Hello PFF! Recently found an old Fiero for sale the other day that is in disarray. It appears to have sat outside most of it's life and now the body is not in good shape. The car doesn't run and I believe the trans and engine are out of it. However, the car has a seemingly clean interior, as well as the gold honeycomb rims which I've always loved. I reached out to the seller and offered 400 for the entire interior and the gold rims which he accepted and I'm very excited to pick them up in the next few days!
I was just posting to see if anyone had any suggestions on removing the interior. How long should I expect to take to remove the seats, dash, door panels, steering wheel, pillars, bezels, console, shift knob, glove box, etc. I'm unsure on whether or not I will take the steering wheel and the carpet however as I'm not sure how I would remove the steering wheel and I'm not sure if I would be better off just buying a new carpet eventually or going through the trouble of removing this one. I feel like in the end I'll likely end up just taking the carpet as well, all depending on space.
I'll post some pictures of the interior and the rims to get some opinions. Once I pick it up and get it installed in my car I'll be sure to upload pictures then as well, some before and after stuff! Stay tuned and thanks for any advice/info!
I've removed that same steering wheel without a puller. Remove the c-clip and nut from the center hub. Then feet on the firewall, and just tell it, don't ask it. Be ready for when it complies. I had my elbows on my legs to control the pulling so it didn't break my nose when it came off. I don't see the horn buttons on that wheel though? Maybe missing? Nice interior. Love that color!
[This message has been edited by AstroBDean (edited 11-15-2016).]
Pictures can be misleading but I'd say you found yourself a good deal if the condition of the interior and wheels is good. The interior looks very good but doesn't seem to match the exterior condition. Are those Mr. Mikes seats in there? They look pretty darn good! Removing the seats can be done quickly but I suggest bring a hinged ratcheting box wrench (13mm?) to make it easy. The steering wheel looks pretty good but the horn paddles are missing. Go to your local Auto Zone, or what ever auto parts shop you have nearby, and borrow a loaner steering wheel puller. You have to actually buy it but they refund the money if you return it in a specified amount of time (2 days is typical).
Depending on your experience you may want to plan a full afternoon, or even the whole day depending on the level of disassembly you plan to do. Do you want the inner door skins, center console, console skeleton, HVAC controls, headliner, seat belts (you'll need a big Torx bit but I don't remember the size) , etc... I've never removed a carpet. It would have to be in great shape for me to bother with that.
Think it through and then make a list of the tools you will need. (standard tool box stuff, Metric sockets mostly), a flashlight. A variety of Torx bits, WD40, etc. I always use a body trim popper to remove door skins easily. Pretty cheap at Harbor Freight. A and B pillars can be a challenge if you've never done it before and are pretty easy to break. Do some research on here and YouTube so you have an idea of how they are attached. You'll be glad you did. Bring blankets and towels to wrap stuff up and prevent damage during transport.
The first thing I would do is search the car (glove box, map pockets, trunk, etc.) for the special lug nut. Those wheels are probably installed with one special nut on each wheel that is different from the rest to prevent theft. If they are, and you can't find it you may be out of luck unless you have a good friend in the tire business. You might want to bring your own jack and lug wrench in case the originals are missing. Since the car is parked in a field you should also bring along a firm jack support so it doesn't sink into the dirt or mud. Naturally you are bring some sort of supports to put under each corner since you are removing all the wheels.
I'll be sure to get the VIN before leaving. Can't remember if I put mine in the database yet either. This interior will be going into another Formula.
I've removed the seats in my car before (can't remember the reason why) so I know at least how to remove the seats pretty easily. I've also removed the gear shift surrounding bezel before as well (I think I did both of these things just to clean, thousands of cigarette butts had missed the ash tray over the past 27 years). He said I could have the entire interior, originally wasn't planning on taking the HVAC controls and I'm thinking I probably won't need the console skeleton if all of this is going back. My car's interior isn't in terrible condition, this is just better.
I have a mechanics tool box from Walmart that contains various bits and a socket, wrenches, hex keys etc. I'm hoping this will be able to suffice for the most of it. Growing concern over removing the pillars, door skins and the dash. I dont think I'll take the headliner, but I'm not sure, I'll have to see when I get there. There's a picture of this cars sunroof which seems smaller than mine, which if that is the case I'm not sure it would fit in my car. On top of this my headliner is in rather good condition.
He has a donut on the back right now so I'm guessing he has the special lug nut. Are they different for every Fiero? I have mine if not. Will I need the inner door skins? If the dew wipes on the car are decent I may take them as well, mine are pretty bad.
I just disassembled a dash from an 88 at the local U-Pull-It last week.
The walmart kit should suffice, if it has 7mm, 10mm, and T15 (I think) torx bit. A cordless drill will cut time in more than half, I used a $20 harbor freight drill and it had plenty of juice left, enough to reinstall the same parts I pulled. Bring a Tupperware container for all the bolts/screws/nuts. A rag to promote cleanliness, and a mini flathead screwdriver as a multi-purpose tool (just try disconnecting the HVAC control unit from the cable without this screwdriver!) A pair of gloves will prevent cuts. An old card (credit card without raised letters, like grocery stores keep track of customers with) will come in handy removing speaker grilles without cracking the dash (use extreme caution here). Be very careful removing the 3 screws from the hood release handle, one of these screws is always a bastard, the correct philips bit is important here! If you are taking the sail panel area plastic, you will need a torx bit that never comes in cheap kits. Think it's T45. I always forget to bring it and have gotten past it using the biggest hex bit (which happens to fit into a 1/4" socket, IIRC), to turn my ratchet into a redneck type tool.
Think that covers decent ground here. The rest is pretty straightforward.
Edit to add, you will waste days trying to get used outer dew wipes out. This task alone takes longer than removing ALL of the rest of the interior alone lol.
[This message has been edited by viperine (edited 11-15-2016).]
WOW! Holy Grail find!---beechwood leather seats. Too bad you cant resuscitate a formula. whole job couple of hours to do. be sure to take out side panel trim (lower door and b-pillars) and you can get the carpet out--you might want to take the back piece (fuzzy) too if you are doing a whole color change also the third stop light cover (might as well take the whole thing) the coat hangers, and with some luck you can get the headliner too don't forget top light and visors--a-pillars--dash is pretty straight forward
I do wish I could save the Formula, but I've already got mine to deal with, can't take on another stray Fiero unfortunately. I couldn't tell if perhaps the seats were Mr. Mikes or originals. Probably going to go take a look around my car today and start disassembling a few pieces just so I have some knowledge going into it. Probably won't take everything off, just familiarizing myself.
Again, I'm 100% certain the sunroof on this car is smaller than the sunroof on my car, so I'm not sure if the headliner will fit properly.
Edit: Thanks for the heads up on the dew wipes. I really ought to just buy new ones anyways!
[This message has been edited by Dylpro (edited 11-16-2016).]
I do wish I could save the Formula, but I've already got mine to deal with, can't take on another stray Fiero unfortunately. I couldn't tell if perhaps the seats were Mr. Mikes or originals. Probably going to go take a look around my car today and start disassembling a few pieces just so I have some knowledge going into it. Probably won't take everything off, just familiarizing myself.
I don't think Mikes makes ones that look original like that. If they are nice you should really probably ebay those, or put them in the mall here.
I'm not sure how much they'd be worth, but I may entertain the idea. It'll be nice just to have an interior in better condition for myself though haha.
Heading tomorrow to pick up the interior and tires! I'll post some pictures tomorrow night
Went to work on disassembling my interior today. Everything went well up until it came time to remove the speaker grills and the speakers. I snapped a wire on one of the speakers and broke one speaker grill into 3 pieces. Probably can be glued back together but not a big deal, not as if there aren't speaker grills on the other interior. Also broke the dot matrix for the gauge cluster, but it was a small enough crack that I should be able to glue it and have it not be very noticeable.
The dash came out pretty easily, had some trouble removing the wiring connection for the rally gauges but got it off eventually without any major cracks. Its certainly not a show quality interior but it would make a good interior for a daily driver if their interior is best to crap. I'll probably post it in the mall eventually but for now keeping everything in the basement.
Talked to the seller again today. Leaving early tomorrow morning to get the interior and rims. I asked if there were any tears in the seats as you can't see the entire seats in the pictures and he said they're in perfect condition, very excited! Pictures coming tomorrow!
A little past 12:30 as of writing this. Not sure whether to call it a quits or to go back out and work on. I've decided I'm probably going to take the carpet so it'll match the new interior. I would do the same with the headliner but again, not sure if it would fit my car with the bigger sunroof. Speaking of which, I wasn't even aware there were two different sunroof sizes? Need to remove the seats, firewall, and pillars still.
Got to the car around 11:30 today and finished loading the SUV full of the parts at 3:00. Seats were in impressive condition for their age, a little worn on the drivers seat but no tears at all! I decided to leave the steering wheel as it was missing the horn paddles are was fairly worn. I figured my black wheel will match enough or I could always get it recovered if need be. Irrationable in the mall is very impressive if I decide to go that route.
It's not a show quality interior, but it has potential. I did take the carpet which was pretty clean.
It didn't go off without issues unfortunately. I broke the speaker cover on the drivers side and the B Pillar speaker grill in the passenger side. I got the B pillars off no problem, but broke the A pillar on the passenger side where the clips attached it to the roof. I thought after I did that I'd have a better idea of how to take off the drivers side but ended up breaking it clean it half. A little gorilla glue should hopefully suffice for repairs.
I would do the same with the headliner but again, not sure if it would fit my car with the bigger sunroof. Speaking of which, I wasn't even aware there were two different sunroof sizes?
There is only one size Fiero sunroof, usually aftermarket add ons are smaller than the stock Fiero one.
Photobucket is awful as far as trying to upload pictures. I kept having to update the post in order to add all the photos.
I'll have to upload a picture of my cloth seats side by side, they look to be similar in pleat pattern. Although I always thought perhaps the seats in my Formula were from an earlier Fiero as they have provisions for the headrest speakers, although I suppose someone could've made them. The dash seems pretty faded but you can see where I rubbed my fingers and it seemed to brighten up a bit so I'm out grabbing armorall and some other cleaning supplies to clean up the interior before putting it back in my car.
Whatever "wood grain" was put over the dot matrix at some point is in terrible condition. I may even just use my old dot matrix instead. I saw someone on here who used a carbon fibre wrapping around the dot matrix that looked really good so I may go that route as well. The center shift surround is probably the worst piece, very warped. Anyone have any suggestions on realigning it and making it less warped?
The headliner was not as nice as mine so even though it won't match, mine looks much better. The sunroof was an interesting design. You raised it by moving the lever from one side to the other. It was definitely smaller than the sunroof in my car.
Pretty sure my battery is drained bad as she won't start now. Should've disconnected it while I was dismantling the interior. Luckily it's a new battery so shouldn't have trouble jumping it. More pictures to come after some of the parts are cleaned up and once they start going in! Stay tuned!
The center shift surround is probably the worst piece, very warped. Anyone have any suggestions on realigning it and making it less warped?
The gray soft parts can be reglued to the plastic skeleton underneath. I have used Gorilla Glue, but it takes longer to dry, requiring the use of some sort of clip or clamp to hold the parts in place until they dry. Last time I did one I used Loctite brand Super Glue. It worked great and dried in less than a minute. There are multiple threads on "fix interior warp", search under "entire forum and archives" http://www.fierosearch.com/...SearchQuery=interior fix&Action=DoSearch
Seats with perforations for speakers came in all 1984 and 1985s.
[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 11-21-2016).]
I had some gorilla glue but couldn't get it to hold well enough. Good call on the Loctite Super Glue though! I went and picked some up and used some clamps we had in the house. Worked like a charm! Gluing a lot of different plastic pieces that broke in the process yesterday and so far the glue has worked for everything. I've managed to repair the busted front speaker panel. Unfortunately the speaker panel in the back was a lost cause. Trying to think of some alternative way to cover the pillar speakers if anyone has suggestions.
I was able to glue together the A pillar that I had snapped. I'm a little worried about trying to get it back in without breaking it, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. As of now I'm just cleaning and prepping everything to go back in. I used some trim restore which brought the dash and gauge cover back to life! Might work late into tonight and hopefully can get everything back together in a couple days, ideally tomorrow!
Edit: My cloth seats in the car now don't have the perforations for the headrest speakers, but if you feel around the headrest you can feel where an opening to install headrest speakers is. I'm not sure if someone made these holes or if perhaps these seats came from an earlier model and someone recovered the seat with the cloth covering currently on there.
Edit 2: Rather than bump the thread for no reason at 12:30 I figured I just update this post. Finished cleaning and fixing all of the interior pieces and they're now ready to go into the car. I used the dot matrix from my interior and glued it to the shift surround after fixing the warping thanks to 2.5's guidance! Very pleased with how it turned out, but at some point I do intend to change or cover the dot matrix with something else. Tomorrow morning I will be cleaning the carpet and finishing the tear down of my car. Door panels, A/B pillars, firewall, seats, and carpet are the last remaining pieces to remove. With some luck and dedication she may be finished up by tomorrow night!
[This message has been edited by Dylpro (edited 11-22-2016).]
Unfortunately the speaker panel in the back was a lost cause. Trying to think of some alternative way to cover the pillar speakers if anyone has suggestions.
I was able to glue together the A pillar that I had snapped. I'm a little worried about trying to get it back in without breaking it,
Edit: My cloth seats in the car now don't have the perforations for the headrest speakers, but if you feel around the headrest you can feel where an opening to install headrest speakers is.
Have pics you can post of the broken parts?
I think the openings in the foam for the speakers may be in all Fiero seats, not sure though.
Here is the broken passenger speaker grill. I had thought that my passenger grill was lost but that was the drivers side so I actually have two intact, unfortunately the mounting brackets are still broken so I'll have to find another way to get them on there Didn't finish today. I did finish removing the rest of my interior and began installing the new interior. So far the carpet is in on both sides and I have gotten the pillars on the passenger side. The glue held up well on the clips for the A pillar, I think at least. It sags a little but not bad. Just enough to be noticeable to me. I work tomorrow so not sure how much I'll be able to get done, but I'm still hopeful I can find the time to finish.
Here are a few more pictures! The dot matrix doesn't show up at all, and the center console looks so much more faded than it really is. The beechwood shift knob however is in pretty bad shape so I think I'll be sure the shift knob from my car instead.
Here is the seat from my car and the leather drivers seat. To my eye the only noticeable difference in style is stitching down the center of the leather seat. I tried doing some searching for other pictures of leather beechwood seats to not much avail. The ones I do find have are a much different style, however they are usually in GTs. I'm wondering if the style of these seats were for the Formula and Coupe models. Anyone know more about 88 seats care to chime in?
The grille with the broke off pegs, if you are using the pillar molding that they broke off from the broken pegs likely still line up and touch. If so, put some of that glue on the peg end and then hold the grille there for 60 seconds and it should stay. I did this on one car in the past. Those grilles aren't designed to be removable.
[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 11-23-2016).]
I'll probably go that route then, I'll need to recover them however before doing so, luckily I'm not too bother by the exposed speakers in the meantime.
I was looking around on Mr. Mikes website and I too thought they resembled the classic style. Can't say I'm not a little disappointed if they are Mr. Mikes, but in the end it doesn't really matter to me. I bought the interior for my own use anyways, not to make a profit. And it's not like Mikes makes a bad product! I think the ultimate compliment here is that we couldn't tell the difference to begin with
Picking up some shifts at the restaurant while I'm home from college. Long shift today so probably won't get too much finished. Fingers crossed though. Maybe it'll be a slow day!
Certainly not a slow day! However, after a 10 hour shift and against my better judgement I worked on the car for about 4 hours. I'm beat now and I'm currently about 8 hours away from the start of my next double shift. Luckily in those 4 hours I've gotten the pillars on the drivers side finished and the dash is now officially in and bolted down! The carpet and lower panel where the parking brake is was a huge pain to get situated. I ended up having to super glue the carpet so it would stay in place long enough for me to bolt down the panel. All that remains now is reassembling the HVAC centre, centre console and shift surround, and putting in the seats. Between my double tomorrow and Thanksgiving dinner I may not have much time to work on it, but Friday I don't work until the evening so there's no doubt in my mind I will be finished then! Pictures to come of the finished product! Have a Happy Turkey Day everyone!
Edit: Forgot to mention, an email to Mr Mikes confirmed they are his "classic" style covers. They still look fantastic and are in very good shape despite what I'm sure were years of neglect. Can't wait to see them in the car after its all finished!
[This message has been edited by Dylpro (edited 11-24-2016).]
Sorry for the delay! I went back to school on Monday and left the car behind to get some brake work done while I'm finishing up this semester. They were suppose to start yesterday on that but the blasted lug nut key was still in the garage. I'm replacing those lug nuts with some I got from these other rims and throwing the damn thing away.
As far as the interior goes, she's all finished aside from lights/visors/brake light and the door panels. Going to have to work out a few bugs when I get back unfortunately. My temp gauge fell off. What? Is this a common thing? Is there a fix? And some of the lights on my speedo appear to be pretty dim. Other than that, a charge up on the battery got her running like her old self again with a more fresh interior. Here are some pictures! The dot matrix still looks pretty faded in the picture, but it really isn't as bad as it looks. I still plan on covering it with some sort of interior vinyl in the future. I was thinking of maybe painting the ash tray doors with and interior paint to liven them up as well. I ended up salvaging my speaker covers for the dash speakers and got them in as well, fixing the speaking wire I snapped in the process. I used my original dot matrices and gear shifter as they were in better condition than the crappy wood grain cover from the other car. I feel this will also complement the fact that the headliner will be the only remaining gray interior piece. It will at least match a little bit better with the gray shifter/matrix and make it look a little less out of place. Thanks for following and for the tips everyone! Overall I'm happy with how it turned out! It may not be perfect, but it's an improvement! Some more pictures coming in a couple weeks once the door panels are on.
And Loctite superglue was a life saver! Just be more careful than I was or you'll be picking off dried glue from your skin for a week!
[This message has been edited by Dylpro (edited 12-02-2016).]
I was thinking of maybe painting the ash tray doors with and interior paint to liven them up as well.
This may sound weird, but take some butter (let it soften) on a paper towel and spread it around on the ash tray door. Let it sit more a few minutes and buff it in more with the paper towel. Then remove the excess until it doesn't feel greasy. It will retain a nice dark fresh look. Works wonders on faded window switches or trunk release/ defrost buttons as well.
