88 Coupe 4.9 Swap Thread (Page 42/69)
katatak MAY 18, 04:01 PM
Looking like progress Joe - missed ya at the Round Up!

Pat
josef644 MAY 18, 06:24 PM
I was able to move some wires around a bit and now have the body part of the C500 off of the idler pulley with 2" to spare. I got a measurement for a Positive battery cable and will get a new one tomorrow. I put a new Negative cable on the engine today, and ran a lead over to the body for a good chassis ground. I raised the front end of the cradle just a bit and was able to pull the passenger side front cradle bolt back enough to get the nut threaded on the end. I need to tighten all of the cradle bots good while underneath doing the battery cable.

I have one mow tomorrow morning at 7:00am, then off to my 88 Coupe for some more punch-out work.
josef644 MAY 19, 01:46 PM
I was able to get a few things done this morning after mowing. I soldered and used the heat shrink on the two wires I had to switch around on the radio connector. I cleaned and vacuumed the area underneath the shifter assembly. It had 22 years worth of cigarette ashes. Installed the shifter assemble and connected the shift cable to it. This is the first time since last August that this car has had a shifter and cable in it. I got underneath the car and connected the passenger side coolant hose and the return line hose from the heater and the coolant pipe. The 88 4Cyl hose was to long. I had to trim about 5 " off of the end that connects to the engine. I didn't get to the parts house to buy a new Positive battery cable.

I went back out in the garage and cut out the parts of the console skeleton that needed to be removed for a Vibe radio install. I now have everything trimmed that needs to by modified for a good clean install. I sat the skeleton in the car. I will finish that part and the front part of the console man yanna ,the HVAC etc. Almost 2pm here, and getting pretty warm in the garage.

Pulled a fast one on the wife this evening. Asked her if she wanted to go to Huntsville for supper, and we stopped off at O'riley's Auto Parts for a new positive battery cable. I gotta remember this one to use again !!!!!!!!!!

[This message has been edited by josef644 (edited 05-19-2010).]

Fieroseverywhere MAY 19, 08:21 PM

quote
Originally posted by josef644:

Pulled a fast one on the wife this evening. Asked her if she wanted to go to Huntsville for supper, and we stopped off at O'riley's Auto Parts for a new positive battery cable. I gotta remember this one to use again !!!!!!!!!!




He he. The bribe usually works well. Final push to the finish line...
josef644 MAY 19, 08:56 PM
I might get far enough along to try the key tomorrow and find out how my exhaust system sounds. Just one quick blip of the throttle. By this weekend for sure. I have jury duty starting Friday until the trial is over. I want to have coolant in it this weekend.

Mowing again in the AM untill maybe 10:30 or so.

[This message has been edited by josef644 (edited 05-19-2010).]

katatak MAY 19, 10:05 PM
Don't you hate when things like work and civic duty gets in the way of Fiero fun?

Not sure how much trans fluid you will need Joe. Mine was full when I got it from Carver1 and it had the Caddy tripots in it. I lost about 1.5 quarts when I installed the axles. When It was all said and done, I put 2 quarts in it to bring up the level. Prior to pulling it from the donor car, Carver1 did a full service on the motor and trans so all the oil/trans fluid was new. Should not hurt the trans to run it low as long as you keep it in park. Once you get the engine running and to temp you can start adding a quart at a time till its up on the stick. I would not think it would take more than 3 or 4 quarts unless the converter is empty too.
josef644 MAY 20, 06:24 PM
I was able to get just a small amount of things done today after mowing. I located a loose wire with a grounding eye. Bloozberry was able to point me at the correct grounding spot for this wire and that's all I was able to get done today. I also was able to get the console skeleton secured to the body.

My Jury duty was cancelled this afternoon, so I have the morning off tomorrow.

After some supper I went back out to try to get some more of the center dash and console back together. My front pad surround was for a car without the auxiliary gauges. I mounted the gauges and measured how wide I needed to cut and how deep I needed to be. I came up with 3 1/2" deep and 8 1/8" wide. I used a metal hack saw to make the cuts after a wood saw really mangled the padded part. The metal cutting blade worked perfect. I did all of this by hand as the plastic underneath the padding is real brittle. I cut off the padding part with a sharp razor blade. I had to remove another 1/8" on the width for the 8 1/8"measurement.

Here ya go:

and


Looks like it came this way now!!

The wiring connectors are for the radio, AC controls and the fan switch. As these are difficult to remove at times, I am gonna save them for last in case I have to take this all out again. That slider cable fastener is a ***** to get back on the controller and get the screw started.

I want to make sure the gauges work out ok before I screw down the padded surround. bulbs burn out on occasion. I will need the battery gauges idiot light to work to start the alternator to working.

[This message has been edited by josef644 (edited 05-20-2010).]

josef644 MAY 21, 04:55 PM
Bunches of little things done today. I made and mounted exhaust hangers, finished adding the fasteners to the console, soldered a new cigarette lighter connector on its wire.

I tried to slide the radio in its place after fastening the HVAC controller, but it wouldn't go the last 3/8". I am gonna have to remove it and do a little more trimming where the face plate slides into the cavity.

I am planning on adding the transmission cooler lines to the body tomorrow. This car was a stick shift. It looks like they just go in the same place that the clutch hydraulic line was. This will complete converting this to an automatic shift car. I have been dreading doing this. Now it's time. I'll blow them out real good in case some dirt dabbers built a nest in there since I brought them home last year.

Drivers side:


Passenger side:


I am thinking about changing the passenger side hanger to the same method that I used on the driver's side. I just didn't want to remove the wheel tub on the passenger side. Lazy I guess.

I went out and prepped two seat hing covers that I had purchased from the Fiero Store. They were for sale at a big discount, and unfinished. I drilled the holes and removed the 'burrs' from the castings. Once smooth I flipped them both upside down and put the tan semi gloss on them. I'll spray the top sides with the vinyl spray this this evening.

They cover this:


And installed:



Turned out real well I think. Tomorrow sometime I am gonna clean the seat rails and put some semi gloss black on them.

[This message has been edited by josef644 (edited 05-21-2010).]

katatak MAY 21, 09:48 PM
I love it when car parts migrate into the house! Looking good Joe!

Pat
josef644 MAY 22, 12:58 PM

quote
Originally posted by katatak:

I love it when car parts migrate into the house! Looking good Joe!

Pat



These seats have been in the house since April when the skins came from Mr Mike. I am gonna put the passenger side in some time real soon to make some room for the grandchildren.

I went tout to the garage to start on putting in the cooler lines. It was a be itch as I thought it would be. I removed the spare tire tub for room and to be able to see what was happening as I threaded them in. At first I had the line on the wrong side of the steering shaft rubber cover thingy:



and close but no cookie:


As the lower pic shows the line is inboard of the steering shaft. I had to take it out and thread it between the frame rail and the steering shaft. Everything lined up pretty good then. Both lines threaded into the radiator the first time real easy. I love it when this happens

[This message has been edited by josef644 (edited 05-22-2010).]