hi, a while back i scraped a concrete divider on a sharp turn on a highway turn off, my drivers side fender is crunched and i scraped alot of plastic off the left side of the bumper. now... my question is, where can i get a cheap drivers side fender that will fit my 89 Trans AM GTA? can any 3rd gen f-body fender work? or do i need a specific year? also, is it cheaper to fix if i take off the fender myself, buy the fender myself and give it to a body shop to put on after they straighten out the front end? basicaly.... what is the cheapest way i can fix this crunch?

 

watch out if shopping for an aftermarket fender, many use very thin sheetmetal and don't line up quite right. some also don't have any of the mounting holes drilled in them.

 

well, even if i have to buy a fiberglass fender, i will. i just need to restore its coolness

 

as far as i know all 3rd gen. parts are interchanable. look around at junkyards you should be able to find a decent fender for a lot cheaper than any after market fender. and if you only scraped the concrete divider i dont think your frame or whatever in the front end would need to be straightened. take your fender off put the new/used one on if it doesnt align then maybe something has to be straightened, thats when u take it to a body guy.

 

transams have a nonfunctional air scoop towards the bottom of the fender. can carefully cut a standard firebird fender and install the scoop from your car as long as it was not damaged in the collision.

have seen a good number of thirdgens with mismatched body panel paint colors on the road. for example a red quarter panel, blue door and a black fender. you definetly will not be alone if you can't afford to get the fender painted right away.

 

are you suuuuure the fenders are interchangeable for all 3rd gens? trans am "GTA's" dont have that non-functional scoop thing, you can see them at www.gtasourcepage.com my car also has ground effects, so will that make my search a little narrower? or do i just have to drill holes on the new fender?

 

Are four distinct fender designs used on thirdgen firebirds according to the hollander interchange manual:

82'-84' with TransAM package
82'-84' without TransAM package
85'-90' with louvers
85'-92' without louvers

 

i bought my car used, so im not quite sure about this whole trans am package thing. as far as i knew, my car was a Trans AM with the GTA package. also, what are louvers? if they are those non-functional scoops that i was reading about, no my car doesnt have them. does this mean i can only get a GTA fender? or can i use an 89 iroc fender (same as GTA/trans am package i think?)

 

louver = nonfunctional air scoop

according to hollander, any 85'-92' firebird fender without the louver should fit your GTA. (v6 base model, v8 base & forumla model, along with GTA fenders should all interchange)

camaro fenders are not listed as being interchangeable with firebird fenders.

for you camaro guys, hollander lists two distinct fender designs

1982-1990 all camaros including iroc, z28, and rs
1991-1992 all camaros including z28 and rs

 

so does that mean that a trans am louvred fender will not fit an 89 GTA at all ? i want to put one on before i paint but if they won't fit then i can paint sooner

 

ok, thanks for the info, this will help ALOT for the next time i take a trip down to the good old junk yard oh one more thing, what about the gfx? will i have to drill my own holes for them? is it easy to drill my own holes?