I never like the black inserts on 85-90 non gfx Firebirds and Formulas, which promted me to take the the inserts off first chance I got. I think they make the car look generic. And it bothers me that there was no kind of grill or opening in the bumper like with 82-84s and 91-92s, wtf. I'm just curious if you thought the same about the inserts and what if anything did you do about them?

 

I have a full set of 86-90 aero GFX for my formula so I can get rid of those black inserts in the bumpers. Just have to prep, paint and install, Probably this winter.

 

I don't hate them but I do want to make some change....like put on the fog lights, I got no idea what it looks like if I take it off, I saw your car and know that you did some modify to look like that, I would like to put T/A or 91~92 nose on my car if I can find one in Taiwan....(no way I think), or I should really think about the fog lights idea, what do you think about that???

 

yea i hate the looks of those things too. what i was planning was to tear them out and put diamond plate aluminium in the front and back. but so that wont be the only place for the diamond plate i was going to put some under the hood and as the side rails and maybe on the console as well. what do u guys think? too tacky? or if done right could look good?

 

So take them off and fiberglass/bondo the area flat.


Yea photoshop but you get the idea

 

From the day i bought my Formula i knew i was going to get rid of those things. I put on 84 Firebird front and rear bumper covers. on the front one instead of the grilles i got the trans am inserts and filled in the trans am.






Stock

 

i dont want to be rude, but some people around here have a serious lack of taste
diamond plate, tacky, uhm yes, whatever floats your boat but trust me thats not going to be an improvement :P
neither is ripping them out and leaving it open...
i have a red car with silver across the bottom and the black inserts set the color off really nice

if it were like, plastic inserts sticking off a chrome bumper like in the 70s then id be onboard with you... but it totally fits in with the rest of the car so im not seeing the problem
again though, to each his own

 

paint them body color for a quick fix...i think it looks good..

 

Well when I removed the bumper inserts for the first time I was in for a shock. The look of the impact absorber pad was far worse than seeing the inserts. I had to cut out the posts on the bumpers, cut off the mounting tabs so that when I put meshe behind it that it would sit flush againtst the bumper. I also had to hollow out quite a bit of absorber pad just to get it to look alright. I then painted the part where you would see into bumper black. I think it looks good for now, but needs some finishing work.

What im going to do now is get another 85-90 bumper and finish the design I was originally going with, and also creating removable horizontal grills for the openings so I can have access to driving lights when I put them in. The horizontal grills will look far better than the mesh and will be more securely attatched than the mesh is now. As for the rear, im just going to get a 91-92 formula bumper. I just hope it turns out as well as I planned.

Couple shots of front bumper modifications

 

Me too.

 

yo is that the car you are selling?

 

I'm not going to say that I love them but they're not that bad looking to me. Although,if I had the choice and $$$ I's swap for the 91-92 front and rear facias in a heartbeat.