TFS front license plate holder

[GTRS Fiero]

Here are the brackets, as Fierofool described.  Here, it seems that someone took a piece of ABS with the proper bends, cut off irregular widths that don't even have straight edges, and drilled a hole in the middle.  They should work, and no one would see them, but shoddy work really leads me to question the rest of the project.  The originals would seem to have been much higher quality.







Overall, I'd say I'm disappointed with this plate holder.

[fiero4.3L]

That is a plate bracket made for something else, modified to work on the fiero.

I found some photos of the original bracket. The originals were unique being very deep to reach the back edge of the opening and a cup center made to fit the fiero curvature. The bracket you bought, modified to work is unusual also since most brackets available these days are not made that deep. Not perfect but at least it is being offered.

I’m guessing your bracket came with large washers to go behind the abs strips so they don’t crack and nylock nuts so it doesn’t have to be very tight yet won’t come loose. If not, you might want to go to the hardware store and buy some nylocks and fender washers or replace the abs. Nobody is going to see it isn't perfect and the holes are not so close to the edge to be a problem.

I doubt there are enough aero nose fiero owners that live where front plates are required or simply want a front plate to justify a production run on original style brackets.

One way to make these is to use 1/8x1 steel strip with a scroll bender to follow the perimeter around, then use a standard plastic tag bracket on the front and drill two holes with no welding required. You'd need an aero nose or an original bracket to get it right.

[Fierofool]

Yes, that's like the ones I had.  But I was thinking there were wing nuts that held the clamp brackets on.  BTW, those clamps are on backward.  They should face toward the front of the car so that the legs fit over the back edges of the opening. 

You can also see that there's no padding strips on that holder. 

[GTRS Fiero]

Wow.  A vast difference between the 2 brackets.  The original is much more involved, and does not have those notches.

[Raydar]

It's been so long since I've seen mine, that I really don't remember details. The "wingnut" thing sounds familiar, though.

[GTRS Fiero]

Here is an original plate holder:




Here is another original plate holder, but this is the one with padding.  It probably keeps the holder from damaging the paint, but I dunno, maybe it collects dirt and wears the paint away.


And a side view of the padded plate holder:

[GTRS Fiero]

Here is the bolt mount style for the clips:

[GTRS Fiero]

Here is a view of the back of one of the original clips:


And a side view of an original clip:

[GTRS Fiero]

The hardware for the clips has varied somewhat.  This thread touched on that in previous posts.  I've seen a single bolt like I pictured above, the style with a wingnut like Fierofool described, and one of these has LONG, thin machine screws with wingnuts that are visible in the last image above.  I guess I prefer the single bolt on each side.

I don't know which was the original style, but I lost some clips with the one with the wingnut on the back.  That's why I prefer the style with the single bolt.

[GTRS Fiero]

Not TFS, but a plate holder.  Anyone know anything about this one?

[Fierofool]

If the plate was mounted by it's top holes, it would be pretty low to the ground and air pressure would probably bend it back beneath the fascia.  If mounted by it's bottom holes, then the top would likely chafe the paint above the air intake and make all kinds of noise at road speed. 

[GTRS Fiero]

Hmmm.  Certainly a possibility I hadn't considered.  Undesirable.