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Hello,
First post here. How's it going? I'm Avi.
I'm a female college student with a college budget.
I do detailing and interior work.
I've got an 89' base model firebird and I'm looking to jazz up the interior.
I don't want to make it K.I.T.T style, but I do want to change up from the base.
I'm looking for LED gauge recommendations, shifter *****, color themes, anything that could help me get some inspiration for my interior.
I'm thinking of color-scheming purple, black, and silver OR keeping the traditional orange, black, silver color-scheme.
Here's a picture of my firebird and my ride-or-die chow chow, Maverick. :)
black and silver are timeless
black and gold are definitely firebird colors
some higher end gta/trans am mesh wheels would
look lovely on your car.
dakota digital make aftermarket digital gauges(but most prefer the anolog/old style as they are more period correct)
99.999% of users on thirdgen.org despise any random painting of interior parts .so any strange,goofy,unnatural or not available stock
colors are definitely NOT RECOMMENDED as it instantly adds a very trashy element and R I C E R syndrome(adding things with no purpose)
to the timeless look of these cars.check out the forums and members cars and especially "third gen of the month
" as it features the best of the best in a kind of shootout to find the winner.its a great inspiration.its best to save and
do things the best you possibly can as you can afford it rather than adding random autozone stickers and add ons.
these are all personal opinions/suggestions and you are welcome to do whatever you wish of course.
Last edited by 1986BANDIT; 10-04-2019 at 06:51 PM.
forgot to mention,your car looks great for being a 30+ year old automobile.enjoy it and the fact you are rolling around in a piece of history that looks cool as beans!!
Take some inspiration from other cars, the Italians do it really well. Restraint is the key. When Alfa Romeo has a two toned interior typically only the seats and part of the door panel is a different color.
LED bulbs would be a cool and cheap upgrade.
You can wire in a rearview mirror with reading lights. Or upgrade to other options your car didn't come with.
I also have an '89 base model Firebird with crank windows and the whole shabang of base-ness. Really the interiors are very similar between base model car and top of the line Trans Am other than seats. All I did was install some leather seats and it was amazing how it classed up the place. 3rd or 4th gen seats bolt in place. Mine happen to be '99 Trans Am seats with the air bladders. I also grabbed the 4th gen seat belts for color match. Tinted windows help the overall appearance too.
My suggestion is KEEP IT SIMPLE and KEEP IT CLEAN. Sometimes keeping the soul of an old car is what makes it cool (instead of modernizing it). Everything should have a purpose - no gimmicks. The Firebird stock gages are actually pretty cool. It's the Camaro that suffer from such an ugly interior.
Anyway, just sharing for sake of ideas. (Nevermind the wire hanging down on the driver side. I was still building the car at that point.)
I concur with the keep it simple and clean motto.
Newer seats will be much more comfortable. I bought the fronts, and purchased extra hide to do the backs to match. Also redid the console cover so they all tie in together. Then I decided to do the same to the door panels to get rid of the stock 'dove grey' color. I'll keep the darker grey, black, and graphite colors.
As for gauges, I'm still looking myself. I want the Dakota Digital HDX, but I'm waiting for better 3D printing options for the bezel. I hate the cut and paste look so many cars have, and want to keep the sunken gauge position. This isn't a bad job, but still not up to what I'm looking for- attaching a flat piece all across the face of the bezel.
For your budget, I'd wait until after you graduate and keep contemplating and looking. It will take some $$ to do it right and quite possibly pay a professional for a professional integrated custom dash.
The current gauges use a circuit board behind them that looks like this:
As for gauges, I'm still looking myself. I want the Dakota Digital HDX, but I'm waiting for better 3D printing options for the bezel. I hate the cut and paste look so many cars have, and want to keep the sunken gauge position. This isn't a bad job, but still not up to what I'm looking for- attaching a flat piece all across the face of the bezel.
I installed Speedhut gages recessed in a stock gage pod but I never did a write up on it because I never put it in the car. The finished gage pod has been sitting on a shelf in my den for 2 years. For some reason the stock tachometer works better after my second LS engine swap so I kept the stock gages. The stock Firebird gages look better anyway.
09-05-2019, 12:34 PM
