Firebird / Trans-Am Front end... I meant to put that in the title. I did a search and found nothing on it. I've heard and seen pictures where people have converted the front end of earlier 3rd Gen Firebirds to The 91-92 front end. I was wondering if anyone has done the reverse. I personally like the look of the 87-90 better. Is this a difficult task, or is it a matter of just swapping the parts... IE Plug and Play.

Thanks!!

 

I think with a different hood, different headlights, fenders and the nose you'll be all set to go. Don't know if it will look right with your 91 having all those fancy ground fx though. But I don't really know just guessing. Should be easy, just unbolting all the body panels and putting the different ones on. Getting them to align right might be somewhat tricky though.

 

Plug and play

If the nose has ground effects youll need a full set including rear bumper cover to look right

The honey comb stuff on the front is diff on the 91-92 style

The differences in the mounting and reinforcements are subtle and do not affect the function

Hoods are the same

The turn signals are different locations but same wiring
Fog lights are diff shape but same, mounting bracket is way off

91-92 front ground effects do not attach to the fender with holes and youll have to drill some for the older style

The headlights will look kinda funny when you have then on cuz the plastic trim wont go down as far as the older style. If you swap the whole headlight assembly youll need the light pigtail with it cuz the newer style is a lil different

Hope that helps

 

if you don't like your bumper just take it off. thats what i did

 

Thanks for the information everyone. I did pick up a 91.... I'm thinking this project will wait a while. It is starting to grow on me, plus I gotta be careful how much more money I start throwing at it

 

I've done this. I swapped '87 stuff to a '91. The only hitch is the headlight motors. One of them has two-wire plugs, the other had three. (not sure which is which) The thing to do is reuse your '91 headlight motors with the early headlights. Otherwise, like Pocket said, plug-and-play.

 

Headlight motors are the same for '87-'92, so that's not a worry. It's the '86 and earlier cars that had three-wire motors.

For the future of your car, Steve, if the '91 nose is "growing" on you, may I suggest that you keep it? GM doesn't make the '85-'90 bumper covers anymore, nor do they have any old stock left anywhere. And no one else has new ones either. No one. Some sites show they have some, but when they check availability, they realize there aren't any.

So unless you already have one, you could be scouring junkyards for years to find a decent one. And then if ever anything were to happen to the front of your car, you could be searching all over again.

Your only option for a new '85-'90 bumper cover is a reproduction piece, which may or may not be a good fit. Whereas, a new GM '91/'92 front bumper cover is still available, if ever you should need a new one. If people can afford it, I'd suggest they start buying these up now. You never know... until it's too late.

I've got a complete '91/'92 set-up standing by for mine--just in case...