Well, I've been thinking ahead to a repaint and ways to improve the exterior looks. The side mirrors on these cars are great and flow very well with the lines of the car. That said, I think it would look 10x better with the pillar of the mirror cut off. Then have the resulting holes in the side of the door covered up, and then the mirror itself (fabrication involved) attached to or as near to the window triangle. What do you guys think? Any photoshop gurus on here? Also, were all thirdgen mirrors the same? Are there any other mirror options out there for our car? All ideas (or photoshops )appreciated.

 

kinda like the fourth gen right?? its been done with T/A mirrors on a 3gen camaro..... but.. idk...looks kinda wierd... how bout something like the c5 vettes which are still on the door....

 

I have C5's. Its a lot more time consuming to get them on then it is 4th gen mirrors. You have to grind down the outer mirror casing until its flush with the curve of the door. The Corvette C5 doors are a slightly different shape than firebird doors which is why grinding is needed. Then you have to make your own custom gasket but thats probably the easiest part. I spent an entire saturday (and saturday nite) getting the mirror to look right. The cool thing about my C5 mirrors is they are bigger and that allows me to see more then the thirdgen ones. So, its not only looks but functionality.

The dodge viper mirror(like 2006 dodge viper) is another mirror that might look good on a thirdgen. No one has ever put this mirror on a thirdgen yet(that I know of).

Some other mirrors that kind of catch my eye: 2004-06 GTO, 2006 Chevy Cobalt.

I've looked into all kinds of mirrors from exotic, import, older muscle cars, and even kit cars but the C5 and Viper SRT-10 mirrors look the best to me.

 

Yeah, I was considering looking at vette and 4th gen mirrors to see if they would be easier to fabricate and/or look nicer. Do you have a link or any pics of the camaro by chance? Were the T/A mirrors third or fourthgen?

I'll have to check out those viper mirrors.... Where can I find some pics of your car?
Thanks again guys, Josh.

 

got any pics of the c5 mirrors on the car?

 

redraif and myself used 4th gen firebird mirrors in place of the stock mirrors. I'm sur others have to. but it takes some dremel work to cut and clean up where it needs to be mounted but i took about 45 minutes a side to cut and get it decent.as for the looks on the inside i cant say as i didnt get the plastic pieces like she did for hers like the 4th gens have. she modified them to look really well. I'm still thinking of smoothing the front i guess you would call it crevice? that that firebird mirrors have and make it totally smooth or possibly filling it with resin and lighting it who knows.

 

It is amazing how well the 4th gen mirror matches up to the thirdgen body, matches up better than a 4th gen. The angle of the windshield is really close to the angle of the mirror housing. Now, looking at Redraif's pic, I would say that mirror is also one of my favorites. I still might put 4th gen mirrors on my other firebird.

I've attached a pic(that I borrowed from Redraif's cardomain) of Hawks' Formula with C5 mirrors.

 

Thanks for the pics. I'm going to explore all options, but it looks like the 4th gen mirrors may be what I'm looking for. I'll have to visit a couple salvage yards to see what I can come up with...

 

Ehh, if it ain't broke, don't fix it...

 

Don't listen to the naysayers, step it up a notch and don't turn back.

 

Agreed. I don't believe this website would even exist if it were not for the many people who put their own time, effort, and creativity into their cars. I do it as a hobby. I enjoy it. I'm never on autopilot.

 

Camaroguy21 said: Also, were all thirdgen mirrors the same?

No, they had other mirrors. Im sure someonelse can give you a more detailed answer but there were "paddle mirrors" used on firebirds (model?) for a short time. They were square and many folks didnt like em' so they didnt stay long. Myabe someone can ellaborate on this more......

I got to thinking a while back and never brought it up but has anyonelese besides me thought of using the sporty looking mirrors alot of the imports are using.....? They have carbon fiber ones too.
Here's a link to what im talkin about.....go ahead and give it a chance...http://www.streetbeatcustoms.com/ext...r-mirrors.html

 

Paddle mirrors: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...hlight=mirrors
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...hlight=mirrors

technically all mirrors weren't the same from 82-92 but there are exterior looks the same:
http://www.deadbird.org/pnf/c22.asp

 

Naysayer? I'm all for modified rides, but just because it isn't stock doesn't mean it looks better. The factory mirrors look good, real good IMO. If you change them out you're putting in time and money on a mod that will make your car look worse

 

I don't think the word naysayer would have even been mentioned if you had clearly stated your opinion the first time the way you just did. I do agree with you that the stock mirrors look great on these cars. I would love to use the stock mirrors cut the pillars off them and connect them somehow to the window triangles. This would look perfect in my opinion. However, since the pillars are located on the base of these mirrors it would at least be inconvenient if not impossible to easily modify these mirrors for this purpose. That's the only reson I'm considering the possiblity of using mirrors from other vehicles. I don't mind spending a few dollars or hours of my time on this. As I already said, I consider it a hobby not a chore. As for it looking worse, that's yet to be seen. Believe me if I can't come close to achieving the look that I have envisioned, it won't be going on the car.

On a seperate note, what would you all think of having chromed mirrors like some newer luxury have? I'm thinking it may go good with black...

 

I dont know about that one, chrome mirrors remind me of big chevy or ford trucks.

 

I dont think chrome would look very good at all, but who knows? I do like the c5 mirrors on hawks formula though, and I kinda like the paddle mirrors just cause there differnt

 

very well said!