pretty miserable actually. I got in over my head with the ground effects and archie and crew are helping out with that. I took my engine down to install into the car and it fell off the forklift and bent the frame. Gas tank and filler tube have leaks. I could go on and on but I would depress us both. When I get the ground effects back I'll need to finish smoothing them out and it'll be off to paint, after I bend the frame back into place of course. Once it's at the painters I'll be able to take a break from it for a while. It's been ruff going but I have a pretty good feeling about the final product.
I got my rocker panels back from Archie a while ago and did a little finish work on them and the car is at the painters. I went with Lamborghini orange even though there are already a couple cars on the forum with this paint. The story goes like this, the first painter wanted to go with lambo green, I just wanted something flashy but not red again and there are a couple yellow chops out there with similar body styles and didn't want to copy that much. My ex-girlfriend said orange, so I figured I would look up what lamborghini had for orange, I liked it and bought rims that I thought would look good with that color. It was at this point I realized The perfect union had an interior piece painted this color already. For lack of options, and the fact that outside the forum nobody will know there is another orange chop, I decided to stick with it. I stopped and looked at it yesterday and am excited to see it finished. As it goes now it's another notchback with Archie rockers with the newer style scoop molded in and the bottom sectioned up 1.5 inches in the front to batter match the coupe style bumper, a custom but simple hood scoop and a set of Ruff 930 hyper black rims 19x9.5 for the rear and 18x8.5 for the front. The rear glass and a new windshield are waiting and ready to install along with all new front suspension components to get the front end down so the scoops look right. Still have a couple things to work out with the 3900/4t65ehd swap but I think I have a plan for it all now so it'll be running next spring, I can't wait!
http://img504.imageshack.us...hopwindows002ia1.jpg To try and keep things a little interesting. here is a picture of the 3900. The crossover runs in the way of the A/C so I think I'm going to redo it and run it out the back. It's hard to see but I had to clearance the frame for the oil filter. http://img368.imageshack.us...hopwindows003ow3.jpg another of the engine. I mounted a 3.4TDC altenator and used rodney mounts with fieroaddiction brackets. Both are quality pieces.
[This message has been edited by joshua riedl (edited 11-09-2008).]
http://img503.imageshack.us...hopwindows001ho1.jpg Here is a picture of how I modified the fuel rail. The opposite side I just cut out the factory T and looped both rails together. I don't have a picture of it but the front rail has about 1/8 inch tube going to it while the rear rail had a 3/8 tube. Not sure why but it's fixed now. A shot of the window. I still need to adjust the vertical seal to center the glass. Nothing a couple washers won't take care of.
I was never happy with the roofline on the first car so I spent a lot of time getting this one right. This is the only picture of the driverside of the fuel rail.
a couple shots of what needed to be removed from the door to clear the windows. I still need to trim the top a little. You can see the plastic washer hits the door frame. Here's a picture of the hood scoop. Nothing too special but I like it. I talked to the painter yesterday and I think he's more excited about the car than I am. I should have some pictures of the car in primer by Friday.
i should get together with you if i pick up a notchie i want a chopt top so bad im willing to do a homebrewd one or even a convertable hell even a targa top one or all 3 $hit idc this is a good thread keep it going
I'm really scrounging for pictures now, figured everyone likes headers. It is my first set, they came out alright, and it wasn't too difficult. Foxy Fiero13, I'll encourage anyone to do a chop top, just remember it's a lot of work and there is a reason people charge for this modification. This is my 3rd chop if you count the one I junked and it has still taken 6 months and will be another 6 before it drives under it's own power. The suspension will be lowered soon however. I was happy with the last setup so I'll cut 1 coil in the front along with Rodney Dickmans lowering balljoints and a half coil from the rear. New pictures will be comming.
I didn't get too many pictures. I have one more of the hood in primer but for some reason it won't post. It'll probably be a couple more weeks until it's finished. I might go get tires for the rims while I wait.
This car just refuses to play nice. The paint was mixed with an old ingredient and has white sand in it. PPG stood by it and supplied a new gallon though. Only a few parts were painted so no big deal everything is back on track now. these will be repainted.
Man, I just caught up on this, and Murphy's Law is loving you big time... I hate to hear all that stuff, but it sounds like some crap I've been through before. Keep that chin up man, it's gonna look awesome!
Nothing new really. The painter took on some helmet paint jobs for christmas presents so I got pushed aside for a little bit. I don't mind though. Airbrushing is his bread and butter. I got my ratchet shifter in but need the car back before I can modify that. I'll still be driving it next spring, it's just slowed up for now. That's life with chop top projects I guess.
The painter is back on my car. Says he'll be shooting orange all weekend and do a test panel with some airbrushing artwork. My body modifications are pretty tame for this place so a little airbrushing might be needed to keep up with the rest of the chops. Here is a picture of the underside of the hood. He did a better job than expected smoothing out the scoop. And a picture of the side scoop all smoothed out and ready for paint.
No new pictures except cell phone pics but the car is home. I picked up the rims and tires saturday which was another fiasco only this car could give me. I suppose it's fairly typical, I sat and, as politely as I could, argued with the lady about the size of tires I wanted. She kept giving me grief about them not fitting, I told her to let me worry about that and people put 20's on Fiero's. It got to the point she said she couldn't help me so I stood up and said something to the effect of "if you can't get 19'' tires?" which went back to the won't fit deal. Anyway, after 30 minutes of debating she pulls out the list of sizes and there was only a few choices anyway. So the front is 215/35/18 on a 8.5'' rim. The rim is too wide so I got the smallest tire they could stretch on there. The rear is a 275/30/19 on a 9.5'' wide rim. I was going to tough out the cold today and do some assembly and lower the front suspension to see where it sits but decided against it. If anyone wants a cell phone pic, let me know.
A little more progress was made. I lowered the front one coil and rodney's lowering balljoints. Looks like it needs a little more. everything is mounted accept the rockers due to engine work is still needed. I replaced all the marker lights and taillights and polished the rear lenses. One has a crack but it'll do for now. The curse is still here though. The windshield doesn't fit. I bought some masking tape so I can do some sanding and grinding to open it up some. The steering rack is making a crunching noise. I already bought the brass bushing but I think I'll probably just get a rebuilt unit and be done with it, and I still need front bushings. If I order all the parts I should be able to do bushings, steering rack and cut a little more spring in one day. I still have a lot to spend to actually get it running so the interior will be put off for a while.
Thanks Madcurl, I am taking a week off of work to get the car running. I got a wakeup call when Fieromadman told me opening day at Greatlakes Dragaway is april 1st. If everything works out there will be a 5speed/3400 and 4t65e/3900 added to the quarter mile list.
