hi, guy's as promissed i finally got around to putting up a little website with some pic's on the swap, dont expect anything great,and its not a how to do , site, just a site to help someone who might be interested in doing something like this, the hosting site i used is not great so eventually all the pics will load, depending you connection speed, and i will be uploading more pics, as i find time, http://www.fortunecity.com/silverstone/clutch/63/

 

Nice site, and thanks for the info!

 

Looks great man! How much do you think you spent total for the 4th gen stuff?

-Roshambo

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-Joe
1988 Pontiac Trans Am WS6 - 305 TPI, 700R4, 3.23 Posi, Digital Dash, Leather Seats, Maui Blue with Silver GFX, T-tops, Tinted Glass, Gutted MAF, TB Coolant Bypass, K&N Cone Filter, No Cat, 3" exhaust from Y-pipe back, MSD Super Coil, Accel 8mm wires, L98 Aluminum Heads, Ported and Polished Plenum, Siamesed Intake, Aluminum Driveshaft, Edelbrock 3 point Strut Tower Brace

 

Awsome man! There was no cutting to fit the dash except for the brackets near the steering wheel? Is there any way that you can get a few more close ups of where the doorpanel and window meet? Thanks

 

So you didn't have to cut the door panels?

 

For lazy people who like to click URLs:
http://www.fortunecity.com/silverstone/clutch/63/

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FOR SALE - email me

 

Awesome. I want to swap the seats and doorpanels but I'm gonna keep my dash.

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-Tas
'89 Formula WS.6

Got Beach?

 

Have you wired in you Gauges and etc. yet? How big of a PITA was it?

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See my Ride:
https://www.thirdgen.org/rides/index...ew&rideid=1324

 

lol jack

yea, i want to do the doorpanels too.... that i really wanna know about.....

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91 FireBird 305 V-8
Edelbrock Catback, Custom Alarm. Fourth Gen Console. i have six cupholders. all for starbucks!
Go|)Created The Earth, And Then Turned Up The Bass.
Here's My Audio Install!

"Honda's FOR ME TO POOP ON!" -Triumph...

 

i saw the first pic and the thought "awe, poor thing" came to mind
but then i saw the finished product
that is tight man
i like it a lot

 

is it me or are the banners on peoples' signatures getting bigger and uglier?

 

I've got a couple questions for you.

First, what did you do about the heater box? I've been told that in order to get heat, you've got to use the 4th gen heater box, which is a major, major project to retrofit into the thirdgen firewall.

I also wanted to know what the fit and finish was like now that you've got it done. In the pics it looks like none of the dash pieces line up tightly. Is it still like that or did it line up better once everything was installed?

------------------

The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

well as far as heat like i said im only going to be useing my car for summer and track car, yes if you want heat like factory, you need to get the 4th gen heater box, i didnt for one i didnt realize i needed it untill the car was allready in the crusher, and two i dont really need it, im just using my old heater box with a vavle i can turn on and off for defoster and thats bascially it,

as far as everything lining up, i havent really nocticed it to tell the thruth, door panels might be alittle off, but dash seemed fine to me no different then factory dash, and both the door panels and dash are very secure, i cant pull off the panels or mode the dash once its boled down,

as far as gauges im useing a combo 3rd gen harness and gauges with 4th housing, i had a pic and i thought i uploaded it, but realized i didnt now the hosting site is messing up ,

anyhow i have now pulled the passenger side door panel back off, so i can fix my roll cage so i can fit the door panel back on like it should be ,

 

How come you need a 4th gen heater box?

Is it just to get the 4th gen HVAC controls work? or if you rig up a way to mount the 3rd gen HVAC controls in the new dash, will the heat work then?

I was planning on doing this swap as soon as I find a 4th gen Firebird parts car local to me in my price range, and this is the first I've heard of the heater box issue. Any details about this would be greatly appreciated.

Also... so you can use the stock 4th gen gauges? Everything I've heard said they only work if you use and LT1 and all with the 4th gen computer and everything.

 

um not sure really on heater box, other people im sure know, but what i saw when i was stripping the firehawk was that the box is longer more rectangle, and the 3rd gen is more shorter and square,just was just a quick memory thought, but im sure the controlls would have a lot to do with it,

as far as the guages yes they wont work inless someone knows alot about engering and can read the wirring diragrams, im sure you could make it work , what i did is use the 3rd gen gauges in the 4 gen housing , using the fuel gauge, since thats more expensive to buy from auto meter,and the speedo and tach, then will have auto meter gagues to fill in oil and temp ect, i try to get a pic us soon of it

 

Ok cool, I was just planning on using some autometers or something. I guess I'll have to research the heater box issue some more.

I thought of another question...

How did the door locks line up? Did they take an custom fabbing?

I see your from sumerduck, perhaps I'll see your car at sumerduck dragway in the summer

 

Maybe i can help with the guages here... I build electronics for the government . I also have a sh*t load of free time on my hands cause im out on disability! I have a few extra dash boards layin around from my GTAs... Ill try to figure out the electronic routing patterns, wich will let you use the guages with out the entire cluster or the green flimsy circut board on the back. Hopefully i can figure out how to wire them seperately. Shouldnt be too bad... Ill get back to the post with some updates!

P.S. Kick A** job on that dash... Looks great!

 

The new speedometers use a different pulse wave than the thirdgens. This would be the toughest part of the swap if you maintain the stock computer. Without the stock computer, you can just get a VSS from the car the dash was in, but if you're keeping your computer, you'll need your original VSS and some electronics to convert to the style pulse that the new speedos use. I believe that the new speedos use a higher frequency pulse, and it may be a square wave instead of sinusoidal, or maybe I'm backwards on that. I never paid much attention because it never concerned me. I do believe that dakota digital sells a converter box that does that along with 200 other useless functions. The box is like $300 though if it's the one I think it is.

Anyway, the other gauges should be plug & chug. Tach should be no different, and all of the other electric gauges should all want the same signal as the old ones too.

------------------

The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

Im sorry but one word got my attention, FireHAWK, PLEEEAAAASSSSEEEEE tell me that you meant FireBIRD!

D*mn, you did mean firehawk, I just went to your site.

------------------
-'92 RS with self-installed '95 LT1
-Heddman Headers
-TPIS throttle body airfoil
-MSD 6-AL Ignition
Kills
-'97 Mustang Cobra
-'98 V6 Camaro
-'89 5.0 ****stang
-'97 Sebring
-'96 ****stang Cobra

Losses
-'99 Mustang GT
-'96 Mustang Cobra
-'95 Z28 (good race)
-'96(?) Turbo Eclipse (d*mn good race, heavily modified)

[This message has been edited by TexasLT1 (edited October 24, 2001).]

 

Thanks for the info!

I don't think I'll ever be running a factory TPI computer, and my computer controlled QJet will be gone in the spring. Hopefully I can get the 4th gen gauges to work without spending too much money.

 

um yeah , firehawk is right, was a 95 i believe now,i stil have vin on glovebox, that i got the parts from, a friend who has a junkyard bought the car for the motor for his 55 chevy truck, i took the rest, car was flipped upside down in a dicth , the guy that owned it walked away without a scracth but im sure the insurance company was pissed ,

cool yeah, im about 6 miles from summerduck dragstrip,i used to go every thursdays before my car blew up, if you saw a black 89 formula 350 with smoke comming out the exhaust then it was probally mine , i haven been but a few times this year, since its torture to go wacth everyone else have fun, and i cant, this comming spring i should have my engine back,only two things i need to get is a miniram and torque conveter,dont have money for heads

yeah that be cool if could do the gauge thing, dont know , sounds like a challege, but im sure alot of people would like to see you fiqure it out, very cool,