Yes, this is my new addition. I picked it up a little while ago. Man, does this car have some history! I was given two big boxes FULL of paperwork on it. It was very lovingly built by Lothar Bacher, and I am now the third owner of the car. As I go through it all, I will post just all that has been done to this beauty.
For now I can tell you that the car has some well done body mods to improve cooling and airflow, an impressive amount of work put into tubular suspension, coil overs in all four corners, MASSIVE brakes up front with I think grand am brakes in the rear, and of course the northstar swap. The nitrous pictured is not hooked up (though it used to be hooked up to the old 2.8). The headlights are now glassed over and moved to where the turn signals used to be in the nose (and took me forever to figure out how to turn on). It sounds AMAZING! However, I know I need to do some work on the car, as at anything over about half throttle the car has a miss to it. Not that unexpected since it has not been driven for quite a while.
Check back for updates as I find out more about this interesting car! Updates may not be often though, as my other Fiero is first on my priority list of work.
yayy finally big pics of the new fiero!! I love it!!!!!!! lucky Tommy! i cant wait to see it in person! lol you guys are so cool. and nice hat, Devin ;D lol I'm so excited to see you guys and your fieros again!! ^_^
what i noticed about the fiero:
it has no headlights ? whaaa?? its blind XD lol
funky racing seats? o.O lol are they comfy?
whats the yellow symbol on the rear bumper?
is it the same scoop thing on the decklid on both of your cars?
I had wondered what had happened to this car. I am glad to see it was found and the wire wheels are gone.
You and I are the only two that I have been able to find that have the Norman Hood. Even Norman does not have his in the original state anymore.
This car has been around for a long time and has evolved over the years. It will be interesting to see what changes you bring.
Any ideas on what became of Lothar?
Congrats on the ride.
I too, am glad I got the car with these wheels instead of the wire wheels. I am absolutely in love with these ones. I would love to know more about the hood. I've gotten some different stories from reading online and talking to the seller. Can I see pictures of yours? This car certainly has been around for quite a while! It's history really made my want to pick it up. Currently, my only plans are to bring it back to it's former glory by giving it a tune up, fixing an oil leak, getting the northstar running right, and putting better headlights in the nose. From there, we shall see! The guy who sold the car is a friend of Lothar. We will be trying to get in touch once Lothar gets back from a holiday. I am eager to meet the man who built this car
yayy finally big pics of the new fiero!! I love it!!!!!!! lucky Tommy! i cant wait to see it in person! lol you guys are so cool. and nice hat, Devin ;D lol I'm so excited to see you guys and your fieros again!! ^_^
what i noticed about the fiero:
it has no headlights ? whaaa?? its blind XD lol
funky racing seats? o.O lol are they comfy?
whats the yellow symbol on the rear bumper?
is it the same scoop thing on the decklid on both of your cars?
Yea, the headlight doors have been fiberglassed over. It is a slick look, but it does make for bad night driving The turn signals in the front of the nose were replaced with headlight assemblies. I do not know if they are DOT legal, and I must say they do not put out much light. I am reminded of my datsun truck when I drive it at night. lol. I will have to do something to improve that. Or just don't drive it at night.
I love the racing seats. I do not have much room at all to get in or out of the car since they are quite a bit larger than the stock seats, but once I am in them I like it a lot. The harness is quite a nice touch too.
The yellow badge on the bumper is supposed to be a crest from the original owner's home town in Germany. It's kind of cool.
Yes, both our cars have mustang scoops on the decklid, though they are slightly different.
I look forward to seeing you again soon as well. And I am sure it will be us drooling over your car. lol.
Thanks! It does give it a different look, doesn't it? Personally I love pop up headlights, but I really don't want to repaint the hood for that. So I'll make do with the current setup.
I too, am glad I got the car with these wheels instead of the wire wheels. I am absolutely in love with these ones. I would love to know more about the hood. I've gotten some different stories from reading online and talking to the seller. Can I see pictures of yours? This car certainly has been around for quite a while! It's history really made my want to pick it up. Currently, my only plans are to bring it back to it's former glory by giving it a tune up, fixing an oil leak, getting the northstar running right, and putting better headlights in the nose. From there, we shall see! The guy who sold the car is a friend of Lothar. We will be trying to get in touch once Lothar gets back from a holiday. I am eager to meet the man who built this car
Here is the story on the hood. It is called the Norman Hood because a guy named John Norman created it in Indiana. He used it on his Fiero that was a show winner years ago named Obsession.
The hood was done with Phil Huff of the FOCOA and was sold by them for years. As far as I have seen only two were sold. Yours and mine. The hood is a stock under frame from a stock hood molded to the custom fiberglass top. They did come with the headlights exposed and Loather did close them in.
The hoods came in very poor quality as mine was a mess as was his. He ground off the top and redid the entire top of the hood so you may have a few things that may be a little different contour than mine. The hood really works as watch moths at night when they come into your headlights and then shoot straight up with the air pressure coming out of the hood. It did plant the nose better.
It is a heavy hood since it is not SMC and I would say yours is even heavier with the close in head lamps.
I would imagine the head lights as you stated would not be all that good in the parking light slots. Also I would watch as they could get you for too low of a headlight if they wanted to in a town needing ticket money.
I never met Loather but have known of this car because of the hood.
Note the original hood John Norman had was either sold, stored or redone as the car the last I saw had a different style hood.
Here are a couple shots of mine. I did french in the over flow cap to make mine different and give it a new look.
The original hood was created in the late 80's and I first saw it at the FOCOA show at Pontiac MI in 1990 If I recall correctly. The hood was sold till the club vanished and I have no idea what ever became of the mold.
The hood did do something that few do. Where most cut the vent in this molded it as an entire hood. That part was good but the quality of the shop in California was very poor.
I have photos of the original hood but they are not digital. My car and myself have been around for a long time too but the car has held up better than my memory. LOL!
I must say, I am jealous. Very nice Fiero there, I really would like seats similar to those myself. I always have a northstar swap in the back of my mind. Let us know how much fun you have trying to work in the engine bay!
[This message has been edited by mattwa (edited 09-19-2012).]
I must say, I am jealous. Very nice Fiero there, I really would like seats similar to those myself. I always have a northstar swap in the back of my mind. Let us know how much fun you have trying to work in the engine bay!
Ha! Yea... More that likely the cradle is dropping to do the work I need to do. It is crazy tight in there. I don't even know how the heck I am supposed to get the oil fill cap off, it's like ON the fire wall. lol. Warning on the seats, it is not very good for tall people.
Rob, I am sure we can work something out. Looking at the hood, and reading what hyperv6 posted, it might be a bit more effort than just pulling a mold of the vent. Anyways, we as a club can have fun learning from all the hard work that went into this car. The shear amount of electrical work that Lothar did to get the cadillac PCM to play with the fiero electronics is impressive.
Hyperv6, wow, you have a really nice looking car!! Thank you so much for the information on the hood! The headlight doors are still there, the seams are just covered up. So I could bring them back, but I would have to respray that part of the hood, which I don't know that I want to do right now. I will first see what I can do with the headlights where they are. I know at least one other guy in our club who has bumper lights, so I will check with him on local laws. But yes, that is my worry too, that they are too low. It does give a cool look at night though, looking at the front of the car
Hyperv6, wow, you have a really nice looking car!! Thank you so much for the information on the hood! The headlight doors are still there, the seams are just covered up. So I could bring them back, but I would have to respray that part of the hood, which I don't know that I want to do right now. I will first see what I can do with the headlights where they are. I know at least one other guy in our club who has bumper lights, so I will check with him on local laws. But yes, that is my worry too, that they are too low. It does give a cool look at night though, looking at the front of the car
Might check into some of the new LED lights and DIscharge lights. They can be aimed and placed in small places. There are many more options today vs just 5 years ago.
Might check into some of the new LED lights and DIscharge lights. They can be aimed and placed in small places. There are many more options today vs just 5 years ago.
I appreciate the tip! I will certainly look into it. I would like to somehow get high and low beams in that small area.
Tommy I have lights for ya that will work, they are from a grand prix and fit in that blinker opening perfectly I am using them as secondary lights on my front end mod but I have plenty of extra sets with brackets. you can have a set.
Tommy I have lights for ya that will work, they are from a grand prix and fit in that blinker opening perfectly I am using them as secondary lights on my front end mod but I have plenty of extra sets with brackets. you can have a set.
Sweet! That's what I've been looking at so far. I'd love to take a look at them!
I must say, I am jealous. Very nice Fiero there, I really would like seats similar to those myself. I always have a northstar swap in the back of my mind. Let us know how much fun you have trying to work in the engine bay!
I thought we talked about this. Come over to the dark side.
I like the idea, but there would be zero room left back there, and that's including removing the whole trunk, you might have to build up the Northstar to take boost (not sure on this, but it's a factor), and then there is the tuning. Tuning a regular Northstar is a PITA, adding boost would just make it worse.
Tuning is the only thing that would really stop me...oh and the cost of such a project...
I like the idea, but there would be zero room left back there, and that's including removing the whole trunk, you might have to build up the Northstar to take boost (not sure on this, but it's a factor), and then there is the tuning. Tuning a regular Northstar is a PITA, adding boost would just make it worse.
Tuning is the only thing that would really stop me...oh and the cost of such a project...
Yes, that's true, I'm just saying a Turbo 3800 can make similar power for alot less trouble and cost. Is it as "badass" as a Twin-Turbo Northstar mated to a manual? Hell no. But it's fast.
Yes, that's true, I'm just saying a Turbo 3800 can make similar power for alot less trouble and cost. Is it as "badass" as a Twin-Turbo Northstar mated to a manual? Hell no. But it's fast.
EXACTLY. Just comes down to what you want.
A good friend once told me, "Building a car strictly to be fast is silly. No matter what there will always be a faster car. There needs to be some X factor about it, something to make it cool. Something that makes you want to own it."
A good friend once told me, "Building a car strictly to be fast is silly. No matter what there will always be a faster car. There needs to be some X factor about it, something to make it cool. Something that makes you want to own it."
Yea, I agree. Not sure what I want, really. I know for sure I don't want a 4T80e in a Fiero..no thanks.
Here is a video of a TT Northstar running. I see can it's really a weekend car only based on the setup.
[This message has been edited by mattwa (edited 09-20-2012).]
Ok, so not a whole lot of new updates, but I did find and fix a fuel leak, which helped the car run better for a little while. Now it seems that once it warms up and enters closed loop it starts to act funny, and low on power. Since it's been sitting for a long time, I'll give it a tune up and change the plugs and wires, and fix the oil leak at one of the oil coolers.
I did find that the RCC brakes that my literature mentions are on my car for the front appear to be the the 12" kit referenced on this site: http://arrautmotorsports.com/brake-information/
I once brought up this idea ages ago, and found that in most places they are too low to be legal. I still think I could get away with it......love the idea.
Ok, so not a whole lot of new updates, but I did find and fix a fuel leak, which helped the car run better for a little while. Now it seems that once it warms up and enters closed loop it starts to act funny, and low on power. Since it's been sitting for a long time, I'll give it a tune up and change the plugs and wires, and fix the oil leak at one of the oil coolers.
I did find that the RCC brakes that my literature mentions are on my car for the front appear to be the the 12" kit referenced on this site: http://arrautmotorsports.com/brake-information/
So, what happened to RCC?
I think they went belly up a long time ago.
Keep in mind that this car was started a long time ago and like mine as many things no longer able to be found. So many of these companies are gone.
I once brought up this idea ages ago, and found that in most places they are too low to be legal. I still think I could get away with it......love the idea.
The Car and Driver Fiero was the first to do this back in 1983-84. They used the bumper pad nose and removed the pas and replaced them with head lights and smaller parking lights. It was the best set up I have seen like this. Pontiac also did this on the Yellow and black Formula show cars. They used the small square headlights across the nose. It looked kind of silly.
Originally posted by hyperv6: I think they went belly up a long time ago.
I know everybody means well here but as I grow older, I notice that younger people confuse going belly up with retirement.
Darrell Behring & his wife, the owners of RCC, got older & retired.
They didn't go belly up or go under, they retired..... Retirement is the thing everyone works towards all their life.
He tried to sell the business before he retired with no takers.
So they shut down the business & fired up the Motor Home.
Everybody, that lives long enough, is going to retire someday. Wouldn't it be nicer if after you retire, people would say you retired instead of you went belly up?
I know everybody means well here but as I grow older, I notice that younger people confuse going belly up with retirement.
Darrell Behring & his wife, the owners of RCC, got older & retired.
They didn't go belly up or go under, they retired..... Retirement is the thing everyone works towards all their life.
He tried to sell the business before he retired with no takers.
So they shut down the business & fired up the Motor Home.
Everybody, that lives long enough, is going to retire someday. Wouldn't it be nicer if after you retire, people would say you retired instead of you went belly up?
Thanks
Archie
It appears that the website I linked above carry pretty much the exact same setup as what is on my car, which was purchased originally from RCC. Did they (west shore fabricating) take over that product line? Or did they just make something VERY similar? Just trying to get as much information as I can.
I know everybody means well here but as I grow older, I notice that younger people confuse going belly up with retirement.
Darrell Behring & his wife, the owners of RCC, got older & retired.
They didn't go belly up or go under, they retired..... Retirement is the thing everyone works towards all their life.
He tried to sell the business before he retired with no takers.
So they shut down the business & fired up the Motor Home.
Everybody, that lives long enough, is going to retire someday. Wouldn't it be nicer if after you retire, people would say you retired instead of you went belly up?
Thanks
Archie
Sorry I am not that young but with the track record of many of the Fiero Companies many failed in the years after the car stopped production. Retirement is rare in the aftermarket parts industry.
Archie you if not already may end up being the longest running Fiero parts marketer of all time. You are one of the few I remember being around back in the day and are still around today.
I did not belly up RCC on pourpose it was just the common thing for most companies and when they don't really spread the new out to where it is easy to find one often assumes the worst.
Sorry I will change my response.
Some went out on Fraud and Federal Mail Fraud chages too. I know of one that did that right after I got my parts.
Originally posted by BV MotorSports: You have one of the nicest modded Fieros I have ever seen. It looks OE, but not... PERFECT.
Thanks that was my goal back in the 80's when I started on it.
I wanted to make my own prototype Fiero since I could not buy one then. I tried to keep everything as if Pontiac did or could have done it. Many of he parts I have used are GM, Pontiac or based on a Pontiac prototype part. Note the nose emblem is one from the 1990 Fiero Prototype.
The wheels are Ultra but I trimed and customized Pontiac center caps from a 78 Bonneville hub cap. They were red in a star burst pattern and I trimed, shaved and repainted them.
It appears that the website I linked above carry pretty much the exact same setup as what is on my car, which was purchased originally from RCC. Did they (west shore fabricating) take over that product line? Or did they just make something VERY similar? Just trying to get as much information as I can.
It would be great if they were doing the RCC stuff but all the pictures that I can see are of the parts that were originally designed by Darrel Armstrong & his company originally called Formula One. He was bought out by what was known as Held. Which is what I think is now called West Coast Fabricators.
I'm pretty sure Lothar had RCC on your car (unless it was changed in the last few years). I think that if you look carefully you'll see some differences between your parts & WCF.
Sorry I am not that young but with the track record of many of the Fiero Companies many failed in the years after the car stopped production. Retirement is rare in the aftermarket parts industry.
Archie you if not already may end up being the longest running Fiero parts marketer of all time. You are one of the few I remember being around back in the day and are still around today.
I did not belly up RCC on pourpose it was just the common thing for most companies and when they don't really spread the new out to where it is easy to find one often assumes the worst.
Sorry I will change my response.
Some went out on Fraud and Federal Mail Fraud chages too. I know of one that did that right after I got my parts.
LOL, I know what you mean.
As I get older, I get more sensitive to the differences between retired & belly up. I knew Darrell Behring pretty well & I just wanted to correct the record for him.
As I get older, I get more sensitive to the differences between retired & belly up. I knew Darrell Behring pretty well & I just wanted to correct the record for him.
It would be great if they were doing the RCC stuff but all the pictures that I can see are of the parts that were originally designed by Darrel Armstrong & his company originally called Formula One. He was bought out by what was known as Held. Which is what I think is now called West Coast Fabricators.
I'm pretty sure Lothar had RCC on your car (unless it was changed in the last few years). I think that if you look carefully you'll see some differences between your parts & WCF.
Archie
Thanks for the information! I just got a lift put in place so I can start to look the car over better now. I'll have to dig through the records and see if I can find just all that came with these kits. I know that the front suspension was a one off for this car, due to something about the front frame members being incorrectly manufactured from Pontiac. I should start keeping track of where I am reading what. I have so many piles of information on this car, as well as tidbits that Lothar wrote that are published online. This will definitely keep me busy over the winter.
Yea, I agree. Not sure what I want, really. I know for sure I don't want a 4T80e in a Fiero..no thanks.
Here is a video of a TT Northstar running. I see can it's really a weekend car only based on the setup.
That car is sitting in my garage now. It's Fieroaddictions old car. Turbo N*, new 4t65e hd with pcs controller, 12" corvette brakes. I am going to thin out my herd. Two kit cars. Two of them N*s, one turbo ls4 and one roadster win blown 2.8. Weren't there two N* Fieros in the beginning. I think one of the builders died shortly after the builds.
I love it!!!!!!! lucky Tommy! i cant wait to see it in person! lol you guys are so cool. 
The turn signals in the front of the nose were replaced with headlight assemblies. I do not know if they are DOT legal, and I must say they do not put out much light. I am reminded of my datsun truck when I drive it at night. lol. I will have to do something to improve that. Or just don't drive it at night. 
