Project XTC - The Rehabilitation! (Page 15/47) katatak AUG 28, 09:31 PM quote Originally posted by Tony Kania: Just a thought about the door removal. Of the four bolts holding the door on, take out the three outside bolts first. Then remove the last bolt at the inside bottom of the A pillar. Less chance of one pinching their fingers. The doors are heavy, but I found that they were not as heavy as I have always heard. A jack underneath the door is a major help to relieve pressure on the bolts. A helper to steady the door helps, but is not completely necessary. The three outside ones are 13mm. The inside bottom one is 15mm. Tony Thanks Tony for the tips. I have a slight change of plans now. I took the XTC for a little road trip today. I had some errands to run over on the West side and I stopped by to see my buddy Rick at the Chevy dealership. I had a power door lock relay to drop off for his door lock issue. Anyway, while we were there (I was with my 19 year old son) we looked at all the new toys. First we looked at 6 Camaro's, then 2 Cobalt SS's, then an HHR SS and then about a dozen Vettes. I fear that my 19 year old son does not appreciate the 88 Formula anymore. No, I did not buy a new toy - just wanted to brag about playing with a bunch of new Chevy hot rods half the day..... Anyway, the road trip was about 100 miles round trip and I noticed something that I did not like with the XTC. Around town, light to light in city traffic, the temp never gets over 190* with the AC on all the time. When I get it out on the interstate - flat ground running 65 - 70, the temp starts to rise. Although it never overheated - highest temp was climbing over the mountains from the West side to the North East side - was 230 - 240. I think this confirms my suspicion that the "ducting" or actually the lack of ducting from the grill to the rad is not sufficient at highway speeds. I think that there is a vaccum being created between the grill and the rad and there is not enough air flowing through the rad. Another reason I am thinking this is due to the fact that the faster I go, the warmer the AC blows. Around town, I get 38* air out of the center vents. At 65 it is around 44 and as the speed increases, the temp does too. At 80, the AC blows 50* air. The minute I slow back down to 50 or less, 38* air. A sign to me that there is not enough air flowing over the condensor. Is my thinking correct? So, this weekend is dedicated to solving this problem - not necassarily cause I am worried about the car overheating but becuase I want the AC as cold as possible while I'm cruising down the interstate. Now the door rebuild is on the back burner. My plan is this. I have one of those small RV wireless back up cameras. I am going to put the camera up in the nose of the XTC and then tie some surveyors ribbon in various places inside the nose between the grill and the rad. Then I'm going for a drive to see what is going on in there. After that, I will build some duct work in there with some heavy cardboard and repeat. Should be an interesting project. If I can get the duct work right, I will be learning the art of fiberglass.....Not looking forward to that but it has to be done. I am also thinking of some sort of extractor scoop too - to help get the air through the rad. More to come. Pat Rick 88 AUG 31, 06:19 PM quote Originally posted by katatak: Thanks Tony for the tips. I have a slight change of plans now. I took the XTC for a little road trip today. I had some errands to run over on the West side and I stopped by to see my buddy Rick at the Chevy dealership. I had a power door lock relay to drop off for his door lock issue. Anyway, while we were there (I was with my 19 year old son) we looked at all the new toys. First we looked at 6 Camaro's, then 2 Cobalt SS's, then an HHR SS and then about a dozen Vettes. I fear that my 19 year old son does not appreciate the 88 Formula anymore. No, I did not buy a new toy - just wanted to brag about playing with a bunch of new Chevy hot rods half the day..... Anyway, the road trip was about 100 miles round trip and I noticed something that I did not like with the XTC. Around town, light to light in city traffic, the temp never gets over 190* with the AC on all the time. When I get it out on the interstate - flat ground running 65 - 70, the temp starts to rise. Although it never overheated - highest temp was climbing over the mountains from the West side to the North East side - was 230 - 240. I think this confirms my suspicion that the "ducting" or actually the lack of ducting from the grill to the rad is not sufficient at highway speeds. I think that there is a vaccum being created between the grill and the rad and there is not enough air flowing through the rad. Another reason I am thinking this is due to the fact that the faster I go, the warmer the AC blows. Around town, I get 38* air out of the center vents. At 65 it is around 44 and as the speed increases, the temp does too. At 80, the AC blows 50* air. The minute I slow back down to 50 or less, 38* air. A sign to me that there is not enough air flowing over the condensor. Is my thinking correct? So, this weekend is dedicated to solving this problem - not necassarily cause I am worried about the car overheating but becuase I want the AC as cold as possible while I'm cruising down the interstate. Now the door rebuild is on the back burner. My plan is this. I have one of those small RV wireless back up cameras. I am going to put the camera up in the nose of the XTC and then tie some surveyors ribbon in various places inside the nose between the grill and the rad. Then I'm going for a drive to see what is going on in there. After that, I will build some duct work in there with some heavy cardboard and repeat. Should be an interesting project. If I can get the duct work right, I will be learning the art of fiberglass.....Not looking forward to that but it has to be done. I am also thinking of some sort of extractor scoop too - to help get the air through the rad. More to come. Pat Pat, I think the ducting and a hood vent will definitely help the cooling problem. Instead of fiberglass how about some thick sheet plastic that you can cut and glue together. This would save a lot of fab time and fiberglass itching. The XTC is coming along nicely! I'm glad you and you son had fun checking out the Camaros, Vettes and SS's. I am ordering the new 2010 Corvette Gran Sports. You need to come see one when they arrrive. As neat as these new cars are, I love jumping in my 88 GT for the drive home. Now if I could get one of the 304 horse direct injection V6's hooked to a G6 six speed installed in my Fiero, I am sure I could get home a little faster! Are you listening Archie? katatak AUG 31, 11:13 PM I need to stay away from Rick's work....Too many temptations! I should have never climbed into that Camaro Rick. Good thing I did not get in the Z06. Now All I have to do is figure out how to get one of those Cobalt motors for the XTC. Of course that Camaro V6 would do nicely too. If I had nothing but time and money........Come on Power Ball! Rick 88 SEP 01, 08:21 PM quote Originally posted by katatak: I need to stay away from Rick's work....Too many temptations! I should have never climbed into that Camaro Rick. Good thing I did not get in the Z06. Now All I have to do is figure out how to get one of those Cobalt motors for the XTC. Of course that Camaro V6 would do nicely too. If I had nothing but time and money........Come on Power Ball! Speaking of temptation, we just got in our first 2010 Corvette Grand Sports! I'll get in with you on that Power Ball purchase. katatak SEP 01, 11:14 PM I'll be there tomorrow sometime.......And I thought I was going to buy a new motorcyle this week. katatak SEP 13, 07:22 PM Stopped by a local car show today and was looking at a couple cars with Lambo doors. My 16 year old had an interesting idea. He is thinking suicide Lambo doors. After looking at the XTC, I am not sure it would be possible but it is an interesting idea. We parked the XTC in a parking lot adjacent to the lot where the car sho was taking place. After we made the rounds looking at all the cars, when we returned to the XTC to leave, we had a pretty large crowd gathered around the car. Mostly younger folks asking questions like :is that an NSX" and comments like "never seen a Ferrari like that one", etc. It was fun talking to them. Some of them did not even know what a Fiero was - had never heard of one. We spent over an hour talking Fiero's and body kits, etc. I was impressed with a few of these younger guys and thier automotive knowledge. Of course there were a few that wanted to swap some Honda Vtec turbo charged rice burning thing in there but I just chuckled at them. Many were surpirsed when I opened the "trunk" to see the mid engine layout. I got to get to work on the door swap! katatak SEP 23, 10:14 PM It was overcast and cool outside today so I pulled the hood off the XTC so I could get an idea of what I need to do to build a "tunnel" to direct the air from the grill to the rad. Looks like it will be fairly simple. I basicallly have to build a box. I am not sure what material I will build it out of. I have zero fiberglass skills but I am pretty good with sheetmetal. I was alos thinking of using some plexiglass and either fab some sheet metal angle bars and fasten it together with rivets or use epoxy. I'll have to do some experimenting with a few different materials before I build the insert. I also sorted out the wiring harness for the power windows and stripped the donor doors down. I have to do a little "body" work on the donor doors to fit the XTC door hinges. As soon as I get my 70 Monte out of the garage, I plan on getting the XTC in there to finish the rehab. More later. Pat katatak NOV 08, 08:11 PM After neglecting the XTC for the last 5 weeks, I finally got back to working on the doors. I got the donor doors notched and fitted up for the hinges. Also fixed an oil leak and put a new valve cover gasket on today. Poor XTC has taken a back seat to the 86 V8 Coupe. Too many Fiero's - so little time! More to come. Pat katatak NOV 22, 10:01 PM Today, Chris - my 16 year old who will soon be taking over the care and feeding of the XTC decided it was time to get some much needed work done on the car. Awhile ago, he wanted to give the car some "carbon fiber" look. We watched some youtube vids and did some experimenting and did the "painted" carbon fiber process on the Speedo bezel and the dash corner AC vents. I told him then that this was the last time I would "do the work" on his car. From then on, it was up to him what, when and how things got done. While I was working on the V8 Coupe, he decided to try his hand at the carbon fiber paint thing. For a kid that up unitl today, had never done anything like this on his own, I am pretty impressed. Here's the results: Masked, sanded and primed: Black coat on: Mask in place: Silver coat on: Drying in the sun: Black fogged on: And 3 coats of clear: They turned out a little dark and have some shading areas but I think he did pertty good for his first attempt all on his own from start to finish. Makes me a proud papa to see my boy taking an interest and taking care of his car. Now for the rest of the story. At around 12:00, he went out to the car to take off the old AC suround and Shifter cover. At around 7:30, I went out front to close up the cars and he had left the doors open, the stereo on and the battery did not have enough umph to start the car. Now he's out there in the dark jumping it...... They never learn....lol. Pat Mr.PBody NOV 24, 01:15 PM Does that foam stuff come in a tighter weave? You're good at what you're doing and the technique works, but a tighter weave would make it look much more realistic.