84 Compatbility - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

Unchained88 · 07-03-2009, 01:48 PM

Hey, I've got an 84 Trans Am that my brother backed into

the other day, and it pushed the nose into the fender a bit. The pass. side fender has a pretty good dent in it, but the front clip is pushed about an inch into the pass. fender.

Needless to say I'm going to have to get a new front nose and a new passenger side fender, but I was wondering what years were compatible? It's an 84, so it doesnt have the grill on the nose like the 82's & 83's, but would it be compatible with later years like 88 or 89? Theres a couple people parting out later 80's third gens locally, and I was wondering what would fit my 84.

Thanks!

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armdale · 07-03-2009, 02:13 PM

Ill Give this a try, 1983 and 1984 have the same parts. 1985 is the same except for the driving lights in the lower air dam. 1983 had grillls in the bumper cover as well as 1984. 1984 trans am also had a solid panel. The HSLA stuff [ metal -High Strength low alloy] parts that allow the car to absorb crash energy and redirect it is model specific.[check with a parts manual. The radiator core support is an HSLA and I think the same on 1983 1nd 1984. All HSLA with and damage should be replaced. They will not have the ability to work correctly and save you from injuries if you dont. Also, they will make allignments much harder. They may also do something rude like allow a hole to wear through you radiator.

Thirdgen Ranch · 07-03-2009, 02:17 PM

Yes, you can put a later style bumper and fender on it. However, if you do, you'll have a little problem with your driver's fender. The upper mounting hole on the 82-84 fenders sticks out a little farther than the later fenders. Because of that, an '85 and later front bumper won't sit flush with an 82-84 fender. So you will either have to modify your driver's fender to work or change both fenders to the later style.

I've attached a couple pictures so you can see the difference. The red one is an 82-84 fender and you can see how the mounting point sticks out much farther than on the later fender.

armdale · 07-03-2009, 02:20 PM

Also, HSLA's are temperture sensitive. Dont just drill out the spot welds and then weld them back. You need to use a spot welder for this job. POP rivets will shear off and defeat the crush engineering. If you know someone with a body shop ask them fr an old crash manual for your model. It lists the parts, part numbers, and has the information you seek. A parts exchange manual does too. Junk yards usually have them and will probablly tell you what will fit.

1piece@atime · 07-04-2009, 07:19 PM

Since the front bumper cover is plastic unless it's really bad or torn, I'd take it off, remove the metal reinforcement on the inner edge and warm the cover up and see if the damage comes out. You could even do it on the car after you remove the fender.

Unchained88 · 08-14-2009, 12:09 PM

Hey guys, sorry to revive an old thread, but I've finally got pictures of specifically what I'm talking about. Here it is:

Like I said, the front clip just got pushed into the fender a bit. I had to cut a small slit in the passenger side so the headlight would flip up. They both flip up fine now, except the pass. headlight assembly casing is broken pretty bad, you can move it around a bit with your hands. The air deflector under the front end is hanging a little too, but I might still be able to use it.

Question is, Does anyone know what I'm better off doing with this? I went to a local body shop, and they quoted $800 just in labor, they couldnt even find the parts anywhere. It's only once in a very blue moon you see an 82-84 Trans Am in my area, and I havent had any luck since this happened. If anybody knows a good place to get these parts, please help me out, cause I've been looking and I cant find them anywhere.

1piece@atime · 08-14-2009, 07:59 PM

That all looks repairable to me. Once you get the bumper off you could repair the front edge of the fender. The bumper looks like it just flexed so much the paint came off. If you didn't cut it too much to get the light open it should still be good.

midnightebwx · 08-17-2009, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thirdgen Ranch

Yes, you can put a later style bumper and fender on it. However, if you do, you'll have a little problem with your driver's fender. The upper mounting hole on the 82-84 fenders sticks out a little farther than the later fenders. Because of that, an '85 and later front bumper won't sit flush with an 82-84 fender. So you will either have to modify your driver's fender to work or change both fenders to the later style.

I've attached a couple pictures so you can see the difference. The red one is an 82-84 fender and you can see how the mounting point sticks out much farther than on the later fender.

So if i'm reading correctly. I would guess that an 85 and up driver's fender woulden't have a problem on an 82-84 bumper?