Looks like I will be getting ready to do my engine swap by then or thereabouts. I may meet-up at the Whole foods and show-off my new interior for those that haven't seen my FB (Stephen Coomer) posts and updates. That entire transformation has been some hard work and attention to a lot of details, but was definitely worth it. Have fun everyone...
All, just a reminder for this weekend's activities. We can decide when we will end the day after we pick up some lunch. I expect there will be some vendors at the park and there are several good restaurants in the Payson area. I am anticipating a relatively long day but it should be fun.
Second note Pam LaFortune has decided to sell Ron's 87 (Sweet Cherry). she has decided she will keep the 3.8 supercharged Goldie Ron's last project. I have been told that the 87 has over 200 show awards. Should anybody be interested in purchasing the vehicle, let me know and I will get Pam your contact information. Hope to see a full group for the wrong on the be line into Payson. The weather will be turning HOT soon I'm open to suggestions for a May event. Then for a few months of the hot I plan to be resting in front of the swamper or poolside Best Kevin S
Hope everyone had a great day today in their Fieros. Peggy Armstrong was on standby as I continued stripping the components from the donor car for my 3.4L DOHC engine. I should have the last of those parts out tomorrow and then the donor body gets hauled-off to the yard. The 3.4 is scheduled for tear-down next week to get over to the guys at S&S to work their magic on the heads and block. I hope to have it back home for reassembly by the end of May so I can pull the 2.8L out and get it over to Amy G. so she can start prepping it for her car. Once she's ready, we will do that swap so she will have a fresh 6 in place of her duke. My big dilemma right now is to paint mine before or after the swap...
Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mothers and Wives that are part of our obsession with Fieros...as I continue the teardown of my 3.4L DOHC for my upcoming engine swap after the rebuild. Hope to have the car on the road and debugging/tuning the new engine by mid-June....Steve & Peggy
News from the homefront...THE LQ1 is apart and going to the shop for some headwork, a valve job, and some block checks and machining. The engine had minimal wear for having 140k miles on it and was driving good when I pulled it into my garage to yank the engine. I expect the shop to have my 8000 rpm heads back to me along with the fresh block and new pistons by the end of the month. The interior work is finished and the new instrument cluster de-bug starts this week. I don't expect much of this except my fine-tuning the speedo calibration and dialing-in the fuel gauge readouts for the factory sending unit. Car is running as good as it can with the 31-year old 2.8L in it and is a dependable daily driver when I'm not on my Harley. I hope to see you at the next gathering just before dropping the engine cradle for the swap and tranny rebuild. The new paint job will feature the deck lid Fiero GT badge reading "LQ1 Fiero GT" in the traditional silver with red pinstripe lettering. A photo of the proof copy is on my FB page along with the engine teardown photos and the interior work.
Kevin sent out a blast email for our May get together. It's at our house at 10:30am on Sunday the 22nd. It'll be a chance to relax and have lunch in the big shed out back. Our address is: 15626 N 41st Pl, Phoenix, AZ 85032. The main cross roads are Greenway & 40th St. We have a medium sized propane grill if anyone wants to cook their lunch. It's a bring your own food and drink affair. We have a few plastic chairs but you are welcome to bring yours too. We will have at least one table that can sit about 6-8 people plus 4 TV trays. Hopefully it'll be comfortable for everyone.
Very cool. I can drive my almost-completely painted car. It would be excellent to see your Northstar Fiero!
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Originally posted by cptsnoopy:
Kevin sent out a blast email for our May get together. It's at our house at 10:30am on Sunday the 22nd. It'll be a chance to relax and have lunch in the big shed out back. Our address is: 15626 N 41st Pl, Phoenix, AZ 85032. The main cross roads are Greenway & 40th St. We have a medium sized propane grill if anyone wants to cook their lunch. It's a bring your own food and drink affair. We have a few plastic chairs but you are welcome to bring yours too. We will have at least one table that can sit about 6-8 people plus 4 TV trays. Hopefully it'll be comfortable for everyone.
Peggy and I will try to make it over. The Fiero is still incomplete thanks to the Harley and the Sunfire competing for my attention this weekend. Would love to see everyone and take a moment to show off the work-in-progress on the Fiero...never ending...take care.
Steve and Peggy...check out my Fiero posts with the progress photos uploaded on FB.
For those coming over tomorrow, Myra picked up condiments (ketchup, mustered, miracle-whip & relish), lettuce, tomatoes and cheese (American). Also we have potato chips, tortilla chips n salsa and beans. Looking forward to seeing everyone.
Obviously we aren't making it...the Sunfire decided I needed to replace a stuck thermostat. What a pain in the butt on the 2.4L Quad 4...have to pull the exhaust heat shield and right wheel to get into the area where it sits below the water pump on a flange that is captive between the engine and tranny unless you pull both and separate them. Started on this at 7am today and just ran the first warm-up cycle to let the system bleed air out. Now it gets to cool while Peggy and I go visit a friend we just learned is in the hospital again.
I hope to be able to show-off the completed interior before I down the car for the engine swap in a few weeks...we'll just have to play it by ear. Progress pics are on FB for the curious...Stephen Coomer.
The Interior with the Dakota Gauges is complete now. The 3.4 L DOHC is still in the shop getting the heads remachined to repair the coolant corrosion issues to prevent future head gasket leaks. I expect it back by the end of June. Hope to see you at a gathering in July before I pull the 2.8 out.
The block and heads made it home Thursday. The heads looked great and there is no sign of the porosity that was cut-out from the coolant corrosion. The crank and rods look good and the new pistons and pins are fitted to them. Now to begin the block prep and paint in Hot Rod Gloss Red. The heads will remain natural aluminum while the cam carriers will get the Gloss Red treatment. The plenum and valve covers will be Gloss Red accented by Silver metal-flake to provide some contrast while tying in the colors being used to give a good finish to the project. Engine nameplate will be in Silver, Red, and Black.
Engine is going back together nicely. The last internal part arrived today, so the timing can be set and the top end assembled. Completion pics are being posted along with the entire tear-down and build-up on FB. The 3.4L DOHC swap starts Labor Day weekend.
Looking like lot of progress. Wish i was going to be here for the LD weekend - just to drop by and see what is going on
Been have a bit of an issue with this web site and my laptop. Seems like ever time I visit - laptop come up infected. Data doctors $400 the first time and $200 the last time. Anyone else experience issues?
Anyone out there have a modified front deck lid vented for better airflow through the radiator? Let me see what you've done. I have a full set of GTA air extractors I am thinking of using, but also have my eye on the Corvette Z51 hood vents. Decisions-decisions, as I prep for my 3.4 LQ1 swap.
Anyone out there have a modified front deck lid vented for better airflow through the radiator? Let me see what you've done. I have a full set of GTA air extractors I am thinking of using, but also have my eye on the Corvette Z51 hood vents. Decisions-decisions, as I prep for my 3.4 LQ1 swap.
I used an Angel vent. (I hope I spelled that right) Look on my thread starting a few posts down from the top of page 17 and you can see what it took for me to install it. It is not what you have mentioned using but I like it and I am sure it works fine.
Charlie
[This message has been edited by cptsnoopy (edited 10-10-2016).]
Thanks for the link to your build.After seeing everything you did and all of the fabrication you went through, I appreciate your car much more now that I have 'the rest of the story'...
From the pics I took of it the two times I have seen it up close on our outings, I was able to come up with a nice concept to try. Air flow through my radiator is crucial as it is in yours...the DOHC engines generate some heat for the rpm's and power the produce. I am sketching-out a 'gilled' air-extractor that will follow the lines of the Fiero deck lid and light layout while being contained within the area forward of the deck seal / bulkhead.
In addition to that change, I am adding the Fiero Fiberglass side scoops and will be ducting the passenger side through a Hayden oil cooler and then along the exhaust system. The driver side scoop will split into cold air ducting for the engine intake and exhaust airflow to help pull the heat away from the front side of the engine bay.
What do you recommend for raising the car from the back? Did you use the engine hoist in your pics? If so, what did you grab onto?
The lifting is worked-out now. Next is to start the work. I have one more maintenance task on the Sunfire convertible and then I can tie-up the garage as long as I need for the engine swap and tranny rebuild.
Here's the completed LQ1 that has been waiting for me to drop the cradle and install it. I finished the engine almost 5 weeks ago now but needed to make sure the other vehicles would be okay with me giving the Fiero almost all of my attention in the garage for the next several weeks. https://scontent.fphx1-1.fn...ae69c75e&oe=588F9A0A The prep work finally starts this week for a cradle drop next week to facilitate the tranny rebuild before installing the new heart.
Wow...reading through the past year has been interesting to refresh the brain cells and see how far off-track things can get because of 'life'...oh well. The 85 Fiero GT project has taken several side trips toward completion. The new engine is ready to swap but the garage has been filled with the other cars requiring their share of attention. Twuk is happy again, and the Sunfire just got some new stop juice in it with the replacement of a cracked reservoir on the master cylinder. It will be getting a rear disc upgrade before the Fiero swap happens. This latest 'pause' in the Fiero project allows me to wrap-up some final details for the interior: adjusting the center console trim plate for the new components, finishing the tell-tale light bezel for the door and deck lid warning lights, and changing the color of the a/c control panel lighting to match the blue of my Dakota Digital gauge cluster.
The landing light install came-out very nice using Hella Optilux 2020 dual driving/fog housings and modifying the diffused fog light side to accept an 1157 snap-in metal socket and yellow bulb. This allowed me to have halogen driving lights AND retain my parking lamp / turn signals all in the stock location and not disrupt / block the nose opening for the radiator. https://scontent.fphx1-1.fn...bccac6e9&oe=5893F0E6
WOW & OMG Time is J-U-S-T rushing by. November is almost half gone and no plans for AZ FIEROs events. And, it looks like it is up to me. So, I did coast by TED'sHOTDOGs the other day in Tempe. And it seems to me we haven’t been there as a group for a while. And the group was pretty small. So what about Sunday the 19th. Eveningish, to give the mid-day rush a chance to die down. The place was packed by 1PM Saturday. Let us say 5:30 at TEDs on the corner of McClintock and Broadway in Tempe https://www.tedshotdogs.com/ . I do hope to see a few of the semi vintage (you do know the newest is 28 years old, which means the old is like 32 years young). Pontiacs - Fieros from the surrounding area - be there. Let anyone know that I may have missed. Gonna try and post to Pennock's and Facebook Best KS
Peggy and I will drop by to show-off my interior and front lights before I finally get to drop the cradle for the new engine. This will be the last showing of what has become a great Daily Driver before it gets the new engine and new paint. We look forward to seeing everyone.
JAN 2017 For those of us that would like to plan ahead. 1) I was rethinking the run to the PIMA AIR MUSEUM, http://www.pimaair.org/ . Probably in January. I am hoping that we can make the run on a Saturday mid month – so the 14th or the 21st are the likely dates. I double checked those are Saturdays. If we can pull a group of 20 there may be some discounts available. From what I understand we won’t be able to do the boneyard tour on the weekend – but if we can get enough, I’ll check to see if there is something for a group. 2) The next event would be the BOP that I am lead to believe is on Sunday March 26th. I do not have confirmation or event entry forms yet. But I am sure they are “in the mail.” 3) After that probably a May 6th of 13th run north. Maybe Rock Springs Café or Prescott. So those are the rough plans for now. Hopefully those that make it to the Ted’s meet can have some input and we can solidify the future plans And, oh yeah, the Phoenix Friday Fiero Coffee hour has relocated from Gilbert Road and Baseline Coffee Rush to Ray Road and Dobson location. I get there between 7 and 8. Best KevinS
Looking at the weather, I'm thinking we could do early after noon, 3pm at the latest or we will have to pass. Our Fiero isn't nearly as water proof as it used to be.
