I'm thinking of buying an 86 SE V6 parts car (a notchie) and swapping over some parts that I need to my 84 notchie SE 4 cylinder, such as front fenders and door skins and front bumper. My question is, are the more "aero" style front bumper an unbolt and rebolt type of thing or or is the mounting different between the two years and aero bumper and ground effects type of body? How about the fenders and door skins? I'm thinking of buying the car for $325 and parting out the stuff I don't need. Any thoughts or wisdom would be very much appreciated!
The forward most part of the front fender and the extreme bottom parts of it have slightly different mounts for 1984. Not sure why honestly. After 1984 it was re-designed. I think it had to do with accessiblity in removing the front fender.
Okay, so the fenders are different and swapping the whole door would be a possibility. I'm starting to wonder if I should even invest the $325 into the parts car when a lot of what I need may be different. The parts car has been sitting for years and the V6 turns but has not been started. The interior is better than mine but it's a different color so I would have to change out EVERYTHING. Anybody have any opinions on whether or not it would be worth buying and parting it out? I know that's about impossible to answer without seeing it, but again, any opinions are welcome! I do know that the engine cradle and underbody are rusted pretty bad so the only things that may be worth anything would be some interior items, maybe some engine parts, etc...
I actually think the only difference in body panel mounting points is the door skins. The Indy had the same body panels as the 85 GT, and the 86 and 87 SE. Only difference as noted was the way the door panels attached at the top of the door. You could substitute a pair of Indy door skins if you can find them or as recommended, swap out the complete door.
Edit to add that in order to attach the lower aero rocker panels, you would also need to transfer a metal plate that's attached inside the bottom of the door sill. You would also need to swap out the fender well liners
[This message has been edited by fierofool (edited 08-16-2013).]
...in order to attach the lower aero rocker panels, you would also need to transfer a metal plate that's attached inside the bottom of the door sill.
The metal plates/brackets would probably offer some support if you were to accidently step on the rocker, but they aren't required in order to simply mount the rockers.
My '84 has had aero trim installed without the metal brackets under the rockers and I've experienced no issues.
Patrick, did you find anything aside from the door panels that was different, other than the door skins? Or did you do the conversion?
The '84 already had the conversion done. Aside from those rocker supports that weren't swapped over, the only other obvious thing that's noticeable is the ribbed verses rounded moulding. The rear bumper (with twin exhaust cutouts) and rear side marker lights are rounded while the rest of the side moulding is ribbed. It's never bothered me, but I suspect it would choke a true die-hard Fiero fanatic.
Thanks for the input everybody. I think I'm going to go ahead and buy the car. The owner dropped the price to $250 to try to get me to give it a good home instead of send it to the scrap yard. I think I'll try the body panel/door swap, grab any other parts I need for my 84 and part out the rest and try to break even. Thanks again everybody!
If it's a late 84, you may find that the door skins will work. I had 2 84's back in the day, one was built in January 84 and had the "84 only" door skins. The other one was built in June or July of 84 and had the same door skins as the 85-88 models. I knew the original owner and the doors were original to the car, so Pontiac must have done a design change part way through the production year.
------------------ Rod Schneider, Ball Ground, Ga. "You can't have too many toys!" 1988 Fiero GT 1987 Porsche 944S 1987 Corvette 1966 Porsche 911 2001 Chrysler 300M Van's RV-6 airplane-at the airport, nearly ready to fly
Aha! The plot thickens! As luck would have it, I found another 84 parts car for sale and luckily it even had the same interior color as mine. $300 later and I now have an 84 parts car that will hopefully be more compatible for me but I didn't look at the build dates. Hopefully I won't run into the design change issue. Thanks all!