Since I sold Little Red Fred (my ’85 SE), I’ve decided to devote more time to OrchidWild’s BlackDragon. Bit of background on this car: It is an ’86 SE with a 4 speed muncie and a 2.8 with custom exhaust. We purchased this car from a forum member several months ago.
Loaded up the family in the Durango, drove to North Carolina and looked at the car.. handed over the cash, then drove it back to Kentucky. OrchidWild has a fit with the car on the trip back. The clutch pedal was bent and starting out of the toll booths was.. well, interesting
First thing we did when we got back was order a new clutch pedal from The Fiero Store and install that. Bleed the clutch, bleed it again.. and again.. now she shifts much better.
OrchidWild took to working on minor improvements to the interior.. such as seat covers, floor mats, steering wheel cover, etc. We also ordered a new shift knob from http://www.flameball.com. She’s decided that the theme of her car is going to be dragons. Hence the name..
make a few measurements and start cutting. I decided to use a rotery tool (dremel style) to do the cutting. I picked up a 5 pack of rotery cutting bits at wal-mart. This pack has 2 dry wall bits, 2 general bits, and 1 carbide bit. I recommend that if you go this route, you use the general bits and not the carbide bit. I tried the carbide bit for about 2 inches of cut.. due to the shape of the bit, it bounces quite a bit and makes a fairly rough cut.
The cutting is compete and now there's a hole in her deck lid where the hump used to be.. It should be noted at this point, that basically all I did, was remove the hump out of the deck lid. The scoop it actually quite a bit larger than the hole I cut.
The rear of the scoop as it covers the hole
Now, the scoop itself came with the car when we bought it. The previous owner never put it on. Can't say that I really blame him as it's kinda rough and not as good of a fit as I had hoped..
That's ok.. just means I need to massage the scoop abit before I start laying glass down..
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12:15 AM
datacop Member
Posts: 1426 From: Indianapolis, IN, USA Registered: Jan 2004
The kids of course want to help.. here we are turning the deck lid around so that we can see what the front of the scoop will look like..
The front fits much better than the rear.. so that's a good thing. Like I said earlier.. the scoop is rough and not finished at all... It will be a fully functioning scoop once it's glassed in and finished.
Some things I've learned while doing this so far..
1. Wear a friggin mask.. that dust gets everywhere.. 2. use a general rotery cutting bit and not a carbide bit.. the cuts will be smoother. 3. Don't worry about being 100% perfect with your cuts.. it's easy to block sand them straight once the hump is out 4. Make sure you give your rotery tool a break.. cutting through the deck lid is a workout and they get rather hot. 5. Don't worry about removing the metal on the under side of the hump.. your rotery tool won't be anywhere near it. 6. The dust gets everywhere
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12:21 AM
Jun 14th, 2004
datacop Member
Posts: 1426 From: Indianapolis, IN, USA Registered: Jan 2004
Well, in a typical day(s) around the datacop household...
I started a project on one day.. expecting to be able to work on it the next two days to finish it up.. and it just didn't happen.
With any luck.. I'll be able to devote some time over the next few days to finish it up.
I still have to sand the hole smooth.. cut the front of the scoop to open it up, massage the back of the scoop to make it fit, glass the scoop to the deck lid.. then do the finish work, prime and paint.
I'm going to go ahead and go wingless for now until I can afford to get the 5" wing stands.. so I'll be glassing in those holes as well.
I decided that I'm not going to finish this until I can afford to buy the proper tools to do the job right... that being the case, I went ahead and bolted the deck lid back onto the car so that I can drive it again.
while it does look very rough.. you can easily see the overall concept (scoop, wingless) and I have to admit, It looks pretty sharp.
I have a few more pictures to post.. will take care of that when I get home tonigt.
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01:59 PM
chester Member
Posts: 4063 From: State of insanity...moved in and comfortably numb... Registered: Jun 2001
I decided that I'm not going to finish this until I can afford to buy the proper tools to do the job right... that being the case, I went ahead and bolted the deck lid back onto the car so that I can drive it again.
while it does look very rough.. you can easily see the overall concept (scoop, wingless) and I have to admit, It looks pretty sharp.
I have a few more pictures to post.. will take care of that when I get home tonigt.
Slacker j/k
Yeah, I'm one to talk...hey, at least I got ONE or them running...
Post 'em pics.
Rob D.
------------------ The Dirty Rat Chopped, dropped and just plain NASTY! Choptop Targa #1 383 Stroker MPFI with N2O 1" Drop 3" Chop 11" Brakes 19" Motegi Roja's wrapped in BFGoodrich Gforce T/A KDW-2 rubber RCC Coilover Suspension Updated Jan 21 '04 www.dirtyratracing.org
[This message has been edited by chester (edited 06-21-2004).]
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07:50 PM
PFF
System Bot
datacop Member
Posts: 1426 From: Indianapolis, IN, USA Registered: Jan 2004
The deck lid is off the car again tonight.. We purchased a 5" orbital sander to help me out with finishing the project. Where I'm at currently:
1. I rough dry sanded the whole decklid at 80 grit with the orbital sander
2. Washed the decklid with McGuiers autowash and let it air dry
3. Filled all the seams and low points with bondo and let it cure for 2 hours
4. Came back and dry sanded the bondo with the orbital sander at 80 grit, then feathered at 180 grit
5. I then wet sanded the whole deck lid by hand at 400 grit
6. After wet sanding.. I took it back out side and rinsed it VERY well and let it air dry.
7. Sprayed 2 coats of grey primer via rattle can.
Currently, drying:
Once those are dry, I'm going to wet sand the primer at 800 grit and spray another coat of primer on it and wet sand the primer the final time. Then I'll be ready to lay down base coat.
I don't have any pictures Of the earlier work.. (kids stole the batteries out of the camera for their gameboys )
[This message has been edited by datacop (edited 07-03-2004).]
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04:57 AM
chester Member
Posts: 4063 From: State of insanity...moved in and comfortably numb... Registered: Jun 2001
------------------ The Dirty Rat Chopped, dropped and just plain NASTY! Choptop Targa #1 383 Stroker MPFI with N2O 1" Drop 3" Chop 11" Brakes 19" Motegi Roja's wrapped in BFGoodrich Gforce T/A KDW-2 rubber RCC Coilover Suspension Updated Jan 21 '04 www.dirtyratracing.org
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06:56 AM
jron Member
Posts: 298 From: South Lyon, Michigan USA Registered: Dec 2001
Nope.. no mesh... gonna leave it open. The functional hole in the deck lid is about 6 inches back from the opening of the scoop.. so I don't feel it's nessessary at this point.
I pooched the first application of color.. so I sanded it back down.. this gave me the chance to apply some more body filler in spots that I had missed (and wouldn't have redone).
Here is the second attempt at color... you're looking at 4 coats of Rustolieum "High Gloss Black" automotive paint. if you HAVE to do a rattle can paint job, then this is what I recommend. The nozzle on the can is setup to spray a fan pattern instead of a circle pattern.. the paint lays down MUCH smoother.
Next up: allow the base coat plenty of time to setup.. then start on the clear coat applications. I can already tell.. this is gonna be a 5 foot paint job.. but considering it's rattle can.. I can't complain... Over the winter.. Orchidwild is gonna let me start investing in some larger tools (compressor, etc, etc) so this spray job will hold us over until then
[This message has been edited by datacop (edited 07-04-2004).]
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03:01 PM
Jul 6th, 2004
datacop Member
Posts: 1426 From: Indianapolis, IN, USA Registered: Jan 2004
What did I learn doing this? 1. Make sure that you ALWAYS start with a quality product before you begin. Had I been wiser, I would have realized that the scoop was an absolute trash product and I wouldn't have even made the first cut. Because the scoop was bad to begin with, I was forced to use an excessive amount of fiberglass to fill in the gaps left. This made filling an almost impossible task.
2. Make sure you have the right tools for the job. Don't try to block out your paint with your fingers acting as a sanding block. you will not be able to get a smooth finish.
3. take your time on the glass and filler work. 90% of a quality paint job is done before the first coat of primer is laied down. Don't skimp on that step.
4. No matter how hard you try.. you won't get a smooth paint job with a rattle can. it will always orange peel on you. If you do use a rattle can, then the orange peel can be minimized by waiting for the paint to properly setup and harden.. then taking a high speed buffer to the paint (dry lambs wool bonnet) to "melt and smooth" the paint. be EXTRA carefull with this.. as you can gouge the paint.
5. See step 3 again.. and again.. and again..
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06:29 PM
datacop Member
Posts: 1426 From: Indianapolis, IN, USA Registered: Jan 2004
Step 1: sand the door tabs down with 800 grit paper to smooth out all the uneven spots from the manufacturing process Step 2: sand the door tabs down again with 1500 grit paper to cut out the 800 grit sand marks Step 3: dry buff with a terry cloth bonnet on the buffer to bring the tabs to a gloss Step 4: paint with a single strand of wire and testers model paint Step 5: dry the paint with a hair dryer Step 6: once the paint is dry, buff again with a terry cloth bonnet on the buffer to bring the testers paint to a gloss Step 7: clear coat the tabs (rattle can) with a fairly heavy coat Step 8: dry the clear coat with a hair dryer on HIGH heat. The use of the dryer will smooth the clear coat and leave them VERY glossy without the need to buff (this equates to baking painted pieces in an oven)
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11:08 PM
Aug 26th, 2004
datacop Member
Posts: 1426 From: Indianapolis, IN, USA Registered: Jan 2004
Pioneer Premier system with CD changer and whatnot.. For some reason.. now my tail light fuse keeps blowing. Been trying to debug that, but no idea where to actually start
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12:21 PM
Oct 7th, 2004
datacop Member
Posts: 1426 From: Indianapolis, IN, USA Registered: Jan 2004
*super secret hidden bump to keep this out of the archives*
I pulled out the stereo equipment (well, head unit and external reciever) at the last bluegrass fiero meet. I believe that when I wired up the external reciever (the head unit doesn't actually have a radio in it.. just a controller.. the reciever bits are in an add-on component) I grounded out a hot switched side of things.
But that doesn't make sense either.. The radio worked fine.. it was only when I turned on the lights that the fuse blew....
I wanted to be done today 
j/k
