Ok, not much of an update, other than what is to be done, not what has been done

Well, after working on this custom center console, I got to thinking, the dash is still going to look very stock in comparison. DIY_Stu was telling me about Archie moving to a new shop, and he was unloading some stuff, including a fiberglass dash cover. So I had a look, and ordered one.

It is a slide over cover, that covers the instrument cluster "pod", and has a nice spot to install a full size glove box. It was manufactured to just slide over the existing dash. I am going to remove the upholstery from my stock dash (It's pretty cracked anyways, so no loss there) and permanently affix this cover to the stock dash, making a drop in replacement dash. With some cutting and fabricating, I intend to mount some nice 6" round speakers where the 4 x 6 ones were. I also am going to change the knee knockers....errr.... A/C vents to round ones, and relocate them a bit.

I figure if I am covering the original instrument cluster, and doing some fabrication, I may as well swap out the instrument cluster entirely So I started looking around, and I just purchased a digital dash from mattwa out of a Cavalier Z-24. It is a pretty easy swap, as it uses all the same sensors as the Fiero, and is a wire-to-wire swap for the most part.

My plan is to remove the bezels and such from the digital dash, and put a smoked Plexiglas cover over the whole thing. I will have some additional "Dummy lights" along the top of the dash showing when the CarPC has power, when cruise control is on ect ect. I also have a back up sensor system that I will put behind the glass as well. It shows the distance to objects behind the car when backing up.

This is the dash cover from Archie:

From the top:


Front of the dash:



This is a quick PhotoShop job, on how I am planning to install the cluster in it:


I am also putting a blue gel (The plastic sheets they put on stage lights to change colors of lighting colors on a stage) over the gauges, to make the dash more blue instead of the existing teal.

I still have a lot of fabrication work to do, but It is all starting to come together as to how it will all be done now.

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 04-17-2011).]

Just a small update....

I purchased a 2nd generation set of headlight motors from mrfiero, with the complete wiring harness. Neither of my motors worked, and figured it would just be best to go with the gen2 instead of repairing my gen1 motors.

I spent a bit of time this afternoon cleaning up the motors, sanding a bit, and removing black paint from the plugs and the wiring that was on there from the previous owner. I then taped everything off, and hit them with some rattle can black lacquer paint.

I will soon be getting a set of Fiero1Fan's headlight buckets, then re-wrap the wiring harness with all new wire loom. Once that's done, get them in the car, and check headlights off the LONG list of "To-Do's" list

Here's what the motors look like now with a bit of elbow grease applied generously



And the motors installed in the housings. (Still waiting to get the Timo headlight buckets)

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 08-06-2011).]

[2 weeks ago]

Above, I detailed how I painted the headlight buckets..... big mistake

After they dried for a few days, in a hot shed I took a buffer wheel, on a medium speed, with car polish to give them a nice glassy shine. I had barely started when EVERY layer, the primer, paint and clear started to peel off like the surface had been sprayed with Pam cooking spray before I painted them!

I can see now way, that they I could possibly have painted them any better, or with better prep. So, lesson learned, I will never try to paint stainless steel again in the future. At least when it has been galvanize coated. They are now at the Tolliver Powder Coating here in West Palm Beach, and should be ready for pick-up in a couple of days. I gave them instructions on masking off the area where the headlight bolt holes are counter sunk for clearance.

[ 1 week ago ]

I got the headlight buckets back, paid for the work, and went to the car and unwrapped them. The first thing I noticed is the fact they did not mask off the counter sunk mounting holes! I told them they forgot, and he says he does not remember any mention of masking anything off, and he had to go check with someone on how to handle it. As he left, I noticed my work order behind the counter from a few minutes ago when I paid for them. I reached over and grabbed it Right there on the work order was a nice hand drawn sketch, and arrows pointing to the 8 holes to mask off. When he returned he started to say something about they were not responsible, when I handed him the work order. He changed what he was saying really fast haha! He said they would have to sandblast them, and re-do them.

I called a few days later and they said they would be ready on Friday afternoon. I stopped by Friday just before closing, and they were sitting right where I left them in the "received parts bin". I was not happy to say the least, he said that someone changed the schedule, and they would be painted next week sometime now. I let him know how unhappy I was, as it was going on 2 weeks now!

[ Today ]

I got a call at 8am saying that they were done. I went on lunch and picked them up. As I unwrapped them, I think the first words to him were "are you serious?!?!" I wanted to throw them against the wall of something LOL! I was quite truthful, and told him that is the worst powder coating work I had ever seen.

Here, you be the judge: (Forgive the crappy cell phone pictures)

Not pictured are 3 runs and drips on bucket#1, enough of a drip that it is almost a 1/2 long!

Inside of bucket #1



Outside of bucket #2




It is VERY hard to tell from the photo's above, but the buckets were glass smooth, Zink galvanized steel. From the pictures they look as if they were almost rust buckets when they started!

I talked to a manager, and he assured me that they would correct this, and would put a rush on it to have them done ASAP. As he was looking at the job they did, I had this feeling that when I left someone was gonna get really really chewed out. You could just see it in his eyes and expression while he was looking them over.

So, now I sit and wait, and wonder how they are gonna look this time.......

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 09-07-2011).]

Well I called them last Wednsday, and they said they could not mask off the counter sunk holes! Are you kidding! This is what your company does for a business LOL! They said they were going to sandblast them (3rd time now) and to come pick them up, and they would refund my money.

So, I just picked them up and I am LIVID! They blasted away all of the galvanized Zink coating! On top of that, I think they left them outside for a week, and now they are rusting! I called Fiero1Fan in Germany, and he said they absolutely will need re-galvanized. If any speck of rust is on them, and they are powder coated again, it will continue to rust underneath.

To top it off, like this isn't enough... they bent the H E Double L out of them! I am just fuming right now!!!! I called them back, and am trying to resolve this in some manner, and he asked me to send him photo's in email. So I just sent the pictures to the manager.

This photo shows how bent up they are now:

(Pictures will be posted shortly, PFF Image poster is acting up... AGAIN!)

( EDIT: I had to use Image Shack for now, as PFF Image Poster just refuses to work today )


This Photo shows how bent up they are now:




This photo shows just how nicely rusted they are:




A far cry from what they looked like well over a month ago when I dropped them off:

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 03-06-2014).]