Many of you will recognize this photo......

This was my 86 "Rachel" from 2003 to 2006 and when I got my new job at the airport I sold her and bought a brand new car. When I bought her she was already lookin good. All i did was add the scoops, take the decals off the rims, lower it, and install a nice stereo.

Well I missed her ever since and as of next week I will be the proud new owner of this 88.......


She is going to take a lot more work to get her into top shape, but now with more time and money on my hands it should be a fairly faster process. My inpiration without a doubt is Yellowstone. I hope to duplicate his cars million dollar look without copying him too much


So...this is where all my projects and updates will go. I hope you like what you see and I look forward to sharing with you.

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 08-28-2007).]

i think i recognize that car, from the club right? the guy from SF? Can't wait to see you fix it up

Ok well things have changed and I'm no longer getting the white GT. I AM however buying a red 88 tomorrow. Should be home in the afternoon so ill have to wait till Saturday to show you guys pictures.

Well with my luck i shouldnt be suprised. Gonna have to wait till tomorrow morning to pick it up. But, I did get a chance to take a pic with my phone when we were washing it today.

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 06-09-2007).]

Nice find, looks like the paint is in good shape. I'll have to keep an eye out for it around here.

Paint needs work. Looks good wet though

Bump. My first mod! No more wing.

What would you guys suggest i use to fill the holes?

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 06-12-2007).]

Congratulations! I was bummed when I read you sold your yellow car, that car was beautiful. I look forward to watching the transformation of this "new" one.

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Visit my website!
Fieros West
David
2 Corinthians 5: 17
1987 Pontiac Fiero GT, 5 Speed
2006 Pontiac Grand Prix

quote Originally posted by CaliforniaSpeeder9: Well with my luck i shouldnt be suprised. Gonna have to wait till tomorrow morning to pick it up. But, I did get a chance to take a pic with my phone when we were washing it today.

Hey - I recognize that car. You got yourself a good one - it's not cosmetically perfect but it won't take much to make it great.

Yup its gonna be a lot of fun. Took it in to have the muffler fixed or replaced because of an awful rattle and it seems they are having some serious difficulty with it. They say there are gonna try one last thing tomorrow morning and give me a call. If its gonna cost me a fortune I wont bother and just buy a muffler system from the fiero store.

Oh and btw, I did a good image search for "red fiero gt" to look for good ideas on my new car and I came across this photo.

I cant tell if its chopped or not, but if it isnt this what I want to have my car looking like by the end of the year. Beautiful

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My First Fiero

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 06-13-2007).]

quote Originally posted by CaliforniaSpeeder9: Yup its gonna be a lot of fun. Took it in to have the muffler fixed or replaced because of an awful rattle and it seems they are having some serious difficulty with it. They say there are gonna try one last thing tomorrow morning and give me a call. If its gonna cost me a fortune I wont bother and just buy a muffler system from the fiero store. Oh and btw, I did a good image search for "red fiero gt" to look for good ideas on my new car and I came across this photo. I cant tell if its chopped or not, but if it isnt this what I want to have my car looking like by the end of the year. Beautiful

You can buy the Monroe OEM style cat-back system from Rock Auto for less than the Fiero Store is asking.

The car in that picture is lowered - but it's not chopped. Take a look at Kitskaboodle's car - you can see what that combination looks like up close. The biggest expense you'll have getting it to look that way is paint. A real good paint job costs real money these days...

Cool thanks Ill look into that exhaust system because i got the car back today the same as i left it =(

I'm honored...!

quote Originally posted by CaliforniaSpeeder9: My inpiration without a doubt is Yellowstone. I hope to duplicate his cars million dollar look without copying him too much

What can I say, your Fiero is the best!

Hey I got some bondo body filler for the holes in the decklid. Anyone have any advice before I go at it?

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 06-18-2007).]

wont the bondo shake off? lookin good, not a fan of the wingless look but thats just me.

My only advice would be to lay some fiberglass on the underside of the decklid (to cover the holes), and then use the Bondo putty on the topside to smooth it out. Bondo putty has very little structural strength. It won't last very long unsupported.

I'm very happy for you Paul!

Glad you got a Fiero once again. I thought that license number was familiar!
Bringing it to the meeting? Well, at least I hope it'll make it to Westfest.

Cheers, Kit / 86 GT

Yup youll see it at westfest. I finally took some pictures of her today......


Oh and here is a look at my tailight concepts. Let me know what you think.

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 06-26-2007).]

So Brian and I spent around 12 tiring hours working on the exhaust system yesterday. Its all in and working great now. Lets recap what Ive done or had done to it since I bought it a few weeks ago

1) Wing Removed
2) Holes Filled
3) New Ocelot Exhaust System (Sorry Mike I zoned out when I bought it)
4) Chrome Exhaust Tips (Pictures coming soon)
5) New Right Side Headlight Motor (I figured it would last longer than a rebuilt one)
6) New Halogen Headlamps Installed
7) 4 Brand New High Performance Tires

OH and I also named her. Abbigail aka "Abby"

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My First Fiero - Rachel - 1986 GT

Fiero Fotographia

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 06-28-2007).]

quote Originally posted by CaliforniaSpeeder9: Oh and here is a look at my tailight concepts. Let me know what you think.

Wow, I'm impressed with how quickly things are coming along. It's great. I like the name too.

Gotta be honest about the taillights though, I don't care for any of the treatments. I really think the stock taillights look great with the big "PONTIAC" lit up across the back. It's just cool IMHO. Maybe you could just enhance that with some LED lighting or something. Just my opinion.

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Visit my website!
Fieros West
David
2 Corinthians 5: 17
1987 Pontiac Fiero GT, 5 Speed
2006 Pontiac Grand Prix

Alrighty so I masked up the tailights last night and waited for daylight to make sure i did it right before I painted. They are painted now. Just waiting for them to dry. I messed up a little bit youll see at the top right corner of the picture but they still look 10 times better than they did before.


Edit: Ok here it is. Kinda hard to see detail. There are some flaws, but it still looks sooooo much better than it used to.


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My First Fiero - Rachel - 1986 GT

Fiero Fotographia

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 06-29-2007).]

That looks real nice.

[This message has been edited by InTheLead (edited 06-29-2007).]

Now I have a question. Whenever I wash the car the paint looks great. Theres still a few flaws, but all in all its a lot better. Is there something I can do besides getting a whole new expensive paint job to make the car look nice again?

The paint looks bad because the clear coat has failed. Could it be made to look nice again without painting? Yes, but not easily and only for a very short time. Back in the 80's when GM had so many problems with their clear coats, many used car dealers came up with creative ways to make it look nice so they could sell it. So they'd wipe the car down with a rag soaked in ATF, use Future floor wax to make it look better, etc. Nothing can fix the paint job, though...

The only realistic solution is to repaint the car. There's a wide variety of quality levels available; $500 or so would get you something that looked good from 10 feet away, a full on show car job could cost $20,000 and up. Look around, ask some questions - then save up some money.

I figured it was something like that. Thanks for the advice. The Maaco here did an excellent $900 job on my dads 85 Z and since this is only temporary until I can afford a full yellow makeover, I think a job like this will suit me fine. (They were the same shop who painted and installed the stage II scoops on Rachel.)

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My First Fiero - Rachel - 1986 GT

Fiero Fotographia

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 07-04-2007).]

Bump!

Still not painted... took a little video today though. Turn up the volume!


I definetely prefer the sound of Abby to the sound of Rachel....

although they are very similar

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 08-28-2007).]

I like the emblem in the middle. btw, the red fiero pictured above is mine. Once Loyde finishes my 3800sc/ic and 4 speeed auto in my 88, I will begin the new nose and lowpro headlights. Parts sitting around here waiting for my car to come home.

Is your antennae already shaved? I couldnt see it in the pics.
Are you gonna take off the drip rails above the side windows? I did , i think it looked alot better.
Good luck with your car, she looks sweet!

BP

Drips rails already removed and antenna was removed and the hole was covered the day I brought it home

Bump.

Taking the car into the paint shop tomorrow (technically later today). Im looking to get a color like this. I just wish I knew the name.

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 10-22-2007).]

Thats KoolJess's car, pm him.

Alright already! Get it out of the paint shop and bring it to the Coast Run! You've got 4 days! My car won't be painted for the Coast Run... oh well...

If that is already your plan, sorry bout that. I didn't see a reg form for you. But I do hope you are coming.

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5th Annual California Coast Run
October 26-28, 2007
San Simeon, CA

quote Originally posted by CaliforniaSpeeder9: Alrighty so I masked up the tailights last night and waited for daylight to make sure i did it right before I painted. They are painted now. Just waiting for them to dry. I messed up a little bit youll see at the top right corner of the picture but they still look 10 times better than they did before. Edit: Ok here it is. Kinda hard to see detail. There are some flaws, but it still looks sooooo much better than it used to.

So what kind of paint did you use? It looks great. Rich

quote Originally posted by Mr.PBody: Thats KoolJess's car, pm him.

I did and he didnt respond. Car is already in the shop. They said they would be done thursday or friday.

quote Originally posted by rdprowse: So what kind of paint did you use? It looks great. Rich

I just redid them and they look much much better now. I used Black Dupli-Color Acrylic Enamel "Premium Automotive Formulation"

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 10-23-2007).]

quote Originally posted by CaliforniaSpeeder9: I just redid them and they look much much better now. I used Black Dupli-Color Acrylic Enamel "Premium Automotive Formulation"

Thanks I think I will try to do mine now.

Speeder i prefer the red, but am a little confused, did you say you plan to eventually paint it yellow ?

Also do you plan to get the yellowstone style nose ?

Someday down the road when Im making more money I plan on changing it to yellow. I could never copy Yellowstone's nose because Im positive it wouldnt look as good as his if I tried.

Bump.

So they called me yesterday. Told me it was ready, but I was on my way to work on a 12 hour shift. One of our extra hands offered to cover a flight for me while one of the morning shift guys took me to the shop to pick up my car. So I went down to pick her up, but when we got there and i saw the car I noticed something wasnt right.....

Firstly they didnt paint the bumper trim and mirrors like I told them, secondly the nose had a bunch of spider cracks on it already.

When I went in the guy started getting the paperwork ready and i started to ask him why they hadnt painted the parts I told them too and he immediately started defending the nose. He said it was damaged (which is true) and would have needed additional repair and prepping for it to look right. Mind you the rest of the car was absolutely stunning! You cant tell there were holes in the decklid where the wing used to be and it shines...as it should of course.

Anyway, I interupted him and said no no no. Im asking you why you didnt paint everything I asked to be painted. Its right here on my quote..see!?

He disappeared into a side room and came back a minute later and said they'd have it finished by tomorrow. Well Im hoping they have it done before I go to work otherwise ill have to wait till monday to pick it up while it burns in the sun all weekend.

Update: I just called them and they said they are finishing up on it and itll be ready to go later today. Which means I wont be able to get it until Monday. Great >=(
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My First Fiero - Rachel - 1986 GT

I AM Fiero Fotographia, Myspace Fiero and Gornitzka Photography

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 10-26-2007).]

better to wait and have them get it done the right way than going back later, whats wront with the nose? just spider webbing?. Can't wait to see pic's! I'm also thinking of the wing-delete, looks great so far.

Well, Abby came home today. As for the paint job...eh. You get what you pay for I suppose. This 900 dollar maaco job has a crap load of flaws just about everywhere you look. But of course, Ill still be able to take spectacular pictures with it. I have new quarter windows coming in sometime this week. Then then next big addition will be rims.

[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 11-02-2007).]

Bump!