What better way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of a Fiero pacing the Indy 500 than to buy a pace car replica? I bought the Indy that was in the Mall from Bosuch. https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum4/HTML/020093.html

He was about to part it out, so I feel like I saved an Indy from the crusher. It's seen better days, but it drove up onto my trailer under it's own power.

I think I'm going to keep it all original. This is an authentic Y82 Indy so I don't want to mess with it. I have no idea how a Florida car can have so much rust, but it appears to be fixable within my skills and ability. A firebird dash would look good in there, but been there done that, bought the T-shirt

The paperwork shows the engine got a total rebuild less than 5,000 miles ago, the bad news is that was 11 years ago. It's running kind of rough now, maybe after a tune up it will be fine. We'll see.

- Jonathan

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If you find my advice useful, then please give me a positive rating, thanks...

1988 GT (Firebird Interior),1988 Coupe (Daily Driver), 1985 SE (Project Car), 1985 Coupe (parts car), Firebird Interior Installation Website

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 09-01-2004).]

Oh man! Way to go! Wish I had it. I had one but the frame was bent (t-boned) and it had to much rust! (it was an Indiana-Michigan car) I kept all the Indy items (fenders,interior,badges) and there now on my '87 GT! I have a line on 1 but waiting for the goof ball to come down on the price. He wants $4000 for an Indy that needs full resto!

Keep us updated on your newest project and yes, keep it original!

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Welcome to the Madness!

I know a good psychotherapist when you are ready.

quote Originally posted by Convertable Indy: Keep us updated on your newest project and yes, keep it original!

Thanks...I really didn't need another project right now either...

If anyone has Indy parts they are wanting to get rid of then let me know. I'm not even sure what I need at this point, except I need to have the seats re-upholstered.

Can't wait to see it finished !! Good luck & have fun with it.

How long do you think this project will take ?

quote Originally posted by CoolBlue87GT: Can't wait to see it finished !! Good luck & have fun with it. How long do you think this project will take ?

It's not how long it's how much...Congrats!!!
We are here to help!!!

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85 SE (My first love)
84 Indy 4 Speed
84 Indy Auto 43,000 miles

I have no idea how long before I can declare the Indy finished...maybe before the 25th Anniversary? I have three other projects in line ahead of this one.

First the engine needs some attention. There are no belts, either a bad alternator or water pump. Then I need to go over the engine with a fine tooth comb. Once it's running right I can focus on the cosmetics of making it look like an Indy again.

I may need some help, the 84 is a mystery to me, I've spent my whole Fiero career under the hood of 88s.

While I'm going through Chop Top withdrawal I decided to work on the Indy.

My goal is to have the Indy road worthy and out of the garage by the time the Chop Top comes home...which is about three weeks from now. The cosmetics will be handled in Phase II

First the good news. After the car has been started several times the engine has calmed down quite a bit and is now purring like a kitten. Still it has no belts. The previous owner thought the alternator might be bad. I'm taking no chances and replacing all the belt driven accessories, (alt, water pump, a/c)

Now the bad news, after getting in there I see the battery tray is badly rusted, and the dogbone is shot. So in addition to bet driven accessories I have a new battery tray and dogbone.

The body rust doesn't appear as bad as I expected. There is a lot of rust up front but it appears largely superficial. I still may have to weld on some parts but it's not the primary structure. And I need to get the headlight motors working. I have a replacement for the left but I don't have a right one yet. I have lost three auctions in a row on eBay for the right. What's up with that? Are the right one's more prone to failure?

Finally for phase I, I removed the seats and I am going to temporarily replace them with seats from my 85, while the Indy seats are being recovered. I'm also going to put on some temporary wheels while I refinish the wheels. Oh yeah, while the seats are out I have to replace the e-brake cable. The car is a manual and I won't pass inspection without it.

And I think that's about all I need to get the Indy on the road. Next will come the body work necessary before I can have it repainted. Then the decals and I will be done...

Well not really there are still a bunch of other minor issues on the interior. But on this car I'm doing the interior last

- Jonathan

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1988 GT (Firebird Interior),1988 Coupe (Daily Driver), 1985 SE (Project Car), 1985 Coupe (parts car), Firebird Interior Installation Website

good idea, those interior parts are not cheep!

Cool, that's way more progress than I would have had time to make! :-)

Bill

I love the inside of the car.

I like the Indy Interior as well. I intend to make it all original and I have new respect for CoolBlueGT, it's hard to keep a car all original

I keep wanting to buy upgraded this and upgraded that and I have to stop myself.

quote Originally posted by jscott1: My goal is to have the Indy road worthy and out of the garage by the time the Chop Top comes home...which is about three weeks from now. [IMG] Still it has no belts. The previous owner thought the alternator might be bad. I'm taking no chances and replacing all the belt driven accessories, (alt, water pump, a/c)

Remember the picture above? ...well I have made a little progress, but I'm not going to achieve my goal of having it roll out of the garage by the time ole choppy returns.

Maybe a couple of weeks after that.

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1988 GT (Firebird Interior),1988 Fastback (4.9 Chop-top #1 of 1), 1984 Indy...Firebird Interior Installation Website

Thi Indy rolled out of the garage today...about two months behind schedule. The goal was to be out of the garage by the time the chop top came home and I missed that badly. There were many more things that I needed to fix than I anticipated, (sunroof attacment mechanism, headliner, dew wipes, mirrors, etc) and I haven't even started on the cosmetic yet. It's temporarlily wearing Proud-1's original wheels until the Indy wheels are refinished. The seats need to be recovered, etc.

I got a temporary registration and insurance so I could test drive it. The real disappointment is after the first test drive I see it needs new struts badly, shocks are nearly gone too. The brakes need attention as well. It's going to be a little while longer before it's 100% street legal.

Look who is anxiously awaiting his turn in the garage:

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 11-13-2004).]

Good buy. It looks like you should have it done in no time flat.

Have you gotten any comments from your neighbors seeing that waiting to go back into the garage?

No comments but a lot of looks. My neighbors are pretty used to seeing Fieros come and go at my house by now.

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 11-13-2004).]