Of course I'm pretty upset about it, but it was only a 7-10 mph hit (I almost stopped in time). I hit the back of a RUSTY THICK steel trailer. The hood is ok, just some minor chipping on the edge. The fenders are ok. The rubber bumper was pushed inward and upward ripping out the bottom fender bolts in the bumper. Headlights are still operable. I'm optimistic here. I'll get some pics when I get home from work to start taking it apart.

My question is, will the front bumper ever regain it's shape once it's been removed or is it a lost cause? Both front pads are popped outward a little as well. Thank goodness the hood and fenders are ok. Oh and I'm ok.lol The guy I hit barely felt a thing.

I'm more upset about killing my PERFECT driving streak since I was 16 more than anything.

 

That's a bummer. The best way to look at it is that it could have been much worse. Glad to hear no one was hurt. Good luck with the repairs.

 

+1, glad your o.k. without pics, its hard to say on the bodywork.

 

Sorry to hear about the car, but gald you are ok and she can still drive, sounds like an easy fix, post some pix

 

Yea, I'm at work right now, but when I get home later, I'll take some pics of it. At first blush, I'm pretty confident that the structural damage is minor. It's just a pain to look at and once I get it home I will not drive it again until it's back to the way it was. So, I'm back to driving the Cavalier every day.

 

from what you describe of the bumper it probably is fixable the hardest part is gonna be reattaching the mounting holes to the bumper

 

It's impossible to concentrate at work today. All I want to do is get this thing home and take it apart so I can fix it! Of course every co-worker reminds me when they come: "OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!WHAT HAPPENED TO IT!!!!" One was like "good thing it wasn't your KITT car." ...he's got a point.

 

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Well, got it home and took a closer look at it. I think I got off lucky. It looks to be all superficial cosmetic stuff for the most part. Here are the pics:

Before:





The Damage (After):



















And Lastly, KITT does NOT approve:



This should be an easy repair from the looks of things. I didn't get the front bumper all the way off yet, but I got a LOT of the stress off of it by unbolting the urethane from all of the top support and unbolting all of the top support bar from the slam tray. I also removed the slam tray triangle brace which allowed it to go back down some and I can shut the hood all the way. Where it was bumped up at the turn signals, I've already gotten that pulled back down just by releasing it from the bracing.

I'll post more pics tomorrow or this weekend since I lost daylight quickly after having to work over.

 

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It's not that bad of damage, but man that is a clean car., I love the pix with KITT peeking out of the garage with the scanner.

 

Looks like the bumper did it's job and protected most of the metal parts from damage. Still, it's enough to ruin your day. Very nice Firebird, post some more pix when you get her fixed up.

 

Thanks for the compliments on the Firebird. It really is a nice one for being just a basic Firebird V8. When I found and test drove this car, I bought it immediately. It's very hard to find them in good condition around here and I mean very hard. I'm going to call around to a few yards today and see if I can find the correct bumper cover. I just don't think I can make this one look right again, it's pretty tweaked. I'll know more this evening when I get it completely off and I'll post some more pics.

 

looks like you just warped it a little, mayby broke off a couple clips/bolts.

My uncle took his bumper off of a car he had and heated it a bit and worked it back to normal, idk about doing this to these cars, may want to research.

 

Gentle use of a heat gun should allow you to put it back into shape I would think. How are the fender bolt holes on the bumper? Looks like you might have torn one or two, but its hard to tell from the pics.

 

Well the good news is, it was ALL bumper cover. That honeycomb impact material is a saver and even it can go back on with some new clips. Not a TRACE of damage beyond the bumper cover. In fact, the only metal that was harmed was the support brace that is attached to the bumper cover. The front lip was bent upward which was raising the bumper. I dismantled the front bumper cover down to pure urethane and it went back to shape. I then lightly mounted the bumper's support brace back to the fenders to see what I need to fix.

Guess now's a good time to rebuild the headlight motors while they're out too. Got my kits from TDS, so I'll be doing that as well. I'll post pics this evening. I'm heading to a couple yards Saturday to see if I can find another bumper cover since this one has quite a bit damage with respect to mounting it to the fenders and mounting the under plastics again. I don't know, it may be fixable. I'll post pics tonight and you can look at it and see.

 

Sounds like you have a good plan on getting a differant cover, once a cover is warped I never trust they will look right. Also last year I put of fixing my headlight motors and I even had the TDS months. Once me and my buddy dug in and did it I was so mad that I put it off for so long-my headlight did not come up at all so I had to have the car back by dark LOL! Good luck on the cover hunt.

 

What's really sad is that after removing the front bumper cover, I discovered that it may never have been wrecked before at least not majorly. Both front fenders and even the impact bar have the correct VIN number. I've NEVER had a thirdgen that didn't have at least one or two of these items replaced. I was kind of shocked when I discovered this. Thankfully, I didn't do any real damage and the car will continue to maintain the original metal. I couldn't find a VIN on the front nose though...so I'm not sure if it's original or not.

 

Sad about your incident I backed into the front bumper of an old chevy truck last saturday because of Ice and I am totally Heatrbroken. Mine is a 91 firebird Formula. I drive her daily, I have been putting so much time and $ into making her beautiful and purr again since I bought her now I cant find a damn tail light! LOL

 

I know how you feel, believe me. It sucks! I too have been driving mine daily, but only on nice sunny days. I've been slowly restoring things here and there since it's not in need of restoration, just little things and it's complete. I was just about to order new gray carpet for it.

Don't worry, you'll find a taillight. Keep an eye on the classifieds. People are parting cars all the time.

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence! I sure will keep trying! I cant let her down now I refuse to ruin her reputation and put the old red tape on her so Im driving the Chevy truck until she is fixed. I am SO sad

 

Front bumper and headlights removed:



Next, I removed the support brace from the front bumper and sat it back on the car. You can see how this piece was damaged (bent upward) which caused the bumper to rise at an angle and rip out the mounts in the bumper:





Here are pics of the bumper completely stripped down to urethane:









All in all, the bumper doesn't appear that bad really once you get the stress off of it. You can see the imprint of the steel trailer. If that trailer had been any higher off the ground, I would have lost the hood and headlights. It just happened to be a good height. More pics next post:

 

Now, for pics of the rear of the bumper which show why it's pretty much not usable without a ton of creativity:











The "bumperettes" or whatever they are called "pads" did pretty well with just a couple ripped mounting holes. I think these are still usable with a little work:



This is where I'm at until I can find another bumper cover. I'm going to go ahead and fix the support brace just to have a spare and in case I have to use my original bumper for some reason. Surely, I'll find a decent one in a week or two.

 

Well, I went to 3 huge yards today and as usual (like always), very few thirdgens. Found 1 89 Firebird, 1 86 Trans am, and two Camaros at the first yard. No bumper cover, but I did score a perfect bumper support brace and both front gray seatbelt receivers in great condition. 2nd yard had one 88 Formula picked pretty clean and one Camaro and that was it. The 3rd yard had one Camaro and nothing else.

Guess I'll have to look for a bumper cover online (as I suspected) and pay 3-4 times for it plus shipping. Then, paint it. Fun fun. That will teach me not to wreck my car. I may just fix the other one. I could fix the side mounting issues with some sheet metal behind the urethane, but I'm not sure how to fix the bottom section where the ground effects bolt to it just yet.

 

So, I was tired of the car sitting and not being able to drive it. A little "back yard" work with the bad bumper this weekend and not too shabby. This will do while I wait on a new cover and get it painted. My painter is backed up for a month.





I literally have the air dam front pieces rigged to stay on the bottom of the bumper, but it's only temporary. Yep, it's spray bombed and looks good from 10 ft away!

So, if you wreck your car lightly, remember, take it home immediately and pull the bumper cover off and get the bent metal out of it and it will go right back to shape!

 

Looks like nothing ever happened to it.

 

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Looks a ton better and you will find a cover, just might take a bit.

 

Wow lookin great! Your very talented. Btw I found my tail light not only that but I found a entire set of the three, all show quality!! Being sent out to me today from an awesome member of this fabulous site just like you said I would! I will have my bird back on the road soon!! I cant wait

 

Good job man, looks mint.

 

Thanks!! I don't know what was more exiting, seeing myself pull this off or watching my headlights operate like brand new ones thanks to TDS. I swear I must have raised and lowered them 6 times just for the WOW factor and all they needed was new bushings. What an easy job that was. I should have done that sooner. The bumper looks pretty good in photos, but up close, not so great. I just wanted to drive my car again and I refuse to drive it around wrecked or missing a bumper.lol It turned out quite nice and from a distance, like someone already said, you can't even tell really.

I also fixed the hood latch the way I like it. I can set it down and close it gently with the palm of my hand just like my '82.

Congrats on the taillights Sudsy, I knew you'd find a set.