaged parts and bend the radiator support back. other people here at TGO are still waiting on the pics. i posted it under here: http://thirdgen.org/techbb2/showthre...rt+%2Bproblems

Yeah all I intend to do is replace the bumper, hood and fender. Oh and the headlight and signal light, of course. Then we'll see how everything is sitting on the car and take it from there.

Do you have to remove the headlights to remove the bumper or can it be done from underneath or something?

any luck at pap?

Nope. The hood is exactly the same as the one I already bought. I was thinking it would be a turbo hood, but it wasnt a trans am it was a Firebird lol. And it didnt even have the vented fender. Oh well.

To start off, I am sorry about your car. Hopefully it wont be too bad, it is a nice car. Anyways, I dont think I would recommend thefiberglass hood clip. I have been told that if you bondo it on the heat and vibration start to crack over time and that of course would mess of your paint and look really bad. I would go on a spring for the whole fiberglass hood. In the long run you might be better off. I was going to do that at first till I was told that so I just saved a little longer and I am glad I did. I love my hood... even though I still dont have it lined up just right yet. If I am remember right those fiberglass hood clips are still like a $100 or so. I got my hood on e-bay. They are cheaper on there than from the actual website. Mine came from American Sports Car Design. Good Luck!

Yeah I've abandoned that idea. I think I might just do the shaker hood mod. I've always wanted to, but until recently I havent had the time to figure out how it would all work. Now that I have that sorted out, that'll probably be the path I take.

WELL SOOOOoooOOORRRRRY

No worries.


Now I just need to find a shaker hood scoop...Or make one...

Arghh ,sorry to here bout that man but at least your ok.theres a hood just like that at pap down the street but im over here in cali....good luck man

Thanks. Lol you got me really excited for a sec, until you said Cali.

But oh well. I'm going to make the basemodel hood work. I just won a shaker scoop off eBay. It's a late 70's one, so it isnt functional, but all I have to do is dremmel out the back and bam, functional. I knew that dremmel would come in handy again.

The best part is that I got it for like $25.00 and a little fiberglass repair and some paint and she'll look brand new. There's no gasket, but I dont care. I'll just go rip the weatherstriping out of a trunk at the JY and use that. This is going to be sooooooo cool.

Wrecked cars are blessings in disguise. I crashed my baby and ended up getting a good price on a V8. I'm sorry to hear about the accident but atleast you are ok and the frame is fine.

Yeah, gotta be positive.


UPDATE:

I have the new hood on, and the fender off. Am in the process of sanding the new fender down. What I need to know is, how the heck can I transfer the air extractor to the new fender? Now that I see how it goes on.. Just a hole cut out and a lip, and two clips. But I have no clue how to reproduce this.. Any ideas?

I would guess, use a plasma cutter, or angle grinder with zip disk, cut a hole smaller, with slits outwards, then bend in for lip. paint and seal bare metal, then use a 90 degree drill to drill holes. that's just a guess...

the point of my post here, is that i'm going to be smoothing out dents in my 1/4 panel, and replacing my chipped vent ( I have an extra one sitting around), so if you were planning on taking pictures of your repair, i'm sure they'd come in handy

I had thought about doing this, and it wouldn't be too hard if you traced the pattern from a good fender, cut it out, and flanged the edges like the factory fender. I have an air powered flanging tool that is perfect for this (its made to put a step in the panel for ease of welding). I porbably would have done it by now, but a buddy of mine got me some new repro fenders for $40 a piece (cost), so that project is on the back burner for now. Still, I think I could get the vent right in about an hour or so.

Sure, I can do that. I'll also be smoothing some dents out, and shaving the antenna while I'm at it.

Sweet jesus that's awesome. I didnt know such a thing existed. Well, off to go see if I can get one, I guess..

Yes they make them. They are a air punch. One side makes a hole and the other side makes the flange. I think they sell them at sears.

Ahh. I had been looking around and had only found huuuuge ones. Though if that falls through, my next thought is to take a block of wood and cut it in half, with a little curve in the middle, so I can put each half on each side of the fender and hit it with a hammer so it will press the two pieces together and form the lip that I need..

I think mine was about $60 from a local industrial tool supplier. Had it for years, works great. The punch is perfect for duplicating spot welds when doing sheetmetal work too; just punch and fill the hole with weld.