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I am the proud new owner of a 3800SC Fiero. I am sure I will have lots of questions. by zmcdonal
Started on: 06-09-2014 03:27 PM
Replies: 136 (5556 views)
Last post by: zmcdonal on 06-02-2017 12:51 PM
newf
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Report this Post10-27-2016 05:40 PM Click Here to See the Profile for newfSend a Private Message to newfEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Man great job on the wrap, I have had some 3M vinyl in my garage for the past few years and haven't had time to do it. I have lots of sections where the clear coat has failed and want to make it nice and smooth before putting on the vinyl. What are you using for prepping your car?
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Report this Post10-28-2016 09:16 AM Click Here to See the Profile for exoticseSend a Private Message to exoticseEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Wow man you are becoming a wrap guru ! Looks amazing ! What is the ballpark price on materials ?
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Report this Post10-28-2016 07:01 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by newf:

Man great job on the wrap, I have had some 3M vinyl in my garage for the past few years and haven't had time to do it. I have lots of sections where the clear coat has failed and want to make it nice and smooth before putting on the vinyl. What are you using for prepping your car?


I have been sanding every panel on mine with a sanding block 600 all the way up to like 2000 grit to get it nice and smooth. Pretty much making sure to sand off any and all of the clear. Any of the pieces that were maroon on my car had been repainted and the paint did not adhere to the surface very well, so I took a single edge razor blade to a lot of it and just peeled all of the loose paint off first to the original maroon underneath and then sanded it afterwards. For any chips and imperfections I was using scratch filler and priming over them with a filler primer, and then more sanding. The vinyl is very unforgiving and shows EVERYTHING. There are a couple areas where I had a really deep scratch that I sanded and feathered the area, then primed it, and apparently it needed more sanding because in the right light I can still see sanding marks and the different layers of paint that I had feathered away from the scratch. It is not really obvious unless you know where to look, but I know it's there.

After everything is nice and smooth, I prep the surface with 70% isopropyl alcohol with a lint free cloth. All of the prep work is what is taking me forever, the actual wrapping goes pretty fast once you get the surface ready. I have been working on my extra hood for a good amount of time, it had some chips along the edges, and all of the clear was flaking off.

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Report this Post10-28-2016 07:05 PM Click Here to See the Profile for newfSend a Private Message to newfEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by zmcdonal:


I have been sanding every panel on mine with a sanding block 600 all the way up to like 2000 grit to get it nice and smooth. Pretty much making sure to sand off any and all of the clear. Any of the pieces that were maroon on my car had been repainted and the paint did not adhere to the surface very well, so I took a single edge razor blade to a lot of it and just peeled all of the loose paint off first to the original maroon underneath and then sanded it afterwards. For any chips and imperfections I was using scratch filler and priming over them with a filler primer, and then more sanding. The vinyl is very unforgiving and shows EVERYTHING. There are a couple areas where I had a really deep scratch that I sanded and feathered the area, then primed it, and apparently it needed more sanding because in the right light I can still see sanding marks and the different layers of paint that I had feathered away from the scratch. It is not really obvious unless you know where to look, but I know it's there.

After everything is nice and smooth, I prep the surface with 70% isopropyl alcohol with a lint free cloth. All of the prep work is what is taking me forever, the actual wrapping goes pretty fast once you get the surface ready. I have been working on my extra hood for a good amount of time, it had some chips along the edges, and all of the clear was flaking off.


Awesome man, thanks for the info and please continue posting pics. It's looking great!
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Report this Post10-28-2016 07:16 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by exoticse:

Wow man you are becoming a wrap guru ! Looks amazing ! What is the ballpark price on materials ?


I bought an entire 75ft roll of vinyl because I was anticipating making at least a couple mistakes and its always better to have a little extra, than to not have enough. Also the company gives you a price break if you buy an entire roll. According to a professional installer the Fiero takes 53 feet of vinyl to wrap. They charge $9.35 per foot up to 74 feet, so for 53 feet it would cost $495.55, but will sell an entire 75ft roll for $551.25 so it was kind of a no brainer to just buy an entire roll. I probably should change my razor blade a lot more frequently than I have been but I have not gone through too many blades so far, the dull blade is almost a little more forgiving so I don't cut too deep or too far. I am just using a cheap throw away break off style knife and a roll or 2 of green 3m painters tape.
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Report this Post10-28-2016 08:08 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post

zmcdonal

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This is what the condition of my spare hood looked like before I started working on it.

After lots of sanding it looked like this:



Using this stuff to fill the bigger chips and chips on the edges:




Somehow this was still not a perfect enough surface to wrap and I ended up with factory paint/primer that had lifted under the vinyl causing contamination / orange peel look

Here you can see what was left behind on the back side of the vinyl when I removed it.

So I scuffed it back up so the primer would have something to grab on to and primed the entire hood with filler primer, next will be primer/sealer.


While in the middle of my wrapping project a local deal popped up that was just too sweet to pass up. The guys that have been in the 3800 game for a while should know exactly what this is right away.

Yup that's right it is one of the very few that were made PRJ intercoolers, supposedly the best intercooler that was ever made for the 3800 platform.


Along with a ported Gen V lower intake, with gasket matched intake ports. The intake has to be opened up that much because the core is so thick that it actually sits down inside the the intake manifold a little bit.

A ZZP front mount heat exchanger with all of the fittings and hoses. (hoses will obviously need to be modified to fit the Fiero application)

A nice aluminum fill tank with all of the fittings for that.

As well as a Meziere intercooler pump that the guy said worked but leaked. After I took it apart, it had a bunch of RTV in it, so I am thinking maybe if I put a new O-ring in it, it may not leak anymore.


The guy that I bought it from had a built GTP that made 371HP at the wheels on the blower build, he had recently swapped over to a turbo for more power.

[This message has been edited by zmcdonal (edited 10-28-2016).]

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Report this Post10-28-2016 08:45 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post

zmcdonal

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Since the tempuratures were too low to be working on the wrap, I decided to see if I could figure out how to mount my ZZP heat exchanger. From the research I had done here, everyone said that the ZZP heat exchanger was too big and did not work well on the Fiero. Well I guess the old saying "don't believe everything that you read" is very true here. I don't know what those people were talking about, and apparently neither do they. With a little imagination and very little modification, this heat exchanger fits perfectly in the front of a Fiero.

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Still need to work out the best way to route the hoses and where the best location would be to mount the pump and fill tank.

[This message has been edited by zmcdonal (edited 10-28-2016).]

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Report this Post12-03-2016 06:07 AM Click Here to See the Profile for fuhrmannClick Here to visit fuhrmann's HomePageSend a Private Message to fuhrmannEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by zmcdonal:

Since the tempuratures were too low to be working on the wrap,




How do you get the wrap to cover areas with deep insets like the intake area of the bumper and running lights? Can the wrap be aligned to do a two tone effect or wold that require hiding the seam under the belt line or at panel edges?

[This message has been edited by fuhrmann (edited 12-03-2016).]

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Report this Post02-10-2017 08:05 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by fuhrmann:


How do you get the wrap to cover areas with deep insets like the intake area of the bumper and running lights? Can the wrap be aligned to do a two tone effect or wold that require hiding the seam under the belt line or at panel edges?



Here you can see how I handled some of the deep recessed areas like the scoops and the light pockets for the front bumper. It is best to try to hide the seams in the body lines as much as possible, but as long as the vinyl is oriented in the same direction the color should match, there will just be a fine line where the pieces meet/overlap. The actually advise to keep the vinyl oriented in the same direction as much as possible for the entire car just to keep it as consistent as possible. I may have more seams than some professionals would have, but I am very happy with how my project is turning out so far.

 
quote
Originally posted by zmcdonal:


















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Report this Post02-15-2017 02:20 PM Click Here to See the Profile for DrewbdoSend a Private Message to DrewbdoEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Just finished reading the entire thread. Great looking car! You have a very clear, easy to understand writing style.

I originally came to read up on the 3800, as I'd like more power. Then I got interested in the wrap. I'm trying to decide whether to do a wrap or repaint my car. Anyway, I enjoyed it.
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Report this Post04-04-2017 02:05 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
So before I got to the step of the intercooler install that requires decklid modification, I needed to square the motor up in the engine compartment. When the previous owner mounted the motor, it was not even close to square or level.


My understanding is the that previous owner installed the cabin side trans mount improperly causing the motor to be that crooked.
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I took the bolts out of the front motor mount and loosened the other trans mount and shifted the motor so now it sits straight in the engine bay.
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So far so good
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Until I went to bolt the front motor mount back together. It is not even close to lining up. I have been told that sometimes the mount needs to be redrilled slightly, however this is not even close.
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This project left me puzzled for some time trying to figure out a solution. From what I had read the consistency of Purple Reigns mounts was not all the great, and that he did not use a jig when welding them together.
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zmcdonal
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Report this Post04-04-2017 07:41 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post

zmcdonal

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I was finally able to fix my mounts so that the motor was square and level. At first I thought that the only option I had would be to have the two pieces welded together, but since I don't own a welder that complicated things a bit. So after playing around with all the different mount pieces I happened to flip the bottom mount piece that bolts to the cradle 180 degrees and noticed that the holes were a lot closer to lining up with the motor side mount piece. That is not the way it is intended to be mounted. I had to elongate the holes in the motor side mount piece slightly.

I also elongated the hole for the bolt that goes through the poly mount to bring the passenger side of the motor down slightly to level it out.


The end result.
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The mount is moved further to the passenger side than it's supposed to be so the bolt head is almost against the cradle and needed to be put together and tightened before being installed on the cradle but it works. I had to redrill the holes in the poly mount piece since I flipped it 180 degrees.

Nice and straight now.
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And level now too.
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Report this Post04-04-2017 07:58 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post

zmcdonal

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Unfortunately now that the motor is straight, my exhaust is crooked and out of wack because I tried to compensate for the crooked motor as much as possible when I built the exhaust.
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Report this Post04-04-2017 08:13 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post

zmcdonal

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So since I had to buy new pipes going from my muffler to the tips, there wasn't enough left to work with to straighten things out, I decided to take the opportunity to change my exhaust tips out. I took the C6 resonator tips off, I feel like those are almost stock replacements for a Fiero anymore. So I installed some polished stainless SLP tips that I picked up used for a really good price.



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I think they look a little bit more aggressive than the C6 tips did, and even though they are physically smaller in the opening, they give the ellusion taking up more of the opening since it's one big tip on each side instead of 2 smaller ones.

[This message has been edited by zmcdonal (edited 04-04-2017).]

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zmcdonal
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Report this Post04-04-2017 08:29 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post

zmcdonal

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For Christmas my brother got me a set of 5 1/4 Rockford Fostgate speakers for my dash. I was able to successfully install them without any modification to the dash or HVAC duct. I had to modify the mounting adapter quite a bit that they came with, but it was a pretty easy install. They sound really good, the car definitely needs a sub since 5 1/4's and 4x6's don't produce a lot of bass, but it seems like very clear quality sound. Much better than the 4x10's.
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[This message has been edited by zmcdonal (edited 04-04-2017).]

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Report this Post06-02-2017 12:22 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
I had to decide what type of fill tank I wanted to use for intercooler setup. The used intercooler setup I bought came with a nice aluminum fill tank with AN style fittings, but it's a tall tank that I couldn't really find a great mounting location for in the Fiero.


I also bought a used Corvette surge tank because I have seen a couple other people using those with good results and they give a nice factory style appearance, plus since it is a plastic tank it will not suffer from heat soak as much as an aluminum tank would.
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However, in order to use the Corvette tank I would have to relocate me cruise control module, and modify my cold air intake setup.
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I will have to rework my cold air intake setup anyway so I am not too concerned about that since it is kind of a cobbled together mess at the moment, but I do like how my cruise module is mounted up out of the way of everything. I decided I would have to make the aftermarket tank work somewhere. The only place that it fit pretty well was over next to the coils where the battery used to be. But I didn't really care for the orientation of the hoses.


After playing with it for a while and brainstorming, I figured out that if I relocated my charcoal canister it would free up some space to mount the intercooler tank nicely. It is still a snug fit next to the coils and would fit better if the coils were mounted vertically instead of horizontally across the wall but I think I can make this work.
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Fits really nicely in that corner and will keep my intercooler lines nicely hidden out of site. My intercooler core is setup a little differently than most, and the feed lines come out the drivers side of the core instead of the passenger so I need to get a little creative to keep things looking neat. I relocated the charcoal canister directly under the factory battery location. There was already a hole in the frame, so I just found a coarse thread bolt that threaded in, looks like it's always been there. I am not too worried about the function of the charcoal canister because there is no solenoid connected to it, I just have the line hooked up to the fuel tank to capture any fumes. You also get a little sneak peak of how my intercooler lines will be run. They both exit the engine bay directly underneath the tank, one will head up towards the heat exchanger and the other will be routed over to the drivers side into the core itself.


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Report this Post06-02-2017 12:51 PM Click Here to See the Profile for zmcdonalSend a Private Message to zmcdonalEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post

zmcdonal

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I have also been working on trying to make a trunk floor so that I have some sort of usable trunk space. After going to all of the home improvement stores looking for some sort of decent sheet metal and coming up with nothing, I decided to sacrifice part of a shelving unit from my basement. After some bending a trimming it fits pretty nicely.



I also picked up a trunk carpet from a friend so that I could make it look a little nicer. After some scrubbing and some trimming it will work out very nicely.





I made a template for the floor of the trunk out of cardboard so that I could cut a piece of wood and carpet that to use on the floor of the trunk.



I really like the look of RussTtop's trunk shelf product that he sells with the embossed Fiero GT lettering in the carpet, but I figured I could make my own for a lot less money. I printed my text out in the size that I wanted it, and then figured out placement. I cut all of my letters out of some sound deadening material I had left around the house from one of my dads projects and used contact cement to glue them to the board, It is nice thick stuff, so it should work just fine to make the letters pop when I carpet over the whole thing.







I still need to carpet the board and figure out some heat barrier to put on the metal of the trunk floor because it gets a little hot since my headers collect right under there.

[This message has been edited by zmcdonal (edited 07-24-2017).]

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