The kit come with this set of mirror stands that mounts on the top of the doors. You can attach a number of factory mirrors to it and glue them together to form the units that you see in the Lizardo pictures at the Fiero Fiberglass web site.
[This message has been edited by Mikitcarman (edited 09-04-2013).]
Spirit, these are not bumps in the road to completion. They are small turns on the road to success. Each one of these changes makes the car a little better or a little different. Trust me, traveling that constantly changing road during the build is where the fun is at!
I have not had much time to post on this site for the last three weeks. I'm trying to get the car done for the biggest car show in our area that is on Friday, September 6th. Main street is shut down on Friday night from 5PM to 10PM. There's food, live music and a ton of cars, it's always a great night. Even if the car isn't 100% and the car is drivable, I'll be there. We'll get some Michigan exposure to the Lizardo.
Friday night to look at all the cars on main street is free admission. The regular judged car show is in the park on Saturday and Sunday, that area is a $4 admission.
I started by sanding the entire car down with 220 grit sandpaper, then I used 3M brand glazing and spot putty to touch up any imperfections in the finish. I found out quickly, that it was cheaper to buy the sandpaper at my local lumber yard, than it was from the auto parts store. It was actually half the price at the lumber yard, $4 vs $8. After I went around the entire car an touched up the spots, I wet sanded each piece with 360 grit. If you haven't done a kit before, this can take a while. This kit has 18 separate body pieces to sand and paint. Do not rush the wet sanding between coats, a smooth base is very important. Before I sprayed the first coat, I wiped all the pieces down with Prep-All wax and grease remover. Then used a tack cloth on each part before I sealed them.
The first coat was of Dupont 2K Urethane Sealer, I used White because my car base is Yellow. I used a 1.4 tip with a mix of 4:1, Sealer to Activator.
The second coat was Auto Body Master 2K Urethane Primer, this time I used Buff to keep it light for the yellow. With this primer I used a 1.8 tip, the primer was mixed 4:1. On the primer can it say to spray one medium coat and then 1 to 2 coats with a 15 Minute flash time. I would sprayed all 3 coats on each part and let it dry overnight before wet sanding. I used 400 grit to wet sand. If I had a paint run somewhere, I used a razor, then 220 to remove the run and finish up with 400.
On the Eastwood.com web site it shows you how to repair a run in the paint with a bent single edge razor. After a little practice, it works very well.
The base coat was Eastwood's Urethane Electric Yellow. I used a 1.4 tip, with the paint mixed 3:1, but I added a few ounces of Fish Eye Eliminator with the mix. I sprayed the first two coats of paint, let it dry overnight and wet sanded it with 600 grit. Then I added 2 more coats, let it dry overnight and wet sanded with 800 grit. Then sprayed a final coat, it is very smooth. If I had imperfections along the way, I puttied them and sanded the spot before the next coats.
The trick is to set up each piece so that the entire surface can be sprayed at a single time. What I'm trying to say is get the panel and hood or whatever it is up in the air so you can get to all the painted sides for spraying. In my pics you can see I used small saw horses, utility light stands and boxes to get pieces up for paint access. A couple of tips, mix your paints well and use paint strainers on everything.
The Black areas, I used Dupont Urethane Jet Black, a 1.4 Tip, mixed 3:1 with Fish Eye Eliminator and lots of painters tape and paper to mask off the car.
The final coat is Eastwood's Urethane Clear, I wanted to assemble the car one more time before I shot on the clear coat.
I'm sure that we can get some good feedback on this information from some real painters out there....
Or you can make your life easy, after you fit all the pieces on the car, take them off and send them to a paint shop!!! I have no idea what they will charge, I have never sent one out for painting. I have about $1,000 in the materials, that's with the prep supplies. I used two guns, a TCP Global G6600 with a 1.8 tip for primer and an Eastwood Concours with a 1.4 Tip for the base color.
I have a 2 HP compressor with a 29 gal tank, the output is 7.3 CMF@ 40 PSI or 5.9 CMF@ 90 PSI It's important to buy guns that will work with your compressor. I was told by a local auto painter that to be safe your compressor should produce twice the CMF output that your gun requires. For example the G6600 requires 4.2 CMF @ 29 PSI, my compressor produces 7.3 CMF @ 40 PSI, it's more than enough.
[This message has been edited by Mikitcarman (edited 09-03-2013).]
Me being the uneducated bum that I am, Where do you get the kit to start with and the cost of it? I have always wanted to build a kit car and at my age if I don't do it soon I won't get it done before I die. I am really enjoying this build.
Me being the uneducated bum that I am, Where do you get the kit to start with and the cost of it? I have always wanted to build a kit car and at my age if I don't do it soon I won't get it done before I die. I am really enjoying this build.
These units help your windows go up and down faster by adding more power it the circuit. After I purchased these, I had a conversation with JimmyS. He had just taken the time to totally disassembled and rebuilt the door and window assemblies in his own car, now they work very well. So the moral of the story is- If you take it apart and clean it up, make it like new, it will work like new
I installed black Door Edge Trim around the front and rear areas where the metal was cut out on the frame. This covers all the sharp edges if you have to reach in to replace a bulb and looks better when you open the hood.
Rear Trunk Area trim. As I work my way around the car, I'm also spraying inside the body areas in black.
[This message has been edited by Mikitcarman (edited 08-26-2013).]
First coat of paint on the rear spoiler, I'm a fan of raised wings. Lots of custom work, it took a few hours of shaping to get the look I wanted. I'll Bet Dan would have made me one at Fiero Fiberglass.
Take a look at the back of this hood and tell me how many hours of hand sanding there is here...... LOL
A garage full of painted body parts. Yea - assembly time again, hope they fit second time around.
[This message has been edited by Mikitcarman (edited 08-26-2013).]
For some of you following with the build, you may want to go back and glance through the build. It may not look like I'm posting, but I've been adding more information and pictures to earlier postings for increased knowledge on the build.
[This message has been edited by Mikitcarman (edited 09-04-2013).]
This is really starting to come together! I do like the mods to the rear spoiler as well. I may not post in your thread a lot, but I follow all the new posts in this thread for sure!
The hard part is putting the pieces all back together without chipping anything. I turned the bottles down for the pictures, but I used Meguiar's Polishing Compounds on the car.
[This message has been edited by Mikitcarman (edited 09-11-2013).]
I don't know if this is rude but I was wanting to know if you could drop a round about price before paint? Like what have you spent on parts and the kit?
It's not rude, I'm just not sure. I will have to make a list. As you go through the build, most of the beginning part of the build is just your time to do the work and a few tools. I was very lucky with the Fiero that I purchased, the mechanical and electrical side of the car was in good condition. If you had some repairs to do on the suspension or drive train, I'd do it while the body is off. This is also the perfect time to spray the under areas black. When you are shopping for a used Fiero to take apart for this body kit, keep in mind that the better condition of the car the faster the build will go. But on the other hand, if your going to put in a new engine and rebuilt from the ground up, a "good deal" works. I'd just make sure it wasn't in an accident, you don't want a bent chassis.
Welding $40 V6 Air Intake $55 Under coat spray $10 5 cans black spray $30 Misc Screws/Bolts $45 Misc Wire connectors $20 3 Units Fibertech $120 4 Units 3M Filler $40 Sand Paper $35
The kit comes with most of the items for the build, the rest of the items are equipment that I wanted to add on or customize.
2" Wheel Spacers $200 Slotted Rotors $160 Salvage Yard Parts $40 3 rolls 3m Trim Tape $18 Black Seal $16 Tinted Safety Glass $48
Tires and Wheels can be all over the map, about $1,000 and up.
The interior is a place where you can do as little or as much as you want.
Carpet $160 Window Helpers $32 Shifter $85 Black Dash Covers $140 Floor Mats $50 Bucket Seats $300 and up mrmikes.com also does a nice job
There's a couple more items you will have to get done at the end, like the exhaust system. It needs to be piped out the rear bumper ports.
This project requires a few tools like a saws-all and a compressor. But overall the normal hand tools and a drill will go a long way. My other two Fiero kits that I did before the Lizardo were not as user friendly, with the holes drilled and the parts fitted, this kit goes much faster. The lizardo kit has almost all the required parts, so you don't spend hours trying to figure out what you need to finish the kit. When I called the guys at Fiero Fiberglass and asked questions about the build, they were always very helpful. The parts that are not included, they tell you (like the mirror tops) so you can go to the salvage yard to pick up or just purchase a set of mirrors that you like.
[This message has been edited by Mikitcarman (edited 09-11-2013).]
Thanks JohnWPB, it's nice to know that someone is following.
Head & Tail Lights
The supplied head lights mounts from behind with supplied 'L' brackets. I glued the supplied turn signal to the supplied trim ring, I mounted them with a Stainless Steel #6 screw 1" long with a nylon nut. Make sure to use pull apart wire connectors on the two light assemblies. That's because when you take the body off you want to just pull the wires apart and not have to remove the entire light units.
Turn Signal wiring: Red is turn signal, Black is running lights and White is ground (Yes, I called the factory to verify, white is ground).
I sanded the fiberglass trim until it fit nicely over the tail light, it already had a close fit. Then I mounted it with 3M trim tape. Everyone that looked at the car before it was done really liked the honeycomb look, so I left it. All the other pics on the net of the Lizardo shows these areas in black.
This is the supplied gas cap cover, 4 screws are to short to mount. So you need four 6mm SS flat top 3/4" screws. I got them from Fastenal.com for $11, SKU: 0185514
Rear view of the three glass panels, I like the view of the engine.
Front Hood latches are the originals, I used SS #14 self tapping 1" screws. A small tip here, the slider latch unit on the left, I didn't repaint it because it may not slide very well afterwords. (But please clean it up )
A few bugs from driving, but my front license plate "CJ's Lizardo"
[This message has been edited by Mikitcarman (edited 09-12-2013).]
This is the supplied 4" chrome ring to trim the exhaust opening, I used #6 SS 3/4" self tapping screws. The exhaust system is currently turned down during the assembly process.
It takes twenty 1/4" bolts, 1" long with fender washer and nylon lock nuts to secure the 3 piece rear end together.
These are the factory door opener rods, I sent them out to match the wire to the left that was sent with the kit, It's about 2 1/2" longer.
The factory Door Locks and Handles are installed on the new doors.
[This message has been edited by Mikitcarman (edited 09-12-2013).]
Black behind the grills gets another vote. The yellow background makes the grills look like they've been tacked on and serve no purpose. At least with them blacked out they will appear more as though they are actually vents. Alternatively, you could cut out the backgrounds and fabricate some shallow boxes behind the grills to give them some depth.
Another vote for black behind or make them working vents. The yellew just looks funny because the reason the vents are back there on super cars is that they are working vents.
Black behind the grills gets another vote. The yellow background makes the grills look like they've been tacked on and serve no purpose. At least with them blacked out they will appear more as though they are actually vents. Alternatively, you could cut out the backgrounds and fabricate some shallow boxes behind the grills to give them some depth.
They would look a lot better black, but NOT gloss black. A nice matte / satin finish would give more depth, and not show a shiny surface behind the grills.
Here is what it would look like: (Far more bad a$# looking I think )
[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 09-16-2013).]
No need for me to agree with the posters who call for black behind the grills. I just got back on your thread. I want to congratulate you for staying with a long labor intensive project. Your skill is readily apparent and you have my admiration. One of the 3% that get finished and a fine example.
Well, what do you think, should I shoot black behind all the grills or leave it yellow?
Really? If you don't cut out the fiberglass (for engine heat venting), then you have to paint them black, and I agree, not gloss. (I know that cutting them will not help vent heat because of the trunk)
I know you were just joking asking the question.
Rob
[This message has been edited by qwikgta (edited 02-01-2014).]
I have purchased a Zero Load Blinker unit to correct the turn signals. I purchased it from Top Line Group Automotive Products, http://www.tlg-auto.com/
Fiero LED Turn Signal Flasher Module $17.00 SKU: FIEROLED026
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