Well, I do have an engine power adding item I have designed. Just trying to decide if I should protect the concept. So far it appears patentable but patents cost big bucks. Any patent attorneys here?
If you have invented a power adder(that actually makes HP) to add to the 3800 that hasnt been found yet, then you have something. I cant think of anything that isnt on the market already that covers all major and even minor upgrades to the 3800. Will be insteresting to see what it is and see the dyno numbers from before and after the MOD.
I am not sure if this was disgused, but Ski, what typ of paint is that? I have a red Fiero that I want to paint, but that paint looks so damn good I gotta have it. I don't want the same color as I am looking at a Ford color that I love. It's called Toredo Red, I had it on a car I owned awhile back. Can you tell me who the paint manufacturer is and what type of paint it is. I don't know if paint has model numbers or not.
The paint is the factory bright red. It has three coats of clear on top. I have mentioned before that the orginal factory red paint tends to darken with time so many do not think mine is the factory color. I had a faded red 86 GT with orginal red paint. Setting beside my 88 GT one would say that the two were definitely not the same color but if you opened the 86 GTs hood the paint underneath the hood was a match to my 88 GT.
I just spent the last 7 hours reading and rereading this thread. Simply FANTASTIC!!!! Some of the most beautiful detail work that I have ever seen! I haven't been on this forum for long and I am sorry that I wasn't able to follow this thread from the beginning. This thread gives me the chance to dream of how my 88 might look and things that I can do to enhance the natural beauty of my Fiero. I have been a Fiero owner since 1986. I am now rebuilding an 88 from the ground up and I am planning on doing some mods to it. The style will be my own but inspired from others on this Forum and alot by you Ski. Thanks for the enjoyment.
Aw man... I got rid of my Fiero (and even my driver's license) years ago - thought I was over my Fiero addiction enough to risk a look around here.
Now I've got to correct both of those. Only problem is that I've become a writer, which means the fiance/wife will have to be convinced that I "need" to buy the car.
*sigh*
Absolutely phenomenal car. Seriously, that thing should be the "poster car" for all Fiero-dom. If I get rich and famous could I hire you to build me a custom Fiero? (just kidding, I'm sure you've got better things to do)
I'm at a loss. Your car represents the very spirit any one bitten by the Fiero bug has had, looking at their car and dreaming of completing the vision Pontiac abandoned nearly two decades ago. I can't think of any Fiero I've ever seen that I covet more. The fact that you've done all the work yourself just widens the gap further.
Aw man... I got rid of my Fiero (and even my driver's license) years ago - thought I was over my Fiero addiction enough to risk a look around here.
Now I've got to correct both of those. Only problem is that I've become a writer, which means the fiance/wife will have to be convinced that I "need" to buy the car.
*sigh*
Absolutely phenomenal car. Seriously, that thing should be the "poster car" for all Fiero-dom. If I get rich and famous could I hire you to build me a custom Fiero? (just kidding, I'm sure you've got better things to do)
I'm at a loss. Your car represents the very spirit any one bitten by the Fiero bug has had, looking at their car and dreaming of completing the vision Pontiac abandoned nearly two decades ago. I can't think of any Fiero I've ever seen that I covet more. The fact that you've done all the work yourself just widens the gap further.
I am in total agreement! This is what most Fiero owners only dare dream about!
Fiero1Fan, VSpektyr and JaxDomino, I just want to thank you all for your comments. I really do appreciate it. F-I-E-R-O thanks for the bump. Always afraid this thread is going to go to archives.
What a spectacular piece of work your car is. I was amazed that someone could something so out-of-this-world with a car which stock looks unlike anything else on the road. I got a chuckle when I came across the pictures of Anthony's (Jelly2m8) and Lori's (Blackie2m8) cars and garage...as my friend and I have gone to him already for parts for his fiero and I work for the same company as Lori. It just goes to show that it's a small world.
Anyway...my question to you is have you kept track of the amount of money you have put into your project? I'm interested to know how much this journey has cost you (understanding that you did most of the work yourself).
Good Lord...this thread has been going on for a long time. I just found one of my posts from back when I was 84se-Stock. You must be doing something right Ski to have a thread last this long.
Everybody should read this thread once every couple months just for inspiration !
It really gets the old motivation flowing !
Isn't that the truth. Dave's thread on his car inspired me more than most can know. Heck I even copied a few things he did to his car and put them on mine, like the ZR1 hood scoop and the T/A vents.
Yep, I visit once in a while to get me going again.
Just say no to archiving Just re-read through this whole thread. Excellent info, documenting, pics, and ideas ski Lookin forward to hearing more about this power adder of yours, too
In August of 2000, I was thinking of getting a sports car again. Since I was able to drive I had always been into fast cars. After looking into getting a Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4, I decided that I could not afford one. Needless to say, my insurance company was not thrilled about it either. I had an 87 Fiero GT from 87 to 91 and decided to get one again. The 87 GT I had then was a summer project for me. I am a technology education teacher in a high school. I was looking for a project to spend the summer working on. I found a rebuildable wrecked 1987 GT in mid 1987 and the car only had 2000 miles on it and was still under factory waranty. It was sweet with all options including the rare suede tan leather seats and looked much like this one. I kept the car till 91 when my two daughters were too big to strap in side by side.
In my search to find one again, I looked up information about Fieros on the Internet. I found out by luck the Fiero Dutch Classic show was going to be happening in two days and was only 10 miles from my house. Vonnie and I attended the show just to see them. I saw Jeff Dedays car, which was a mint 88 red GT t-top. It was the first t-top I had ever seen. I didn’t know they were even made. Here is a picture of Jeff with his low mileage sweet 88 GT. It had only 6000 miles on it at the time. I knew that was the model of car I wanted. Finding a good red 88 GT T-TOP is not an easy thing to do and it took months of looking.
That day at the show Vonnie also decided she wanted an 88 GT. She found hers first, a sweet 88 GT she bought in September.
After looking at hundreds of Fiero photos I was determined to get a red 88 GT T-Top with the beechwood interior and gold wheels. I found one listed for sale in the Michigan Fiero club website. I emailed the person and they sent several emails some with pictures including this one.
I had a long phone conversation with someone that obviously knew a lot about Fieros. He told me that he was selling it for a woman in town that had the car for a long time. I was told it was in rough condition with only 66,000 miles on it. Well I know this picture does not look too bad but it needed a lot of work. The paint was fair but had been poorly repainted on the nose, left front fender and drivers door. The interior was very dirty and dingy from a heavy smoker. It was so heavily smoked in I had to disassemble the gauges to clean the white numbers because they were brown. The tires needed replaced, and the pin stripe had to go. Rocker panels and quarter windows needed replaced. The T-top weather stripping needed replaced in addition to the driver’s door panel and front fender. The car had been driven daily in Indiana year round. I decided to get the car sight unseen for a fair price. I hopped a Greyhound bus for an all night trip from PA to Indiana. After a grueling 10-hour bus ride, a great guy, Chris Moore, met me at the bus depot in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At this point in my Fiero life I had not shown a car, and was unaware who Chris was. Well you could imagine my reaction when we went inside the garage seen in the above photo. Inside were three, yes three, red 88 GT t-tops. Chris also had his Northstar convertible but he made me promise not to mention it since he wanted to surprise the Fiero world with it that spring. Also he had his other awesome Northstar Fiero as well as his brother’s cool Fiero in the garage. Unfortunately the car I was buying was the worst one in the garage but I was inspired to change that. After taking care of the title, I started driving it home. After 50 miles I needed to stop for gas and when I drove away I noticed the automatic trans slipped. Later while stopping for a turnpike toll both I noticed it slipped a lot. I stopped and checked the trans fluid and none registered on the dipstick. Yikes! I filled it up and had to stop every 1/2 tank and refill it. Now I was doing this during my Christmas vacation so wouldn't you know it, Great Lakes effect snows started blowing real hard. The Fiero was all over the road and I was only able to follow a tractor-trailer tire tracks because the snow was getting a few inches deep. Well after about 12 hours of driving I got home and the car was totally white from road salt. It had a front manifold leak so I tried to fix it and of course the bolt broke so the second day it was home the engine/trans/cradle were on the floor. I figured it was a perfect time to detail the engine compartment, engine, cradle and suspension. I spent two evenings sitting inside the engine compartment cleaning everything. Vonnie worked hard on detailing the suspension and cradle for me. The leaking automatic transmission leak was also repaired with a new pan gasket.
Sorry, everyone, I meant to post this (Cliff, can I delete that last post?):
quote
Originally posted by skitime:
I saw Jeff Dedays car, which was a mint 88 red GT t-top. It was the first t-top I had ever seen. I didn’t know they were even made. Here is a picture of Jeff with his low mileage sweet 88 GT. It had only 6000 miles on it at the time. I knew that was the model of car I wanted. Finding a good red 88 GT T-TOP is not an easy thing to do and it took months of looking.
I am EXTREMELY proud (and lucky) to say that this beauty now lives with ME!
I use a skid cut to the size of the cradle. I mount a inexpensive set of refrigerator rollers to the skid. On smooth concrete you can easily slide the assembly in any direction with the engine on it. It sure works great. I only need one floor jack and two jack stands to remove an engine. I roll it out the side usually so I don’t have to have the car up very high.
[This message has been edited by skitime (edited 02-08-2003).]
A really super, well planned and exicuted car.
So you can get the car high enough just with a floor jack, and you don't need a cherry picker hoist?
Wow SKITIME... I can't believe this is still going. Happy Holidays to you and Vonnie! We have missed you guys a lot, it's great to catch up on what's been going on since we've been "away" from the forum.
one more bump... wow its just like a good book, i have read it before but once you start agian you cant stop... wow its past lunch... its been 4 hours.... ahhhh ski you going to kill me ok im done for now... if only i can stop typing.... now to go and get caugt up on the dirty rat... ohhh boy im hooked, can someone help me??? maybe turn off the computer.....
I've been reading this thread for days now while I am waiting for software builds to complete. It has made me want to quit my job so that I can work on my '85 2M4 full time. (Gotta win that lottery or find a patron!)
Bumping it outa archives.
------------------ Kendall (Icelander) Whitlatch '85 Fiero 2M4 - 5spd Isuzu '67 LeMans/GTO clone 6.5 litre TH400 All the rest aren't Pontiacs, so what does it matter?
Well, it has been a long time since I added anything to my car. I did a small fairly insignificant addition this winter so let me add it to the thread. I was playing around (Modding) with my Pontiac Vibe and it lead to a mod on my GT. I added a Homelink opener from a donor car sunvisor to my Vibe. Homelink is a permanently wired garage door opener that can "learn" to control three devices. I am sure that there are already people that made this type of mod to their Fiero since it is so easy and less expensive then even buying a replacement garage door opener. Simply get a visor with a Homelink control, remove the control from the visor, cut hole in new location for Homelink, connect two wires, put on the bezel.
[This message has been edited by skitime (edited 03-02-2007).]
I liked the Homelink so much that I decided to do it to my GT. I even bought a visor type Homelink that matched the 88 GT Beechwood interior. I was not thrilled to think about dropping the T-Top headliner to do the install so I then I started studying the different Homelink modules available on Ebay. I decided to take a chance and buy a console type I thought looked like I could make it work. This model is from a Cadillac Seville, Deville, or a Eldorado overhead console control. My plan was to install it on the cigarette lighter panel. After I received it I could not believe my luck. The cigarette lighter panel has an angled surface and so did the homelink control and the angle was an almost perfect match. To prepare for the install I removed the center Fiero console and relocated the service plug behind the panel. Then I cut a hole the shape of the Homelink control in the Fiero bezel. (Center hole is for the alarm warning light)
[This message has been edited by skitime (edited 03-02-2007).]
That was it. Connected the ground wire and a constant hot wire then program the unit. You can wire it with a key-on hot wire if you are worried about extra security. Now I don't have to worry about a stolen opener during car shows and cruises. It never fails that when I came home from an event I could not find where the garage door opener was hidden. It works even better than the original opener with greater range and I don't have to worry about a dead expensive remote opener battery.
[This message has been edited by skitime (edited 03-02-2007).]
This thread really ought to be put somewhere permanent. It (and several others) deserve to be immortalized prominently as examples of what Fieros can become.
Did you remove the ALDL during the 3800 install? It looks like it should be interfering with the homelink module.
No it is still under there. If I did not have that alarm light in the middle of that panel I could of just moved it over to the center of the cigarette lighter panel. It is now located near the stock ECM location. If I had a spare cigarette lighter panel I probably would of moved it over and relocated the alarm light.
Dave, I remember your car well at Fierorama and at the 20th. Hope you can come to another Fierorama someday! Just read the whole build up thread. Very interesting to read about your workmanship and well thought out improvements. Had you ever considered expanding the glass rear decklid area to encompass the area where the vents are? Did you calculate that by removing the center rib, the flex would be too great for the tempered glass?