I am buying an early firebird. I like the 91-92 nose the best but my car dosn't have gfx. I heard there is 2 diff ones but i cant find good pics and they all look the same, which one would look better on my non gfx car.

thx

 

probably the forumla one. it would look super slick and the forumla is a non gfx car.

 

Formula nose had no ground effects and would look best on a non gfx car

Base, TA and GTA noses all had ground effects and you would need them for it to look right

 

Base didn't have to have the GFX. It was a package, W68 or something like that. My base model Firebird doesn't have gfx.

 

Another feature (or lack there of) is that the Formula nose has onlt the turn signals whereas the GFX cars have turn signals and driving/fog lights. I'm looking to update my '90 to '92 sometime over the winter as I already have everything to switch the nose over and just need to acquire the rear impact bar and absorber.

 

Then they were removed

ALL base model 91-92 birds came with ground effects

 

I'm afraid that's just not the case, even though the majority of base level birds came with the Sport Appearance Package there were still quite a few that came without.

 

Not trying to call you out or anything but link me to a few stock base models with no ground effects

I have YET to find one for sale in any condition and I know several people that worked in dealerships when 3rd gens were still new

They all liked formulas because they were the ONLY ones without ground effects

 

Go into the garage section and look up goalieforlife's page. You'll find some pics of his/hers 1992 Firebird and it has no GFX.
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Do some further searching in that section of the site, you're bound to find more.

 

IMO, the gfx nose looks better than the non-gfx nose. It has a more molded, contoured appearance than the non-gfx nose; it doesn't have those fake 'vents,' and it houses both, turn signals and foglights(no fogs in non-gfx nose). But you'd need the fender gfx with that nose, too, which is still available new, but isn't cheap.

And dimensionally, the gfx nose isn't much lower than the sides of a non-gfx car, so I think it would work and look good with no gfx on the rest of the car. But that's a call you'd have to make for your own car, not something someone else can determine for you.

And with changing to either bumper cover, you'll also need to change everything else in the front end(impact bar, impact absorber, headlights and trim, turn signals, etc.). So a front end swap to the later model could add-up to a lot of money, depending on where you find all the parts.

There are plenty of threads on the forums that cover this change. So if you search, you should find everything you need to know.
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The rear pieces are a little different, but not THAT different, so you could get away without changing those and just go ahead and install your new rear bumper cover over your existing parts. Others have done it that way, and I will be too(but haven't done it yet).

 

Ya i know i will have 2 change everything. I am still up in the air about it. If i do it i wil need to find a car in a junk yard with everything i need because I am not going to buy all this stuff new.

 

'91/'92 cars have always been kinda hard to find in junkyards, but they're beginning to turn-up more often. And new front bumper covers aren't available anymore anyway, so you'll have to find a used one.

I found almost everything needed for the swap from junkyards, and in excellent condition... but all from different cars on different trips. Finding one car with the front end completely intact will be darn-near impossible, so be patient in your search. But you'll find everything you need eventually.

The hard part will be finding the bumper cover, itself. Those are usually badly damaged, if not by the accident that sent the car to the yard, then by people shopping in the yards. So you might have better luck finding that part from a used parts dealer or a private seller in the 'Classifieds.'

 

Glad to hear that about the rear. If you get it done anytime soon post some pics, I'd like to see it. I guess I was lucky in that my front end all came from the same car. I bought it off Thirdgen USA from Dave Staubli (iroczdave) and it is all there.

 

All base Birds did not come with the W68 (Sport Appearance) package, although most did. Though not a great pic, here is a shot of one from a 1992 Pontiac brochure I have.

 

Here you go....

 

Uh, no. That statement is totally incorrect. Please do more research on the matter if thats what you think.

http://www.fquick.com/cooltc2004

 

If you are interested I found a 91 with nose with ground effects all in good condition at a nearby junk yard. Everything is white and the only damage I could find is 2 small cracks in one of the ground effects that connects to the nose.

 

Nah looking for a non gfx bumper, unless i find a whole car i can get parts off of i am not going 2 do the swap, didn't know that you had to change almost everything on the front end.