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| 12 year olds and cars - Kathryn's Fiero (Page 3/175) |
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RWDPLZ
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APR 19, 10:55 AM
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Wow, VERY smart girl! You must have done a good job!
How the heck did I miss a V6 car for $600 in Michigan?! Where was it advertised?
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Gall757
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APR 19, 11:05 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by Benja:
Hose them down and let them soak, scrub with a brush and hose down with water. Let everything sit out in the sun for a day or two and it will come out looking great, and smelling great too! |
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Got a laugh out of that!.....In Michigan?..April?....Sun? DAY or TWO???
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michhiker28
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APR 19, 11:09 AM
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Yeah, dad thought of #10 too, but thought it better not to bring that to her attention. We found the car over by canadian lakes and she talked him down to $450, not bad for a car that ran home! Not only that but the underside of this thing is in great shape! So I think we are doing ok so far. Thanks for all the comments ya all. Thought I would share a bit more, and let you see pictures of Kathryn as well.
-MH
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michhiker28
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APR 19, 11:32 AM
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We got some of the car stripped out at home, but didn't want to do to much since we still needed to drive it to my Brother-in-law's for its permanent home during the rebuild. Kathrn did manage to get the headliner out without breaking it.....thankfully. I have heard they are a nightmare, so yes, dad helped with that part of the process considerably. As part of that she got the visors out of the car and decided that:
1. They looked horrible
2. They needed fixed
3. They should be black.
So away she went. We decided that this should be a Mom and Kathryn project. Here is what they looked like once they were out of the car:
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They stripped off all the old material from one visor, and left the other intact since they are going to put the pockets back together they same why there were originally only with black material instead of grey. The partical board is in good shape (anyone know why there are holes predrilled in it). The cardboard over the top was pretty beat up, so Kathryn decided to template that and remake it entirely. Also the metal rods had a bit of surface rust so they go wirewheeled and resprayed. The springs and pivots got oiled, and the material is cut.
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More update on the visors as they are finished.
With more of the interior out except dash, seats, steering wheel and carpet, we were ready to move it to its new home for hte next few years. So another 30 mile trip without incident and it was ready to be prepped. Kathryn wanted the hood and decklid off so that we could see as she says "The fun stuff".
Now it is time to get the seats out. Passenger side......no problem. Drivers side......you have GOT to be kidding me! With my Brother-in-law in the drivers seat throwing his weight against the seat, and Kathryn and I pushing on it we still can't get it to budge. TIme to do some research......
The oracle that is Pennocks advises that perhaps the wire under the seat that releases the tracks has broken.....check it....nope, the tracks are just rusted in place. At this point Dad is a bit nervous about what the floor pans are going to look like if and when this thing does come out. A lot of effort, breakfree, and patience...drivers seat is out!
Then up on to jack stands for a while. The result the looks like this.
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Of course, the drivers seat track is unsalvageable...after all, it is rusted shut. Kathryn is curious as to how much a new track might cost and since we are unsure and she has a Saturday off, out comes her favorite tool---the wire wheel. 6 hours, a lot of elbow grease, some real grease, a wire wheel, and she has the track working smoothly again.
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Since they rusted so bad from all the moisture that gets tracked into the car we decide to pull them completely apart and powdercoat them before reassembly. NICE!
With the car on jack stands, and the seats out, it is time to remove the wheels.
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Of course, the wheels don't look real good. We talk a bit about buying new aftermarket rims, but at a cost of approximately $400 it is a little steep for the 12 year old. Her comment was, "I only spent $450 for the whole car!" So we talk about potentially polishing them. The problem is a previous owner somewhere along the way decided to try the same thing, but without really doing a good job. Hmmmm. Well we could strip them and then powdercoat or paint the centers? That sounds like a good idea, since that is realatively inexpensive. But first all the old gunk has to come off. Outside and inside.
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Look at all that crap!
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There you go girl! Get scrubbing!
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One 8 hour Saturday, 2 cans of stripper gel, and the clearcoat and paint is off. Soon to come, Kathryn and some fine sand paper!
But for now, it is time to go back to the car. She hasn't seen it in a couple of weeks, so we might as well do a bit more work!
Ok, then let's teach you how to drill out some door rivets! We need to get into the door in order to replace window motors and lock solenoids (The ones in there are still ok, just not great and we got new ones for free with the car! Might as well replace them while we are in here).
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And we can look at the suspension while we are here Kathryn......hmmmmm.....perhaps it is time to replace some of those suspension bushings....those look original. What do you think?
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How about some nice shiny parts!
--MH
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Larryh86GT
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APR 19, 11:58 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by michhiker28:
Is it just me, or do I have a really cool daughter?
-MH |
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Yes you certainly do. This is very impressive and welcome to the forum. I may become more ambitious working on my GT after following Kathryn's progress. 
Larry
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"Life is short. Drink the good wine first"
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nitroheadz28
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APR 19, 12:21 PM
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I'm beyond jealous, I wish I could have started that early. Thanks for sharing your story, keep up the good work! Inspirational 
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stickboy
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APR 19, 12:46 PM
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Wow. My 15 year old daughter has absolutely no interest in cars other than wanting to be given a cool/cute one when she turns 16. That looks like a great car for the price.
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BlackThunderGT
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APR 19, 02:21 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by stickboy:
Wow. My 15 year old daughter has absolutely no interest in cars other than wanting to be given a cool/cute one when she turns 16. That looks like a great car for the price. |
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stickboy I feel your pain  when my daughter was 16 I wanted to give her a Fiero to build. She had no interest in working on a car or anything else. Why work for anything in life when it will just be handed to you… that’s how she was raised by her mother’s family! Anyway because she refused to work on the car I sold it to my brother.
michhiker28 your daughter is very inspirational… man I wish I had a daughter like yours. Oh well I tried… you can bring a youth to the car but you can’t make them drive it
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katatak
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APR 19, 02:29 PM
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Great thread - keep up the good work!
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fierofool
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APR 19, 03:12 PM
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It's really a great feeling to work with your daughter like that. My daughter helped with her Fiero when she was 16, and now she has a good understanding of vehicles and has a reasonable inkling as to whether or not it's time to change the freon in the headlights so they don't get too hot and burn out.
But, I caution you; she's working on a Fiero, and many of them come with a case of beer and a box of foul language.
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