When they painted it, it was facing "nose up". CaptnDean actually noticed it while he was here yesterday, that they did not paint the back lip, where it goes towards the hood. So, it has to go back to the paint shop in a week or so with the car to be another thing to touch up......
1984whitesc
NOV 29, 04:08 PM
If it's not one thing it's another.
eljibaro127
NOV 29, 07:15 PM
Well at macco you do get what you pay for. But overall it looks really good!
JohnWPB
DEC 01, 12:55 AM
Well, in the mean time while the paint just sits there and cures, I decided to get to working on the new headliner. I got a new Fiero Store fiberglass headliner last year for Christmas. I Dremeled out the 3rd brake light area, and cut all the holes out for the sun visors. When I put it in the car, I put the right sun visor on with 2 finger tight screws to line things up. The left sun visor hole however is well over an inch off, and the headliner appears way to long on the left side. The way it is, there would be no way to put the "A" pillar back in place.... again, if it's not one thing it is another!
Anyways, well I contemplate how I am going to remedy this, I had taken the 3rd brake light out while messing with the headliner, and decided to convert it to LED tonight. Both the brake light housing from the car, and an extra one I had, are melted pretty bad from the heat of the bulb. I took the better of the two, and set out to convert it. I had some extra LED panels left over from re-doing my dome lights, and decided to put them to use. Be forewarned, It is far from professional job! It is rigged together, but gives the correct end results!
First, I needed something to attach the LED panels too, something to hold them in place. I looked around, and saw a paint stick, perfect! A little trimming later, and see how things line up: . .
I cut the wood down to the correct size to fit in the 3rd brake light housing. I wanted the LED's back about a 1/4 inch from the lens, and not directly mounted to it. This allows for some light scattering, and fills the whole lens with light, and you do not see just individual LED's up against the lens. I then peeled the sticky backing off the LED panels, and stuck them to the paint stick: . . To make sure everything was secure, I ran a bead of hot glue around the edges of everything: . . The end result, nice BRIGHT brake light, and no more melting the housing from the heat of the bulb! It is much brighter that it looks in the picture, as my S3's camera reduced the shutter time to compensate for being pointed directly into bright lights! (The same work lights are still on in this photo, the same as the above photo's)
[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 03-12-2013).]
JohnWPB
DEC 02, 02:51 PM
Ok, here is something a bit different, and I actually have never heard of anyone doing this on their Fiero..... on any car for that matter!
I will pull into the gas station, and usually go inside to get a drink or something, and come back out to the car, have to unlock it, open the door, and pop that gas door. Not strenuous by any means, but a bit of an inconvenience at least.
The fix? An electric door lock solenoid, and an RFID receiver. I had my gas door and cable dissembled, as I just had the car painted, and wanted those painted separately. Today, I was at the junk yard, and saw an electric lock solenoid hanging off the rear hatch of a Ford Mini-Van. That got the wheels spinning, could I use that solenoid to open the gas door?
I got home and with a couple zip ties, a 12v power supply, I gave it a try as a proof of concept, and it worked! I then was thinking about putting a button in the dash, below the trunk popper button (I do not have a rear defogger). Then I started thinking, I would still have to open the car to press the button, that's not gonna work!....
Then I remembered I bought a cheap set of RFID receivers and key fobs a couple years ago, to use with my CarPC. I dragged one out, ran a few wires, and gave it a try, and again, it worked!
So, by simply holding my car keys within 6" or so of the RFID receiver, hidden behind the rear quarter panel, the gas door pops open like magic!
Now that I know it all works, I measured inside the car behind the "B" pillar, there is plenty of room for the RFID receiver and the solenoid to fit in there, nice, neat, and hidden! (I will hide a monofiliment line / string behind the B pillar as a manual release in case something electronic fails)
[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 12-03-2012).]
infinitewill
DEC 02, 03:35 PM
.
[This message has been edited by infinitewill (edited 01-01-2016).]
rpro
DEC 02, 06:12 PM
+1 from me for a very clever idea.
dajack761
DEC 02, 06:19 PM
RFID reader... Very nice idea!
2.5
DEC 03, 11:23 AM
quote
Originally posted by JohnWPB:
Well, in the mean time while the paint just sits there and cures, I decided to get to working on the new headliner. I got a new Fiero Store fiberglass headliner last year for Christmas. I Dremeled out the 3rd brake light area, and cut all the holes out for the sun visors. When I put it in the car, I put the right sun visor on with 2 finger tight screws to line things up. The left sun visor hole however is well over an inch off, and the headliner appears way to long on the left side. The way it is, there would be no way to put the "A" pillar back in place.... again, if it's not one thing it is another!
These are a pain. I have installed more than one. They should line up better than that, but mine were only I'd say 1/4 inch off, but it was more trouble with the 3 little screw holes than getting the center hole of the visor to line up. If it lines up with the holes in the plastic liner it didnt line up with the holes in the metal roof. Good luck and take a break and come back if it gets aggervating.
But overall it looks really good!
