If you don't mind me asking forshock, what materials did you use to do that? And about how long did it take?

 

1/8" plexiglass/acrylic sheet (4'x4')
Hella 90mm Low and Hi Beams (H7 ECE) /w adjusters
Firestorm 24v drill
Heat gun
Bench sander

Design process was the longest. Measuring and such. At first was going to mount on a seperate "backplane" but would have meant bubbling (bug eyes) the covers. I spent a total of about 40 hours for both sides. Lots and lots of trial and error. I worked on one side (drivers side) for 38 of those hours. Then when i liked it, copied it over to the other. Very little modification to the front sheet-metal. 6 holes, and elongating the outside hole to fit the back of the low beam.

 

project 86, just exactly how are you going to approach this? I'm sure you already know how i am going to approach this build. but im very curious as to how you are going to as well. And where can i find those slim driving lights? I've googled it a lot and i cant seem to find a good trusted reatailer.

 

I guess I'm going to have to find a camaro hood, cut the corners off it, and weld them on to the ends of my hood.

The lights are '91 grand prix lights like the ones below. I'm going to search junkyards for some

 

Not to nitpick but I mentioned that they were dif first!

 

Oh yeah, sorry sucker, you were right too.

 

So your're going to use the front end of the grand prix too. Or are u going to use the front end of an earlier style bird? What i really meant to ask you was : how are you going to fabricate a font end with the low profile headlights to fit?

p.s. have fun with the welding , may i recomend MIG if you have the choice.

 

I'm going to use the front end from my '86, weld a bracket for the GP lights to go (since there's going to be a gaping hole there), and fabricate a hood. ScottyRS suggested I mod a fiberglass hood, instead of modding the one I have now, which sounds like a good idea. I read a lot of post here that say fiberglass is pretty easy to work with. Do any of you know of any sites that sell fiberglass hoods for Firebirds that AREN'T ram air? I'd be interested in either stock looking fiberglass hoods, or a nice cowel hood.

 

If the car was staying black I would say go for black tinted plexi as well!

Oh, from the pic... was the bend what was causing the refraction?

I know there are a few retailers out there that have glass stock hoods. Like I said before... there is one that has a stock hood with the headlight doors not cut out of the hood! Wish I could remember the distributor... But yes there are just simple cowl hoods or stock hoods in fiberglass!

 

ok since you're so helpful redraif, do you kno a distributor of the 96 WS6 style hood for thirdgen cars in FIBERGLASS! I like the nostrils but not as large as in the Ram-air II hood so help? I dont want to weld a WS6 and shape it and make it fit my car and THEN make it fiberglass. i'd rather just add some fiberglass to an already there hood.

 

I don’t get why people are getting so excited about this. No, the stock covers aren’t steel, most that I’ve seen are cast aluminum. Like redraif said, the camaro hood won’t be even close, no point in spending the money and ruining one. The camaro hood has a bigger crown, the nose is shorter and the front edge curves down where the ‘bird hood is straight.

If you stick with the steel hood then just grind the folded lip off the inside of where the headlight door fits, make an almost flat plate to fill the hole with folded outside lips, give it the slight crown that the ‘bird hood has and start welding.

If you want glass… well similar procedure but you’re laying up glass instead of welding steel and to do it well you’ll have to probably grind back the edges of the existing hood and blend from there.

Really, if you want a glass hood, then just take the stock hood and the headlight doors, make a frame to hold it and the doors in the proper position, fill the gaps and use the whole thing to cast a ‘glass mold off of and then lay up a ‘glass hood, I’d bet that making the complete hood would be less work and only slightly more expensive then molding in the headlight doors on an existing hood, especially when you work in some bracing, you’ll get a better result.

Ug… 4th gen scoops look atrocious on 3rd gen birds… I like it on my ’97 WS6, but you won’t catch me dead with that same look on the 3rd gen formula, the cars have totally different lines.

There’s a urethane adhesive that you can use to do this but you’d have to reinforce it with some ‘glass cloth or maybe even something more rigid from the back. the replacement urethane noses are not as nice as the originals (sag where the originals didn’t), and I’ve roughed the up the inside and filled it with expanding foam from the back to make it exactly the shape I wanted and rigid. It takes a carefull touch to keep from ending up with something that looks like an inflated balloon, but done right you can get that nose rock hard and only about a pound heavier then stock.

 

You can get a Ram Air II or Ram Air I hood from a dist like Hawks or American sports car design... they are all the same basic hood. Problem I have with them (why I went with what I did...) the whole 4th gen Ram air hood look always had the nostrils running to the 4th gen bumper cover... the 3rd gen versions have the nostrils way up on the hood back form the hoods front edge. I wanted one that would actually come to the hood edge as mine does, or actually overlap the front bumper cover... give it a more finished- flow into the body look. I agree that the existing Ram Air II hoods look to bulky for our cars and don't flow with them...

As for a shorter version... nope... Go to the Ram Air I style, but you don't get the separated bumps in the hood like the RAII... Only way to pull it off...you would have to get an existing glass hood and rework it! Though to me on a 91 bird... the ASCD Ram Air I hood has always been the most attractive option.

I always wanted to get a few badly messed up glass hoods and start cutting and bonding them together to make my own version for the 82! Then lay a mold and tada!

 

Good tip on the expanding foam... I have a fiero that has an original nose, but its starting to sag... maybe this would perk it back up!

 

That, or plastic surgery.

 

LOL!

With this car its gonna take a whole lot more then plastic sur to get it running right! I'm wondering why I ever got the blasted thing! Still have not even gotten to drive it thanks to one thing after the other that the previous owner has rigged! Gonna be a new car by the time I'm done fixing all the broken stuff! LOL!!!

 

Sounds like what i got myself into And i still have a long ways to go.... dang

 

My headlight covers are made of aluminum like you said but i'm going to more or less tape it to the hood and sand it all down nicely so that when i go to make a fiberglass mold it will take on the shape of one uniform hood. Secondly i happen to like the look of the fourth gen hood on my 91 bird. and if other people didnt, those companies wouldnt make the hood anymore. And thridly, thank you for the help on that urethayne idea i didnt even think about an adhesive or the fiberglass clothing i was more concerned about shaping the bumper. thanks

 

Raif's new lights are f#nking hot

 

yes they are, but i'm stil curious as to whether or not any of you people here know the best way to make a mold for my fiberglass hood. i know how to make it out of fiberglass, but im not aware of how to get it so that the fiberglass wont stick to the steal and later on so it wont stick to the fiberglass hood itself.

 

^ Three coats of car wax

 

Yeah, car wax should work. There are also mold release agents too like PVA liquid. You brush or spray it on, then once it dries it makes a thin flexible film between the item and the fiberglass.

I would highly recommend a light coat of gelcoating first before you do the fiberglass. The gelcoating will hug the hood much cleaner than just resin and glass. You don't want it to have air bubbles else it will crater out and leave pockets and it doesn't need to be very thick. Just a nice even smooth coverage. The fiberglass will grab on the back of the gelcoating to add strength.

If you want to make it super strong mix up a little bondo w/hardner and fiberglass resin after the fiberglass has cured and paint it on the outside of the mold. It'll be heavy, but when bondo and resin mix and cure it's rock hard. You'll want it to be about the thickness of a nice milkshake.

 

make sure you start with a smooth surface (any oddness I usually cover up with some duct tape), use some mold reliese compound (not kidding, I actually usually use 3 coats of whatever cheap car wax I have around), and then you're still pretty much guaranteed that it will stick some, usually you just have some woodend wedges laying around to pry the edges up and hold them up while you work around... cloths pin halves work well...

 

heh, I use the bondo/resin combination for filling any imperfections...works great...

 

This was a fabrication from NTTGA:
non-pop up headlights modification - NTTGA Forums

 

those are all very good ideas. But now i have a decision to make and i would like some of your help. Now i can either make the turn signal lamps from the 91 front bumoer into a fog light. Or i can make the turn signals from the 80's front bumper into another driving light. either way i'll end up with a set of turn signals and 3-4 driving/fog lights on each side. what do u think would look best?

 

GRRR, you pull it in gainesville,FL just LEVELED all but one of there thirdgen f-bodies. I scowered the yard and found one with a bumper that i can use but it is un POOR condition. a HUG setback for me. And for anybody else that use to go to that junkyard and owns a firebird. IM ANGRY!

 

Unfortunately, that's happening in many yards. If they even have any ThirdGens let at all, it seems that they are making a rapid march to the crusher. There is a local yard that had at least 10-12 at any given time, and now have none unless they have recently been acquired. Most yards around here are similar.

Don't get too discouraged. There are probably other vehicles with square/flat hood corners that would work - If you can find straight ones. As for the bumper covers, that may be a little tougher, but there are some yards holding ThirdGens, but there may be some shipping involved. You might even check with some of the board sponsors for used body parts.

 

yes i am actually having to travel 50 miles to the nearest junkyard but i called and they just got in 4 new firebirds so things are looking up for my project car.

 

I think old F-bodies that are about to be crushed should instead be sold to the F-Body junkyards, instead of crushed. Surviving ones do get more valuable as more are crushed, but that's bad for low-$$ people like me b/c then we can't afford them

Good luck with finding a good bumper tho

 

i have decided that i dont like the location of the turnsignals for the 82-90 front bumper. so wouldnt it be feasable and require a LOT less time to just make thos turn signals into the ram air like in that tech article? And then just buy a stock fiberglass hood or should i stick with my heart and use the WS6 style hood?

 

look on the fab boards for the camaro louvers (it is a newer thread as of this reply) A few of the suggestions include slotted shutters, something like blinds. I think if you put in those mini lights with a clear cover and then built in "shutters" over them and painted them body color, it would look good regardless of lighting conditions. If anyone has a cad or scanner and wants to draw up a plan, I'm sure someone would appreciate it.