I am trying to remove the entire headlight assembly ( Headlamp door i believe is the technical part name) for a 91 firebird and place it into my other 91 firebird. Before starting, i figured i'd ask, has anyone taken these darn things out before? if so... can i take the ENTIRE mount off, headlight, door, and motor all in one sweet shot? If i CAN do this... how? I see the two bolts for the mount assembly on top, and i know there are two on bottom...."behind" the light, which are accessible from under the clip... Are these the only 4 bolts holding the motor and everything in?

Short version question... How do remove 91 headlight doors+motor to replace them.

 

You are correct, 2 at the top, 2 on the bottom. Best way I found to do it is remove the plastic trim from around the headlight and that will give you access to the lower 2 bolts. I would suggest unplugging the headlight before you start, unplugging the motor is much easier so that can be done at any time. It's just the 4 bolts and the wiring that holds the whole thing in.

 

Its really very simple if you just take a second to look it over first.

 

Go head & take the headlight bulb out as well. It'll give you way more room to reach the lower 2 bolts. Its not worth the hassle of trying to fight reaching the bottom 2 with the bulb in place.

 

Ok! Thanks Everyone. I thought it all looked simple enough, but wanted to check before i got half way through takinga buncha crap apart. It's great to know I'm not completely "Dur dur dur" in my assumption hehe. Again, thank you... I know what i'm doing tonight

 

He has a 91 which has a lot more clearance to get to the lower bolts than the 82-90 did due to the much smaller headlight lamp size.

Lon

 

But even with the smaller headlamp size, isn't the room "gained by the smaller headlights, simply lost by the taller from front fascia, taking up the room?

Effectively, making it the same resulting opening to reach them?

 

I got it all swapped out, but...
It was neccesary to remove the

Headlight retainer {guessing on the actual part name, little black square piece that keeps the light from falling out}, and headlight, it wasn't comfortable getting my arm in, but it was definatly do-able. I'm certain the job would be much faster if it was on a lift and accessed from below, but for future reference... It CAN be done with nothing more than a 10mm socket, a good ratchet, a set of torx bits ( to get the outer black skin off the light to access the retainer, and a phillips head screwdriver... In 24 degree weather...outside lol...

What CANNOT be done... is taking the light skins (top metal piece thats painted) from a 82-90, and placing them on a 91-92 door assembly (I tried) ... the tabs that the mounting bolts go into are offset differently... again, just for future reference if anyone does a search on this topic later.

Taking 4 assemblies out ( both from each car ) and Putting all 4 back in took about an hour in the freezing cold.. prolly could do it in 20 minuits if you really wanted.

Thanks for the input guys! It's much appreciated. hopefully this thread helps some other poor noob in the future.