Today I worked on the 84. We where able to get the old motor out of the car and start swaping the parts over to the new one. as we did this we found several things that needed to be replaced as I expected, after all the car has sat for 10 years. anyway here are the pic's D.
I did not get any pic's yet but this morning I draged the cradle outside and power washed it and the trans. now I can see them I hate grease, I always like to reinstall nice clean parts rather than old nasty ones. the owner came by today to see his car and order a few more parts for it today as well. after that I worked on the blue 355 to get it done this week.
I have 2 other cars that also need work as well the first one AKA shorty is a resto project for a sweet 16 the other I got today is hear for new suspension (all of it) it wanders D.
Is the 4-banger going to be replaced with at least a dohc4 ?
no the owner bought the car new and wants it redone back to OE. complete resto project. drive train, paint & body everything I am doing a few upgrades but nothing major that will be seen. D.
no the owner bought the car new and wants it redone back to OE. complete resto project. drive train, paint & body everything I am doing a few upgrades but nothing major that will be seen. D.
Kudos to the owner. There is something special about originality.
yesterday I power washed the cradle and cleaned all the parts for the 84 and got it ready to go once I get all the parts. they will all be here friday all $1500 of them
I know some of you may not think the car is worth all of this but like I said before it is a one owner car and the guy plans on keeping it forever, also things add up when you let them set for 10 years.
here are some pic's of the new motor and the clean cradle.
also today I worked on the blue 355 as well. the new stearing column is going in today and I will finish up the wireing in the morning as well as trimming some parts to fit the new column. I had to make new brackets for this swap so rather than taking 12 hrs. to make several by hand I whent up the road and had several sets waterjetted. they look and work great. here is where I left off tonight on this car.
this pic is the stock column before I reworked the mounts to fit the Fiero
this is the one with the mounts installed.
and the new shaft adapter. this one I built by hand but I am working on having them made for me as well.
and here it is mounted in the car while I work on the wires
Today I started on the red 355 working on a few items that where sent over with the car while I wait for other parts due in next week. I was able to install the new slave cyl. and rebuild the shifter as well as install real Ferrari sun visors in the car. I also removed the old rear view mirror so I could install the Ferrari one of those as well.
on the 84 I am waiting on parts to show up, I hope by friday. any way here are some pic's from today D.
yesterday I got a bunch of parts for the 84 but I am missing the rear struts I ordered for it allong with a back ordered bushing kit but I have enough parts to start reinstalling the motor on the cradle. all the mounts where bad so that is what got done yesterday. the motor had a broken flex plate bolt so I will have to go monday morning to get a new one then I can install the motor back on the cradle.
the red 355 will be getting parts this next week.
the blue 355 will get an alignment and a bit more wire fixes then it will be going home this next weekend.
the Lambo is getting the wireing and the motor hooked back up so it will be a driver under it's own power.
other porjects that I have going this next week are an 86 polly suspension upgrade and I will be starting the 87 resto project AKA."Shorty"
I have a lot going on but it is all going well and I am having fun doing it. D.
Ok, so today we got the new motor and a tun of new parts installed on the 84 project. we also got the fuel tank droped this afternoon and it was full of bad gas and a bit of rust so I got it drained and will get it over to Eco clean to get it back to new. it will take about a week to get the tank back so for now we will get the motor installed and all hooked back up and wait for the tank to come back and while we have it out I will get a new fuel pump and sender unit to go in before we reinstall it.
on other news I am also redoing the suspension on an 86 with polly and new ball joints.
things around the shop are going well and I am having a great time doing this. D.
one other thing we installed on the 84 was a brand new all alu. Champion radiator 3 core. this is the same one that Archie uses for the v8 swaps. the owner wanted to upgrade his radiator with one that does a better job and was all metal he has had problems in the past with the plasic sides on the stock ones. I must tell you this thing is NICE!! all alu and all tig welded.
well gang things at the shop have been going crazy, in a great way! I have a lot of cars I am working on and a lot more calling and emailing me about work. I could not ask for more. I am trying to keep a steady flow of cars in and out but I did get a little slamed this last few weeks.
the other night I helped 2 fiero fans find each other to work a deal on a 308 Mera kit car. the new owner is having me do a few repairs and upgrades so I will keep you posted on them. here are a few shots of the car.
today I took it to get the emissions and it passed without any problems, now he can get the tag for it while I finish the other things on it.
on other news one of the local club members brought me his car to redo the entire suspension on his 86 with Polly. I was able to get it done this morning but I can tell you this I do not think my helper and I have ever been this dirty in our lives
I'd just like to thank Dean and say that he did an AWESOME job on my 86 SE! Its the white notchback he just posted, I took it in to get every bushing and balljoint replaced and to get a RCC anti-bumpsteer kit put on. The car is 100% solid now and its very smooth, I'd almost say it handles better and has a better ride than my '88 GT! The RCC kit completely eliminated the bumpsteer that plagued the car before, it handles similar to a '88 Fiero now except that it has slightly better turn-in and almost no understeer. My '88 has poly all around too and its in good condition so for me to say my '86 handles better is saying a lot. Dean did good work and the car is awesome now .
I'd just like to thank Dean and say that he did an AWESOME job on my 86 SE! Its the white notchback he just posted, I took it in to get every bushing and balljoint replaced and to get a RCC anti-bumpsteer kit put on. The car is 100% solid now and its very smooth, I'd almost say it handles better and has a better ride than my '88 GT! The RCC kit completely eliminated the bumpsteer that plagued the car before, it handles similar to a '88 Fiero now except that it has slightly better turn-in and almost no understeer. My '88 has poly all around too and its in good condition so for me to say my '86 handles better is saying a lot. Dean did good work and the car is awesome now .
thanks for the kind words, always great to hear.
things at the shop have been going great, I have lots of cars I am working on with more in the shop everyday
Tinton's car is done as well as the blue 355 that will be picked up this weekend. I will get some pic's outside before it goes. the red 355 parts will be here next week, I also just started on the Mera that we need to try and get done by next weekend for the new owner. the 84 is waiting to get the new drivetrain installed, we had to drop the fuel tank and send it out for cleaning so once that comes back I will get that car back together. and the Diablo project is getting all the drivetrain hooked back up to be a runner again then we will move on to making all the mounting for the body. D.
I whent to the shop this morning to finish the Blue 355 for pick up sunday. it was just a lot of little things like fixing wireing, wheel wells, interior, lights etc. the one realy cool thing he had me install was a set of HID lights for fog lights here are some pictures of some of the car I was working on. D.
the top is all done and folded down now he just needs to get it covered.
and some pic's of the HID fog lights.
all water tight and ready to go.
one of the cars up next will be an 87 notchie AKA. Shorty that will have it's own thread for the young lady that owns it to follow it will be a resto project. with a few little things added for her.
Today we got back to work on the 308 Mera. we had a laundry list of little fixes as well as a few upgrades to get done on the car and not much time to do them. the hardest part was getting the parts here in time to get them installed and I was able to get almost all of it done today with the execption of the AC charge I will get done in the morning and the Mr. Mikes seats that will be to me Friday that I will need to install asap so the new owner can pick the car up friday afternoon.
some of the upgrades we did where Air Horns, Momo steering wheel with a real Ferrari horn, recovered the map pocket (no more Fiero logo) and the Mr. Mikes seats (on the way) here are some pic's of those few things. D.
Oh and I whent to Ferrari Atl. to get the tag frame as well
Just out of curiosity, where in Woodstock is your shop located? I live off of Arnold Mill between it and East Cherokee. Might be fun to stop by and see what you're up to!
------------------ Rod Schneider, Woodstock, Ga. "You can't have too many toys!" 1988 Fiero GT 1985 Porsche 944 1966 Porsche 911 Van's RV-6 airplane-under construction
Just out of curiosity, where in Woodstock is your shop located? I live off of Arnold Mill between it and East Cherokee. Might be fun to stop by and see what you're up to!
Come by anytime, my shop is at 526 Industrial dr. Woodstock, Ga. 30066 it is by Dixie speedway just off HW 92 west of HW 575 D.
Had a big day today first thing this morning I took the 308 to get the AC charged and got pulled over, LOL! (no tag) because the new owner bought it at my shop and had me do some work on it before he comes to pick it up fri. any way I did not get a ticket the cop just wanted to lok at the car after that we got back to the shop and worked on the 84. we where able to get the drive train installed, rear brakes re built and the rear struts. I had to take the tank to be cleaned and lined and I will be picking it up in the morning. I am still waiting for the bushing set that is on backorder for the car and once it comes in we will get it installed and get the car running and ready for a few test drives to make sure everything is working. D.
well after a week of craming to get the Mera done before the weekend I was able to get it done and the owner came by and picked it up. here are some final pic's of it. D.
the Mr. Mikes seats showed up this afternoon and I was able to get them installed.
Lot's of nice work on the prancing horses. Any progress on the raging bull?
yea, a little bit more. we are still fitting the body to the chassis and cutting it it make it fit. also we have been working on hooking up all the wires and hoses back to the engine so it will be a driver again. D.
Nice work! Anymore pics of that gunmetal and black rimmed Fiero I see a little of? It looks like a nice one.
That is my DD project. I did a quick custom body on my car so I could take it to the shows and club events to help promote my shop. I know the Daytona thread has some as well as the st.Patty parade and soo some from the Dells. this year I will build a new one for next year. D.
Just got in the body parts I was waiting for on the 355 so once I get back from the Dells I will get started on them. I also just got some pic's of another project AKA Shorty that has it's own thread. D.
Today we did something new. we worked on the trailer to get it ready for the Dells but we also did a custom mod on it as well. the trailer works great but it did have a flaw when you load a car as low as a Fiero you can not open the doors of the car to get out. it would hit the fender so we fixed it. this is what we did and it works great. D.
and the best shot of the day for those that don't know my car is about as low as you can get without draging from the ground to the bottom of the door my car is only 8-1/4" so we cut the fender at 7-1/2".
just got back from the Dells, I love that show, even more now thanks all
well today it was back to work at the shop. the purple paint project is almost all the way in primer now and I took the windshield out today for the painter.
also I got the gas tank back for the 84 resto so it will be installed as well as finish the motor connections. she should be running tomarrow then we need to redo the suspension bushings and a few other things. D.
work at the shop is back in full swing today. first off we where able to get the fuel tank back in the car and finish the intire motor. now I just need to get some gas and get it started in the morning
here is a pic. from the 84
and the other project we are working on is a repaint and some tune up work on another fiero.
the car has been striped body worked, sanded and now in primer. is should be ready for paint next week. I will keep you posted on this one it will look great soon.
after I posted this update I read threw a few other threads, I will not say what ones. but I wanted to say this....
I know some of my posts may be a bit boring to some just because they are not always custom work. the reason I do this is to keep my customers up to date on the progress of their cars. it may not mean much to some but to them it is always great to see the progress of a loved one. I will always do this because for me pictures a worth a thousand words and I can not bluff them on what has or has not been done yet. on top of this I even send more detailed emails and phone calls no less than weekly.
I can do just about anything you want to a Fiero from a tune up to a full custom and my door is always open even if I have to come in on sunday.
with that said, I feel for the people that have taken their cars to others that have not done anything but take money from them. I started my shop because I love Fieros and Iove the fact that I can get up everyday and do what I love and meet other people that feel the same.
I had to rant, now I am done. D.
[This message has been edited by whodeanie (edited 06-09-2010).]
Back up I hope I never run across someone speaking bab about whodeanie. I found him by chance and I'm glad I did. Thanks Dean for taking on another Fiero project when I know u have more than u can chew.
Hi Dean I know at the dells I asked what V8 I should get but the LS3 is a little pricey. So what would be another selection just a little cheaper? I know I sound cheap but you know I have other bigger plans with my money. My wife like your price on the chop top and wide body so you will be doing it but not anytime this year. Thanks Jesse
P.S. I do like what you did to the trailer.
[This message has been edited by 88lambofiero (edited 06-10-2010).]
Back up I hope I never run across someone speaking bab about whodeanie. I found him by chance and I'm glad I did. Thanks Dean for taking on another Fiero project when I know u have more than u can chew.
Thanks All! for the great feedback.
no one was talking bad about me, I was talking about another vendor who I will not name.
I am glad to see you signed up as a member here. the info you can find here is great and it will let you see other ideas for your project, (like a paint color! ) LOL! but you still have time D.
on another note.... the 355 rear I made for my car that so many people are asking about. I will be starting the plug this week but it will have to be worked on as I can but I hope to have the plug done soon. I will keep you all posted. D.
I just got back from a trip to west shore fab. this weekend to hang out with Erik. I had a great time and learned a lot about what goes into his parts. some times we take for granted what it takes to make parts for our loved little cars but I will say this they do not cut corners on them at all. all the parts are made with DOM tube and the welding is top notch here are a few pic's from the trip, he took me to see a clasic car collection out in the middle of no where in barns it was great! D.
I just posted my DD project in the Mall for sale. now that I am done with the shows for this year I need to sell her so I can start a new one for next year PM me with any questions. I am asking 8000 for her. D.
I hate grease, I always like to reinstall nice clean parts rather than old nasty ones. the owner came by today to see his car and order a few more parts for it today as well. after that I worked on the blue 355 to get it done this week.
There is something special about originality. 
