Finally found a car to work with. It is a 92 v6 auto Pontiac Firebird. Was sitting in a garage for 6 years before I got her for 1100. Found it north of Brainerd, MN and it has never been exposed to winter (as amazing as that is I know!) It has next to no rust on it including underneath the car. The catch to this find was that it had smacked into a log in a rain storm and messed up the front bumper cover and did a bit of damage to the right front quarter and the . Aside from that cosmetic damage the car is awesome.
Just a recap this is my first big project car so I am a bit new to this, but looking forward to working on it. Planning on an LT1/4L60E swap in the very near future once I get the body back to being the semi-proper look.
So on to what I am doing to the body. The front bumper is the normal base/TA style. I would like to convert it to the Formula style. What I am worried about is that the Formula has a single running light while the Base/TA has twin (Blinker and non-functional) The honeycomb supports behind the bumper cover seem to be the same, to my understanding what give the 2 bumpers a different size look is that the formula has 2 “Bumper Grills” that cover and act to extend the cosmetic look so empty space around the running lights is minimized. This next part is guesswork for me. I am guessing that if the Formula front bumper cover was installed without the “Bumper Grills” then no modification would have to be made to the twin-running light style of the base model. I will be able to get picture fallowing as soon as I can and try to point out what I am talking about.
If anyone has any insight or has ever heard of anything like this please let me know. I am planning to keep the rest of the ground effects on the car. (May not be a popular choice I understand but it’s a look I like.) DaSkinnyGuy had a design very close to what I am looking at (Link…*Found* https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/fire...rd-v6-3-a.html )

Thanks

 

Your car has the base/Formula style. A Firebird Formula for 91-92 has no waterfall GFX. You're actually looking to convert it to a 91-92 T/A or GTA style. As far as what you'll need to do to convert, I can't answer. I just wanted to let you know you already have a Firebird Formula looking bird. You just lack the suspension and V8 powertrain of the Formula.

Lon

 

Also doesn't the Formula have the power buldge hood? At least the Formula 350...

 

It is a base model with the GFX. I am getting rid of the ground effects on the front of the car. The idea is that the Formula bumper cover has no GFX on it unlike the T/A and GTA. Im looking to find out if anyone knows if both front bumper covers actualy use the same honeycomb piece or if there are indeed two seperate designs for the honeycomb. My assumption is that they are the same but im not sure. I also know the light setup is seperate on the two car designs and my second question is if anyone knows if the firebird formula bumper cover without the bumper grills has enough room to accept the twin light design of the base & T/A models.

-Justin

The picture I showed GFX wise is what my car will look like when it is done.

 

I am kind of doing something like this. The base cars that I have for a parts car had the gfx. I am not doing gfx on the 86 but am going to use the front bumper. They are actually different with the body line across the front on a non gfx car that matches up with the fenders. I am not sure what I am going to do but I do have a rear with the line to use.
I would think the plastic absorber would be the same but the metal beam (real bumper) has brackets for the turn signals and driving lights.
There is piece on none gfx cars without the extra lights that you may need to get you can see it is black and rolls out to the nose.
Non gfx 91/92 parts can be hard to find but look good imho. Especially on a nice formula.
I am going to use a formula hood on mine.HTH

 

I am thinking on leaving the two black pieces that cover the extra light area off and leaving the twin-lights at the bottum of the bumper as is. How do the body lines not match up? GM made only made one fender type for the third gen firebirds didint they?

-Justin

 

The fenders are the same but the front bumper covers on a gfx car and a non gfx car are different at the bottom where they attach to the lower rocker area. I will probably fill the 1/4 " rocker line on mine. I plan to do some stripes following the dot matrix line on the factory ones -I hope it will look ok.
If you look at some pics of none gfx 91/92 front bumpers you will see what I mean. Or put your bumper on the fenders and you will see it. I could try to do a pic...

 

In this pic I was using the tape to see where I would fill and cut.

 

Yup, I see what you mean. I wonder if the reverse would show the same lines or not. (That looks like Formula to Trans AM) so I wonder what the Trans Am to Formula looks like? Any clue?

 

I suppose you would have the front fender extensions with a short front bumper cover that would be to short.
In which case I would just remove them and fill the mounting holes.
They could be sold, they are hard to find not damaged.HTH

 

The 2 ground effects that sit in front of the wheel but behind the front bumper cover were ripped off in the accident so They are not there unfortunatly.

 

That non-functional is supposed to be the fog lights, just FYI. Good luck in your project

 

Thank you very much. Still trying to piece the plans together rather then jumping head first into unknown waters. From what I have seen my plan should work, unofficialy the front nose will look like a formula with fog lights. May have to see about doing some finish work to the bumper cover as it will not be using the grill covers to cover where the fog lights are placed. When I get my hands on a formula bumper cover of my own I will get some pictures to show what I mean.