I have a six cylinder firebird with a basic two pod cluster. Speed and gas on the other. I found a nice one in the junkyard with tach etc from a six cylinder. Other than the cluster itself, what else do i need to convert this over? What other vehicles make good donors for seats? I want bolt in if possible. Is the ground effects on a camaro the same as a firebird? Can a camaro front nose be swapped onto a firebird?

 

Well...4th gen seats and any 3rd gen seats can be swapped in. The nose from a camaro can be put on, but the fenders and the hood have to be changed as well.

 

Ouch, you don't really want a CamaroBird, do you?

You said your car's an '87 at the V6 Forum... those full-gauge dash panels for Firebirds will use an electric speedometer. Right now yours is cable-driven.

This means besides the dashboard, you'll also need the "Vehicle Speed Sensor" and harness, and the VSS Buffer.

Vehicle Speed Sensor is going to be in the tailshaft of the transmission. (You have a mechanical cable going to yours.) The VSS is held in with one screw. Remember when you pop that screw out, and pull the VSS out, to (A) also take the plastic gear and (B) trans fluid is going to pour out of that hole. (I almost got soaked in atf when pulling one out of a junkyard car that I had wriggled under! It was tough to escape quickly!)

Once the VSS sensor is out, you can pull the whole VSS harness out from the engine compartment. That'll get you the wires and connector for free. TIP: The same black plastic wire loom that holds the VSS harness also holds the TCC harness on an automatic. Quickest way to pull this from a junkyard car is to snip the TCC harness and VSS harness wires from under the hood, then take the whole loom home with you.

VSS buffer is a yellow box that's tucked up near the computer. Computer's under the passenger side of the dash; remove the black hush panel (above passenger's feet), and look for the two 7mm screws holding up a plastic bracket on the right. The VSS will be nearby.

Then you'd need the wiring diagrams to hook it all up. Make sure that you get a v6 cluster (if the junkyard v6 car you found disappears) because a v8 cluster's tachometer will read "slow" on a v6.

I found my original Trans Am seats (previous owner put them in, I guess) in a Pontiac 6000 Special Edition Station Wagon! And all I had to do was (A) swap the seat rails and (B) add my seat's recliner mechanism to the 6000's seats. So check ALL gm cars!