Well as we all know - these cars seem to suck every penny out of our pockets.... and this one is no different! I will start off with thanking 007Doug for selling me this 88 CBJ coded T-Top formula. It is pretty much rust free in the trunk area - but we are learning it has a little bit more surface rust as Dementia (my builder) takes this car apart. Right now - here are the plans/parts for this build:
3800 Super Charged - 49K miles on the Gen5 motor (05)
North * Throttle Body
All new Poly bushings (front and rear)
New Struts/Shocks (KYB)
New Style Fuel Sending Unit (Fiero Store)
Rodney Dickman Rear Decklid Strut
FastFieros Block Off Plates
Fiero Store 1 Inch Lowering Springs
V8 Archie Front Mount Battery Box
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Those are the parts that are already ordered and are awaiting install Once all this is completed - 18 inch wheels - paint and some Mr. Mikes Leather will be coming...
So lets start with some pics! (Thanks Chris!)
Bought from 007Doug



Picked up the motor and on my way to Chris's house to drop off the "mess" before I leave for Japan!


Let the fun begin!













Xmas time




And you can take it from here Chris

Make me broke is an appropriate phrase. Good luck on the build. I have been working on a similar car, an 87 Notchie T-top. I wish I had gone the same engine route as you. Mine was a 4 cyl/62K mile car with a blown engine that I put a used 2.8 in. My car is almost finished after a year...keep up the work and you will have a great car.
Jim

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87 T-top 2.8 5sp Camaro Dash Bonneville door panels; 86 355 body & interior kits 3.1 Auto; 85 SE 2.5 5sp, 86 SE 2.8 auto parts car

This is a build I'll be watching. I have a black 88 Formula with t-tops also. I'm very happy with how mine is. I'll be interested to see how yours turns out. Are you going to keep it black?

A black t-top Formula and you're putting in a 3800S/C.. That's pretty much my dream Fiero. I'm jealous.

Alright I got a little more work done yesterday before it was time to celebrate the new year. We're putting poly in all the suspension so I figured I would get the old bushings out, finish getting everything stripped, degreased, and ready for some POR15. As you can tell by the pics I burned out all the bushings. This car has needed a lot of heat to come a part so why not a little more. A little messy and you WILL need to wear safety glasses if you go this route. It just takes a few seconds to get the bushing good and hot then it pops right out. I've done a few cars this way and its worked great and easy to do. I may try the ball joint remover tool on the front suspension when we get to it just for comparison. I'm sure there is pro's and cons to this so go head and educate me. I plan on spending today and tomorrow cleaning and wiring brushing then hang it all and spray it sunday.






And one last one just for the hell of it.

As it has been said before, if you want to make a small fortune, start with a big one and then get into sports cars!

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[IMG]




trueleo.com
RSpiderII@aol.com

Gotta little more done yesterday and today. A whole lot of scraping, chipping on the heavier rust, wire wheel, and degreasing. I decided to brush paint the trailing arms and lateral links and then spray just the cradle. Its freezing outside so I got some plastic and made a square around the parts so it will at least help on the over spray. Better dig out my car cover and put it on my brothers car so he dont come looking to give a whoopin(or take one). The helpers in the pics are my sons. They are actually pretty good help. The youngest one has helped in building quite a few 3800 harness' along with suspension and interior. The other doesnt want a thing to do with the wiring but will do all the rest. Anyways we finished cleaning and painting the spindles and suspension links I plan on shooting the cradle in the morning. Give it a couple of days to dry while I get the engine/trans ready to go and the boys get the engine bay ready. Should start to look real good here in a few weeks. By the way I was wanting to know where I can get some paint for the engine bay that is close to stock and durable? Chris

Well got the cradle painted today. I waited til after the brownies got the W today! As you can see in the 1st pick I didn't forget to cover my brothers car. So if you ever hear him complain of over spray its not from me. The plastic did a good job and I left the door open to draft the fumes out. The cradle came out about as good as it could not being blasted and all. When it comes time the rear suspension will look good with everything painted, new bushing, the new struts and springs.

[This message has been edited by Dementia (edited 01-03-2010).]

Dementia. Looks like a nice job to me. i would have liked to get together sum time. I do not check messages to offten.

Hey Dave good to hear from you. Happy New Year by the way. My brother and I have been meaning to come see you. Maybe we can get that done soon. Do you or anyone for that matter know where and what I can get to paint the engine bay back as close to stock as possible? Chris

Dementia i hope 2010 is good for you.

Chris you works lookin good. nice to see your brothers car on all four wheels. Gotta give you a call sometime to give you the parts i owe you. keep up the good work looking forward to seeing this car complete.

Greetings from Elyria!! Looking good. I'm going the same route on my build with the POR15. I have my 88 striped down and about to pull the duke. It's just been too damn cold out there!!

Updates?

tomanyfieros have you came back on this side of the pond yet ?

Not yet... I will be home mid Feb... and can not wait!!

Bumpn for updates ?

Not much to update yet. Been busy handling other things, but I did get the engine on the stand. Exhaust and acc. stripped off.Probably more pics by the weekend. I didnt forget about the parts Theo just haven't been up your way. Besides that will give you more time to get things done on the coupe that I can check out. Chris

Bump for some more pic . This is going to a sweet SC 88 t-top i can't wait to see it and hear it run !!!!!!!! Dementia is a little bit of a perfectionist so i no it will be right .

OK time for some updates. I took all the accessories off along with the blower and lim. Done some scraping, degreasing, and wire brushing for quite a few hours. I painted the oil pan and timing cover, let them dry overnight then masked them off and cleaned and scraped some more then painted the block and heads. Turned out real nice. Also got the lim cleaned, painted, and tapped for the heater hose. I'll go take a pic of it in a few after the last of the jets game. The trans was also degreased(brake clean) and ready for paint. The trans we're using has been tore down, clutches inspected, some new seals, filter/gasket, and a zzp shift kit. All the cleaning sure is pain staking, time consuming work but in the end its well worth it. Remember 90% prep, 10% paint. I hope to have it on the cradle by next weekend. Then it should be looking real good even if I do say so myself. The paint used was rustoleum engine black and aluminum. Chris

Nice sized garage/workshop you have there. I am jealous.

What is all that white stuff on the ground though?

Ah yes it is a pretty good size shop. 40x44 plus its got another 30x40 addition but it dont have concrete. Still nice storage though. I wish that white stuff outside was worth what some other white powder was worth I'd be rich and so would most of the northern part of the US. Since that pic was taken we've got 6 to 8 more inches.

Lookn real good. your a man of true insperation.

Gotta little more work done. The mounts I used were from a previous build I did thats now going in another direction. They are WCF mounts that I got with an engine that I bought. I just had to build the auto brackets. Not hard at all to do. So far I've used WCF and purple reign mounts. Both have to be massaged to work. The best set of trans mounts I have used to start with were rodney's. I made a front engine mount a lot like the transport van. I would show you pick of them being built but my laptop they were on crashed. I lost a lot of good build pics. Back to the topic at hand. I'm gonna try to have all accessories and engine buttoned up by the weekend. Still along way to go.

Dam looking good . What is your plans for the top half more paint or maybe some chrome i would like to see some chrome like valve covers SC and ext.

I must admit... Looking DAM GOOD! From the sounds of it... We will be flying home 4FEB.... will be looking forward to making a drive up just to drool over it, and maybe lend a hand or two :-)

You guys dont even know how well it looks now!!! Chris - I emailed ya back!

quote Originally posted by Dementia: Gotta little more work done.

Do you know Steven Branch that runs a shop in North Jackson/Warren, OH? He installed my L67 swap about 7 years ago. He just finished my friends L32 swap. He is a 30yr GM vet tech that created a swap without any help at the time for himself, and created several afterwards. He used the GTP fuse box with a trunk mounted PCM. You should swing by in the swap on your test drive.

Greg

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No I dont know him but it sounds like I would like to. PM his info if you dont mind. Jason I got your email but I have to go to work now so I'll shoot you one back later. I'll also post updated pics later. Chris

bump back to the top

Heres some updated pics with the blower and stuff back on. Also one of the mount I used to eliminate the upper dog bone. Its time now to get the valve covers back on, fuel rail and injectors, then start installing the wiring harness. Wont be long now til it goes back in the car.

Looking good i like that mount (NO DOG BONE) that is what i'am talking about !!!!!!! That stock dog bone that we have to use on are 3800 S/C look like sh** well at least think they do .Now that one you maid i like it a lot better i would like two have one that was nicely polished or better yet chromed looks great keep up the good work .

Looks good Jason, I cant wait to take a ride in it. Be safe and return home soon buddy!

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In loving memory of Harold Hummel (PFF 4WHEEL)
1936-2004

Thanks for the comments guys I know Chris is putting in A LOT of hrs and hard work into this swap... and its gonna show when its finished for sure!!

So Chris.......... I found out about 20 mins ago how much Im getting back in taxes.... and lets just say - the 3.4 pulley and the 1.9 rockers on being ordered here shortly.... and if your still willing to sell me the exhaust manifolds.... I will take them I have to wait till I get home to send in some cores so that I can order the stainless exhaust the fierostore sells...... shes gonna look per'ty!

Thanks!
Jason

quote Originally posted by tomanyfieros: Thanks for the comments guys I know Chris is putting in A LOT of hrs and hard work into this swap... and its gonna show when its finished for sure!! So Chris.......... I found out about 20 mins ago how much Im getting back in taxes.... and lets just say - the 3.4 pulley and the 1.9 rockers on being ordered here shortly.... and if your still willing to sell me the exhaust manifolds.... I will take them I have to wait till I get home to send in some cores so that I can order the stainless exhaust the fierostore sells...... shes gonna look per'ty! Thanks! Jason

I got the engine bay stripped, cut the battery box out, cut some of the extra mounting tabs off, cleaned it, sanded, ground it!, and all kinds of other good junk. Removed deck lid hinge tension bars, had to fill in some little holes by the battery box and also the front passenger side cradle mount. That bolt wouldn't come out. After I got the cradle down I bet I had to beat on, drill, and heat that bolt stuck in the cradle for at least an hour. I didn't think it was come out but it finally broke free. I used a little bit of icing over the welds by the battery box, 3M undercoat down low then top coated it and the rest of the engine bay with a satin black. IMO thats damn close to factory color it even had a fiero on the can.

looks good that is got to be what is on my car it looks all most the same keep up the good work i will stop over tomorrow and see it

Not much to update right now. We had about a foot of snow last saturday and I pretty much put my back out of commission for a week. I'll have to work slow and smart for a while. Good thing my youngest son dont mind helpin dad. He pulled the gas tank yesterday, got the new pump put on the new sending unit, and dumped all the old gas out of the tank. I'm going to try and not use that tank. The whole inside is covered with fine rust. I have an 87 gas tank at the other shop I'm going to check it today to see how it looks. Anyone heard from Jason? He was suppose to fly out of Japan on the 4th and haven't heard a word. Hope everything went well.

[This message has been edited by Dementia (edited 02-12-2010).]

Well I made it home to Ohio - and things with the "family" have been settled.... and I still have a girlfriend... lol....
I just ordered the 1.9 rockers - the 3.4 pulley and the re-useable bolts... they should be on the way here pretty soon.... once you get them, let me know - and I will see about driving up and spending the day helping.
Thanks!
Jason