I have always had good experiences with the Fiero Store. Like many of you, I have spent thousands of dollars there on all kinds of things. My wife and I got back in town today and I was happy to see that I already received my latest order: 4 sail panel clips and two "arrowheads."

The clips look and work great. The arrowheads fit well, but look AWEFUL. The finish on the edge of both parts look like they were torn off a "sheet" the way model car parts do). Looking at the front, the red is splotchy and you can see the backing silver all over them. These things are garbage. I am not super anal about this stuff, these are just deplorable.

Rant over.

Now, do you know of any sources that make quality arrowheads? Or how to restore my originals or even fix these?

-Scott

Well not to add fuel to the fire but pretty much everything Fiero Store sells these days is a bunch of China made garbage. Most of their "restoration" parts don't even come close to fitting correctly or looking good. I even bought their Ocelot system with angled stainless tips which wasn't cheap and none of the pipes were flared correctly. I had to have a muffler shop redo the flares.

I have re-done GT front logo's before but not the notchback logos. Do they lay flat or angled in the center? If they are flat, you could probably redo the original ones.
Here is a GT logo that I redid for fun. You could use the same method if the sail panel logos are dished. The logo was still setting up which is why there are air bubbles in the picture:

They are pretty small and have a sliiiiight curve to them. Do you remove the paint from the back, or did you paint over the top? Thanks for your input!

With the logo, I removed the factory clear resin that was in the emblem, sprayed the emblem in black, layed down some small vinyl decals and then filled the emblem back up with clear resin. This was my thread on the process:
//www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/080709.html

I recently bought a pair of the arrowhead emblems and thought that the quality was pretty awful especially for the price. $12.50 for a part that weighs about 2 grams is pretty over the top but since there isn't any competition, they can get away with it. There is an opportunity here for someone to offer a better product but right now I don't know any other source

Agree wih Bill, my new arowheads look like they had breakoff tabs.. from being snapped off improperly from their mold sprue, and did not fit the emblem cavity on the sail panel. For that kind of $$$ for something so small, it would have been nice if it had been perfect. And add on that shipping for a 1 gram item.... I was able to Dremel and finger sand it down without causing too much other damage and then hot glued it into the emblem cavity. Once the raised edge is around it, it was not noticeable. The faces, at least, looked fine on mine.

Also, my new ashtray doors did not even come close to fitting, and caused me to break the tabs that hold them in on the passenger's side of my old shifter plate. Many of the resto parts are just not up to snuff. That being said, when I have had problems in the past with parts that were the wrong size or whatever, they have always issued refunds/replacements, so at least the customer service has been helpful, at least to me. If the emblems were beyond help, I woud have sent them back, and you should if they are not to your satisfaction. I bet tfs would replace them. You would eat the shipping, but that's all.

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: I have re-done GT front logo's before but not the notchback logos. Do they lay flat or angled in the center? If they are flat, you could probably redo the original ones. Here is a GT logo that I redid for fun. You could use the same method if the sail panel logos are dished. The logo was still setting up which is why there are air bubbles in the picture:

I don't think that will work for the emblem he's talking about. The ones he is talking about are the ones that go in here.



They are hard plastic that is textured on the back side and then... looks like colored chrome plating for the red area. It would be real dificult to scrape off all the plating and redo it. I ended up just etching the surface of mine and painting them black before putting them back in until I find suitable replacements.

Edit to add a pic of the arrowhead that goes in the hole.

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 07-25-2010).]

I wonder if someone could send me a junk one so I could see what is involved with restoring them.

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: I wonder if someone could send me a junk one so I could see what is involved with restoring them.

If I had a junk one I would. Well technically I have 2 junk ones, but they have been painted black and put back on the car.

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 07-25-2010).]

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: I wonder if someone could send me a junk one so I could see what is involved with restoring them.

Ive got a few that I would be happy to send you just to hear what you find out!

I have two original GM's I got in the mall about a years ago. Then price was right, so I snagged them up.

Eat ya heart out.

quote Originally posted by josef644: I have two original GM's I got in the mall about a years ago. Then price was right, so I snagged them up. Eat ya heart out.

I'd rather get my wallet out than eat my heart out! lol! Any chance you want to part with them?

quote Originally posted by psychosurfer: I'd rather get my wallet out than eat my heart out! lol! Any chance you want to part with them?

No, I have plans for these two. Just wanted to show what is out there and comes up for grabs every once in a blue moon. You guys might post in the Mall for some of these. I am sure there are others out there needing a new home.

[This message has been edited by josef644 (edited 07-25-2010).]

I am disappointed to hear the reproduction ones are not too good.

I just let to perfect, OE ones leave on a Formula I sold, and the Formula I replaced it with has to original, faded aeroheads. It sounds like I am just going to have to live with them.

I hate to say it, but a lot of what the FieroStore has is junk. Some of it is great, or at least workable, but other stuff is just junk.

Some examples that I've run into:

-rear trunk switch: plastic is so thin that I can see light through it and the little rocker tab that is supposed to keep the switch from rocking back or too far forward snapped off after less than a year (again, the plastic is just too damn thin). Replacing it with a good OEM switch from a parts car.

-V6 lower coolant tube to water pump hose: dayco part, it was shaped correctly but it was about an inch too long. I ended up cutting it in two, and clamping the cut pieces over a 6 inch piece of metal tube to get it to fit.

-their red spark plug wires: I installed my set and they just arced like mad all over my engine. When I removed them to replace them with a set of Belden wires, the rubber ends just tore off and fell apart instead of coming off the plug terminals like they should.

quote Originally posted by psychosurfer: I'd rather get my wallet out than eat my heart out! lol! Any chance you want to part with them?

I got NOS ones for my Indy from Fiero Warehouse http://www.ovis.net/~dmkfiero/newparts.html

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My World of Wheels Winners (Click on links below)

3.4L Supercharged 87 GT and Super Duty 4 Indy #163

[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 07-26-2010).]

quote Originally posted by fierosound: I got NOS ones for my Indy from Fiero Warehouse http://www.ovis.net/~dmkfiero/newparts.html

Thank you!!!

Yep. Add me to the list of people who aren't satisfied with what I got. I bought the sail panel arrows about a year ago and they currently look like this:



The arrows are not the only thing I've bought recently that was of Chinese quality. All the screws and bolts I've purchased from them rusted within the first month of installing them.

I contacted www.shopgmparts.com to see if we could get the embles from them.

Their website does list the GM part number: 20468876


To: patrick@shopgmparts.com

Subject: Part available ? GM number: 20468876

From: Dave Lambert - CoolBlue87GT@comcast.net
Year: 1988 Make: Pontiac Model: Fiero
=============================================

Subject: Part available ? GM number: 20468876

I am searching for emblems , The GM part number is : 20468876

Would like to make sure they are available. I have many fellow owners that are searching also.

Thank you for any information you can provide.

=============================================

Unfortunately this item is no longer available to me

Patrick Meyer

patrick@shopgmparts.com

imsa you want the arrow head itself or the sail and arrow head? I have to see if I have an arrow head around? I have a spare sail Im willing to cut off the spot the arrow head mounts to off to save on shipping I will check my sails and see if theres an arrow head.

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: I wonder if someone could send me a junk one so I could see what is involved with restoring them.

I was at a junk yard on Monday and found an 84 with two Arrowheads in "OK" shape.

I pulled them and at home looked them over.

Seems like it should be easy enough to re-paint the back with silver and then red.

I'm thinking an enamel from a hobby store in the tiny little bottles and they should be good to go.

Hardest part will be cleaning off the old crud, any thoughts on what would work without destroying the plastic?

Steve

Front


Rear

[This message has been edited by fierohoho (edited 07-28-2010).]

Not only do the side emblems look poorly cut, but they fade ridiculously fast. I installed a new set in April and they already have turned from red to orange. Their front emblems aren't much better, it is covered in scuffs and scratches just from washing it.

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| Jon | Member: NIFE, MisShifts | Facebook | Fiero Blog |
| Photography | Great America Zone | Dixie Square Mall

quote Originally posted by josef644: No, I have plans for these two. Just wanted to show what is out there and comes up for grabs every once in a blue moon. You guys might post in the Mall for some of these. I am sure there are others out there needing a new home.

Oh, so you just wanted to flash your bling and let us sizzle in our need for emblems. Thanks!

I don't know if they have them in stock or not... it even says on their site that it does not show their current inventory.

but http://www.gmpartscenter.net has them in their catalog.

Might be worth looking in to for those of you interested.

quote Originally posted by fierohoho: I was at a junk yard on Monday and found an 84 with two Arrowheads in "OK" shape. I pulled them and at home looked them over. Seems like it should be easy enough to re-paint the back with silver and then red. I'm thinking an enamel from a hobby store in the tiny little bottles and they should be good to go. Hardest part will be cleaning off the old crud, any thoughts on what would work without destroying the plastic? Steve Front Rear

If the back is silver, I would recommend a silver with a red candy color over the top. You will see the reflectiveness of the silver through the red and it will also have depth to the color.


Edit to add.......if you use model colors in the bottles, you cannot use the candy transparent finish. I believe the brush strokes will soften the silver paint and you will have a swirly mess If you can use spray cans, that would be better that way you aren't touching the base color of silver........or just do a solid red if you want.

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 07-28-2010).]

The problem arises with cleaning the existing coating off. Like I said, it appears to be chrome plating. I don't think you could get a solvent to break it down without damaging the plastic. Scraping it off would be very time consuming as it has alot of bevels in it and you still run the risk of damaging the plastic. I'm not saying it can't be done, just I wasn't willing to put that much time into trying.

I would just try using some brake parts cleaner and a stiff brush to get that chrome finish off.

quote Originally posted by aeffertz: I would just try using some brake parts cleaner and a stiff brush to get that chrome finish off.

Most brake cleaners contain several of the following solvents.

Acetone
•Acetone is a solvent also used as fingernail polish remover.
Butane
•Butane is a petroleum derivative, most familiar to people as a fuel, that acts as a solvent.
Isopropanol
•Isopropanol is another name for isopropyl alcohol. Diluted for household use, this is a common disinfectant and cleaner. In stronger concentrations it acts as a solvent in brake cleaner.
Methanol
•Methanol is another name for methyl alcohol or wood alcohol. It's used as a fuel and as a solvent.
Methyl Ethyl Ketone
•Also known as butanone or MEK, methyl ethyl ketone is another solvent, similar to acetone.
Propylene Glycol
•Propylene Glycol is the chief ingredient in automobile antifreeze. In brake fluid it acts as both a solvent and as a stabilizer for other ingredients, helping them to combine more readily and lowering the freezing point.
Stoddard Solvent
•Stoddard Solvent is a flammable liquid derived from paraffin.
Taluene
•Also known as methyl benzene, toluene is used as a paint thinner. It is a solvent.

I spot atleast 2 that I know for sure will soften plastic and cause it to cloud.

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 07-28-2010).]

I purchased some metallic red paint and painted two of these once. Not even close, but better than the silver faded look. I tried some maroon paint also. It was better than the red metallic.

I used an Exacto blade to lift these out of the frames. I have removed about 8 of these that way without destroying any of them.

I know its not for everyone but, I found it was easier to just void them the sail panel with my dremel and replace them with high quality decals.

On another car, I smoothed them out and filled the little hole; I like the way it looked, but want this one to look original.

A bit late to the party, but you could try soaking the emblems in brake fluid. The brake fluid will not hard or cloud the plastic and may take off the 'plating' (I know it works just fine on plastic model car/etc).

quote Originally posted by psychosurfer: Ive got a few that I would be happy to send you just to hear what you find out!

Hell, I'm still waiting for the psychoman to send me some of his

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 08-05-2010).]

You did not get them?!?!?! PM me, Ive got many more...

quote Originally posted by psychosurfer: You did not get them?!?!?! PM me, Ive got many more...

PM sent......