JK1972

Hello,
This is my first post. I have just purchased a 1992 firebird. It is in very nice shape and has a unknown ground effects package installed. I have owned several 3rd gens before.
Here is the story. The original owner says that when he purchased the car new that the optional factory ground effects had already been installed. According to him, this ground effects was a dealer installed factory option kit. I have never heard of that but the story go’s on. He claims that it was a $4K option at the time and because of the cost only two cars were ever equipped with it, one in CA and this one in WI. He also says that he thinks that the factory subcontracted some place to supply the kit.
It was not long and the front bottom of the ground effects were damaged while going up a steep driveway so he purchased a complete spare kit and used the front piece for the repair.
I now have the rest of a new nice looking ground effect kit minus the front center piece. I would like to know if anyone recognizes the kit and would have any information on the original producer of it so the missing part can be replaced. It is a high quality package made out of semi ridged material somewhat like the front nose and tail pieces on normally found on firebirds.
I was thinking about making a mold using the piece that is on the car and producing a fiberglass one if worst comes to worst.
I would like a complete kit so I could offer it for sale and recoup some of the cost of the car.
Any help is appreciated.

vistageek92

iTrader: (2)

I don't know man, But their FREAKING AWESOME!!!

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

they are the preadator kit, probably the best looking aftermarket kit ever made for the birds. 2 cars from the dealers maybe, but there are more out there, i know of 3 or 4 here on TGO

there is a guy here, forget his username, who i think would sell you his left nut for the nose pieces. He has a couple threads looking for those parts for his car and you cant find them anywhere.

the Guys name here is Red-Devil, he in overseas.

oh,i just saw your are missing the fron center piece, same as everybody else. Good luck finding one, its almost impossible

Drew

iTrader: (58)

A dealership might have installed them, but they weren't GM... And $4,000 sounds pretty funny too. They're not all that unusual. The manufacturer was Kobel fwiw.

JK1972

That makes more sense to me. I might be able to see a dealer installing and painting it for about $2K to $2,500 at the time. Thanks for the replies and the leads.
I owned several Gen 3 F bodies and always went for the all original stock stuff but this one looked so neat I thought what the hell and went for it. The car is absolutely rust free and very well taken care of. A little high on the miles at 120k. But I may work towards making it into something nicer. Probably disk rear, formula hood, and maybe LS1 if I can make it look like a factory installed job. A better suspension would also be nice, maybe find some WS6 parts. I always wanted to do something like that and this car would be a good candidate seeing as it is a plain firebird to start with. It does have a 305 TBI though. Picked it up for a good price.

okfoz

The car looks really good, the paint looks great, the only thing I will mention is the Sail Panel Bird appears to be wrong, at least on the Passenger side. Its too large, and appears to be an early 82-84 style bird (Yes they are slightly different), looks good tho.

John

80schild

iTrader: (5)

Looks like an aftermarket "Firebird" decal on the fender too.

JK1972

The badges are not original, the car was repainted. The bird on the sail panel and the Firebird that you see on the fender are not decals but painted on before the clear coat. It don't surprise me that they would not look like the originals. A custom paint shop did the work. It looks pretty good and cost the last owner a bunch. I would not say it is an extreme show finish but very nice and respectable. The Aqua color is about the prettyest I have ever seen.

camarosrock1989

iTrader: (1)

It looks like the stang ground effects... Just saying

Red-Devil

I only need the front spoiler / air dam gfx from the Kobel Predator kit.
But I`m interested also the whole kit ( this extra kit you have with or without fiberglass front center piece ).
If you want to sell it I`m interested, please let me know.
Sent PM.

Red-Devil

JK1972

Its been awhile but I didi get the fiberglass mold made and have a couple of parts produced.
One of the parts in the3 mold shown in the attachment.

JK1972

Ok I have the parts out of the mold. Shown are two pieces, one of them is in primer and getting ready to get painted and re-installed on my bird. The other pics show the fit to one of the side pieces that I have in the spare GFX kit, a nice fit. The last one is showing the dimension that I have a concern about for fit on your bird. More misc. photos in the following post.
RD check you PM

JK1972

More Pics

Red-Devil

Looking good, really good. I will try to answer your PM today or tomorrow. I have just been extremely busy at work.