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| Chop Top #18 G6 Install (Page 11/15) |
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rodneybooth
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NOV 15, 10:47 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by madcurl:
I like the attention to detail.
I've always loved the MOMO sterring wheel (you know it wouldn't kill them to offer it on more than one style   ) and the back inside fire wall lining. Beautiful. I need to remove that crappy gray matting on all of my Fieros ASAP!
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I like the Momo wheels the best of any I was able to find. The styling is top drawer. But, It offends me to be someone elses advert shingle. I wish I could have gotten the wheel without "Momo" stamped on the horn button. When people look inside the car they say "Wow mister, that's a really cool Momo you drive!"
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doublec4
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NOV 15, 03:23 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by rodneybooth:
Ok...The tail light upgrade project. Challenge--how to bring the lighting up to modern stardards without changing the original design concepts. I also did not like the way the lens were continuous from one side of the car to the other. I felt that it made the car look "condensed" visually.
So, we had the idea of creating the look of two seperate light assemblies. Notice that I took Madison Avenue off the bumper to clean the look up some more. I also thought that it was rather silly to have reflectors recessed into the bumper and no backup lights. Soooo, I put in 50 watt driving lamps into the recesses. I like visability to the rear in a chop top.
The first trial was actually cutting out an area with the intent of filling it in with a red bezel. Mistake...it didn't work. But--what if we left the lens intact and glued red plexi to the inside?
That worked but the LED's were just too bright, almost blinding and you could see them from the outside. I don't want you to see too much of the lady, imagining what you can't see makes for sexy. So, after several more trial products, we landed on painting a "light blocker" of the lens. That worked. The LEDs were strong and bright and you could not see them from the outside with the lights off. The next challenge was how to dress out the paint job around the lens. Simple clean lines demand simple clean treatments. We had an adhesive template made with a peel off area for a simple black line about 1/4" wide to go between the red of the body and the "block out" clear of the tail light lens. The process we used was to spray on a coat of light blocker, buff it out, spray on the color, spray on the black line, buff it out for the final.
The LEDs themselves were designed to fit in the existing parabolas and just to do something a little different we made them sequential.
The final touch was to improve the design of the clip mechanism between the lens and the reflective parabola. With 25 year old material you have to compensate for the brittle that comes with aging. I thought that a small screw to lock the parts together was in order. We did this at every clip across the top.
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Awesome, thanks for the details! Where did you buy the red plexi from? and do you have any pictures of the tail lights lit up during the day or night?
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rodneybooth
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NOV 16, 02:19 PM
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I don't have shots of the tail lights yet but I will take some in the next day or so... Meanwhile. Has anyone ever custom fit the carpet in the truck. Wow, was that time consuming. Glue, carpet tape, seam sealer, etc. I just never lilked the "wrinkled" look of the one size fits all carpet. Oh yea, here is a shot of the new trunk lamp.
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Alex4mula
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NOV 17, 11:07 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by rodneybooth:
I forgot to weigh in on the G6 tranny. The original engine in my car was the "Iron Duke" with a 5 speed. The Duke was in cardiac arrest after driving straight though to Archie's for the original work. He told me how shocked he was that the car actually made it there without the life support of a tow truck. I drove the ZZ4 with a rebuilt Getrag 5 speed for several years but the geometry of the gear ratios just wasn't right. Ergo, the G6. I have to tell you that the G6 is the go to tranny. It is the leap in technology between a 25 year old tranny and a modern design. The shifter could possibly be a little smoother, but it is a ten fold improvement. I felt like I could pull stumps in first gear with the Getrag 5 the gearing was so low. I like the G6 a lot and it is a major improvement but first gear is a little short. Bottom line...I would do the tranny swap again. A little story...My wife gave me the donor Fiero because I really wanted a Porsche. She said that she could not live with me driving a "Big Ego Car" and said "Here, if you really need a sports car take mine". I must say I was a little disappointed but I would put this car up against a european car any day and feel comfortable about coming out on top. This body design cleaned up is phenomenal and with a drive train redesign it rides smooth and just begs to run. |
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Very nice car! The torque of the TPI is just awesome. And the 6 speed with or without a LSD is a great upgrade. BTW the G6 weights about 117lbs compared to about 74lbs for the Getrag.  ------------------
Red: TPI V8 + 6-Speed Yellow: Nitrous 3.4 + 4 speed Auto
304rwHP/366rwTQ
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rodneybooth
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NOV 17, 05:04 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by Alex4mula:
Very nice car! The torque of the TPI is just awesome. And the 6 speed with or without a LSD is a great upgrade. BTW the G6 weights about 117lbs compared to about 74lbs for the Getrag.
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At some point in this career of a project, I tuned the suspension. A friend has four scales for balancing his dragster. We put the Fiero on them and adjusted the coilovers up or down so that side to side it was as near to 50/50 as we had the patience for. Front to back was 45/55 before the G6 install. That was done by adding a block of steel in place of the spare tire that weighed approximately 106 pounds. So my spare tire is now AAA. I just couldn't see adding any more weight. I might change my mind later, who knows. All in all -- not bad. Oh yea, since few are brave enough to ride with me, we put 170 pounds of stuff in the front seat so that the 50/50 side to side was with the driver only. I like that the balance of the weight is toward the back. It makes for good traction.
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rodneybooth
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NOV 18, 06:32 PM
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Here is a shot of finishing of what Pontiac thought didn't needed finishing. I like opening up the door and seeing clean and smooth.
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rodneybooth
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NOV 18, 08:18 PM
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I think I've posted about all the pictures I want to. My next project is to work out how to get glass in the choptop. We plan to use formed sheet metal in place of the glass to get the geometry right. We can bend it into what will actually work on the door and get it tweaked. Then we can send the sheet metal panel to the glass bender. We think that a curvature half way between Archie's and "Brand X's" will work. We can't find a reason to be doubtful. The glass man is on hold and we just need some time. Archie will get the rights to the chop top glass...if we can get it to work. I will start a new thread when I have someting concrete to show. Cheers
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86fierokid
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NOV 18, 09:40 PM
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car looks great. love that interior. ------------------
???why so serious???
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Archie
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NOV 18, 09:57 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by rodneybooth:
I think I've posted about all the pictures I want to. My next project is to work out how to get glass in the choptop. We plan to use formed sheet metal in place of the glass to get the geometry right. We can bend it into what will actually work on the door and get it tweaked. Then we can send the sheet metal panel to the glass bender. We think that a curvature half way between Archie's and "Brand X's" will work. We can't find a reason to be doubtful. The glass man is on hold and we just need some time. Archie will get the rights to the chop top glass...if we can get it to work. I will start a new thread when I have someting concrete to show. Cheers |
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IMHO, you've turned a pretty neat car into what now is a work of art.
I look forward to continuing to work with you.
Archie
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rodneybooth
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NOV 19, 09:24 AM
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