As most of you know I had my '88 coupe recently painted by Brian (vtfiero) in Burlington VT. I am so pleased with the results that I wanted to share with you all the major process that he had to go through to help create my Bengal Fiero. This guy is amazing and the incredible work that he did on my Fiero is simply awesome! Thanks again Brian. I LOVE it!!! I would also like to thank Alayne for helping me make this Fiero become a reality. Thanks Hon.
There are many many pictures so dial-up users beware.
OK, first off some "before" pics - Here is how it looked last fall when Alayne and I first took pocession of the '88:
Jumping ahead to this spring (notice some snow still in the yard) -
I started to clean it up:
Next, Brian (vtfiero) and I begin a few PM and e-mail conversations...
Steve
[This message has been edited by Fiero5 (edited 06-08-2005).]
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11:46 AM
PFF
System Bot
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
We were deciding via e-mail how we would get the Fiero to look like a Bengal car as the pickings of other examples off the net were pretty slim. The only major pics I could find of anything similar with Bengal Tiger stripes was the famous GTO "TamelessTiger" drag car owned by Arnie "the Farmer" Beswick: and a few pics of a Tiger striped painted fighter jet. Then one day during all of this my daughter Tarrah e-mails me this pic: This is a race car that was on loan to be be used for some tests by some of the students in the auto shop at Clemson University to play around with and while it was there the students got permission to paint it. The colleges sport team being the Clemson Tigers and all...
So, now we had an actual picture of the type of look that we wanted for my Bengal Fiero.
Here it is now getting ready to make the trip to Burlington VT:
My Dad (87V6GT) and I dropped off the '88 to Brian for the week long process of getting it painted. The next series of pics are ones taken by Brian as I asked if he could document the painting process so we could then share that here on PFF, as well as, with others who may be interested (like where I work) and have a build up of pics to be able to also put in a photo album to take to shows so others may appreciate what actually went into making this unique look. Here is my '88 sitting in the large garage getting ready to be sanded:
Then the intense sanding begins:
[This message has been edited by Fiero5 (edited 06-08-2005).]
------------------ 1985 2m4 Saskatoon, Sask Canada Visit the Saskatoon Fiero Club Website at http://www.freewebs.com/saskatoonfieros/ Come chat with us at our Forum http://saskfiero.suddenlaunch.com/
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11:54 AM
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
You can see in this pic that the previous owner had started to make the hood scoop vents functional. Brian and I during the many discussions about my '88 agreed that the new look of this Fiero was going to be so unique that the hood scoop vents had to be functional. More sanding pics showing just how important it is to get the old paint scuffed up and ready for the primer/base coat and paint:
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12:07 PM
sonic50 Member
Posts: 3873 From: All over the USA Registered: Aug 2004
Once the Fiero is entirely masked off the base coat is sprayed: Looks almost like a gun metal paint job right now
Now, we had some discussion on how exactly we wanted to accomplish the black Bengal stripes. The easiest way of course would have been to just spray the whole Fiero orange and then simply put on black vinyl stripes. We saw a few problems with doing that. One, would we put the decal stripes on the car and then clear coat over everything or clear coat the whole car and then put the stripes on. We were not sure just how well the vinyl would react to the clear coat and I didn't like the idea of vinyl anyway, especially if it was on the surface of the car as over time the vinyl would chip and get brittle especially after many cleanings and buffings. So Brian decided to do something pretty unique. He would spray the whole Fiero a shiny coat of black first:
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12:24 PM
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
Now the orange paint is applied: It took quite a few coats of orange to cover up the black. Anyone who has ever painted a lighter color over a darker color knows how that works Then the lower white was sprayed on to give it even more of a true Tiger look:
Now the Fiero sits to make sure that the paint is totally dry before Brian attempts to start peeling off the vinyl stripes.
Later with the orange paint totally dry the peeling off of the stripes begins: The Bengal Fiero now begins to truly show itself..
[This message has been edited by Fiero5 (edited 06-07-2005).]
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01:22 PM
PFF
System Bot
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
Oooooohhhhh a DeLorean!!!! Paint looks good, too I like how the white fades into the orange like it does on a real tiger. You can tell a lot of work went into that paint job.
Here are some after pics when Brian pulled it outside when it was all painted to send me some finished images to hold me over until we could drive back up and pick it up: Since some of you seem to like the Delorean here are a few Brian took of my Tiger Fiero with the Delorian:
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11:51 AM
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
Here is one with the doors closed on the Delorean: As you can see this is still before I had the dual exhaust put on and finished getting my new fat white lettered tires installed all around:
Then Alayne and I drove back up to pick up my newly painted baby: Alayne posing with it as we got to see it finally in person for the first time! A shot of Alayne sitting in the Delorian: Brian was just finishing cleaning up some of the little overspray it had on the inside of the hood: A shot of Brian and I as Alayne and I were now ready to head out back to NH in my '88:
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12:02 PM
AaronZ34 Member
Posts: 2322 From: Colorado Springs, CO Registered: Oct 2004
Looks like a good quality paint job. The only thing body wise I would have done was to put the factory sunroof clip in. Not a fan of the smaller sunroofs. Never the less car looks a lot different than the last time I saw it posted. Now you need to bring it to some Cincinnati football games
------------------ 88GT 3.4SC 88GT T-TOP 87GT VERT (build in progress) 86SE 85 COUPE
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01:19 PM
PFF
System Bot
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
Yikes! Don't worry, I am not ever planning on doing that :wow:
Back to the build up pics. Here it is back home and the engine and surrounding area starting to get painted and detailed:
The next day was pretty cool as I took it to work (Hanover High School): Also a good pic for those who think I might be one of those likes to park incorrectly with a vehicle/paint job like this.... Anyway, not soon after I was at work I had some students and staff who were asking me if I had driven this particular one of mine in specifically on that day on purpose? I was like why, whats so special about this Friday? The day after I picked up my Tiger Fiero (Thursday) and was able to drive it to work it just so happened to also be the same day that the latest Mac OS X "Tiger" version was officially released by Apple. LOL Talk about a bizaar coincidence. Here is a cool overhead shot from out one of the upper floor classrooms:
[This message has been edited by Fiero5 (edited 06-08-2005).]
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01:31 PM
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
The only thing body wise I would have done was to put the factory sunroof clip in. Not a fan of the smaller sunroofs.
I agree. I am not a huge fan of the smaller aftermarket ones either. It was just a time factor. I realized that to get the parts and then the time to install the better stock sunroof would have delayed geting the Fiero on the road for many months. I guess at some time I could still do the swap and then just pay the cost to have Brian redue that part of the car.
quote
Never the less car looks a lot different than the last time I saw it posted. Now you need to bring it to some Cincinnati football games
Thanks. I would love to be able to take it to at least one Cinci game, maybe early this fall before the crappy weather sets in I think that would be a blast
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01:36 PM
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
Later on after it had been home for a bit it was then time to focus some attention on the interior. The interior wasn't bad but it certainly wasn't anything great either. So, Alayne and I started finding Tiger material and at the same time I started the grueling task of peeling off the carpeted material heavily glued onto the inner door panels: They sure glued them down well..I had quite a few calluses on my hands after doing both panels. Then using the old pulled off inner door panel carpeting material as a template Alayne started cutting the Tiger fabric to make the custom replacements: She picked up some special backing material to make it thicker and a bit more stiff and to have something on the back of the material to put the glue on for when being glued down onto the door panel. This backing material is attached to the fabric by ironing it on: She then rolled over the edges of the material with a sewing machine to give it a finished look. Then it was time to make sure everything lined up to the door panel correctly:
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01:41 PM
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
With the new custom sections now firmly glued onto the inner door panels it was time to reinstall them and see how they actually looked in the car. First the passengers: Then the drivers:
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01:52 PM
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
After checking many of the local and not so local car parts stores, surfing the internet and searching eBay I ended up ordering these from some obsecure internet company: The steering wheel cover seemed like a good idea at the time but as soon as I had it on the steering wheel I decided maybe not.
This was now around the same time that Alayne picked up her blue '87 coupe from Mark Webber (indyyellowGT) and not soon after we had a local cruise-in come up, so off we went and met up with my Dad and his 87 blue GT :
Not soon after was Carlisle and we had reservations to go and everything but then at the last minute something came up, so we decided as not lose out on going to any shows that weekend we went to the Merrimack show instead. I was wanting to do something extra special on my Tiger Fiero and decided to give air brushing a shot. So, my Dad pulled out an old air brush set he had and after shopping for paints I air brushed a Tigers head onto the inside of my hood. I drove to my Dads so I could use his air compressor and I forgot my digital camera so as soon as my Mom gets the pics developed that she took while I was air brushing it will post them here. This is what it looked like though right after I was done:
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03:25 PM
Heretic Member
Posts: 1102 From: Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. Registered: Aug 2001
You probably dont want me to tell you how to remove the door carpets in less than 5 minutes. I just re carpeted mine. It took longer to remove the map pocket than the carpet.
Lighter fluid. it softens up the carpet adhesive. Then I let it set overnight. Works like a charm.
Lighter fluid. it softens up the carpet adhesive. Then I let it set overnight. Works like a charm.
I figured there was probably a better way but lighter fluid? Wouldn't that make the door panel smell bad afterwards? How do you get the smell out after dowsing it with lighter fluid?
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09:53 AM
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
I figured there was probably a better way but lighter fluid? Wouldn't that make the door panel smell bad afterwards? How do you get the smell out after dowsing it with lighter fluid?
i thought that too. But I tried it anyways. Maybe letting it set overnight helped. There's no noticable smell in the car. IIRC, I got the idea from Mr Mike many years ago. I figured he's done this before.
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11:47 AM
AaronZ34 Member
Posts: 2322 From: Colorado Springs, CO Registered: Oct 2004
A - Overall Length 166.0 B - Wheel Base 95.0 C - Height (Door Open) 77.2 D - Height (Door Closed) 44.9 E - Width 73.1 F - Track - Front 62.6 G - Track - Rear 62.8 H - Ground Clearance - Front 5.6 J - Ground Clearance - Rear 6.1 (all dimensions inches)
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02:18 PM
Fiero5 Member
Posts: 8882 From: Arecibo, PR Registered: Jun 2000
i thought that too. But I tried it anyways. Maybe letting it set overnight helped. There's no noticable smell in the car. IIRC, I got the idea from Mr Mike many years ago. I figured he's done this before.
Well then, I guess if it's good enough for Mr. Mike...
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02:18 PM
Doug Chase Member
Posts: 1487 From: Seattle area, Washington State, USA Registered: Sep 2001
Who's rally cars are those in the background? They look like John Buffum's Hyundais.
Does Brian do the paint for him?
Not just paint, they build the whole car. They actually get these cars shipped in brand new on car haulers and then tear them apart and build the rally cars from the ground up.
I like how the white fades into the orange like it does on a real tiger. You can tell a lot of work went into that paint job. 
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