Cuno

Are all of the 4th gen 'bird mirrors the same or were there differences in years?

Also, how's the paint coming along? Everything going ok?

WS6Formula305

Quite the frankencar Looks sweet though. Can't wait to see more pictures after some paint!

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

It looks a lot better now, with fresh paint and no bodyside molding. We picked up some new emblems for the b pillar, and a nose bird...we'll probably have pics of them on the car by the end of the week. We'll try to get the TA Nats pics developed tonight.BTW we didn't see another 3rd gen with the 4th gen mirrors there, either, though we did see one (Hawk's 3rd Gen Parts's LS1 Formula) with C5 mirrors. That looked sweet, too!!!

redraif

Done

FyreLance

Pics! Pics! Pics!

FyreLance

Hey Shannon, I was just thinking... you probably won't wanna do it now especially since you just had it painted but, as an idea... it would be neat to have your hood fiberglassed or something so that there are no seams where your headlight pop-ups "were", since you did the converstion, that way it looks like that's how it's supposed to be. Might be kinda neat.

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

The only problems would be servicing the lights (they have to come up manually to diasssemble/adjust), and the fact that the headlight doors are metal. Fiberglass won't bond properly to metal.

redraif

I'm not sure if there were differences in the mirrors. As far as looks from the exterior I think they were the same on the 4th gen birds. I did notice an angle difference with the mirrors off the car.

Paint came out great. We got the car back on Wed. It was around 3am when I got it home. I took off work on Thurs to finish the reassembly. Because of the down draft booth, some primer got drug up under the car. It deposited on the sway bars, lower cool flex, tie rod ends, lower control arms, and not to mention on the floor pans. It was so weird how it curled around like that.

I spent all day and that entire night working on the car. I got most of it fixed. Though we still had to spend a few hours under the car while it was on the trailer in Dayton finishing up the painting. Worst part is we had to do the painting in the rain. Not to bad since we were under the car, but still.

The next day we got the car off the trailer and washed it and headed over to the show grounds. We still had to get new door weather strip from Bruce (Hawks 3rd gen parts). We got the weather strip on and I had to spend that day and evening fighting with the door panels.

Seems there is a slight clearance issue with the nuts and upper door molding. It will have to be sectioned slightly. The 4th gen inner mirror cover should cover everything up nicely. Heck with those pieces and the sectioning, the inside pieces should look like the were meant to meet up with the door molding. That will be a project for a bit later.

I took some pics of the car. I have to wait till I get my check this week to run to the photoshop for development, but they should come out nice. The mirrors were a hit. Everyone loved how they somehow went with the car. I even won the class, so the judges must have liked them too.

redraif

I thought of that as soon as I did the conversion. It would be quite difficult to get the piece strong enough and straight. Who knows we may get brave with the fiberglass later and just replace the covers with fiberglass ones. The biggest problem is that the headlights plastic cover, the one I cut out the front of so the lights could shine thru...it mounts to the headlight doors. I mounted the lights to this plastic piece. If I made the whole light assembly part of the hood it could work, but the opening and shutting would be alot of slamming that those driving lights are not designed for.

Its a good idea though, I have not given up yet!

zee28

do the windows go into the triangle seals when up?

FyreLance

Hmm... good point(s).

FyreLance

Hey, I've seen you work wonders with that car, if anybody can do it you guys can, hehe

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

Yes, they work just like normal. The only issue we ran into was the bottom nuts on the mirror hitting the inside weatherstrip...a little trimming should take care of it. We'll probably wind up making covers out of carbon fiber...maybe red, since we have a need for that on another part of the car, too.

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

They're the same, 93-present. Hers are 97. For a few shots of the finished product, see
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...0&goto=newpost

redraif

Or I could be a post ***** and throw a few up here too.

redraif

From the front

redraif

above

3.1EyeCandy

iTrader: (3)

I don't care what others think about your car, that paintjob did miracles. Those pics are good quality and your car really has the "grunt" look now. You just qualified for my coveted "Save As" option under right-click into my pictures folder. simply beautiful car.

redraif

Driver side

83tranzam

Great car...I always love seeing new pics of it. Nice work.

redraif

Thank you, thank you!!!
Makes a difference when the gloss and true color shows doesn't it.

Gambit69

I like the looks of the new mirrors and the looks of the pic of the new project that you are working on. I am already doing something similar to it. I already have that front nose and scanner on my car and this spring i will be getting the forth gen ram air 2 hood and spoiler for my car. I hope yours turns out great. Here is a link to my car so you can see what it looks like right now. keep up the excelent work.

http://www.knightreplicas.com/databa...RReplicaID=141

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the compliments, Gambit69...looks like your project is coming along nicely, too. I noticed you're also running the Robert Yancey nose; that is what Shannon got for the '82. She saw his noses on Ebay, and turns out he lives about 10 miles from us. Nice guy. We only have about 3 days worth of work into the 82 now, but its almost completely stripped down now. We're hopefully going to pressure wash the underside this week (if the temp goes up that is) and start prepping for the rollbar and SFC installations. Once thats done, the targa conversion will begin, the suspension comes out, and we'll soundproof and paint the floorpan and bar. We have LOTS to do...we want to debut the car at the TA Nats this year, and bring RAIF, too (though it can't compete this year, since it won its class last year...it'll be in the winners' circle). Throw in paint and bodywork on my 87 TA, my 85 TA TT project,upgrades on RAIF, and her Scout II, and we will be plenty busy!!!

Gambit69

Yes i do have Roberts nose and i also found it on ebay. I am now wanting to get one from Mark Scrivani. His nose is a little longer and i like the looks of the longer nose. I have been looking at the fourth gen mirrors and tried to figure out how to put them on and now i do so thank you for that. Are you planning on putting a scanner on the car as well. If you do, honestly, i wouldnt get one from jc whittney. I would get one from one of the conversion companies. They are a bit pricey but they look great. When i get my hood i am thinking of putting neons behind the ram air openings and maybe painting the grills in there red to off set the black all around. If you could tell me what you are thinking about for suspension i have been trying to find a good setup for taking corners at higher speeds. Custom sound system is in the works. I am thinking 3 15's in the back. I have a daytona with 9 15's in it with a bad motor so i am going to rob a few out of there for the stereo and maybe a few monitors, dvd player and ps2. One last thing, do you know where this years Nats are being held. If it is close to me I would really love to go this year. Keep up the great work and keep posting pics of new improvements to the car.

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

Its going to get a scanner, but I'm not sure whose yet. Shannon mentioned the possiblity of building her own, or modifying an existing one. Those are the only Knight pieces that we're going to use; everything else will be custom built, including the dash. We're not even sure how well the car will be accepted by the whole Knight community, since its not really a replica, and even the nose will likely see some changes. It looks like we will be using a RAII hood, 4th gen mirrors, Fiero GT spoiler, and hopefully a factory notchback, if we can locate one (not easy). We're also doing a targa conversion; shaved handles, locks,gas filler, and antenna, and an 85-90 style TA rear bumper cover. We're not sure about the side ground effects yet, but whatever we use is going to accomodate side exhaust, so that will be pretty much custom too. For now, most of the suspension will be stock, but with everything boxed for strength and bushings replaced with Energy Suspension urethane. We will add WS6 sway bars and an IROC Wonderbar though. The subframes will be Spohn, and the rollbar Chassis Engineering, though it too will see a few changes. We'll eventually upgrade to all Spohn suspension in the rear, and PA Racing in the front (tubular k-member and a-arms), but it probably won't be in the budget til after the 'nats. The TA Nats will be at the Dayton/Vidalia OH airport, in mid September. I think the Knight event is the same weekend; they joined up with us at the Tipp City cruise last year. We had a great time last year, I'd highly recommend it.

Gambit69

I dont think it really matters how it goes over with the knight community because it will be unique and awesome to say the least. I have a few mods to do for the engine before i can even think about going to the nats but hopefully I can make it. I am also doing the shaved door handles. Going with the autoloc kit, not sure if it will be 35 lbs or 50lbs solenoids. Kind of a theft deterent since my car has been broke into. Got an alarm on the way. Hope to see you at the Nats.

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

35lbs should be plenty...it doesn't take much pull to unlatch the door. Hope to see you at the 'nats!

Gambit69

I got to thinking about the mirror conversion and as to where they are located. You mounted them on the black triangle piece that seals up the window. Could you have gotten those pieces off of a 4th gen firebird to put on the 3rd gen because that is where they are mounted on the 4th gens or do those pieces not fit onto the 3rd gens if they came off of a 4th gen. It is just a thought that i had and was wondering if you considered this

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

We originally planned to make a thin steel reinforcement for the existing 3rd gen piece (thick plastic), but honestly they feel as rigid as the 4th gen ones (thin rubber sandwiching steel), so we left them alone. The 4th gen one is different enough it probably wouldn't be worth it to try to use the whole thing, plus the angle of the glass is probably different.