Compatibility
I would like to know if the GFX from a third gen trans am will fit my 88 bird. I have been trying to find some from a bird but all I found was gfx for the trans am and now after searching the threads I found out that birds came with gfx until 1990. Would I be able to fit the trans am gfx in my bird? I know I have to put holes but before I do I want to make sure. Thanks for your help its truly appreciated.

 

Can anyone help me on this issue?

 

You can make them fit, afterall, these are basically the same cars, but the issues you may find are these:

1- ground f/x cars have welded on brackets along the sides to hold them on. you should getthese fomr a donor car and have them welded on yours.

2- you may have issues fitting them on your bumpers. I'm guessing your car still has the black bumper pads, I'm not sure if these pieces were ever designed for ground f/x. you may be better off replacing these urethane bumpers with the ones from the donor car. then, you'll have more of a T/A look...

If you can, take them off a donor car yourself. this way you'll know how they come off, and how they go on. you'll also gethte fasteners, and have an understanding of what it takes ot put them on/ off.


and, FYIW, there's a few styles of ground f/x, too.

Early T/A's had more of fender flares (reminiscant to the 2nd gen versions) - KITT had these... Not full ground f/x they only flared out the wheel openings a little bit. I've seen these on 82 and 83, and they may have even come on 84 models...

1983 Daytona pace cars only, and optional on 1984 Trans Ams had the first true style of ground f/x. They are shorter but do not interfere with fender vents on the front fenders.

the 1985- 1989 (or 90) style are about 2-3 inches taller. they go up higher on the side of the car, blend in smoother to the body and do interfere with the fender vents. they made a different style fender vent that has a shorter vent opening for these cars. Much more common pieces to find, too.

Then, there's the last style which is very different. More sculpted, etc..

all 3 styles can be made fit your car, but, you may need to change items like the rear bumper (only the urethane piece) or front nose piece depending on which style you go with.

If you go with the mid style (85-89), you may need to swap the bumpers from a similiar year T/A if you have those big black bumpers on yours as I don't think that bumper was designed to fit any ground f/x. Also, if your car doesn't have the fender vents, you'll have a cut out for it which will look "empty" without the fender vents. you may want to consider upgrading your fenders, too.

I hope this is helpful

 

Thanks alot for your help.... I give you two thumbs up!!!

Upon reading your post, I see that I will probably have to do more work then I expected to. I will see if I can get the brackets, if I can't is there any other way I could add the gfx (maybe custom brackets?)The rear bumper will be no problem since I plan on getting rid of the one I have which as you said has the black bumper pads. I never liked them. I plan on getting the 85-90 Trans Am ground effects. So I guess I might need the fenders also. Or can I just stuff a fender vent in the cut out ? At least temporarily...I plan on gettin the gfx this weekend, I might be able to get the bumper and the side effects, but I think I have to wait on the front and c how i want to do it or how i can do it. I want to add the gfx before I go and paint the car. That will be the next step in the project. Thanks for your help.

 

Cool, I hope it's helpful.

If it helps, I have a rear bumper form a 1984 Trans Am available. ONly problem is I'm away form home on a work trip and wont' be back for a week or so..

You should be able to make brackets if you cna't remove the originals form the donor car. It'll just take some measuring, work and effort.

The T/A fenders aren't mandatory, but the vents will look better. I may be wrong about there being a recessed area on the ground f/x itself, but I do remember the "vent" itself has a reduced opening for the 85-90 style. the 82-84 vent has a larger opening that won't work with the later ground f/x.

If you have any other questions, just let me know!

 

I have just gotten the back bumper and the side gfx. I am still awaiting to find the front bumber and gfx to go with the install and see how it looks. Thanks for your help. Ill pm for any questions.

 

to add to the already informative reply, the side brackets are actually riveted on. Maybe some years or types were spot welded, but i removed a set with several rivets holding it to the body. I can't be 100% sure that the car originally had ground effects though since it was an 87 Camaro with 91/92 style GFX.

 

That sure makes things easier...

I'm basing my comments on my experiences. The Trans Ams that I have parted out and dissassembled that came with the W62 "aero package" have brackets that are welded onto the rocker panels. I'm sure they can be removed and welded/ riveted or bolted onto a new car if desired. Maybe GM changed the process later on??

 

Things to think of, on the ground fx, that most people think of (85-90) model units, there are eight seperate pieces that make up the gfx (Rocker panels, front fender, rear 1/4, and front and rear bumpers) The bumper ground fx (as you've probably noticed) are single pieces, and not seperate, in other words, the gfx on the front bumper of the car will come off as one unit and repalce the front bumper on your car. For the front fender gfx, you'll drill holes in your front fenders and then install the ground fx to the fender with brackets. These brackets can be had from the yards if you're able to come across them, if you can't get them from a yard, call hawks or other sponsers at the top of the page, they can mail you a set. Mine came with threaded holes, which i was able to attach a washer/nut combo too, which secured the bracket to the fender and allowed me to mount the fx w/o much trouble.

You shouldn't need to cut up your fender to add the trans am fender vents to your base model bird either....Base model firebirds came with ground fx as an appearance option from 1988 on (if memory serves me correct). There isn't a "cutout" in the ground fx to allow the vent to fit properly, it'll look just like ground fx and no vent, no big deal, if you want it however, it'd be easier for you to just buy the fender from the ground fx car and use that on your vehicle, that'd be easier than trying to fab the vent work up. If you do that, you also wouldn't need to get the rails for the front fender gfx, because that car would already have them installed. Best of luck, it really isnt as difficult as it mght have sounded earlier.

 

The gfx I got actually came with the brackets, well at least most of them...I'm just missing one for the 1/4. I'm sure I can get that when I get the rest of the gfx. Anyway, I still have to drill some holes to get the brackets in, right? Any dimensions you guys suggest? Like how far down? Pictures would really help.
Unfortunately, they are not all threaded as to add a washer and a nut. Some are the kind that you have to push into some sort of fastener. Im not too good in explaining but Im sure you know what I am talking about.
I'll be leaving the fenders as is, but will look forward to maybe adding them in the future. I will add some pics after all this is done.
Just to comment on the front gfx, I've also seen one piece while I was searching for them. Maybe they are aftermarket and not oem?
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions

 

there were a couple different styles of gfx out there between 1982 and 1992....the front gfx (bumper) and rear gfx (rear bumper) are one piece units, aka, the ground fx are simply molded into the bumper design, at the bottom of the front gfx piece are the holes for the fog lamps. This is true for the 85-90 styled gfx. The lower pieces on the 1984 ground fx are two pieces (i believe) they don't have the fog lamp cutouts and can be seperated from the lower bumper like the camaro gfx, these ground fx are more rare to find as they were only produced for that one year. Early model trans ams (1982-1983) had an aero package that wasn't really ground fx, but small fender lip flares front and back. They look kinda cool, but they're really a tad too subtle to be really noticed.

 

The optional 1984 style ground f/x was one piece in front. I'm selling a set on ebay this week if anyone wants to check them out for reference, etc..

# 8040464798

Yes, they are physically different than the much more abundant 85-90 style. They are lower in height, they don't blend into the body the same and they don't have any foglight recesses, etc as previously mentioned.

I'm attaching a pic of the front piece for reference.

These were also used on the 1983 Daytona Pace Car, but that car was limited to around 2k units, so it hardly counts.

Kitt, from Knight rider has the early style "aero package" which are more reminiscent of the fender flares on the second gen T/A's. (an 80's version)

I hope this helps.

-BV

 

sorry, think i was mis-understood, although, the front gfx being one piece w/ the front fender gfx is kind of interesting. I was actually talking about the ground fx on the front bumper of the 85 model vehicles being connected to the front bumper of the car (they can't be removed like the older styled ground fx)

 

I was just going thru the install not to long ago,and i noticed that im missing something for the rocker panels/door trim to be able to install them, theydo have the brackets but it doesn't seem to be right...they don't seem to fit directlyin, besides drilling holes,i dont know much about gfx or the parts that compose them, their seems to be some sort of a bracket missing to connect the panel onto the car from above the panel, im not quite sure, a picture wouldhelpt to describe what im talkin about but have no digi cam, hopefully this makes sense or ill take a film pic and post it once its finished

 

At least on the '84 Trans Ams they have a bracket that is welded onto the rocker panel. it runs most of the length of the door along the rocker panel.

There's also a second bracket that bolts to this welded one, and the ground f/x screw onto that.

I don't know if this helps you or not, but I hope it does.