Well, I'm sorry I've gotten behind on these posts. It looks like I'm about 7 weeks behind on my posts to this thread. So we've got a lot done that I've got to post to bring you up to date.
Let's get on with it..........
After cleaning & painting all of the bad places we could find on the chassis, we remounted the body for the last time.
Man, that thing is low and wide like no Fiero I've seen before...
You may have mentioned it already, but what size wheels and tires are going on this beast? IMHO anything less than 18s out back will be doing it a disservice...
Man, that thing is low and wide like no Fiero I've seen before...
You may have mentioned it already, but what size wheels and tires are going on this beast? IMHO anything less than 18s out back will be doing it a disservice...
I'm going for 20X 11 or 12s in the rear and 19X 9.5 front. Maya or HRE
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07:45 AM
Alex4mula Member
Posts: 7405 From: Canton, MI US Registered: Dec 1999
I am sorry folks, but a chopped, engine swapped, widebodied fiero, with some nice ($) rims and suspension mods, is a better buy supercar if there ever was one !
This car is going to blow the non-fiero crowd away ! It is too late for us (the fiero crowd) we are already blown away.
[This message has been edited by exoticse (edited 04-13-2006).]
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12:37 PM
Apr 14th, 2006
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
I'm like way behind on posting what we've been doing on this swap so I gotta get busy & post a lot of stuff in the next few days.
Once we had the engine out, we needed to clean & paint the engine compartment......
The engine cradle was not in the best of shape & we were not going to be using the old transmission or engine so we aquired a better cradle & set this unit off to the side.
.................
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12:28 AM
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
Here is where we are taking apart that brand new 385 FastBurn Crate engine, to install the new GM Hat Cam kit including the 1.6 Roller rockers & new springs. That stuff will bring this engine up to be a replica of the famous (& Rare) ZZ-430 Crate engine.
We were also working on getting the Big Mouth air dam bolted onto the front nose. Troy wanted a "bolt-on" nose so that means the air dam would have to be bolt on too. As you can see there is a bit of a gap in the way the air dam bolts up the the nose. The air dam is quite strong, so we can't just tighted the bolts flatten out that gap. We will have to build up Fiberglass matt on the inside of this air dam so we can sand it straight.
.................
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12:50 AM
PFF
System Bot
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
To install the left & right rocker panels, we had to add a little fiberglass to the insides of the ends of the rockers. This adds some material to buildup the area where they will bolt on. Remember Troy wants to beable to disassemble the front end so it can be removed if necessary.
The Aero parts at the bottoms of the doors also had to be modified. They were a bit too long & had to be shortened so the wouldn't bind when you opened the doors. Also the bottom edge of these aero parts had to be redone because they rubbed on the rocker panel when the door was open.
As it turns out, every body panel on the IMSA kit had to be modified to get this finished per plan.
Here are the properly fitted rocker panels with the reworked aero panels door parts.
I have an IMSA as well with the lower door rockers binding against the front fender. They also drag the rockers under the doors. By shortening the door pieces... did you cut some off in the center and glass it back together? Any explaination would be appreciated. PM is fine, I don't want to hijack this thread.
Oh, Troy... you need to check out CCW wheels. You've never heard of them because they don't advertise... which means lower prices. I hope to get the SP18 wheels for my IMSA. 19x13 on back with 355/25 and 19x9 with 275s up front... if they will fit. Wheels will cost roughly $2,800 IIRC. I called them up and the guy that answered had no trouble answering stupid questions and never tried to hurry me off the phone.
I have an IMSA as well with the lower door rockers binding against the front fender. They also drag the rockers under the doors. By shortening the door pieces... did you cut some off in the center and glass it back together? Any explaination would be appreciated. PM is fine, I don't want to hijack this thread.
Oh, Troy... you need to check out CCW wheels. You've never heard of them because they don't advertise... which means lower prices. I hope to get the SP18 wheels for my IMSA. 19x13 on back with 355/25 and 19x9 with 275s up front... if they will fit. Wheels will cost roughly $2,800 IIRC. I called them up and the guy that answered had no trouble answering stupid questions and never tried to hurry me off the phone.
Thanks for the info I will look them up. what size do you have in the back now.
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09:42 PM
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
I have an IMSA as well with the lower door rockers binding against the front fender. They also drag the rockers under the doors. By shortening the door pieces... did you cut some off in the center and glass it back together? Any explaination would be appreciated. PM is fine, I don't want to hijack this thread.
We cut off the rear end of the rockers then made a new end to replace it & make it shorter. Also reformed the forward end a little.
Here are the guys making the new rear end of the aero trim.
These also dragged on the rockers under the doors because they are not flat across the bottom.
The bottom of the door is flat & these aero pc. wrap around the bottom but they're not flat. This is what they looked like............
Here's what they look like when they are flat across the bottom.....
I have the best guys, they can fix anything.
Troy said a few posts ago, that the only stock Fiero panels were the Doors. Actually every stock Fiero panel on the car has now been modified. Not only that but now every fiberglass panel from the IMSA kit has also been modified.
Archie
[This message has been edited by Archie (edited 04-21-2006).]
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10:59 PM
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
Archie, thanks a ton for the pics and the detailed info. Hopefully I can get it sorted out.
Troy, right now I have 15" wheels. 8" wide in front, 10" wide in back with a guesstimated offset of 0 in back and 30ish in front. Tires are 225/50 and 285/40 Yokohama AVS. The rear tires have been discontinued for some time (OEM rear tire for the early Countach) and the next best size is a 295/50 truck/hot rod type tire and I can't have a 6" sidewall. Dropping the dime for wheels like I want is proving to be a very hard thing for me, not to mention tires. I saved a bit up, but now that money is sitting in my living room in the form of a 55" Sony TV. Trying again.
I bought my IMSA from Gusshotrod here on the forum (he is building that tube frame Fiero). He did most of the work, but I have been fixing little things within my scope. If I can get motivated, it should be an awesome car.
I don't like to post pics of it's current condition, but here's a couple from about a year ago when I got it.
Archie, thanks a ton for the pics and the detailed info. Hopefully I can get it sorted out.
Troy, right now I have 15" wheels. 8" wide in front, 10" wide in back with a guesstimated offset of 0 in back and 30ish in front. Tires are 225/50 and 285/40 Yokohama AVS. The rear tires have been discontinued for some time (OEM rear tire for the early Countach) and the next best size is a 295/50 truck/hot rod type tire and I can't have a 6" sidewall. Dropping the dime for wheels like I want is proving to be a very hard thing for me, not to mention tires. I saved a bit up, but now that money is sitting in my living room in the form of a 55" Sony TV. Trying again.
I bought my IMSA from Gusshotrod here on the forum (he is building that tube frame Fiero). He did most of the work, but I have been fixing little things within my scope. If I can get motivated, it should be an awesome car.
I don't like to post pics of it's current condition, but here's a couple from about a year ago when I got it.
I like what you did with the front and rear wheel well lip. Man that would look sweet with a chop. Take your time and fix it up the way you want. Once I get the car back from Archie, I will still have about 6 months worth of work to do to get it just the way I want it.
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05:46 AM
exoticse Member
Posts: 8654 From: Orlando, Fl Registered: Jun 2003
The bad news, looks like Maya rims + fiero = 0. The good news, with Curlys help It looks like I will be going with HRE. The question, which HRE wheels to go with?
Originally posted by troyboy: The question, which HRE wheels to go with?
It might be best to have or ask someone to photoshop those rims onto your chopper? HRE does have a photoshop version but, the Fiero car isn't on their list.
Tasty treats, hehe.
[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 05-01-2006).]
I was happy to see this beautiful project again this weekend at Archie's shop (as he was kind enough to host the NIFE club meeting there).
It's going to be a sweet looking car (especially with that Chrome S&P TPI intake!) - any chance you'll throw a layer of gray primer on the whole car? It'd sure be easier to photoshop it then
Personally, there is one small change that I'd like to see (and few of us discussed it and agreed). Have you given any thought to modifying the chin spoiler? The rest of the lines flow well, but the way the chin spoiler attaches - it leaves a bit of a "droopy bottom lip" appearance. We were thinking it'd be great to take a small section out and bring the leading edge up to it's more-parallel to the rest of the lower lines. Here's what we were thinking:
I'm sure it wouldn't be the easiest modification... but from the looks of the car - it wouldn't be difficult either
I was happy to see this beautiful project again this weekend at Archie's shop (as he was kind enough to host the NIFE club meeting there).
It's going to be a sweet looking car (especially with that Chrome S&P TPI intake!) - any chance you'll throw a layer of gray primer on the whole car? It'd sure be easier to photoshop it then
Personally, there is one small change that I'd like to see (and few of us discussed it and agreed). Have you given any thought to modifying the chin spoiler? The rest of the lines flow well, but the way the chin spoiler attaches - it leaves a bit of a "droopy bottom lip" appearance. We were thinking it'd be great to take a small section out and bring the leading edge up to it's more-parallel to the rest of the lower lines. Here's what we were thinking:
I'm sure it wouldn't be the easiest modification... but from the looks of the car - it wouldn't be difficult either
Thanks for the pics, its good to see her in the sun shine. 1. the paint: It all depends on the time frame, but it would be nice to have her home in one color. 2. the nose: I agree, the nose does look a little off. Archie made it so it could be remove and worked on if needed. Living in New York, raising the lip just might be a good idea.
.... Damn, that's BEAUTIFUL work .....
