hehe lol, if its only 250 to 350lbs (and judging by it hanging in the garage id say closer to 150lbs), well anyway you could just put a board on the scale and tip the trailor on an edge to weigh it all at once.

quote Originally posted by fieroguru: Day 17: Ordered my dropped axle today (won't be in till Jan 13th). Custom made 2000 lbs with a 4" drop - The axle will be plenty strong, but I will probably remove all but 1 of the spring leafs to soften the ride some. It would be nice to have gone lower, but they are not offered and this way I just have to redrill the 5 x 4.5 to 5x100MM and possibly turn the hub down to accept the fiero wheel. I have also been playing with AutoCAD... Here is a drawing of a GT pulling what I think my trailer will look like: I think this will look pretty cool on the Power Tour! ...... The GT shape was taken from a sketch that was posted on PFF and traced in AutoCAD. I then used it to build the trailer shape, but the panels don't line up as good as they do in reality... so the sketch was off just a bit. I should just trace my side pic of the trailer so it will be more representative, but this is what I have right now.

Wow, this is REALLY cool - big thumbs up man. I hacked up a chassis last year to do the same thing, but I have been on the road for as many months and all of my projects have suffered. As far as the sketch goes, you are right. The moulding for the front and rear clips is at different heights so it will look a bit off if you did it just like the sketch. I had to trim the top of the light housing down in my concept in order to give a lower profile to the rear of the trailer. You may want to do the same thing and just use a custom fiberglass insert for the rear tail lights - think Kameo Kid's rear lights, only about 1/2 as high.

Kudos on making it a reality. Cant wait to see it finished and painted!! You gonna make it black like your GT I assume? Your whole "rig" sure would look good in candy red!

--Will

Any updates?

Trailer has just been sitting in the other bay for a while. I started to strip the panels of their paint with an aerosol can and after about 5 cans I decided to get some more stripper in bulk from Mid America (4 gallons).

Here it is with the black mostly stripped off:

Eventually I will get busy stripping the original grey paint, but that probably won't be until I start on the body panels on my 88 (and that will be a while).

quote Originally posted by fieroguru: Trailer has just been sitting in the other bay for a while. I started to strip the panels of their paint with an aerosol can and after about 5 cans I decided to get some more stripper in bulk from Mid America (4 gallons). Here it is with the black mostly stripped off: Eventually I will get busy stripping the original grey paint, but that probably won't be until I start on the body panels on my 88 (and that will be a while).

HEY!! Can you tell us about the convertable in the background???

It is an 86 Fiero Roadster. Anything and everything climate control related is gone, along wih the side windows. It is powered by a 4.5 cadillac V8 and has the isuzu 5 speed. It has a complete under carriage that bolts to the frame at the front sway bar mounts and rear engine cradle mounts (along with about 30ish bolts throught the passenger compartment. It is super stiff and probably has some of the best shutting doors.

It has given up quite a few body panels for the trailer project (entire doghouse) and it is currently is just being used as a shelf for other parts off the 88 GT. Maybe later this summer I will put it back together!

I did all the work on it, so if you have any more questions, just PM me.

Bump for an update?

The trailer is stripped to just metal parts again. I trimmed the inner flanges that the weather strip will apply to. But now it is upside down just waiting for a nice day to paint the underside. I should have the underside painted and possibly the inside as well (no plastic will be painted for a couple of weeks) and the wiring done for the trailer after this weekend.

I have been super busy getting my 88 SBC back together so I can pull the trailer. I was planning on making a hidden hitch, but ran out of time and decided to just go with the Fierostore hitch for now. It is on the car (car wired for the flat 4 connector) and ready to pull something.

Hopefully there will be more pictures this weekend.

The top, botton and inside of the chassis of the trailer is now satin black again!

I got the underside done Friday night and painted the top and inside first thing this morning. Hopefully Sunday it will get panels (unpainted) and wired for lights!

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 05-07-2005).]

I got all the panels back on the trailer today. The front and rear fascias are mounted (hopefully for the last time). I added the front turn sigals and will have all the side marker lights functional. I have the wires to the front turn signals and the plate lights located where I can get to them. As far as the rest of the wiring I didn't get to it today.

The hood is coming along. I sat the rear portion on and used my 88 GT to measure the lip to the rear since it is not wide enough for the lip contour to match up right now. Once it was where I wanted it, I drilled a couple holes and inserted some bolts. Then I scribed the outline of the rear portion. Removed the rear and then transferred the line about 1 1/2" inboard for my cut line. Then I cut the hood. I did not cut the center of the hood from contour line to contour line, but cut along the contour line back to the rear lip. Then with a flapper disc I beveled the 1 1/2" material on the hood and the underside of the rear deck lid (I already removed the support structure on the deck lid). Then set it back on and inserted my bolts again.

I used some 2 part epoxy to glue the lap joints together.

Enough with the ramblin... here are the pics!

Do you have tail lights for it yet? if not Ive got a set, I imagine you prolly do though, but let me know

Actually I still need the tail lights, or I will have to get some loaners for the power tour. I sent you a PM.

That is F^cking COOL!!

Would you EVER build another..??

Thanks, I may build another one over the winter, but this trailer is far from inexpensive. You pretty much hack up a GT for the panels, hack up a fiero chassis and then you still have to buy the steel, axle, etc and then there is the time to make it all come together.

But this has been one of my most enjoyable projects!

quote But this has been one of my most enjoyable projects!

Then let me help. You can build me 1. I'll even supply the parts!

Great work! cant wait to see it all painted up!

------------------

Convertable Indy, I might just have to paint it to match your car!

I am torn on the color to paint my 88 GT and this trailer. It will either be black or blue and I will have to decide in a week or two (hopefully).

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 05-11-2005).]

14 days from today is the power tour, in 13 days I am getting married in Zion, in 12 days the Trailer bust be ready to leave the house.

Unfortunately, all I have been working on lately is the tow vehicle, so there has not been much progress on the trailer

Here are some motivational pictures to help jump start more trailer progress - trailer and tow vehicle coming together for the very first time!

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 05-21-2005).]

I am going to have to do one of theese.

It's looking great! Imagine what it will look like painted. One thing I'm curious about is the tow bar, why is it so long and is there anyway to make it look a little sexier? Seems to me that it takes away from the coolness of the trailer and the car itself.

Holy frankenfiero. looks good though.

I would have to say the reason teh tongue is so long is so teh trailer can be seen from inside teh car on rare ocasions he might want to back up and bieng able to see the trailer is a must as you can guess
it looks like if it was much closer he wouldnt be able to see it

thats My idea anyway

quote Originally posted by Ancaster: I would have to say the reason teh tongue is so long is so teh trailer can be seen from inside teh car on rare ocasions he might want to back up and bieng able to see the trailer is a must as you can guess it looks like if it was much closer he wouldnt be able to see it thats My idea anyway

Well, could always put flags on each corner! Or, just get out of the car, unhook it, and move it by hand- shouldn't be too difficult!

Sara doesn't care for the multi color condition of the trailer and car either. She insists they be all 1 color even if it is flat back. I kinda like the multicolor setup cause it shows some family resemblance between the tow vehicle and the trailer.

I don't think the tongue is that noticeable, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. Something has to be there, so I did what I could to minimize the impact of its presence. As far as the length it is that long for several performance reasons:

1. It makes the trailer more stable at speed. I have had it up to 80 and it remains calm and tracks straight and stable.
2. Short trailers have a tendency to bounce on the hitch if they are not loaded with an excess amount of tongue weight. The longer tongue transmits a much less amount of this front bias to the actual Fiero while still keeping the tongue fully seated on the hitch. So the Fiero won't look like a power boat when it is pulling the fully loaded trailer.
3. The long tongue makes it super easy to just grab the tongue and move the trailer where I want it. This is nice because if it is in my way I can just move it without having to get a vehicle to do so. There will not be a front leg to support the tongue, I will just back up somewhat close and place the tongue on the hitch. This will be very important once I have my car painted, I don't want to risk backing up and shoving the tongue through my rear fascia. This also keeps the tongue uncluttered.
4. It makes it easier to back up. On the power tour I will probably have to back it up a couple times a day. It will be hard enough with the spec stage 3 clutch not liking small movements, so I don't need a super short trailer that will be difficult to keep straight.

Today the tow vehicle should make some noise and take is first trip with the trailer!

Did he ever finish in time????

Finish is a loose term, but the trailer is Functional!

The trailer has been hauling our luggage on the Power Tour since Monday, but it is far from finished. I got the top roughly glassed in so it would not soak our stuff, then it was painted a flat black to be all 1 color, and wired up. It still needs a lot of finish work before it can be painted to match the car.

The trailer has been getting a lot of attention and has worked flawlessly. Here is a pic from the Hot Rod forum:

When I get back home I can take and post more pictures.

Hey, nice color on the car! And nice tag, too! The trailer looks good, even if it is a temporary color.

quote Originally posted by fieroguru:

How freakin cool!!!!

GREAT job!

------------------
Choptop WideBody GT 1 of 1
4.9L-V8-Auto---almost finished

This is by far the best looking trailer ever made from a Fiero. Nice work!!!

Gah! I am so impressed!

Nice man, NICE!!!

Thanks for all the compliments!

Well the honeymoon is now over and we are back at home in Illinois. The trailer went from Mattoon, IL to Kissimmee FL and back - around 2000 miles (my speedo is broken).

Here are some pics that have been posted in the Power Tour thread:

The trailer gets a bunch of attention. Everytime we stopped for fuel, people (not even car people) came over to look at it because they just thought it looked neat.

The trailer worked great and was very stable at speed (the majority of the trip at 3000 RPM - 5 speed getrag, and 200+ miles at 3500). You easily forgot it was there until it came time to stop. It was close to 1000 lbs loaded so you would notice the extra bulk when stopping.

The trailer was only about 3/4 full. There is a full size suit case and a wheeled smaller case not shown (they went in back).

There are also two tool boxes (1 for tools 1 for chemicals), 1 hydraulic floor jack (not an aluminum one either), 2 tall jack stands, 1 drill, 1 engine support bar, oil pan, 6 quarts of tranny lube, 1 roll of hot water heater insulation, jumper cables (and 2 chairs in a bag - already taken out). The good thing is that the trailer allowed the rear trunk area to be kept empty!!!

I am planning on doing some more final work to the trailer (getting my own set of tail lights - these were loaners!), cleaning up the hood body work, install all the molding and then wire up the side marker lights.

I am sad to say that after FieroRama the trailer WILL BE SOLD. I want to take it to a couple shows this summer, but after FieroRama it can go to another happy home to help fund yet another Fiero project. As we get closer I will post final pictures in the mall and it will go to the highest bidder on Ebay.

How about letting an enterprising individual make a couple of molds off it first, (Fiero Wharehouse?) and share the cool?

Norm

I AM SOOOOOOO HAPPY!

I just won a set of wheels for the trailer that are an exact match to the ones on the Fiero, except in the bolt pattern for the trailer!

It has only taken about 6 months of searching Ebay, but I finally found them!

Does this mean you decided to keep it?

Possibly. I am working on getting the Roadster ready to sell, and if it goes I will probably keep the trailer.

Just my luck, nothing seems to fit like I think it should. There are a few issues I must fix to use my matching set of wheels:

1. The hub (and grease cap) on the trailer axle sticks out further than the center cap on the wheel.
2. The grease cap will not fit in the hole of the center cap.
3. The hub is about 1/4" too deep on the wheel side, the hub bottoms out in the wheel before the wheel is fully seated.

After much pondering, I turned the hub down to reduce the depth of the grease cap (not the bearing surface, but just the portion past the bearing that keeps the greade cap in place. I removed the needed 1/4" to allow the hub to fully seat in the wheel.

Then I reduced the flange on the grease cap so it could be fully seated on the hub (the old flange was about 1/4" and now it is about 1/8". This does not provide much material to keep the cap on, but that is ok....

Next I took a half moon file and filed off the ridge on the center of the wheel that the center cap attached to. This made the hole just large enough for the hub grease cap to pass through and then get clamped between the wheel and the hub making sure it will not come off.

Here it is installed on the trailer:

I am planning on painting the grease cap grey to match the wheels and hide the fact that it sticks out on the trailer and the car has center caps.

Here is a shot of the trailer with the car (I need a wider shop to get a better pic - or take the car outside!):

Now I just need GT tail lights, finish the body work and paint it blue for Fierorama!

This trailer is now on Ebay:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4575959754

Reserve at $2,500
Buy It Now $3,500

This is about the coolest thing to have if you like to drive a Fiero to shows. I would love to own one of these.

quote Originally posted by fieroguru:

It's probably the worlds only 5 star crash rated trailer.