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| 12 year olds and cars - Kathryn's Fiero (Page 5/175) |
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Benja
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APR 20, 08:57 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by Gall757:
Got a laugh out of that!.....In Michigan?..April?....Sun? DAY or TWO??? |
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Lol, sorry. I have the luxury of waking up everyday and knowing exactly what the weather is going to be like...the same as yesterday. Hot and sunny. I haven't looked at a weather forecast in 3 years, since I moved here from VA.
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silver 85 sc
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APR 20, 09:11 PM
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Have fun with this project. My son was 13 when he found his '86 SE with a 4 speed automatic installed and a V6, fully loaded. He is now 18, the car is running and this summer the body work will finally get done. The car has over 230,000 miles on her.
Rich
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michhiker28
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APR 21, 08:18 AM
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So another day and some more progress to post.
One of the mnost difficult things in getting Kathryn to do and to understand has been, of all things, painting. Now before everyone things that we are recreating the works of the Masters here, or that we are even talking about running complex airguns......nope, just rattlecanning some of the interior parts. We seem to be getting either to close and it runs, or two far away and nothing gets done except to change the color of the old carpet we have down to catch the overspray........or we move the can to fast, or not fast enough. Well you know what they say, practice makes perfect, so she has gotten her fair share of sanding as well :-)
At least she cares that it looks right too. So here she is turning some grey parts yellow:
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Since we were posting some of these photos, I thought I would include a few previous parts that she has completed. One of the fun ones were the side interior panels behind the seats. Especially since she decided that they should be black...not that big of a deal, but that she was pretty sure she wanted the vents to be yellow. After some trial and error, and a few resprays after sanding down some runs etc., here is what she ended up with.
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and a close up:
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Finally,
here is one of the pieces of which she is most proud so far to date. The additional guages above the center stack. SEM Vinyl dye on the outer shell, guages tested before we started, then she had to polish the plastic lens since it was almost trashed! White faces on the gauges, Fusion Sunshine yellow on the bezel, and reassemble. Her she is with the completed pod.
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Now for a quick question. Does anyone have any good suggestions for removing the carpet from the lower section of the door panel? I know, I know....that is what the search function is for!
-MH
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datacop
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APR 21, 08:28 AM
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I really like those B pillars.. they are sharp 
As far as the door carpet.. from http://www.mrmikes.com/fierodoorinstall.htm
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To apply the Lower leather door leather:
1. Remove the door panel from the car.
2. Remove the old carpet by spraying it with starting fluid spray (the stuff that starts your car in the winter). Do this outdoors, wear a mask and gloves, the dissolved glue will be very sticky. The door panel will also remain sticky, don't lay it down on the grass.
3. Spray glue the cardboard of the door panel (even though it is sticky), and the back of the new lower leather panel.
4. Position the top edge of the leather panel to the bottom of the original vinyl top. Press on.
5. Lift up on the leather, lightly spray the foam with glue, smooth out the leather.
6. Turn the door panel over. Glue and wrap the edges. Trim around the slots for the door panel clips.
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[This message has been edited by datacop (edited 04-21-2011).]
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michhiker28
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APR 24, 09:42 PM
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Well, after a long weekend away to visit my parents, Kathryn's grandparents we arrived home in time to get a little bit of work done on the project! Time continues to tick on with just a little over 3 years left until the big birthday, so we need to keep motivated and doing.
Many of the parts that had been sprayed and recoated had cured while we were gone, so that is a good thing. One of the ones that Kathryn has been most proud of has been the seat tracks. If you will remember, they were so rusted together that we ended up having to beat on them with a hammer to get them to move. I was ready to write them off and just look for some decent used ones. Kathryn spent a whole day working on them with a wire wheel, some grease, and an air gun. Her process was to wheel off as much of the rust as she could. Place them in a vise and beat them back and forth with a mallet to get them to move. Then spray them out with an air gun to remove as much crud as she could work loose and do it all over again. At the end of 8 hours, Dad couldn't believe it but she had brought them back from the dead. I guess there is some motivation when you know you either have to fix it or buy new ones. She is trying to save as much as possible, so this was a resounding victory. She also decided to coat these parts so that they wouldn't rust out as quickly. When we came back they were cured, and so here is the result.
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and
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With just a little time before bed we decided to work on cleaning up the dash. Getting this out of the car was NOT FUN! According to Kathryn, and I have to say that Dad agrees, but with a little work and perseverence we managed. It is amazing how much gunk can accumulate in all the little hidden spots over the course of 25 years.
Since Kathryn's color scheme is Black and Yellow, the dash needs to be dyed Black. Her Vinyl dye arrived while we were gone so she is anxious to start on this part of the project. First though is the prep work, so everything has to be completely clean. Here she is working with a towel, some small cleaning clothes and the rubbing alcohol!
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And now for a couple of questions.......
Has anyone ever had and success of removing the material and pocket that is on the dash? If so how have you done it? I know that sometimes individuals start taking off the material on the door panels with starting fluid. Same approach? Suggestions, Ideas, all are welcome. Here is the piece we are talking about.
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Also, how do you seperate the guages from the bracket. As far as I can tell all the screws and bolts are out. The guages are loose in the pod, but I can't seem to figure out how to wiggle them out. Need to get the clear face plate off as well as get the guages out before the housing is dyed black. The guages are going white faced. Again, any thoughts or ideas are appreciated.
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Finally, we will be letting Kathryn see the thread for the first time in a couple of months for her birthday. I am sure she will love seeing all of your comments and encouragement. In June we will let her start responding and asking questions here as well.
--MH
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Hulki U. My-BFF
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APR 24, 09:52 PM
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Way to go Kathryn, I can tell this is going to be a nice car when it's done. Good for you doing the work yourself! 
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datacop
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APR 25, 01:06 AM
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pontiackid86
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APR 25, 01:11 AM
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simply amazing.. i couldn't paint that well if my life depended on it. Its nice to see that kids even her age have an internist in cars especially an older one such as the fiero these cars were made over a decade before she was even around and she still likes them... keep up the good work on it. Still watching this thread in amazement.
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pontiackid86
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APR 25, 01:13 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by michhiker28:
Now for a quick question. Does anyone have any good suggestions for removing the carpet from the lower section of the door panel? I know, I know....that is what the search function is for!
-MH
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This task isant for the faint of heart.... or sober for that matter (no dont hand a 12 year old a beer for god sakes  ) i did mine manually with a knife but never finished the recovering. there is some kind of chemical others have used to do it acetone maybe? others will chime in on this.
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Ruffy
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APR 25, 09:43 AM
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very nice and very smart kid. i cant believe shes working on her own car and kept her word! most kids say but never do. my 7 year old daughter has a 1973 duster and i told her right out shes going to learn like i did. so i hope she does take interest in the task.
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