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4.9 PFI FIERO:

Thanks for the tip, I had noticed the mounting that you had done through the speaker holes while reading through your thread. And yes, self tapping screws are my friends!

By the way, when I find a particularly informative thread that covers something that I will be doing I make a word document of the thread c/w all the pictures and put it into a binder. I have 4.9 PFI FIERO's thread all printed out:



To continue:
Here is a shot with the dash, plenum and the plenum in place:


Its a little on the long side and will interfere with the glove box lid. Jeeze, do you think I drilled enough holes in the end?
But as you will see shortly it didn't stay this way for long.

The next bracket that I decided to work on is the center console support. This support is the one that supports the dash at the stereo/HVAC control opening. The dash sits to low just sitting free in the car and needs to rise up to allow the console to slip into place. 4.9 PFI FIERO in his thread built a bracket using some of the stock components:

I decided to fabricate one from scratch. The reason for this is that the stock piece is actually too narrow side-to-side and I wanted to maximize the space in between the supports. I made it using a 9 3/4" long piece of 1" X 1/8" flat iron and two 5" long pieces of 1" angle iron. Here it is being fitted up:

After welding and pre-drilling:

And after painting:

And with it mounted in position:

This piece needs to sit toward the front of the car when compared to the stock location and it also sits at an angle to match the angle of the Stealth dash.

[This message has been edited by Sourmug (edited 05-28-2007).]

I then popped the dash back in for a test for and connection using self-tapping screws:


The next brackets I made are for both sides of the steering column. 4.9 PF FIERO was able to use the Stealth brackets but since I don't have those I need to make them from scratch. I decided to make them similar to the Stealth brackets again using the 1 1/2" X 1/4" flat iron. Here are the ones that 4.9 PF FIERO used:



I was originally going to bend these into shape but I think it's harder to maintain the correct dimensions doing this so instead I cut individual pieces to length and welded them together into the correct configuration. Here is how I fit the pieces together:


After the pieces were tacked together I did a quick test fit to make sure I didn't mess it up and then welded the joints. Here are the two finished brackets, the one on the left sits to the left of the column and the other on the right. They are to be attached to the hollow structural member that supports the steering column:

Sometimes, measuring all this by yourself is difficult and you need some help!

Nothing like an extra set of hands.

[This message has been edited by Sourmug (edited 05-28-2007).]

I also noticed that the plenum bracket that I had previously made was fairly close to the left hand glove box hinge/dash mounting hole. You can see how close in this picture:


So I pulled out the bracket and modified it to also pick up this location:


The offset in the picture above is in the new drop piece that I added. This will place the tip in the correct location. Here are the brackets installed in the proper locations:



The final positions were determined by holding the pieces in place and marking them out using soapstone with the dash in place. They were then fastened in place withe the dash out.

Here are the brackets and dash in place and bolted down:


Nolan

[This message has been edited by Sourmug (edited 05-28-2007).]

For the right hand glove box hinge support I am going to connect to an existing Fiero angle bracket that is used to support the under dash passenger side foot well light and apparently the Sub enclosure for the performance sound option. My car did not come with this option however I am adding it in and have replaced the original sub with the replacement that Rodney Dickman sells. It's a much nicer speaker than the original.

I made the bracket using a piece of 1 1/2" angle iron and also welded a strip of slightly bent 1" flat iron to connect to the hinge/dash support:


I also replaced the lower mounting hardware on the sub enclosure as the new angle bracket will interfere with the stock bracket:

There is a second stock bracket on the left side of the sub enclosure. Whatever it is intended to mount to on the stock dash is no longer present so I made a bracket again using 1" flat iron:


And here is the whole assembly in place:

[This message has been edited by Sourmug (edited 05-28-2007).]

To Continue:

Here is a quick shot with the dash back in place. You can see that there is plenty of room for the sub, the ductwork and just about anything else that may need to go under the dash on the right side:


Well it looks like I have been able to more or less finish up the mounting points. It looks like I may have to make the odd adjustment but over all it has gone quite well. Here are the two final brackets for the top of the dash:


These are for the screws that will go through the speaker openings similar to what 4.9 PFI FIERO did in his thread. Here is my first attempt at modifying the speaker enclosures to allow an attachment to the new brackets. I first slotted the enclosure so that a modified washer could be inserted and held in place with adhesive:


However after thinking about this I realized that it wouldn't take much stress to fracture the plastic at the end of the slots. So I dumped the washers and attached some "L" brackets instead:


They seemed to have worked out quite well. The only difficulty is that the pocket is quite recessed and a little awkward to get the screw in place.

[This message has been edited by Sourmug (edited 05-28-2007).]

Here are some pictures of how it's all coming together:




I really, really like it!

There are a few small alignment issues. The lower part of the dash appears to be slightly wider than the space available. As a result the opening for the glove box is compressed a bit (about 1/2") and the lower driver side dash panel is slightly popped so that there is a bit of a gap between the upper and lower portions.

The stock Fiero trim will likely need to be cut down a bit to increase the available space. You can see that there is a slight bow in the end pieces.

[This message has been edited by Sourmug (edited 05-28-2007).]

One last picture for now. Here you can see how the stock Fiero console vent duct lines up with the Stealth console vent opening. Up and down is awfully close and a tapered adapter will need to be made to transition from the Stock opening to the wider Stealth opening.


Al in all I am very happy! She is going to look great IMHO.

Any thoughts opinions or suggestions???

Oh, I want to start filling in the "A" pillar gaps, does anyone have any tips or hints?


Thanks
Nolan

[This message has been edited by Sourmug (edited 05-28-2007).]