couldnt find anything about this "mod" but for those of you who just painted over the back "trans am" and that small bird logo on the back of the car between the taillights, how did you do it? what paint? did you sand? any help would be awsome, mine looks like ***, its all faded. my cars black so i figure ill paint it over black

 

It's not hard to do depending on how thorough you are. Just make sure you completely sand the logo off before painting, cause it will show through no matter how much paint you use.

I will be custom painting tail panels that I will sell on here this spring. I've done three so far and i'm getting overwhelmed with orders, but for much less than the price of the CETA panel I can do just about any design and just about any color (even color-shifting) in a finish that will look better than the car it's on. So if you want to wait until spring, I should have some ready.

Next sunny day I get, i'll try to remember to get out and get a pic of the one on my car.

 

what kinda paint is best for a DIY job? and how much do u plan on charging for them?

 

I could be wrong here but I thought a lot of the guys removing the bird emblem were using something to remove the emblem or just sanding it down and then polishing the whole piece back to its original shine vs painting it.

 

(From some of my previous posts, ...)


I've done literally DOZENS of these things over the last couple years, ..., & have two in stock right now for sale or trade. $45 shipped if anyone is interested. $30 if you send me your old one first.

I start with a 600 grit, keeping it wet, using a small 1/4 sheet sander.
Then on to 1200-1500 by hand, then finish by hand with 2000 grit, keeping them wet while sanding to wash away the contamination.
Then I use an old Black & Decker orbital polisher with Zaino's Glass Polish first, then on to the Zaino Plastic Polish.

They turn out excellent. Beautiful glossy shine. Had a guy one time, complained that it didn't match the taillights now because of too much shine! So he sent me the taillights to polish them also!

You'll get the same/similar description by most anyone else who has done it. Although some may not put that much work into it, .... You can also use other brands of polish. I've tried others, but didn't get the same quality results as I do with the Zaino process.

Good Luck!

(By the way, I do all this with the units screwed down to my temp workbench work surface. Not on the car.)

And yes, you can buy them from GM without the text & bird already. But they'll cost ya twice as much or more depending on the style you want.

All from GmPartsDirect.com
Firebird tail filler panel (from 93-97 Firebird V6) = 5977293---------------------$105.60 w/s&h&tax
Firebird tail filler panel (from 93-97 Formula) (plain black - no logo) = 5977294--$102.13 w/s&h&tax
Firebird tail filler panel (from 94 25th Anniv TA) (white logo) = 5977296--------- (Not available anymore)
Firebird tail filler panel (from 93-94 Trans Am) = 5978095----------------------$100.72 w/s&h&tax
Firebird tail filler panel (from 95-97 Firebird 3800 GT V6) = 5978095-------------$100.72 w/s&h&tax
Firebird tail filler panel (from 95-98 Trans Am) = 5977286-----------------------$95.65 w/s&h&tax
Firebird tail filler panel (from 99 Trans Am) = 5978095--------------------------$100.72 w/s&h&tax
Firebird tail filler panel (from 99 30th Anniv TA) (white logo) = 16525477--------$97.70 w/s&h&tax
Firebird tail filler panel (from 00-02 Trans Am) = 5977286 ----------------------$95.65 w/s&h&tax
Firebird tail filler panel (from 02 CETA) (silver logo) = 10312725-----------------$108.09 w/s&h&tax

Blakbird, You need to get us some photos of the custom painted ones!

 

wait, ok so when u sand and polish it, u dont have to repaint it? it turns out the original color?

 

yes sir

 

Yeah if you just want a plain black panel, it does not have to be painted. That's the easiest way to go. Though IMO, it looks like something's missing. Depends on what you like.

I paint them with logos and all. I can do just about any combination of logo you would want, like I said I will have some samples by spring, I should have some ready for sale by april. So just polish yours for now and see how you like it, and when you see what I have available, maybe you'll want to upgrade If not, then you have a nice shiny panel anyway.

 

Being bored, and since the weather cleared up a bit here, I decided to venture out and see if i could get a reasonable pic of the panel on my car. It looks best in sunlight, but it's really hard to get a good pic of this color. This one is a color-shifter. It's a deep silver with a color-shifting metal-flake effect. So in neutral light, it's a deep silver, but in sunlight, or cleverly angled artificial light, you get any and all colors of the rainbow out of it.

Keep in mind it's been raining all day and my car has been covered since mid-december, so it's not pretty. But I got a few reasonable pics that give you a good idea...


Very blurry, but you can see the color-shift...


A bit more detail...


Like I said I will try to get some nice sunny day pics, but according to the weather forecast, that'll be awhile.

 

Looks sharp!

 

crap, thise are expensive from gm parts direct!!

 

Well it's mostly cloudy today, but bright enough to get clean shots. I couldn't really get any color to show up in the photos though. Not quite enough sun for that.







That's how the color looks in "nuetral" light. I have yet to get a clean pic of it in bright sunlight, because it reflects so much light that it overwhelms the camera.

 

I designed a flaming 'bird logo for mine, and had a friend airbrush it on for me.

Mine's not painted either. I wanted the black plastic look so that it would match my taillights. My friend sanded off the logo, airbrushed the 'bird logo, then clearcoated the entire piece. It's a perfect match.

 

Nice Job guys! Now can anyone do mine j/k .

 

That looks awesome!

 

check out http://www.billygrahamscamaro.com/

Its been several years, but I got a solid black 93-97 formula style one for pretty cheap. Its a 4th gen camaro/firebird salvage lot.

 

I think the decal on the filler panel is cheap looking and belongs on the 80s Birds.

black is where it's at

 

Exactly. Keep that rear clear and sharp. Your car is the perfect example of it.

 

That's one beautiful TA. That CETA rear bumper style is the one thing that makes me regret having a black car. I still feel like something's missing on that tail panel though. I just can't get used to it.

 

well its different on a black car because the black panel looks kind of wierd just blank. I think it works good on a lighter color car because the black panel sticks out more.