The project was delayed because I had to replace a window regulator on my wife’s Grand Prix. I’ve been trying to come up with a good idea for drink holders for the dash, and yesterday while driving to the salvage yard I had an epiphany. I realized the drink holders from a 2002 LeSabre would be perfect. I know this because my daily driver is a 2002 LeSabre I inherited from my mom.

The LeSabre drink holder is attached to the front of the fold-down armrest. Once I got to the salvage I checked it out and saw that it pops right off and has a flat surface on the back which would make it easy to attach to the Fiero dash where that bizarre pocket thing is. My car had the even stranger half pocket, which was ripped and ugly.

Another plus for this drink holder is that it disassembles, making a change of color easy to apply. I bought the best parts from two different salvage yard cars, which explains the different colors in these photos, for a whopping $8.



This afternoon I played around with some two-sided tape to see where I should install it on the dash.





I like the way it looks. I’m thinking I’ll cut a piece of plywood to fit in the recess of the dash, then fiberglass it and sand it smooth, then attach the drink holder with two small bolts. I plan to paint the dash and drink holder Rust-Oleum smoke gray.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 12-28-2019).]

Ever since visiting the salvage yard on Friday, I’ve been thinking about a different kind of upholstery on the door panels. I think the black vinyl I already bought would look fine, but while browsing in the salvage yard I saw a 4th gen Camaro with the two-tone seats like I have. For the first time, I noticed that interior has a section of gray cloth on the door panels to match the seats. I found very similar fabric on Amazon, so I think I’ll order some.

The darker gray would look good.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 12-29-2019).]

While shopping the salvage yard for the window regulator for my wife’s car, I saw a couple Camaros with the same kind of upholstery as my seats and made a note to get back to strip the rear seats.

Thursday night my son hit a deer while driving the car. This is the third time deer have hit the car. I knew from my visit to the salvage earlier in the week there’s another 40th anniversary Grand Prix in the lot, so my son and I went and got the hood and the other parts we needed.




The replacement hood is banged up but still much better than the deer-damaged one.



This car has 225,000 miles on it and the body is just not worth saving, but we need it to be driveable for another six months or so. At that point I will remove the engine, trans, computer and harness for eventual use in another Fiero.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 01-06-2020).]

While at the salvage we also bought two rear seat covers from the 4th gen Camaros for a whopping $9.



One cover was in great shape, the other one not so much. It was faded and the carpet-like fabric that covers the back of the rear seat just crumbled. You might be able to tell that it was a bit faded, too.



I used the faded one for my first try, which was on the passenger door panel. I’ll keep looking for more 4th gen Camaros in the salvage with this kind of upholstery and grab another back seat cover, then re-do this door.



I like the look. I ran out of time in the shop, so I’ll try to do the other side this week. I’ll also try to take photos of the cutting and upholstery process. I think I’ll paint the vinyl parts of the panels a darker gray to get them to match the fabric.

While test fitting this panel to the door, I noticed the top part has been mis-shaped, probably from sitting around so long. I set it up with some clamps to straighten it out. I also took a close look at my inner dew wipes and unsurprisingly they need to be replaced. There’s no money in the budget right now for dew wipes or a heater core, so I’ll keep working on things that don’t cost much until I can afford those parts.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 01-06-2020).]

I did replace the clutch safety switch. Earlier in this thread I noted how the previous owner had put a jumper in the plug for the switch. The car has never run since I bought it, so I don’t know for sure but it’s a safe bet the switch was bad.

I figured replacing the switch while the dash was out would be much easier. A couple years ago I came across a thread on here that the Fiero switches aren’t available anymore so the poster used one from an ‘88 S10 Blazer.

http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/133653.html

I ordered the S10 switch from RockAuto and sure enough, the switches look almost identical.



The S10 switch has an extra pickup, but that doesn’t matter. The biggest difference is that the rods move in opposite directions. It’s simple to put the Fiero rod and adjustment clip into the S10 switch from the proper direction. I then mounted the switch and used the clip to adjust the travel while moving the pedal. Definitely easier to do while the dash is out of the car.

Note: the S10 adjustment clip will not work on the Fiero push rod. The teeth on the Fiero clip don’t fit the S10 rod, so just use both the Fiero rod and clip.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 01-06-2020).]