I cut up one of the As from the Silverado letters. Check this out.



These are stuck on with some cheap double sided tape I found in the cabinet.





I think it looks great. I have zero experience affixing letters to cars so I’ll have to read up on that before trying to make this permanent.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 12-10-2021).]

I did a major cleanup in the shop last Sunday as I prepare to remove one of the spare Quads from the Fiero. Stumbled across this in the process. Can’t remember if I’ve ever posted about it.



I believe I first saw it posted by GA Fiero Club or something similar. It says “Instructions for Installing a Quad 4 Engine in a 1987-88 4 Cylinder Fiero.” It was prepared by International Research Motorsports in Rockville, MD and this version is from September 1994!



The manual includes drawings of all the modifications that need to be done to the car so I’ll be sharing those pages in the coming weeks. It’s very helpful, but it focuses a little too much on the mechanics of preparing the engine, which other manuals already cover, and some of the key instructions don’t have enough detail.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 12-11-2021).]

Worked on the hybrid thermostat housing today. Years ago I cut a plate to fit the opening on the Quad’s head. Today I welded it to one of my Fiero t-stat housings, from which I’d removed the mounting plate. Realized I didn’t need that half-inch hole in the plate so I closed it up.



I haven’t mastered welding a continuous bead around a circular object in one shot and as you can see the stop-and-go approach makes for uneven welds.

To eliminate the risk of leaks I ran a bead around the inside, too. This was before I smoothed it all out with a die grinder.



I used a 1/2” pipe coupler to make a bung for the Quad’s heater hose fitting/restrictor.



The Quad’s t-stat housing has four holes: One for the heater hose fitting, one for the radiator fan switch, one for the temp gauge in the dash cluster and one for circulating coolant to the throttle body. The other line for the throttle body goes to a fitting in the head just past the t-stat mount. I removed the throttle body loop years ago and won’t use it now. That means I only needed two holes in this housing, one for the heater hose and one for the fan switch. I can use the hole in the head, seen here with the plug in it, for the temp gauge sensor (or vice versa).



I’m worried that the steel I cut the mounting plate out of isn’t thick enough. I also need to figure out a way to test this thing for leaks. Sardonyx used an old bike tube so I’ll probably try that.

I’ll also have to get a 90-degree fitting to turn the oil pressure sensor so it’s perpendicular to the engine so it’ll clear this housing. This one is broken but used to be about four inches long.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 12-17-2021).]

Somewhere in this garage are the two radiator caps that go to these two Fiero t-stat housings. As I was looking for them, I found this.



I have a dim memory of pulling this off a vehicle at the salvage yard years ago. I was laughing because it turned up right after I did all the work to make a hybrid t-stat cover instead of using the stock one from the Quad, then I took the lid off and found another surprise.



That’s a big brown recluse spider, aka fiddleback. Looks like a female getting ready to lay eggs.

See the fiddle on the thorax?



Fiddlebacks are common in Oklahoma and we learned to deal with them as kids. I used to call this garage the fiddleback breeding facility because of the way my dad had it set up. Fiddlebacks love to hang out between lumber or other organic materials left undisturbed for long periods. After my dad died we moved out his scrap lumber and wooden workbench and that cut the population of spiders dramatically. However, we’re still very careful when moving things. I’ll have to take particular care when it comes time to start sitting in the Fiero. Probably remove the whole interior again and spray the car.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 12-17-2021).]

Built a rig (a la Sardonyx’s thread) so I could test this hybrid t-stat housing and I’m glad I did because it had many leaks. I drilled two holes in a piece of 3/8” plate and used some old gasket material to bolt the housing to it. A bicycle tire tube clamped to the two outlets and a little air pressure and some soapy water made the leaks obvious. Kinda hard to see in the photo but there were bubbles showing up in many places.



I wasn’t sure if the leaks were the result of poor welds or getting carried away with the die grinder. Maybe both. I tried re-welding all the joints and eliminated all but two leaks, but then ended up with slaggy mcslagface.



Earlier in this thread I think I said this neck was from a V6, but since then I’ve realized one of them was from my original Iron Duke. The other one came from a salvage yard car but I don’t remember which engine. Are the Iron Duke and V6 filler necks the same?

Anyway, part of the problem is how I cut the flanges off both of these Fiero necks. I don’t remember why I did it this way, but I cut way too much material off.



I’ll cut another flange out of scrap plate and try again. If I fail again I’ll have to either get another Fiero neck or just use a Quad one with the filler/junction I found the other day.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 12-19-2021).]

This process also showed me I need to clock the neck on the mounting flange about 5 degrees clockwise. That way the temp sensor won’t interfere with the mounting bolt. Fierobsessed mentioned he did the same thing for the neck Sardonyx used in his build.

quote Originally posted by Quadfather:

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 12-19-2021).]

Who knew cleaning and painting accessory brackets could be so time consuming? I got the AC compressor and alternator mounted, now I’m working on the intake and exhaust manifolds to get them ready to be installed.

I also tried welding up another hybrid t-stat housing and failed again. I might try oxy-acetylene welding next time.

Today I took a trip to a salvage yard and the experience was almost magical. It started on the drive, when I saw a mid-60s Corvette pulling a Harley.





The tag on the car said METSVET.

The salvage yard was full of old cars. Not just 90s or even 80s cars, but some classic Detroit iron.

1965 Grand Prix.



1971 Riviera, with a straight body, a gutted interior and a 455.



A 1955 Pontiac Chieftain flanked by a collection of old Fords.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 12-29-2021).]