Enterra "Dark Shadow" Restore Thread (Page 14/65)
85SEnochie DEC 18, 07:42 PM

quote
Originally posted by Pete Matos:

Nice photoshop skills man. I gotta say that the black faux sail window whether or not they decide to make it real does nothing for the car. It actually makes it look like a firebird or something. The rear end of that car as it was made from the factory, while it probably does not do much for the blind spot area, is part of what makes it interesting and also what ties it in with the Fiero history even more. With the large black window there it almost makes me think people will be looking to see who is in the back seat LOL..... The whole large decklid and wing ties in with the flying buttress 80's exotic look rear end somehow for me it takes away some of that with the black window.

Also can you make the wheel inserts or spokes white like the picture is of them Troyboy posted or am I remembering it incorrectly..... Peace

Pete



Thank you for the complament on my photo shop skills I have a lot of fun helping with it.

------------------

Love The Excitement! http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/068738.html

Archie DEC 20, 12:16 PM
How we are getting on to the "Nuts & Bolts" (& rivets) of the actual build.

About this time last week we started working on this project.

We got it into the shop & started some dis-assembly.



Before taking it apart, we wanted to see how it was put together. We soon found that virtually everything on this car was put together with pop-rivets. Not many parts were actually attached to the chassis with bolts. And almost all of the panels were attached to each other with only pop-rivets. Parts like the nose were not attached to the chassis at all & only attached to the fenders via Rivets.

We had seen a lot of rivets holding in the wheel well liners but there has to be at least 100 rivits holding the panels together too.





The nut plates for the doors were even rivited in place.







Even the close out panel under the nose has a share of pop-rivets.







Many of these rivets have been there for years & many of them have loosened enough that they've "wallowed" out the holes that they are in. Our goal is to have a well fitting (non rattling) body installation, doesn't make good sense to try to final fit panels to other panels that are loose or can come loose.

So in this stage we are fixing a few things, like adding to the retruns on the back of the door panels so we can fiberglass in the nut plates, then we are putting the body back together with nut plates & bolts. Then we can start adjusting the fit of the panels. We will be taking the panels off a few times during this build & we want to be able to bolt it on & off & not have to R&R rivets all the time.

So far, we've had the door panels, rocker panels, sail panels, nose & front fenders off of the car to correct the method of attachment & do some repairs.



The rocker panels had some "U" shaped rubber wrapped around all the edges. It was all dried out so we took it out. Then we converted the rocker panels to "non rivets" & reinstalled to see how much F-Glass we need to add around the edges to make up the space.





Here we have cut out the pocket for the rear side marker & are ready to lay up some F-Glass to make that area flat again so we can make a new posket later for the new markers.



Done...



One of the only parts that we removed that was actually bolted on was the Sail panels. They had "studs" sticking out from the bottom with nuts. Removing some of the nuts was a problem because they were kinda rusty. As you removed the nuts the "stud" started to spin. On those we had to cut off the "stud" above the nut.

Initially I had thought that the sail panels looked like about the only panels on the car that didn't need work done to them. They have a fiberglass outside skin & a fiberglass inside skin glued or attached to each other.

After getting them off, it appears that the outside & inside skins are bondo'd together & the "studs" for attachment are bolts that were bondo'd in. The reason the "studs" were spinning is bolts ("studs") were spinning in the broken up bondo.

We will have to replace these "studs" with something a little better.





Somethng else we noticed up inside the nose is a patch that was put in. We don't know why it was put in but it looks like it was installed by someone reaching it up into the nose & slapping it on. We should probaly try to find out what they were trying to patch.





So we continue.

Archie

[This message has been edited by Archie (edited 12-20-2012).]

wftb DEC 20, 10:48 PM
i dont think archie has got this far yet , but it will be interesting to see what is under those bumpers .it really looks like they were built to meet the old 5mph impact bumper regulations of the 80's .i think the car would look better with something other than those two box beams for bumpers .it is a nice looking car as is but it is like the difference between an early ferrari 308 and later ones with the big bumpers to meet the later regs .i allways enjoy archie's builds and this one should turn out top notch as usual .
jwct7 DEC 20, 11:01 PM
I like the black accents on the bumpers, how about the rocker panels too and maybe even the spoiler.... the "fastback window look" looks cool too. Just my pennoth worth, keep it up.
Archie DEC 20, 11:18 PM
You're exactly correct, the bumpers are 80's style impact bumpers.

I took pics of the hardware for them today & was going to post tonight but I'm having a problem with my portable HD.

So I'll post them tomorrow.

Archie


quote
Originally posted by wftb:

i dont think archie has got this far yet , but it will be interesting to see what is under those bumpers .it really looks like they were built to meet the old 5mph impact bumper regulations of the 80's .i think the car would look better with something other than those two box beams for bumpers .it is a nice looking car as is but it is like the difference between an early ferrari 308 and later ones with the big bumpers to meet the later regs .i allways enjoy archie's builds and this one should turn out top notch as usual .
troyboy DEC 21, 04:57 PM

quote
Originally posted by Archie:

You're exactly correct, the bumpers are 80's style impact bumpers.

I took pics of the hardware for them today & was going to post tonight but I'm having a problem with my portable HD.

So I'll post them tomorrow.

Archie
Archie DEC 21, 05:03 PM

quote
Originally posted by Archie:

You're exactly correct, the bumpers are 80's style impact bumpers.

I took pics of the hardware for them today & was going to post tonight but I'm having a problem with my portable HD.

So I'll post them tomorrow.

Archie




Front....







There are a pair of these on the rear....



Archie
troyboy DEC 22, 04:19 AM
Thanks for the update! Lisa's new tail lights shipped today and you should have them by Thursday.
motoracer838 DEC 22, 11:49 AM

quote
Originally posted by Archie:

How we are getting on to the "Nuts & Bolts" (& rivets) of the actual build.
Before taking it apart, we wanted to see how it was put together. We soon found that virtually everything on this car was put together with pop-rivets. Not many parts were actually attached to the chassis with bolts. And almost all of the panels were attached to each other with only pop-rivets. Parts like the nose were not attached to the chassis at all & only attached to the fenders via Rivets.

We had seen a lot of rivets holding in the wheel well liners but there has to be at least 100 rivits holding the panels together too.





Let me be the first to say, "what a riveting experience".

This will be a cool project, I can't believe I'm the first to make a rivet joke.

Cheers Beers n Gearz. Joe
Carcenomy DEC 22, 08:56 PM
My mind is having issues comprehending those low impact bumpers. The wee shock absorber things, sure... but the sam hill is going on with how the bumpers themselves mount to them? Doesn't look like it would take much impact to wreck it all up. Is there more to this picture we're not seeing Archie?