Well, I have been busy... Ive been working on a make-shift carport...15' x 20'... to store my formula and my sons 86GT. Up here in Maine, the winters last for at least 6 months. Its important to protect what you can. On my project, Ive fiberglassed my two peice headliner board. It was very soft. Now I have it bounted in to allow it to form to the shape of the roof. Ill give it the winter and then Ill glass the two peices together, in place. I do think the board is from a different year, because of the interior light area. It has a bump there, that I dont see in my formula. Like I said the 2.8 I took out of my 87GT is almost ready for a full tune up. It has great compression, so I wont be tearing it down. It will get a full paint job as well. The valve covers and plenum will be painted the same as the body. Original metallic burgendy.
Another project I have been working on are the wingstands..I want my wing higher than the original, but I cant afford the extended wingstands that are for sale. So ,I took on the job of making my own. heres how Ive been doing it, in case anyone else wants to try to make their own... I traced the bottom of the original stands onto blue board ( which can be bought at any hardware store)) Then I cut them out using an electric knife. This method works great for forming lines. The arrows on the blue board lets me know that this area needs to be extended. Then, with it roughly cut out, I used that famous ducT tape to tape the cutouts onto the stands. Marking the curves onto the sides to continue the curves. Then cut the curves out. I also had to hollow out the middle of the bottom of these stands to make them sit on the decklid without rocking back and forth.
Originally, the stands sat level on the decklid. Im thinking a tilt to it would be better. But, not too much to make it look like I was trying to create major downforce. Because I dont think the height of the spoiler is enough to grab all that major air needed to create that kind of downforce. So, I sliced off about 3/4" off the front to make it lean forward. The next step would be to finish shaping it and get it ready for fiber glass. As far as mounting it , now that I have taken away the mounting holes, Ill buy some anchors that I can glass into the bottom to recieve the bolts. I hope you enjoyed reading this and feel free to ask me any questions to come to mind. John
[This message has been edited by fiero67 (edited 04-14-2008).]
Thanks exoticse, for posting these pics for me. Now all I need to do is find out the problem Im having with PIP.
Ive been working on the armrest light. The light comes on when you open the door. So its a safety thing as well as a good looking armrest. As you can see, I started with a normal armrest....
Using a light strip off the armrest of a 92 Olds 98 Regency... I test fitted it up against a stock Fiero armrest. I would have liked to use the red lighted part as well, but the angle were not close enough, not to mention the fiero armrest isnt long enough. The black areas you see is metal, so I can bend those peices into the shape of the armrest.
I made a template of the light strip and transfered it onto the armrest. Then proceeded to cut the vinyl material off the areas that the light strip would reccess into.The backing is plastic on the armrest. Since these are lighted, I had to drill holes for the light boxes to sit into.
With the strip roughly installed , I placed it back onto the door to see if it was all that I thought it would be. I like it alot!
Another angle of it after some more bending on the strip to make it sit just perfect. This is going to take alot of minor tweking in order for this to fit well on the armrest. Not to mention I have to take it all apart after the bending to re-level the front of it. Bending this peice warps the edges, so after it fits just right, It will be time to clean it up
Here is a close up. I may paint the black charchol grey to match the interior. I hope you guys enjoy my newest mod. Ill have to post another pic after I have it installed back onto the door and wired in. It wil be wired into the under dash lights.
Thanks for looking . John
[This message has been edited by fiero67 (edited 01-15-2006).]
Thanks for the bumpo, its been a long winter. Nothing really new to post, its too cold for me to work on any of them. Where I live, we still have around 20" of snow on the ground and two more storms coming this week. Enjoy the pic, to all you guys down south and west of here...
Luckily the Formula found shelter and the project88GT is in my garage. THe rest have to live outside until spring. Think warm thoughts. John
Hehe. Is that the most rust free fiero you have ever seen i bought that when i lived in wyoming and drove it back here when i moved.
I got under that one and totally checked it out. Its hard to imagine, that even the brake lines were free of rust. You know that 5-speed you put in her? Well, its going to magically turn into an auto, for my wife. I contacted Mark about buying a sunroof top off him and he threw in the car.
Thanks for the bump.... Believe it or not, its been snowing up here still!! I havent finished the wing stands yet, just because it is too cold to fiberglass and the wife wont let me do it in the living room. But soon Ill start posting more pics...All the actually work is done on alot of mods, I just have to wait until the weather clears and warms a little and then I can finish all my mods. Thanks for poking in and bumping this. John
Finally I got some time to work on my Project Fiero. I have my entire front suspension torn down and ready for sand blasting. . But as far as the wingstands go, Ive made great progress today. I continued shaping the extensions with sand paper
With the edge of my sanding block I sanded 1/4" grooves on the edge that is closest to the actual stand so it would recess into the wingstand. They fit perfectly.
Now that they are shaped and sanded smooth, I can lay my first layer of glass.
The shape is finally comming together. I like the way they flow. What I like the best, is the extensions are the same size as the original gasket for the windstands. Thanx for reading this build thread. John
[This message has been edited by fiero67 (edited 06-21-2007).]
Thanks for the bump-o Looks like the weather is finally breaking here and I can actually start working on the Fiero again. And I got PIP working again. Stay tuned for pictures...Ive got alot of things I will be doing this year, now that I can finally get back to the Project! Im learning to air brush as of the moment and plan on Air brushing the entire Fiero. HAppy days! John
Im currently working on a few projects for my project and Im very detailed, so it takes such a long time to complete something. Ive been finishing up the wingstand extensions, while I wait for new poly bushings to arrive. Ive taken on the task of fully rebuilding the front suspension. I had to paint it as well. It took me awhile to choose a color for my springs...but this is it.
3 coat of matallic maroon and 4 coats of candy apple clear coat.
I cant see myself going through all this work and not redoing every part.
POR15 and POR15 chassis coat. Thanks for looking John
Worked on the wingstands again today. Im getting so close!!!! Found some wonderful stuff called "Fiber Hair". It has fiberglass in it and it is easy to spread . BUT it dries rock friggin hard , so what ever you put it on make sure you have it close to where you want it. In this first picture, I noticed my wingstands were two different sizes..go figure. so I taped them together (using a bunch of stuff to make sure they were plumb)
This way I could make them both the same size...then proceeded to lay a good coat of the Fiber Hair.
While they were together I sanded them down smooth *** note: The fiber Hair will not stick to the blue painters tape***
Then I seperated them to allow them to fully cure.
Now what I need to do is sink in some kind of bolt so I can bolt them onto the rear deck lid...and I have to bore out a tunnel through the new wingstand part into the old wingstand . This is the bolt that holds the wingstand onto the spoiler. Im actually having a fun time on these wingstands! Although the pictures make the wing stands look so messy Thanks for looking John
[This message has been edited by fiero67 (edited 06-25-2007).]
I only need to find a good way to secure the new wingstand bolts.As you can see I drilled out two 1" holes to anchor the new bolts. The holes will be about 1" deep and filled with the Fiber Hair and the bolts/washers in the middle of them. the slot on the forward hole is access the mounting hole to the wing.
I installed the crossmember back on my project to install the springs and the shocks. Brand new: Ball joints- upper and lower Poly bushing for control arms and sway bar KYB heavy duty gas-0 shocks all from the Fiero Store
Nothing has been torqued down because Im going to remove the crossmember to finish the steering rack and tie-rods. Ive been reading other threads on rebuilding the front end and know that I have to have the Fiero on tires to torque some of the front end. The bearing and spindle assembly will be reconditioned as well. Thanks for looking.
Thanks for the continued interest. All my modified body panels are now removed in order to finish the undercarraige and are in storage. I moved my Project outside ( for a weekend) to remove the engine and cradle. Success!! The 4 banger with auto tranny is now out of it. Its time to start redoin the rear cradle and get it ready for the 2.8! Im excited Im just waiting for the local heating company to get here to hook up my heater, I plan on repainting the engine after cleaning it . Its still on the engine stand waiting for the full gasket kit to be installed. The cradle is under cover until I get the engine bay done. Hopefully Ill have it running this spring !!!!! After work Ive been practicing my airbrushing lessons. Im painting this Fiero myself. That way I can say I actually did everything MYSELF. Thanks for looking. John
It is Spring time again. Im back in the garage and started the rebuild of the 2.8 that came out of my 87GT. I have never opened up an engine before, but with the " How to Rebuild you GM V-6 60 degree Engine", what could go wrong ? I dont know either, but Im about to find out This is what I started with:
I pulled everything off and have it down to what you see. Everything, so far, looks good:
I started cleaning all the internals and what a difference it makes. Im cleaning everything so I can check it for wear and cracks. Just look at the differnce :
I know that is very important to put everything back in where it came from, so I made this stand out of wood to hold the push rods and rocker arms so I know where they go when I reassemble the engine.
There isnt alot of info I can give you at this point, because Im learning this myself. Thanks for looking. John
[This message has been edited by fiero67 (edited 04-14-2008).]
Thanks for the bump. Progress has been ongoing, I have the engine totally torn down and Im going to rebuild it, just for the fact its torn apart..why not?! Im starting on a new project while I wait for the machinist to finish a valve job. Its something I believe will be a first in the fiero world. It has to do with the interior. John
Ive got an update....its snowing out...grrrrrrrrrrr. cant wait until spring....
but you may be able to guess what I have been working on. Ive pretty much have figured it out. Now to install A/C back into the fiero. It fits where the temp control is now.. luckily 88s have no sliders for the controls
I wish it were spring! John
[This message has been edited by fiero67 (edited 01-11-2009).]
Luckily , the room mate is forever gone, after she had to pay me (court ordered) $600. Thanks for the kind words. Not much happening on the Project88GT this summer.It rained half of it! But I did manage to secure a 3.1 with hardly any miles on it for an engine swap
Ive got an update....its snowing out...grrrrrrrrrrr. cant wait until spring....
but you may be able to guess what I have been working on. Ive pretty much have figured it out. Now to install A/C back into the fiero. It fits where the temp control is now.. luckily 88s have no sliders for the controls
I wish it were spring! John
What did you pull this out of, and would you mind sharing you wiring diagrams? Thanks -Jason
no real updates on this build. it stalled while i was looking for a 3800 sc... and ended up buying two more fieros. Looks like i might put the 2.8 back into it.... but im fighting that urge ...ugh
-Jason
