Not going to miss this one - never know what I might drag back - however, this is getting a lot of publicity. I'd bet most of these cars go for some big money!
Not going to miss this one - never know what I might drag back - however, this is getting a lot of publicity. I'd bet most of these cars go for some big money!
Yep. Go look at the online bids already placed for some of these cars. Not going to get any bargains at this auction.
Finally - back to Fiero work! It was great to start tearing into my next project. Went and drug it out of the storage yard today. Got it in the garage and up on stands. Took about 20 minutes to gut the driver's door. It was like riding a bike - went to the tool box, grabbed a hand full of tools and much to my surprise, I grabbed all the right tools! Like I never left! Been about 2 years since my last Fiero project - I'm happy to be back at it! Ran into a Wasp nest in the side scoop - took longer to battle the Wasps than it did to tear the door apart.
Picked up a Hobart Plasma Cutter today - also started building my stand for the Tube Bender. Was really making progress till I ran out of weld wire......
Not too bad for my first weld in 2 years! Like a Dog sh&*%ng peanuts!
And I'm out of wire!
More later!
Pat
[This message has been edited by katatak (edited 09-28-2013).]
Fired up the new Plasma Cutter this evening. Got the doors gutted and "trimmed" up for the next phase of the door build. I can't believe I waited so long to buy a Plasma Cutter - makes hot work so much easier and better. I'll get my moneys worth out of this tool.
Got to do some work on the Roadster today - started removing body panels - not a lot of fun - at some point, someone put this car together with rivets instead of the factory plastic fastners - had to drill out about 100 rivets and grind the heads off another 50. I did not get as much done as I wanted.
This was kind of interesting - looks like the license plate lights were hanging and making contact with the bumper waffle at some point - even left the bulbs in place.
My good buddy Frizlefrak will appreciate this one! Bagged and Tagged!
Should have the rest of the front end off tomorrow - and will start pulling the motor.
When you get teh front fenders off of the car changing the door hinges is a piece of cake. I wish I had repaired mine when it was an easy job. Just antsy for a drive I guess.
When you get teh front fenders off of the car changing the door hinges is a piece of cake. I wish I had repaired mine when it was an easy job. Just antsy for a drive I guess.
Great minds think alike Joe! I'll give them the full Rodney Dickman treatment as the rollers on both sides are shot! I was leaning toward doing a "suicide" hinge setup but have decided against that - at least for now. I'm thinking that when I get the chassis done and back to "roller" form, I may drag it up to Archie and let him and his crew work some magic on it. Depends on how much money I can save between now and Spring!
I've been looking for a set of seats for my roadster project - my "vision" for the car is kind of a vintage road racer and the factory high back buckets did not fit the "look" I want. Anyway, looking through the local Craig's List every night for about 3 months now and tonight, I found them. They are out of a 60's Chevy Van - they are covered in the original Period Vinyl and are fairly ugly but they are the shape and size seat that fit pretty nicely in the Fiero. I'll get them re skinned in something a little more "modern" and matches the car. These seats look like they are brand new! 40.0 for the pair! And the really cool part was that the gentleman I bought them from had a garage full of nice toys. Turns out he is a car restoration nut - his car of choice is the AMX 2 seater. He has 3 - very nicely restored 390 / 4 spd cars - one is the AMX 500 - very rare car. He also has a fully restored Bricklin that is very nice.
I spent about 2 hours tonight and a few busted knuckles getting the original seats out of the Fiero - rusted seat rail made it very difficult to get the nuts off and the nuts were very rusted as well. I did win though!
I've been looking for a set of seats for my roadster project - my "vision" for the car is kind of a vintage road racer and the factory high back buckets did not fit the "look" I want. Anyway, looking through the local Craig's List every night for about 3 months now and tonight, I found them. They are out of a 60's Chevy Van - they are covered in the original Period Vinyl and are fairly ugly but they are the shape and size seat that fit pretty nicely in the Fiero. I'll get them re skinned in something a little more "modern" and matches the car. These seats look like they are brand new! 40.0 for the pair! And the really cool part was that the gentleman I bought them from had a garage full of nice toys. Turns out he is a car restoration nut - his car of choice is the AMX 2 seater. He has 3 - very nicely restored 390 / 4 spd cars - one is the AMX 500 - very rare car. He also has a fully restored Bricklin that is very nice.
I spent about 2 hours tonight and a few busted knuckles getting the original seats out of the Fiero - rusted seat rail made it very difficult to get the nuts off and the nuts were very rusted as well. I did win though! More later!
Pat
Having been in more accidents than I care for I would be worried about whiplash and smashing my head on the back glass. Just be safe
Picked up some sheet metal on Friday - to start the door fab project. Was able to fab up a "test" piece for the door cap. Realized that 16 ga sheet metal is probably a little too heavy. My el cheapo Harbor Freight metal break could not handle a 35" piece trying to make a 1/2" 90 degree bend ( I think I blew a disc trying to bend it). I'll have to pick up some 20 or 22 ga next week and give that a try.
My Pile -o- Fiero parts is starting to grow!
Nearly Naked!
Will strip out the interior this evening / tomorrow and start to drop the motor!
Having been in more accidents than I care for I would be worried about whiplash and smashing my head on the back glass. Just be safe
I hear what you are saying and I appreciate the "heads up"! This is a toy that I am building for occasional track days and the occasional car show / cruise in. There won't be any back window to crack my head on - but I am kicking around a "head pad" attached to the roll bar? I'm going for that old school "ARCA" / "IMSA" / roadster look / feel. I really don't like the look of the high back buckets sticking up above the back firewall - it just does not look right to me. I've always wanted to build a Cobra replica - this is my "poor man's" Cobra so to speak.
When you gonna come and visit? Kiki's Fish Tacos are calling you.
Been close to El Paso twice in the last 2 weeks - a few days in Santa Fe and Las Vegas, NM and been all over Texas in the last 2 weeks. Was in Sanderson last week for a few days. Supposed to be coming to El Paso but I keep getting called back to Omaha. It's getting cold here now - Need to come South for the Winter! And Yes - Kiki's is on the list!
My Dimple Dies finally showed up yesterday. I went and picked up some thinner sheet metal and started working on the door fab. Made good progress - will probably do this s few times before I get it right. Got quite a bit of the interior stripped out. Still have a long way to go but I'm in no rush.
Drillin Holes!
Run it through the press with my new 1" Dimple Die!
Looking Better!
And semi fit to the door!
A few shots of the ripped up interior!
Hope to have the motor out and the roof off by Sunday!
Not much to report today - plans changed and I did not get to work on the Fiero today Spent most of the morning raking leaves then decided to tear into a project I have been resisting for almost a year. My 99 Blazer has been having "climate control issues". 2 Winters ago, my son decided to replace the heater core and as I discovered to day, failed to properly reassemble everything. I spent a few hours on the net learning how to get to the blend door motor - looked like a complete dash removal. So I started it today. turned out better that I thought, When I got down to the point I could remove the ac/heat control panel, I found that my boy had failed to attach the vacuum plug to the control. A simple "click" back on and everything was working. I could not leave it alone however - I had to dig all the way in and put everything back together correctly Spent about 6 hours getting everything put back together. Also replaced a broken cruise control cable (which gave me a new idea for cruise control on my Fiero project. I have a complete 99 Blazer cruise control system that I picked up to repair this one - and ended up just needing a cable. I may see if I can adapt it to the Fiero?
Picked up some 1/2 X 1/2 tube this afternoon. After spending most the day cleaning up the garage and the shop, I got to take some time and work on the door mods. Started fabbing up the inner frame work for the door. I had it all down on paper - the way I wanted to build it but - as usual - it went a different way. Looks like it will still come out looking the way I want though so it's all good.
I have a "line" on another T Top car - it's an 87 GT that is "tree'd" in the front end - I was thinking of grabbing it for body parts. It's in pretty good shape from the doors back. Was thinking about using the GT Deck lid and tail lights - build a Roadster/GT/Formula type of bastard Fiero! If I get it, you can have the T Top off of it. I'm going to look at it this weekend - I'll keep you posted.
Made some more progress on the door rebuild this evening. Started making the inner panels for the door. I'm sure there is an easier way to do this but with my "limited" sheet metal experience and even more limited tools, I'll be doing it the hard way!. The cool part about it is that I am learning some new tricks!
Laid out and drilling holes for the Dimple Die!
Through the Press and Dies!
Test fitting it in the frame!
So this is where my inexperience comes in. I want to have a radius in the corners but I could not figure out how to get the ends formed the way I wanted. So, I took a 4X4 Oak Block and drilled a 1" hole through the center of it. Then I sectioned the block in quarters to produce a radius 90 degree block. Then using a 7/8" diameter solid round rod and my press, I was able to press some sheet metal into the block and form the corner pieces. Trimmed them to fit and then test fit them in the door frame. Now I'll trim the bottom panel and weld the corners in place. The "learning" part was once I got to the fit up point, I realized how I could have done this with the radius corners in the panel itself - eliminating having to weld the corners to the panel. For this door, I'll weld the corners in but when I do the passenger side, I'll try doing the entire inner panel in one piece and only have to make one weld!
Then I got carried away and built the top inner panel!
If the wrecked GT doesn't work out for you I'd be interested in it - I have RPRO's white 86 GT, looking for parts to put it back together - was pretty abused by its previous owner (not RPRO).
[This message has been edited by AL68 (edited 11-04-2013).]
If the wrecked GT doesn't work out for you I'd be interested in it - I have RPRO's white 86 GT, looking for parts to put it back together - was pretty abused by its previous owner (not RPRO).
I'll keep let you know what it looks like after I get a good look at it Saturday.
I'll keep let you know what it looks like after I get a good look at it Saturday.
Looked at the wrecked GT this AM - it's a Wreck! It center punched a big tree in the front end and it looks like the tree fell over on the rest of the car. It's not worth dragging it home for a few pieces and parts - tail lights are missing, Tee Top Glass is missing. The guy told me on the phone that it was in pretty good shape from the doors back - what he mean t was, the doors are about the only thing worth keeping! I tried to talk him into "parting" it out - I'd take the doors and drop the drivetrain/cradle out of it but he says - all or nothing. I chose nothing!
While I was out "picking", I found 4 poor Fiero's sitting at a farm in Iowa - stopped at the house but no one was home - I left a note and will check back next weekend. Looks like they have been there awhile - 3 bumper pad cars and an SE or 85 GT Notchie.
Did a little Door work today. After some more metal work and looking at things a little differently, I've decided to change direction - again. My original plan was to "skin" the inside of the door with sheet metal - built into the recess that I have envisioned. Now I'm going to fab a smooth inner door panel out of fiberglass so I picked up some glass supplies this weekend and went to work. It's been awhile since I did any glass work - last project was my V8 Coupe a couple years back. Building flat panels is pretty straight forward but this is the biggest panel I have tackled. I had to move fast but it turned out OK. I'll end up making a few more - this one will be the "proto type".
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