Hey everybody,
I had a wheel fly off the front of my 87TA yesterday and crunch the front drivers fender and door with it (guy before me pressed standard thread studs in the rotors and I didn't know ). Anyway, I know the 85-90 fenders are differant from the 82-84s but I found an 84 for cheap. Do I just have to drill different holes for the gfx or is the shape of the fender actually different? Thanks for your help, searching gave me to much crap on this topic,
Tyler

 

i just know the vent is larger on the 82-84 and the bottom of it would be covered by the gfx off a 85-90

 

Same fender all years... the "fender vents" are different in 85-90. Only TAs came with the fender vents in 85-90. But in 82-84 I think they all came with the vents and the vents were larger. Fender is no different though. The GFx holes in the 82-84 will be different from the 85-90.

Does your car have a fender vent?

 

Fender shape is identical all years for Firebirds. (I assume Camaro fenders are the same for all years too, but not sure)

82-84 T/A's had the large fender vents, 82-92 Firebirds, Firebird S/E's, Formulas had no vents at all. 85-90 T/A's had the smaller vents. 91-92 T/A's had no vents either I think.

 

My car is actually an 87 GTA but after a colision the fenders were replaced with 85-90 TA fenders with vents. Does anyone know how much bigger the old vents are? I am wondering if anyone would notice if I ran the old style on one side and the new style on the other or will the ground effects cover most of it? Bottom line.......looks like if I redrill the fender for my gfx and run the larger vent I could use the older fender??? Thanks and please let me know if I am missing something,
Tyler

 

i think it would be noticable, ill measure mine and let you know

 

Yes you can use the older fender and only need to redrill. That is if the 84 fender has the fender vent. You can swap your current fender vent into this new fender! If you old fender vent is crunched, you can probaly find some of the later style at a yard. heck they might swap you for the older style vent since it is more rare...But will it be noticible, a little. It would be something you could probably live with for a bit and then swap out when you find one.

 

No, standard Firebirds in 82-84 did not have fender vents. At least mine doesn't and none I've ever seen has had them.

 

The vent on the 85-90 fender is shorter so that it will not be obscured by the ground effect; the hole is the same though, so you can use your shorter vent in the early fender. Just drill holes to match the 85-up fender and you're set.

 

so . . . the 85-90 vent is a different size (shorter) than the 82-84, yet they fit into the same hole??

im putting 85-90 gfx on an 82 trans am, and i need to get this straight before i do.

 

That's great news if you're restoring an 82-84 T/A! You can just use an 85-90 T/A fender, remove the GFX and patch the bottom, and use an old fender vent!

 

Yes that is correct!

The actually difference is the hole in the actual vent. The "vent" is shorter since the gfx are longer & cover part of the vent... the piece that goes in the fender is the same size.

 

A HA! it is all so clear to me now. . . . thanks for clearing that up redraif, ground effects plans will now continue as planned

by the way, i have been looking for an unmolested, good shape (paint not included) front bumper cover, 85-90 trans am style. im looking for no rips or tears, and no license plate mounting holes. . .anyone have one they are looking to get rid of?

 

I am running the 82-84 Vents on my 86 since I am running the 91-92 Camaro rocker panels. The 85-90 vents looked funny, when I found out that there were 2 different styles.

 

can anyone post a pic of the 85-90 shorter vents closeup, just to see how much is covered?

 

Here are mine,

 

Now can someone post a pic of the other vent for so that we can reference them off of each other? Thanks,