redraif

Joe and I got brave and took off the stock mirrors and welded the holes up on Monday. We got the 4th bird mirrors on Wed and we installed them last night. It took and hour of pattern cutting and test fits. Then the commitment time began. Joe drilled the holes in the black triangular corner pieces and I dremeld away. The mirror was made to sit in a recessed triangle on a 4th gen.

Well, my piece was flat, so the mirror stuck out about 3/8 of an inch. So I had to cut a recess out of the black plastic piece so the mirror would sit flush. It took 3 hours of slowly dremeling, b/w the 2 sides, to remove enough material, w/o compromising the piece. But at about 2am, I had installed the mirrors and they look great. It will take some getting used to, but I'm pleased. Everything fits solid and I drove it to work with no probs.

I was too tired last night to take pics, but we will post them Sat night or Sunday. Pictures are being taken tonight when we drop it off for its new paint job. Staying with the stock color for now.

TomP

Sounds cool, good job!! Can't wait to see the pics!

3.1EyeCandy

iTrader: (3)

Ah....innovation at last! Good job. Can't wait to see pics.

88Bravo

How different do they look from 3rd gen? Is it evough so that people will notice? Sounds like a great idea. Glad to hear it works, and cant wait to see pics.

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

People will definitely notice...the old mirrors mount on the door, like very other GM vehicle from the 80s and 70s...the 4th gen style mount higher, on the trim piece just ahead of the door glass.
The angles line up perfectly, almost like the mirrors were made for a 3rd gen. We had thought about this idea for a while, but when we parked beside a 4th gen at a club meeting and did a crude check of the angle, we knew it would work and look sweet!:lala:

88Bravo

If I have the time and the ability to do that I would. The picture in my head looks bad ***, cant wait to see them on here.

redraif

Oh believe me you can tell. Though that maybe because they are white mirrors on a red car.

The mirrors are more aerodynamic. Well here a pic of a 4th gen bird.

redraif

here you can see how they do not attach to the metal of the door.

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

RAIF went to the paint shop tonight, and we got plenty of pics of the mirrors...but, unfortunately, left the film there! We have to go back early in the week to take the front ground effect (still working on it) , so hopefully we'll have pictures to post by Wednesday or Thursday night. We're supposed to get the car back by August 21, so we'll have time to reassemble everything for the TA nats.Hope to see some of you there!

83firebirdS/E

Pics?

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

We're going to the paintshop today (hoped to over the weekend, but the painter was out of twon) after work, so I'm going to try to take a digital camera from work and get some new pics. Hopefully Shannon can post them tomorrow, I'll be out of town for the rest of the week.

redraif

Okie Dokie. I got Eckerd to make a photo CD, since Joe could not get the digital camera. Lets see what size they came out to be.

You know its weird that I attached pics. The post showed, but the pic didn't. Crap.

redraif

Ok try again:

#$&$#%%#%(^*^*()#%^%#@^($%^(@#^%$^@#^)%^@$%)(@#^$%*@&#^%*(%^@

redraif

Ok now that I beat the crap out of the key board. Went to the a stupid eckerd web site. Fought with their stupid Cd for an hour. I have finally uncovered the HIDDEN preview images. For goodness sake.....

Now for image I have trying to load for a day....

redraif

Well I statred to load more and we lost power in my office bldg. Someone does not want me to post these pics.

redraif

More

redraif

HI!

redraif

look up

redraif

Construction

redraif

Backside: holes

redraif

Ok car with mirrors

redraif

Well you wanted to see pics

redraif

Sorry 56k people

redraif

Look how the styling seems to match the hood.

Its a bit washed out, but the print shows it well. Once its body Color...

Mathius

The mirrors look great. You seem to have molded steel around the window panes and bolted through, did you consider just removing them and creating your own pane? Just an idea. I think once you get some painting done, you can fabricate some kind of cover, but it seems like the mirrors would be a bit wavy, those rubber panes aren't all that solid I don't think.

Oh, and you seem to have trimmed them down so they don't stick out near as much as the 4th gen look. May I ask why? I think you could have mounted your 3rd gen's higher and they wouldn't have looked much different from what you did there....

What's going on with your front end? You doing some mods there as well? That's certainly a different look than the usual pics you post.

Mathius

cg91ta

Looks real nice, but I have a couple questions.
Is there no way to remove the three studs and replace them with bolts? Although I'm not sure I would have drilled through that peice myself, but I would think there would be a way to make the connection look better.
Have you driven the car with the new mirrors on? I'm mainly interested in the amount of vibrating that triangle peice does.


I havn't responded to any of your posts, and though I may not personally have done some of the modifications you have, I think overall your car looks great. Keep up the good work!

redraif

I did not mold any steel, I actually cut into the rubber/plastic piece. See the attachment panel where the bolts were on the back of the mirror actually stuck out a bit from the actual mirror. I wish I had pics of that too. All in good time...

I at first tried to drill the 3 holes in the triangular black panel. Well then I put on the mirror. It had a gap of about a 1/2 and inch all the way around. That and the mirror bolts did not stick all the way thru the plastic. I had no idea it was that thick. I had to channel the blk triangular piece it so the mirrors' mounting plate actually sinks down into the black piece. There was more than enough material and its actually very strong. The wind did not push them around at all in the hour trip to the painter's place (55-75mph)

Quote:

Oh, and you seem to have trimmed them down so they don't stick out near as much as the 4th gen look. May I ask why? I think you could have mounted your 3rd gen's higher and they wouldn't have looked much different from what you did there.

I actually did not trim them down. The 3rd gen courner piece is just that far in and angled. I think the angle might be more severe then that of a 4th gen. I wanted a clean door w/o any thing attached to it. The painters over the years were notoriuos for painting around the mirrors. (insurance claims due to hit and runs in parking lots) The paint was chipping and looked bad. Not to mention the fact that almost every 80s car had a similar styled mirror. It was just a suble change that seemed like it would flow better with the car's current mods.

Quote:

What's going on with your front end? You doing some mods there as well? That's certainly a different look than the usual pics you post.

Actually the gfx and spoiler came off to have some body work done. Due to an unfortunate incident with an armadillo on the way to a show in FL in March, I had some damage that had to be addressed. The car was in need of some minor body work, so we took it all the way down. It was at the painter's in the pics. The bumper covers are off now was well. It is getting a repaint ($800, labor only) Supplies are costing nothing. It was time. I had put it off too long. Had some vandalism done a while back and I wanted to wait till I got the shaving, hood, and mirrors before I got the all over repaint. After the V-8 swap it will go Candy Apple Red

82firebird

looks great, one question though.. how'd you get your headlights to only come up half way like that? looks much better than having them come all the way up IMO.

redraif

Thanks, Chris! I know I'm out there with some of it, but to each his/her own right?

The backside is all that will be seen and we got the inside trim covers as well. I was too tired the night before to stress about that part yet, but I think it will all cover fine. The mirrors do not seem to vibrate. I was worried about the structual integrity as well, but them I looked at the 4th gen mirror mounting plate. Its just this flimsy piece of metal with bolt holes. It has a built up place on it sit flush with the mirror base. It is really not that strong.

After seeing that, I figured I could get a piece of metal to attach b/w the nuts and triangle piece. That should prevent any stress on the holes directly. That piece was so thick, I only removed about 1/2 of its thinkness in some places. Plus with its aerodynamics, I don't think its gets unbearable pressure. I never saw it flex on the hwy at all (55-75mph) Though only time will truely tell. Worse case I have to buy a new triangle piece from Pull-a-part.

redraif

Actually the motors' power is disconnected. I did the headlight/driving light conversion and decided to take them out to make it easier on the painter. I just had them up half way so I could get out the headlamp assembly. If your did not go up all teh way they would aim at the ground. Scaufiel was considering a headlight mod where his would only go up part way. That way he would not have to run the small lights I did. I think all you would have to do is find a way to stop the arm from traveling as far, ergo stopping the light half way. I don't know if shortening the arm would work or not. Or if you would have to make somthing to block its travel or catch the headlight from below and hold it from going up any further. Those motors will cycle for about 30 secs and then stop locking the light where it is. So it could be done. If I had a spare Bird I would try and figure it out, but I already did the full conversion on mine.

redraif

ttt

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

We should have some "primer" and color pics up possibly by tomorrow night, maybe Sunday at the latest...

hot86z-28

if only that car had a motor to go with it.... u'd be set. but nice work

REVLIMIT

wow now i really wanna do the M3 mirror conversion. Nice job on the side view mirrors.

redraif

Thanks you guys! Went to see it today. John will be painting it tomorrow morning. He got some shots as he was priming it for me. Should be getting some shots of him shooting color tomorrow. We will be reassembling on Monday for the trip home. Man it was weird to see the car in primer today. It was like is that my car???

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

I'm getting tired of saying this...as is Shannon....ITS GETTING A V8 AFTER THE SHOW SEASON!!!!!!!!!

Cuno

I must say, that is one of the sweetest mods I have ever seen before! I would never have guessed that changing to 4th gen mirrors would make the car look that much sleeker!
The body line stands out more becasue the mirror does not block it on the side view! You just convinced me to perform this mod! Great job!

Can't wait to see the pics of it painted!!

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

If the car isn't being painted as we speak, it will be first thing in the morning. John, our painter, has a digital camera, so color pics with the new paint should be going up tomorrow night. Reassembly of all the ground effects and weatherstrip will be Monday night's project (and maybe Tuesday's), so look for more pictures of the freshly painted car by Wednesday or so.

I couldn't believe how well the mirrors fit, almost like they were designed for the 3rd gen. Once we get the covers on, they'll look great on the inside too. Strength isn't an issue, as the hard plastic corner piece (which is reinforced by the window channel going down into the door) on a later third gen is believe it or not at least as sturdy as the thin rubber and metal piece on a 4th gen.

deadbird

I wish I could work as fast as you two... damm

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

We have plenty of practice...right Shannon ???

It helps when you give up sleep. I don't count on getting much of it til AFTER the TA nats...and then the work starts back on my SS!!!

redraif

Scary thing its that when we took of the rear bumpers, out came the tailights. Well, there is a mod I have been toying with doing. I just did not want to pull out the tailights just to do it. The Sub box maked it next to impossible to get them out.

Anyway, I hate how only one square of the amber part of my tailight lights up, so I decided to extend the tailight so the whole amber part lights up. I got some light bulb holders we had from the junk yard and tapped them in & they worked. So I took apart my lenses. I had to dremel out some extra walls tehy had molded in. Then I looked at it and decided I did not like the amber, so I used VHT transparent red metal tint and sprayed the backside of the amber, red. After it dried, you could not even tell it did not come red from the factory.

I dremeled holes to hold the new fixtures. I hope to get some picks of that mod soon too.

Then spent Saturday night till 4am cleaning up the basement, got up at 7:30A to go help the painter. It looked like my car exploded down there. I had to figure what we needed to have ready for Dayton. Then last night I got home from the painter and got in bed around 2:30A. Up this morn at 8A. I'm so glad I asked for thurs off.

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

And tonight, we do it all over again!!!

redraif

Thanks! Mirrors are being painted today. Maybe we will have it together tonight. Worst case tomorrow we can bring it home. Body was done last night. Still had the bumper covers and gfx to tackle today, along with mirrors and a few misc. pieces.

Jim 86 Bird

Nice job so far, they stick out MUCH less than I imagined. I would think that it'd be totally out of proportion, but hey, looks like i thought wrong

let's see the completed pics soon

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

We have had some painting delays, but they should be painted today. We're supposed to go back to the painter's tonight, install the GFX to the bumper covers, and reinstall them, along with the lights, onto the car. Looks like no sleep til Dayton !

redraif

Worked on the tailights last night. After a test, it was still not lighting the outer corners of the old amber section. So I made provisions for a smaller bulb (like the side markers) and I will add the wiring tonight and the tail lights should be a go. So last night I was again up past 2AM. Man, I feel like crap today. Let me sit still for 10 minutes and I bet I fall asleep.

Hopefully John will let me borrow his digital camera, or I will go get film. Then I can have some pics up soon.

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

As of last night, everything was painted except for the side ground effects. The mirrors are on, and they look great! Shannon got plenty of pics, so maybe she'll be able to get them developed in time to post a few before we leave for Dayton. We were up past 2am again, and still have to put the bumper covers and GFX on, not to mention cleaning up minor overspray under the car and waterspots in the engine compartment. Shannon, fortunately, has tomorrow off! I'll be working, though half asleep I'm sure!

Aviator857

Looks great, you definetly have a car you will not see two of on the road. Looks great, cant wait to see the finished product.

LT1guy

iTrader: (1)

Hey Aviator, you should join us for an ACFA meeting sometime, they're usually down in Morrow at Terry Cullen Chevrolet. We need more 3rd gens!

Aviator857

What day is it normally on, I'm actually very busy most of the time, college, work, etc. I enjoy my car and like showing it off (all though it isn't the best thirdgen out there), and looking at others cars. I am about 45 min north of atlanta, so that would be a bit of a drive so I probably wouldn't make it alot, but a few times would be great, PM/email me and let me know.