Thanks buddy! Im looking forward to doing the airbags too! Took a peek underneath the front really quick to see how the springs mounted to the frame. Bags gonna be tight in the front. Dont think the bags r gonna work in the rear if I wanna keep the struts, need a bag w a thru hole. Goin crazy w the furnace install but took the car to the glass shop today Ive had mostly beater my whole life so I was sure the front tires were popped while driving today, how it felt going over the small bumps in these beautifully maintained california roads. The tires are providing all the suspension travel I have right now which aint much. The door panels are off so lotsa sh!t bouncing around there when I hit a bump. Pulled the roof and windshield at the shop to make it easier for em. Ps window rolls down crazy fast, ds window crazy slow, got a new motor to schwap in. Channeled the inner beastmaster and moved the tankless and repiped the cold, hot and gas, and the the majority of the ducting, and staged/secured the furnace, and figured out the rest of the ducting and made trips to get all the parts(hopefully) to finish thursday when I can get back at it again. The glass shop should be done w the windshield by then.
Ill hafta make sure it doesnt! lol Imsa, again, u da man , man! Saved me the trouble of looking up that thread again! Airshocks wont get the car on the ground like I want it. Been watching too many car shows. Picked up the car today from the glass shop. Looks fu@kin schweet! The lady said she has 12 guys and only one could do this and he broke one, this was #2. She was very impressed w the way it came out, I told her its the nicest thing on the car.
Just wrapped up the furnace, still need to cleanup. Picked up a portable pipe threader from hf w my nra coupon. A 3' 1" glv pipe is $23, a 6' is $24, a 10' is $26. I needed a buncha pieces, so I bought 3 10 footers and the new pipe threader and it came out to be the same price as if I bought all the smaller pieces. Thrifty, pennywise, frugal, or just a cheapass- whatever I like to save money. N now I got a new cool tool! Prolly wont use it again but hey, I got a new cool tool!
I dunno, she can cut one off a template or to the car. Its a real deal fiero windshield. I just had them do it instead of me trying to cut it. Carpet for the interior showed up n I started wiring the gauges. Washer crapped out, fixed it. Now the roofs leaking. Shemdogg tired
shem
[This message has been edited by shemdogg (edited 03-01-2019).]
Not a whole lot going on w the car, too much rain. Got a few hours in today. The front turn signals that go on the side showed up finally. Ordered 2 rear struts from rockauto, and will order sleeves and a few more fitting and I have everything for the air suspension. Been going over planning the install, got it down. Going to get everything in but the front, and hopefully be able to do the front bags at my buddys shop on the lift. Ordered a fuel pump/sender and will make that work soon. Got the dash wiring all ready to connect to the fiero wiring. Going to move the heater controls to the bottom of the dash and put a stereo n its place. Working on modifying the b-pillar covers, hopefully can glass them and the upper side trim pieces this week. Did a buncha support welding on the ds and cleaning up the door seals. Pics when I have something worth showing, lotsa work + lotsa rain = no time for the car
Lotsa goodies showed up n I got some stuff done. Pulled the tank and swapped over the sender and fuel pump from a chp10010. Reinstalled today. The wires were cut and taped together. Mighta been why the sender didnt work but had it out, new parts goin in. That was a fun job, the big 2 hoses were a pain to get back on.
Kybs showed up from the fedex guy, said hi how u doin n he didnt reply. So I said thanks and hit him w the death breath, he was coughing hard all the way back to the truck. Thought he was gonna yak lol. Sleeves showed up today in record time, ordered em tuesday afternoon. What an easy install. Had both sides done in an hour
Fronts gonna be a biotch to get the bags in. The sway bars gotta go, its way in the way of the bag. Got the upper bump stop out easy w a big ol flathead and the 3lb sledge, hammered out the 5 welds in a few mins. Bags are fat, hitting something at all 4 corners. Top sides hit the spring perch, bottom hits the sway bar and the lower control arm spring plate side. Started opening up the perch and moved the sway bar as far forward as itll go. I have some bottom plates fabbed already, need to make tops and a longer 220v extension cord for the welder
Started staging the compressors and tank, I like this location. Tanks a squeeze but itll fit. Going to weld some flat steel there to mount the goods Gotta order a few more fittings and start plumbing and wiring. Pretty easy to set everything up minus welding.
Picked up an alpine head unit for the dash. Almost ready to start glassing the interior panels, then headliner. Then the interior will go in. I have everything for the interior but door panels. Gonna need more mat. Scatterbrain will get it done. Eventually. Little by little
Ill hafta make sure it doesnt! lol Imsa, again, u da man , man! Saved me the trouble of looking up that thread again! Airshocks wont get the car on the ground like I want it. Been watching too many car shows. Picked up the car today from the glass shop. Looks fu@kin schweet! The lady said she has 12 guys and only one could do this and he broke one, this was #2. She was very impressed w the way it came out, I told her its the nicest thing on the car.
Just wrapped up the furnace, still need to cleanup. Picked up a portable pipe threader from hf w my nra coupon. A 3' 1" glv pipe is $23, a 6' is $24, a 10' is $26. I needed a buncha pieces, so I bought 3 10 footers and the new pipe threader and it came out to be the same price as if I bought all the smaller pieces. Thrifty, pennywise, frugal, or just a cheapass- whatever I like to save money. N now I got a new cool tool! Prolly wont use it again but hey, I got a new cool tool!
shem
I use a similar mounting location for my compressor and tank installed in an 87 Mera and have been quite happy with the location/functionality of the components. One thing to consider is adding a switch that allows you to turn off the air compressor power supply prior to starting the car. I did not do this at first and charging the tank often ran the battery down far enough to cause starting issues. With the mod I can start the car and then turn on the compressor to fill the tank. An alternate solution is to provide power from a source separate from the ignition start sequence but it was much easier for me to add the switch to my existing set up.
Awesome vid tony thank u! I watched it twice, now im thinkin engine swap. N fuk I like that hood waay better lol. Nelson do you hve a build thread or pics of your setup? Im thinkin to mount the tank n comps in the back n the manifold up front.
Got smore done today after work. Whudidu Well where i got the car on blocks, my welder wont reach. I forgot to get a longer extension cord from my buddy, but ive been doing a buncha outdoor electrical n I had romes n pipe handy, so I moved to outlet 10' closer so I got 220v for weldin
Ive been using the westcoast fiero thread as a guide, I skipped a step. I drilled a hole(lower arruh) in the bottom bump stop(forgot to take a pic) put muh 3eifsx1" bolt in from the bottom and welded it to the bump stop. So Now I have a stud to screw the bag onto. The udder two arruhs are where u gotta cut the perch n open it up. Itll get welded back together later. Goin thru the fitment thoes but its really not bad
Im a cheapass so I made my own top plates for free from 1/4 plate. I set the plate on the bag, and the 4" round by 3"tall steel tubing(thats what I eyeballed from the other pics) test fitted and tacked Cleanerup Crazy when I cut the pipe open it was under tension and opened up about 3/16 on its own
Here its test fitted so I could mark where to clean it off to weld it to the perch n wrap chit up meng, mebbe tomorah
Rest of the fittings should be in by monday n I can start plumbing. I got the good stuff- airbrake fittings where available. 3 gauge pod showed up today, thatll hold the 3 air ride gauges
So far so guut
shem
[This message has been edited by shemdogg (edited 03-16-2019).]
Got all the fittings toghtened on the valve mani and put the gauges into the pod this mornin early before I made pancakes, played w the dash smore.
Finished up the ds, seemed kinda hi so I cut a few inches off the riser. Boy was that a pain to get out, my welding not pudy but very strong. Ran outta flux, had to switch to steel wire n gas. Bottomed out ill be 1/2" from the top of the tire to the frame rail
Cant get the car off the jack
Started playing w the plumbing, then dove in. Easy peasy maybe 90 mins to run all the filter, mains n gauge lines
Took apart the other side n have it ready for welding. All my fittings should be here tomorrow. Maybe cupla hours on the ps side, 1 hour plumbing, n 1 hour electrical n im good to go and finish off this poor little battery. Had to give up for today, welder is a foot away from where I need it. Have to get an extension cord
Luvin this daylight savings time, can get more work done.
Havent touched the car in awhile, lotsa rain n work. Fittings showed thursday, everything I need to finish except for one bushing they sent that I didnt order, and I need one more fitting for the comp gauge. Got a few hours in yesterday n today. Relays for the compressor have tiny lie maybe 20-22ga wire that im supposed to hook to a #8 wire. Seems too dinky for me, im planning to use a ford starter solenoid to power the comps.
Found a sheet of steel exactly the size I needed at my buddys shop 60x11, bent it in half and mounted me goods Everythings plumbed up minus electrical. Picked up a few more fittings today at lowes, going to tee off the comp pressure line and add an air tool coupling. Picked up a flexi air hose tool kit so I can air up my tires or use air tools.
Been having some trouble with the mani, traced it to a bad check valve. Doesnt let air in or out. Will need a new one. Bypassed it and still had some trouble, seemed like some valves were leaking. Pulled the mani to bench test it. Got a few fittings at lowes this mornin to connect the mani to my pancake compressor. Found out I had the inlet and outlet switched (should work either way), directions on the website are backwards. May have some switched valve wires too incorrectly pinned in the harness Once I had it figured out, I reinstalled the mani and ran it off the compressor and got the car to lift n drop front, back, side/side. Pretty sure itll drop too far so Ill hafta install some stops. Body kits lower than the frame. Heres the car sitting on a chunka hunka 6x6 under the front crossmember. Thats as low as I can go and still get the jack under. Very cool watching the car go up n down, neighbor and kids were getting a kick out of it too. Going to order some straight fittings for the front bags. I have elbow fittings there now and its fine at normal and dropped height, but when the car lifts the upper control arm rubs the hose a wee bit. I can rout the hose straight up if I notch the perch. Back may not go down all the way, may hafta make some brackets to lower smore. Still playing with it. This airbag adventure is very fun and wasnt very difficult. Everything was pretty straightforward
Well stuck on bags till I get more fittings. Got off my arse and broke out the fb. Glassed up the ds upper and rear chunks o trim. Bad pic, cars under the ez-up so it came out like chit Ive been cutting up the fiero trim pieces and keeping what I need, reshaping the rest w hvac tape. Got 2 layers of cloth and 1 layer mat n its super strong. These will make the door opening look much much better when finished, looks pretty ruff now. IOnce those r dunn, ill make the headliner (looking for visors n the center thingie they hook to), then insulation, dash, n seats will go quick. The door panels Ive been thinking about ways to do and looking at how much I hafta butcher the doors to make it work but it wont be too bad.
Fun day today, not really. Itchy from fb and metal dust. Pulled my molds for the interior ds. Didnt stick to the fiero stuff too good played w them smore and got 3 of 4 pieces almost ready for some bondo heres where im going w them, makes the door opening look waaaay cleaner Got a good start on the ps door seal
Check valve showed up today. Different from the ebay pic, got the same sh!t I got now. Installed it. Same sh!t, no air either way. Called cs, he said I have to adjust it lol. Cool system to tinker with and... BAM! hye roller/rock crawler scaredy cat rawr!
Valves wouldnt dump so I said maybe the inlet needs to be opposite and over from the inlet(directions say next to each other) and... its about 1.5" from the ground bottomed out, looks fukin schweet! does sit level tho. Rear sleeves cant fully extend only got about 6 outta 10 inches maxed out on the shock rod. May hafta buy those fancy bags, nah ill try it n see how it feels Front edge sits a bit lower than the rest o the car. Can still open a decent amount for getting at the air mani Damn that looks good, I think Ill keep it as is and try it out
These guys been callin me for a week to come get the stang. I make time before work and walk all the way over there. Im thinking it all ready n ill be outta there in a jif. 10 mins the guy says its almost ready, sorry for the wait. After several laps around the lobby and flipping through a few mags,(15 mins) the guy comes out w a defeated look on his face. I pretty much started laughing right there. These goobers lost the friggin key! lol. I told him I dont have a spare. He says hes gonna get a locksmith to make new keys. No biggie but can I at least get a ride home. That was a loong walk, I was beat. They got me an uber home n I went to work. That was tuesday. They dropped it off today, came out killer very happy Had a new car cover waiting, all wrapped up n ready for reassembly. Oh yeah they forgot the stripes on the rear ground effects DOH!
Turd o rama! Not really. Been raining like crazy, no time for the car. Any free time I had has gone into the stang, got some new goodies, fixed the power steering leak n found this Power steering brackets ripped out from da frame. Pulled it, cleaned it, welded it good Took it for a spin, very nice drives way better
Onto the fierrari. Got the b pillar n upper side panels done. Will buy some foam n black pleather to wrap tomorrow. Welded in the door seal supports and welded some thin sheet to the roof and sides. Now when I install the back window ill have a sealed cabin! Schweet! Pulled my air lines in the back and installed grommets. Fished the p switch wire and tank line thru the rear frame n into the cab. Unpinned the air ride harness connector, drilled a hole in the forward firewall, and ran my controller wire from cab to front trunk. Going to make a bracket to mount the manifold closer to the front firewall. Need room for groceries, planning to move the radiator and open up the front trunk area. A little sheet metal and a longer lower rad hose n im good. Need to weld in a threaded bung/nut (Huh Huh hey beavis, shem said bung) for the upper seatbelt mounts and the interior is ready for install. Dash is ready but I kinda dont like the cluster, n im still working out how to mount the heater control n vents.
Previous owner came by today w 2 friends to check out the car. Ones got a vette he wants me to do some fb work on. (nah lol) They were blown away w the look of the car from every angle. I showed him the pictures posted above of when it was at the smog shop so he could see what it looked like from far away. He didnt believe that was the same car, he thought I was showing him a pic of the real one lol. The look on his face was hilarious. They were just loving the car. Then I dropped the car on the ground and they were blown back 10+ feet instantly. Then They wanted to see the stang, after that I hadta wrap a few things up on the car n call it a day.
Waiting on 2 brass 45s to finish my airbag tank plumbing, post office musta lost my package was possed to be here thursday. Now one of the fittings that came w the sleeves is leaking. Gonna order them, take another week to show.
Got all my fittings and parts together to finish the tank plumbing, i have an outlet for air tools now
Installed a ford starter solenoid to fire off the compressors and 1 60a breaker. may need to run both breakers and separate #6 lines to each compressor. They pull way more juice at higher psi. Ran a switched wire from the dash to the p switch for control
Got my panels wrapped in pleather, was a bit of a stretch nyuk nyuk
Welded in bungholio and gave the inside a good sweeping to loosen all the dirt in the nooks n crannies. Gave it a good vacuuming, then installed the insuration
Then the panels and carpeta
Threw the dash in for shits n giggles, had to drop the column to get it to clear. prolly gonna redo the cluster and havent finished the lower vent section
Everything on this door lined up but the lower edge of the door vent, ground it down n boogered it up
Going to make a pick n pull run to get some interior goods. Then its off to small details again, running outta big stuff to do on the car. I have to put a new roof the toy hauler this week, homeboy at camping world almost fell thru lol
Lol No it means very cheap and resourceful. I made the lower vent area from a 1x6 pine and used a wooden steak lol to extend the cluster outwards. Had to overlap the covring but hid the seams pretty good. Dash didnt fit w both trim pieces in, was hitting the steering column. Opened that area up a smidge, should be nice and snug.
Threw a lil bondo on the outer ds scoop. Now im thinking about the headliner
Busy busy crazy busy, just not on the car lol. Too many other things going on. ew roof on the toy hauler, painted the house inside, did a buncha work on the stang, redrilled the fiero 20" wheels to go on the benzo, repiping some stuff under the house, and work picked up with the temps. I did make a headliner out of luan and installed the ds seat. My head hits the ceiling a wee bit. I cut the rear supports off the rails n cut the ear off n welded it to the rail frame. Saved 1/2-5/8" havent tried it yet. The headliner sits too low because of the roll bar. If the seat rail mod doesnt get me low enuf, I can cut the headliner before it goes under the roll bar and move the main section up a bit. Heres the boogered ps seat
Procrastinating on wiring the dash bigtime, thats a lotta wires to cut n paste. I at least wanna have the ds seat in so its semi comfy. Just remembered I forgot to run the boost gauge line to the motor. And wires for the stereo. Oh snap I forgot speakers!
Not much going on w the car, messed w it today a bit. Modified the headliner to give me a little more headroom, Now I can sit comfortably and not hit my head. Got most of the dash wiring done. Installed the radio and a temporary speaker to have tunes while I work. Bought some thick steel rod to make better door handle rods. Need to get sun visors and a upper console. I would like to put the ignition start panel in the upper console. Nothing pic worthy yet.
Threw a few hours at the car yesterday. Good amount of the wiring is done, still hunting down some wires. Seats and trims in.
Still a few pieces to wrap like the headliner, gauge pod, and door seal trims. Going to fab some panels that are similar to the f40 inner floor to mount my front speakers. Cleaned up n installed the door panels, will make new ones eventually and the back panel behind the seats.
Got the wife, son, n stepson in the car n let em play w the airbag controller. They loved it but I need a bigger air tank
Feels like ages since ive done anything on the car. I cut a notch in the headliner to to around the roll bar and I got just enuf headroom barely. Got most of the dash wired up, and somehow got the doors stuck. I thought the door panels were rubbing the b pillar covers I made, but on the ps side the door lock lever lever was stuck in the lock position. The drivers door I dunno, its half shut, wont shut all the way, and wont open. I had to move it a few days ago and got in dukes style. I think it was a bit easier than getting outta car thru the door. Its been raining waay too much lately and works picking up bigtime so no time for the car.
Thanks fellas! Not gonna lie that fb work sucked bigtime, I absolutely hate fb work. I had to ocd bigtime to focus and keep on getting it done before I burnt out. Still minor stuff left, I really wanted to see it pretty much done and w the interior in. Feels like a complete car now even just in primer. Still hunting for a good body guy, I found 1 shop thatll take it on for $8k. I wanna paint it myself thats why im trying to find a guy thatll come to my house and help me finish up so I can ask questions n learn. Still some lil things to fix n modify, but its kinda on hold for a wee bit. Getting all that fb done every spare second i could spare came at the cost of procrastinating on other things. Now im attacking all those things, tons of house stuffs in n outside, mustang stuff, toy hauler needed a new roof n some rafter rebuilding, doing the awning next few days n other trailer stuff, also started on the jetski work.
The interior came out pretty good, I dont have a lot of time in it. Lotsa details to do in there, but ill be focusing back on the exterior once the wirings done. Headliners still pretty toight, I can wear my shades on my head but if I hit a bump( cali roads suck so yeah) my headsa gonna be hurtin bigtime. N im kinda claustrophobic lol
Paint color, I still dunno. The silver looks good as does white, and everybodys got a red ferrari. But the car would look the best in red, I dont like red/never had a red car. But the gut says bigtime this car just HAS to be ferrari red. No rush on paint tho. In my life if ive ever paid someone to do something for me, they took waaaay too long, charged me waaay too much, n did such a shitty job I hafta do it myself. So Im reluctant to spend the 8k at that shop cuz I know ill see things they missed n be pissed. So no rush on the body, I want it pretty much poifect before it goes to paint.
This ones been on sale since before I got mine, this is the best the really high end kits looked. Mine was not one of these https://sfbay.craigslist.or...-2dr/6893055351.html those pics are motivation for what i done did, I wouldnt wanna drive that car.
Red is tried and true on the F40, that’s what I had and loved it. But yellow and black are also very good choices. Though with black you don’t notice certain things as much like divide line that wraps around the whole car.
Red is tried and true on the F40, that’s what I had and loved it. But yellow and black are also very good choices. Though with black you don’t notice certain things as much like divide line that wraps around the whole car.
Unless the bodywork is 100% perfect, I wouldn't recommend black as it will magnify any fault. Light colours like white or yellow will hide imperfections much better.
Yeah I gotta paint it red w black in the side groove. Im not a fan of red, 34 cars and none of em have been red. This cars gotta be red, black would hide too many things.
Got the door open yesterday! I knew it was lifes way of saying get to other stuff that needs doin. Pried the door skin from the door without cracking the fb, wedged my hand w an 8mm socket under the door latch and got the latch out. The rod I made was holding the lever down a bit so it couldnt reset. Took some serious nuts to shut the door again after all that trouble, but it works. So onto whatever im working on- I have laid 2 coats of fb on the rear fin thingies to make em fit the mods i did to the back bumper. Hopefully ill get something done this weekend.
Thats the same kit as engine mans car, theiriouth lithp too! Theiriouthly! Hes using a machine sander to block sand lol
Construction zone? We're not worthy! We're not worthy!
Got the passenger door latch working good w the old lever rod. I liked the way that works better so I did it to the drivers side. Ds outer handle works perfect now. I was running a rod from the latch to the door opener and it kept hitting and rubbing on stuff. Now the rod runs from the latch to the original handle(not fiero original where the builder put em)- and the handle has a cable that runs to the opener. Heres a pic of the door handle I broke and was in the process of replacing w a new one
Now the pass door doesnt wanna open so itll need a new thicker rod. Once those are working perfect, Ill take em to the locksmith n get some keys made. Kinda stuck on dash wiring. Need to run thru the manual again. Cant find the headlight n running light wires, will probably run new wires. Nah more fun hanging out w my kid lol
Seen that tums commercial where the food the guy ate comes back and beats the hell out of him? Thats how I feel about every part of this build not much went right or quickly lol
OK, I'm going to be straight up, blunt and honest here, just like I always am.
When you first started this thread I thought; " Oh God. Here comes another sad, pathetic "parade float" replica car build."
I frequently use the term "parade float" for most kit cars because that's exactly what they are; An odd, misshapen exterior over nothing worthwhile and comically underpowered.
I am very happy to be wrong about that assumption in your case.
You're doing some very nice work and seem to have a good eye for proper proportions, scale and "look" of the car that you're replicating. Most kit cars that are based on the Fiero chassis and even the VW chassis come off looking "cartoonish" and oddly shaped. Your F40 looks genuinely "F40ish". While you will obviously never have the drivetrain of the genuine car, if yours performs with proper "gusto" and has even remotely the appropriate sound, it will be a fantastic achievement.
Congratulations on your move to the Construction Zone. It's well deserved.
By the way, that thing would look awesome in painted in Ferrari "Fly" Yellow.
[This message has been edited by randye (edited 06-15-2019).]
Parade float hits the nail on the head lol, I always referred to it as one of those misshapen kids rides outside the supermarket. Those usually looked better than my car originally for sure. That yellow does look good but id always be kicking myself if I didnt paint it red. First at least lol.
Been doin some fb on the rear fins, installed the ds window motor today I bought ages ago. Window runs much smoother now. Came w some dinky lil bolts n nuts that were way too small to attach the motor to the door so i used some self tappers. Hammered out the door frame abit to make the door skin top sit outward more. Perfect, now it lines up w the quarter. I ordered a check engine light and a ebrake light for the dash, those came in today. Ill try to play w the dash wiring tomorrow.
Like looking in a mirror. 
