As the title says I don't really know what I am doing. My friend directed me to the website because I was interested in fixing up the body of a 1992 firebird that I just bought. It's in pretty poor condition, the clear coat over the paint is starting to strip off the hood and on other parts of the car, the headlight motors are dead, the stripping on the windows is dried up and cracked (falling apart) the hydrolich on the trunk is toast. Not to mention the interior is stained, the dashboard is cracked. Let's just say it's worth what I paid for it. However I think it is totally salvageable for a moderately low price and it will raise the value of the vehicle much higher than what I will be spending on it. The problem is that I do not know where to start... I don't know where to get the parts for a reasonable price, I don't even know how to take some of them off... although I may be able to figure that out. For example the very front part of the car ( I am not sure what it is called, I am sure you are all familiar with the early 90's firebird) it's the plastic part that is right in front of the headlights it has an interesting dent on the right side... I tried just popping it back but it won't do. I imagine I'll just have to replace the entire thing, which it probably needs considering all the little knicks and scratches it has. wow I'm rambling. anyway, long story short I just need some beginners tips on where to look and what to do when trying to restore and abused vehicle like this. I absolutely adore this model of Firebird and I would like to see it restored to it's former glory.

 

Welcome to the site, first off, the window stripping is the window sweeps, I just replaced mine, there pretty easy. when I bought my Trans Am it had 1 dead headlight motor and the clear coat peeling, I had my headlight motor replaced at the shop so I dont know how hard they are to do, but Im sure you can search and find how hard they are to do. then the "hydrolich" on the trunk are you talking about the struts that hold the hatch up? and the dashpad can be found in the classifieds on thirdgen and on ebay for about 100 or more.

 

The headlight motors are extremely easy to fix. I can't really explain how to do it without taking pictures step-by-step but the bushings in them more than likely are dried up and have crumbled. I spent $0 fixing mine. The hatch struts that hold the trunk up you can get at Advanced Auto Parts.