New guy here. I am the guy that USFiero was nice enough to give his 85 SE to. I have had it for a little over a month now and it has undergone some rather signifigant changes. First it has been converted to a fast back. Not exactly a GT as we did not use the GT rockers when we switched it over to a fast back and it still has the groove style mouldings. I finished painting it yesterday. Gloss black and silver. It still needs to be wet sanded and buffed out but I have to wait for the paint to cure a few days. The head liner and visors we recovered and most of the interior switches have been changed over to black. Me and my 14 year old son recovered the headliner ourselves and I recoved the visors with grey cloth. Not a very difficult job if you can use a sewing machine and sew a straight line. The dash has been changed out and the SE horn button was repalced with a GT button. She still needs rear tires and I think the cradle bushings are a little toasted. For those who are curious, the noises that USFiero spoke of were the torque converter bolts had pulled throught the flex plate and tore up the starter, the converter and a few other things. All of those issues have been taken care of. Overall this has been a really fun and exciting time for me and my son. Thanks USFiero for giving us this oportunity. As soon as I can figure out how to post pix I will get some up here. I guess I should start a build thread. LOL. Take care all.
------------------ Chief Petty Officer, United States Navy
" The men and women of the United States Military, we defend your right to complain"
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05:54 PM
PFF
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Jim88GT Member
Posts: 716 From: Portsmouth, Virginia Registered: Sep 2002
Welcome to the madness! You're more than welcome to check out Virginia Fieros - we had our monthly meeting Saturday and have an all Pontiac show scheduled for next month.
Jim (Portsmouth)
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06:01 PM
Gall757 Member
Posts: 10938 From: Holland, MI Registered: Jun 2010
Welcome to the forum. Im also from Va Everyone on here is GRREAT..they usually have the answers you need for even the weirdest questions And our little cars can make you have Alot of Weird questions LOL
------------------ Shannon 88 Fiero "Valhalla"
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06:56 PM
A_Pegasi Member
Posts: 206 From: Virginia Beach, VA, USA Registered: Dec 2001
Welcome to the madness! You're more than welcome to check out Virginia Fieros - we had our monthly meeting Saturday and have an all Pontiac show scheduled for next month.
Jim (Portsmouth)
Hey Chief,
Let me add my Fiero addiction welcome to Jim's! As he wrote, the VAFA monthly meeting was last Saturday and our next "official" meeting will be at the "All Pontiac Show" at American Indoor Karting by Lynnhaven Mall on Sept. 17th. But a few of us will probably check out Cars & Coffee at La Promenade Shops on Laskin Road on the 3rd. Come on out and meet some of your fellow addicts.
Then the photos Jamie has sent me: The headliner I never got around to replacing: The body redone with primer: Painted but not buffed:
Wow. I'd love to see it up close. They have done an enormous amount of work in a very short time. I would agree - the cradle bushings were the only rubber that I didn't replace or upgrade to poly. Door hinges probably need rebuilding as well, I hope we see more!
[This message has been edited by USFiero (edited 08-22-2011).]
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10:10 PM
lonewolf3197 Member
Posts: 13 From: Chesapeake, VA Registered: Jul 2011
Did you fill in the 'PONTIAC' on the rear bumper too? You know, since there was never a factory fastback with grooved molding, yours is a 'custom' in more ways than one. Bet you can't wait to get back and do an engine swap.
[This message has been edited by USFiero (edited 08-22-2011).]
Did you fill in the 'PONTIAC' on the rear bumper too? You know, since there was never a factory fastback with grooved molding, yours is a 'custom' in more ways than one. Bet you can't wait to get back and do an engine swap.
The rear bumper looks like the GT bumper, which has the rounded moulding, and ground effects, and no PONTIAC in the bumper itself. But installing the rest of the ground effects, or switching back to the coupe bumper might be in order.
We did fill the Pontiac in the rear bumper, so it has grooved mouldings all the way around. Like I said before we are not using GT rockers either. We also deleted the drip rails. I dont think anyone other than a Fiero owner would notice it, but I think it looks pretty good. I didn't want to put the spoiler on but my son insisted. Next up will be the rest of the GT door and fender mouldings and to powder coat the rims. We will definately be doing an engine swap when I get back, I'm just not sure which direction I want to go. I have been reading up on the N* swap as well as 3800SC swaps. I do have a 5.3 liter LS motor in the shed that would fit nicely.
------------------ Chief Petty Officer, United States Navy
" The men and women of the United States Military, we defend your right to complain"
Originally posted by lonewolf3197: We will definately be doing an engine swap when I get back, I'm just not sure which direction I want to go. I have been reading up on the N* swap as well as 3800SC swaps. I do have a 5.3 liter LS motor in the shed that would fit nicely.
Well, we have 2 completed LS376 swaps in the local club, another LS3 waiting to be installed this fall, and my LS4 in progress. A few 3800s as well I think. Don't know if we have any Northstars locally though.
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03:38 PM
lonewolf3197 Member
Posts: 13 From: Chesapeake, VA Registered: Jul 2011
I have a little bit of experience with a 3800SC swap. I helped AlanD with his. I built his exhaust and helped remove the trunk. Helped him stab the new engine in as well so I have a feel for it. I'm thinking 3800SC is going to be the way to go just for the availability and seeing as Al is one of my closest friends and I know he will help us out. The Duke definately has to go. All of my sports cars have been pretty quick. My last was a 94 Z28 with an LT1 based 383 stoker with LT4 heads and a lot of power. She would burn the tires at a rolling 50 so it was a real blast. Hoping to make the Fiero at least close to that much fun. I will admit it is one of the best handling cars I have ever driven.
------------------ Chief Petty Officer, United States Navy
" The men and women of the United States Military, we defend your right to complain"
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05:17 PM
qwikgta Member
Posts: 4671 From: Virginia Beach, VA Registered: Jan 2001
Welcome to the madness. As Jim, Bob, and Rodney have all said, come on out to one of the VaFiero events. We have a lot of fun "talking Fiero". Lots of events coming up, not all events need a "show car", its more for the hanging out.
THis is mine, if you see the Green Machine, give me a wave.
Jamie, if you don't have 'high ground' to park the Fiero at during this weekend's hurricane, you could bring it by here.. my wife would have a cow if she saw it back in the driveway.
I know there's lots of tread left on those front tires - they came off the GT in the garage - but the rears went onto another set of rims. 225's look pretty good in the back, but you may want to get 50 series tires all around. 215's on the front may be the way to go. Fieros love to eat front tires.
[This message has been edited by USFiero (edited 08-24-2011).]
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10:15 PM
Sep 5th, 2011
USFiero Member
Posts: 4879 From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere Registered: Mar 2002
No updates as of right now. I have been out of town quite a bid the last two weeks. Trying to visit my family out of state as much as I can before I deploy. Hopefully I will be able to get some more done this coming weekend. The Fiero survived Irene with just a few scratches, but nothing major. John, I will get the Fiero over to your place before I leave so you can see the progress up close. Take care.
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05:56 PM
Francis T Member
Posts: 6620 From: spotsylvania va. usa Registered: Oct 2003
This weekend we are hosting a "all pontiac" car show at Lynnhaven Mall. Its at American Indoor Karting (AIK) and starts at 0900. Hope to see you there.
Jamie has headed out to Fort Bliss for training before he heads to Afghanistan. I'll be sure to give him a call and point him to the thread. I'm hoping during his break between training and departure we can get together at Cars & Coffee or something like that with the local gang.
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06:41 PM
Dec 18th, 2011
USFiero Member
Posts: 4879 From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere Registered: Mar 2002
Everyone on here is GRREAT..they usually have the answers you need for even
my wife would have a cow if she saw it back in the driveway.
