Thank you to the many folks who replied. For folks changing noses in either direction, here's a bunch of detail I found by doing it. As always, it's easiest if you have the donor vehicle there next to yours, or else you end up making multiple trips to the parts source. AMHIK
First, two kilowords: (a picture being worth a thousand words, you know)
Parts that are different:
The fascia itself (16 in the pix above)
Air dam (14)
Wheelwell liners (4)
Curved metal side brackets (11, 15)
Flat metal bracket, center (12)
Plastic/rubber radiator surrounds (25, 20)
Underside grille (13 on second pic, only on bumper pad nose)
Also, the GT has spacers for the front turn-markers, which I didn't find in the parts book.
See highlight, pay no attention to the illegal and dangerous LED bulbs.
Parts that may change:
Logo (47) [can be swapped, requires drilling new hole]
Turn signal / marker lights (8).
As mentioned, the bumper pad style nose has the grooved trim molded into it:
versus the GT which has rounded trim. One solution is to swap the side trim, which is removable, to match. That's a metric boat-ton of work. I chose a different path, namely to 3D print inserts to slot into the grooves and match the GT style:
Used the longer ones on the straight edges, and then the shorter ones around the corners. This is further complicated because the trim isn't the same height; the sides are like 1/4" taller than the front and center. OTOH, 3D printing is made for this; you plug in the numbers and say "print me (x) copies at (y) height" and away it goes.
Careful cleaning and an epoxy for plastic later, the inserts attached nicely to the bumper.
Then sand the junctions smooth and apply a flexible filler (
https://www.u-pol.com/us/en...ecialty-fillers/7061 ), and the lather-rinse-repeat of sand and primer, and we get
One other item of note is that the GT aero nose has a longer side marker than the bumper pad style, which has trim molded in aft of the marker.
I could have glued in more printed inserts here, but then I'd have to cut down the side markers, which is kinda hack. Instead, I glued in a piece of 1/8" ABS stock, and carefully ground off the grooved trim. This is a crappy pic partway through that grinding:
Then during the test-fit phase, drilled and Dremeled the required holes for mounting and the marker light screws to pass through. Now I can use the stock round GT side markers.
And finally, much lather-rinse-repeat (literally, in the case of wet-sanding), we end up with
Why do it? I like the looks. The aero nose always struck me as too Gerard Depardieu, too Inspector Closeau, and this looks like a Lotus or an early Datsun Z. Plus the serious Fiero nerds will look at it and say "Whaaaaaaaa...?"
(Look up in the sky! Is it a GT? Is it an SE? It's ... Confuse-A-Fiero!)
I think I'll do the rear too, which is thankfully simpler (just fascia and wheel wells.) Haven't yet decided what to do with the ground effects (leave alone? remove? repaint?) but this is the joy of Fieros: they're cheap and fun to play with.
-- A
[This message has been edited by dremu (edited 03-20-2021).]
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I have yet to learn that level of wet sanding patience.
