Finale Roadster Build Thread (Page 1/5) jstricker MAR 21, 09:57 PM I'm going to leave this in general because I'm not going to get into specifics for the most part on how we did things. I'll more focus on WHY we did some of the things we did and what was behind what we did. But before we can do that, we have to go back. Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, an idea was born on PFF and with Archie to make a Roadster version of the Finale. I liked the looks of it even though I know it's a completely and totally impractical car. From that thread, this was the inspiration......... That's the image that piqued my interest and I was looking for something new to build. I called Archie and we talked about it and he started getting the molds ready for the first customer car. In the meantime, I was looking for a donor. I had a couple of chassis around, but didn't want a V6 powered car. Then I remembered that a few months before that, a kid had called wanting to sell me his V8 SBC powered project that he couldn't finish. I posted a thread about that car at the time in then mall but nobody was interested at his (admittedly too high for the condition) asking price. I couldn't find his number to call him back, but while I was thinking about it he called ME back and asked if I knew of anyone as he needed the money and was willing to negotiate. $1,000 and a few weeks later and I had the beginnings of the project. Not a real looker at this point. An '86 SE that had a 4 cylinder in it orginally, no power accesories, just a regular old 5 spd 4 cylinder car. The engine was a fresh overhauled 355 (I was told) with a single 4bbl Holley and an Archie Economy kit. Not what most here would call a "clean install" and it was worse the harder you looked. The valve cover off was a tipoff that they were having problems getting it running, for good reason, as we found out later. Not only was the interior a truly lovely sight to behold but it had that wonderful "lived in" by many rodents aroma. When we got it home, we put it on the hoist and dropped the cradle. I'm not going to go into what all was done wrong because, well, it was pretty much everything. We just started over and pretended they hadn't done anything at all. The reason they were having trouble starting the engine was because they had used a Cloyes true roller timing set. These are set up with three marks on the crank and cam gear, each gear having a square, triangle, and circle on them. One is to line up with 0° advance/retard, one is advanced, the other retarded. You have to line up the circle with the circle, the square with the square, etc. They had lined up the circle on the crank gear and the triangle on the cam. I was TOLD it had run a bit, but most likely all it ever did was backfire through the carb, if that. I decided early on to use a TPI. Yes, I know they don't flow as well as a good single plane intake and carb stock. Yes, I know they don't make great gobs of power. But the DO run nice and, more important, the SHOW very, very well when polished up and shining. We pulled the motor down completely and degreed the cam to find out what was in it. It was a "no name" (Jegs or Summit) that matched perfectly to a Crane profile. We were also surprised to find it had 400 crank in it making it not a 355, but 383 stroker motor. This I was happy with because many tests have shown them to make close to 400 hp with a super ram intake. I'm using a stock TPI, for the most part, and don't expect anything like that, more along the lines with 300 hp at the crank but, more important, that are great torque motors so lots of fun to drive. After disassembling, we started cleanup and painting and polishing, with a few custom touches. That will follow in the next post. John Stricker Newbfiero MAR 21, 10:08 PM I be tune in for more Nice motoracer838 MAR 21, 10:25 PM I'll be wacthing, got a comfy chair. Cheers Beers n Gearz. Joe jstricker MAR 21, 10:52 PM With the cradle and engine out, we found a number of things that were done wrong or simply left un-done. As I said earlier, we decided to act like nothing at all had been done to the car and swap. The cradle was completely disassembled and new Monroe struts purchased, which we immediately hacked up to turn into coil overs. There is ample documentation on HOW it's done, but we ordered all of our pieces from Speedway Motors at Lincoln, NE. I've used them for years and while their prices aren't always the lowest, they're often close TO the lowest and using regular UPS Ground I get overnight service from them. We painted the cradle with black epoxy after sandblasting it. We blasted all of the suspension components and used Reflective Chrome powder coating on them. I should mention now that I had decided to have only three colors on the car. Red (or variations thereof), Black, and polished and/or Chrome. The engine was completely disassembled and checked for clearances with new Total Seal Rings and Sealed Power Bearings installed. A few dress up items were installed and the conversion components were cleaned, blasted, and either polished or powder coated reflective chrome. Reading a magazine I get geared to performance engine machine shops, there was an article about a shop called "Innovations West" in Hutchinson, KS. I decided one day to stop in and meet the owner. Art Carlson is a very nice and skilled older gentleman that specializes in custom engraving of valve covers. He took the time to give me a tour of the shop and what he did. I gave him an example of some artwork and he gave me a reasonable quote for some custom valve covers. I finished the arwork at home, emailed him the designs, and 3 weeks later had the covers, filler, and breathers installed on the engine. The work nicely on the completed engine. We'll move on to cleaning up the engine bay and making modifications there next. John Stricker BobadooFunk MAR 21, 10:59 PM SWEET!!! jstricker MAR 21, 11:53 PM When you use the TPI in the Fiero you have to either relocate the TPS and use some sort of linkage or notch the strut tower. Since I decided to go with coil overs there was plenty of room for the strut tower notch, so that's the way we went. I also think it gives a cleaner look than to have the R/C links and such, but that's just personal preference. Here you see the area roughly marked that we needed to cut out of the strut tower. A little zipping with the plasma cutter and some work with the wire welder and grinder, a few pieces of scrap iron, and you have the necessary notch. You can also see the opening in the fender panel for the electric water pump we decided to use. In retrospect, I'd use and inline pump in the hose, as it would be easier for future maintenance and repair if required. We also cleaned up all of the brackets, studs, and other now unnecessary items to smooth the engine compartment area on the firewall, trunk wall, and as shown in the above picture, the driver's side fender panel. Left side of the firewall Right side of the firewall. You might also notice the hinge boxes are completely gone. At that time Archie hadn't really come up with a suitable hinge assembly for the decklid and I had ideas of my own for that, so we knew the boxes would no longer be used and just get in the way of the engine installation. At the same time I was also working on mating the above harness with the below pictured engine harness. That's all for tonight. I'll try to make 2 or three posts a day until I get to a semi finished state, but have patience as I have several hundred pictures to go through and get organized. John Stricker jstricker MAR 22, 09:54 PM Finish with a bit more on the engine compartment cleanup and back end area........ Pressure and return lines are both -6AN steel braid. The larger line shown is the power brake line covered with steel braid. The smaller line with the fuel filter on top is the tank vent, the evap cannister has been removed. This is a specialty vehicle and I did not try to make it emissions legal in any way, shape or form. In KS, we have no emissions testing or inspections. Another view of the fuel lines as well as the passenger side engine bay area The trunk wall was cleaned up, painted, the stock brake lines taken off and the old clamps replaced with rubber cushion clamps (adel clamps). The brake line was also painted a bright silver. A shot of the engine/trans on the cradle after the transmission has been cleaned up, checked for operation and loose bearing, axle support bearings installed. The PO kinda/sorta forgot to install the torque rod on his install, so we welded on the bracket on the cradle and reinforced that area[/img] The strut installed..... Another shot of the engine on the cradle Drivers side of the engine bay. John Stricker jstricker MAR 22, 10:05 PM I chose to use the cast iron, rams horn style manifolds. I wasn't building this for max performance and they last longer without warping, leaking, cracking, and causing problems. They are coated with Columbia Coatings' ceramic DIY coating. You have to spray or brush this on (I sprayed it) and then cure it at pretty high temps in an oven. They will final cure when the engine is fired. We made our own fiberglass battery box to front mount the battery. Fairly simple, take a block of foam a bit bigger than the battery, cover it with plastic (I used release film) after cutting it at the appropriate angle to fit in the trunk well, lay it up with about 3 layers of matte leaving a 1" lip on the outside, let it cure, trim, and paint. We also made a small aluminum panel to house a fuel pressure gauge, the fuel pump relay, and a manual overide switch for the electric water pump. We can manually turn the water pump on with this switch or, when it's off, the oil pressure switch pictured will turn it on. The other sender is the oil pressure sender for the Nordskog digital instrument panel we were planning on using. The panel was wired from a single multi conductor wire so all the instrument wires possible are automatically loomed together. All connectors were Weatherpack connectors for reliability. Heater hoses were Summit Racing's steel braided regular hose. Really it's just a decorative steel braid over a normal heater hose, but it continues the steel braided theme with the fuel lines. John Stricker Brian Lamberts MAR 23, 12:11 AM Yeah, I'm watching, too. Looks really good, John. jstricker MAR 25, 01:09 AM This isn't the order things were done but I'm going to move to the top cutting and reinforcing of the space frame. We did ours pretty much the same way Archie did in his roadster build up. Before the top was cut, the reinforcing was added. Of course by this time the body panels were all off. The gussets were cut for the console and B pillar reinforcement from 3/16" steel plate. Easy to do with plasma. We first made cardboard templates and traced the patterns to the steel for cutting. We used the plasma cutter to cut out the lower rockers on each side and open them up. Square tubing was laid in the bottom and angle iron welded in to the rear area then welded all together. A healthy dose of rubberized undercoating was sprayed on, and in, the square tubing. The rear area was also undercoated. With the inside gussets welded into the car and the rocker reinforcement finished, we're ready to cut the top off the car. John Stricker