Needs a little TLC but other than that not bad.

Still MORE pics...

It think the interior carpet is okay overall. I need another brake pedal (the cover is completely gone on this one), but the carpet is in pretty good shape. I like the grey and think I'll keep it that way.

Console and steering wheel shots...

I like the dash and gauge positions, but I still might have a custom-job done more like the Grand AM photo that I posted earlier in the thread.

What's that car selling for?

More pics.....
(Yeah, I know, an excited new, first-time Fiero (soon-to-be-official) owner and a digital camera that holds 80-90 pictures on high-resolution is not a good combination.) lol

Under the hood.... (why does it seem like Fieros always have pine needles under the hood?

Technically, the car's not mine (yet), 'cause I still have to get the title taken care of. I know there's alot to be done to the interior, but an '88 for only $600 is not bad IMHO. I haven't seen one around here and can't really put the time and expense into searching for one long distance. That, coupled with the fact that I'm getting extremely impatient to get a car, kind of pushed my hand with getting it.

I went back and got a chance to drive it.....but that's another story. I've got to turn in for tonight--have an early start and lots of work to catch up on, so I'll update you guys about the test drive next time.

Later,
--Tress

[This message has been edited by Miss-Tress007 (edited 02-15-2005).]

The dreaded aftermarket sunroofs that love to leak no matter what. That would be the first thing I would change out on that car before I did any intereior work. Go with a solid top or even a factory sunroof, either one can be picked up for pretty cheap. Looks rough but for the price you cant beat that, well you can but its hard to do(I picked up an black 88 Gt for $800.00). With a lot of time and a little money, you should have a nice car in do time.

The good news is that some of the mods you are thinking of doing will replace some of the worn out stuff. It seems like the consoles all need work after normal wear and tear over 17 years. Good old gm vinyl and plastics. The center consoles, side marker lights are somewhat hard to find because they seem to be fragile and self-destruct earlier than the rest of the stuff. Steering wheel horn paddles can usually be found pretty easy and cheap. You will find stuff on eBay, at the local junkyard, here on PFF in the Mall and maybe even in your local paper. On PFF do searches for things like repairing the interior parts such as the vinyl that has pulled away and warped. I fixed mine with a couple of clamps and super glue. It took one day to do the center console, the shift surround and the radio surround. Take it one project at a time starting with getting it running reliably and you should end up with a really nice Fiero… of course pics and updates are a must.

I saw this car and the paper and didn't respond to it miss-tress. Now I wish I would have. It's not in that bad of shape and the interior can be repaired. I wish I would have made that call now that I see the car. The headliner is a piece of cake just take your time the seats can be fixed or replace with most any camaro seat. Good luck!

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People who say "I would rather push a ford then drive anything else" usually do.

I honestly believe you should hold out, Like MADCURL said, if you buy SLAMMED GT's you will be far ahead of yourself. What most people dont realize is that although you can buy a fiero for minimal cash, the maintanance, upgradeing, and customiing is vvery expensive. Many people who own Fieros dont have Disposable incomes. If you purchase the car your looking at, you will spend too much, it is in bad condition, and ONLY a 4cyl. and the sunroof is not even stock. After all you are looking at an 88. Unless you are looking for a chasis and plan to dismantel the car and replace everything I strongly recomend against it, either way I dont recomend the car. Patience is a Virtue. Check out my car in the General Fiero Chat "Archives" under the title of "FIERO Unvailing" I have done 85% of the work internal and external, let me know what you think! If I was able to post I would

quote Originally posted by nightonfire: I honestly believe you should hold out, Like MADCURL said, if you buy SLAMMED GT's you will be far ahead of yourself. What most people dont realize is that although you can buy a fiero for minimal cash, the maintanance, upgradeing, and customiing is vvery expensive. Many people who own Fieros dont have Disposable incomes. If you purchase the car your looking at, you will spend too much, it is in bad condition, and ONLY a 4cyl. and the sunroof is not even stock. After all you are looking at an 88. Unless you are looking for a chasis and plan to dismantel the car and replace everything I strongly recomend against it, either way I dont recomend the car. Patience is a Virtue. Check out my car in the General Fiero Chat "Archives" under the title of "FIERO Unvailing" I have done 85% of the work internal and external, let me know what you think! If I was able to post I would

It is expensive but if you have the abilitity/time/funds it is far more worth it to do it yourself. I love being able to take my car to a show and say "I did that/we did that." It means so much more and I love my car so much more because I know how far it has come...but if someone wants to buy me Archie's Blue Fino

Jen

quote Originally posted by Fierochic88: It is expensive but if you have the abilitity/time/funds it is far more worth it to do it yourself. I love being able to take my car to a show and say "I did that/we did that." It means so much more and I love my car so much more because I know how far it has come...but if someone wants to buy me Archie's Blue Fino Jen

It's funny...I was thinking the same thing! Part of what appealed to me about getting a Fiero was the fact that I'd actually be able to do somethings to it myself. I was looking for a car that could be a project and daily driver at the same time----gives you something to look forward to when you can plan out the enhancements, modifications and repairs and watch the changes over time. I especially wanted to be able to work on the car and if I get one like SmoothGT's or one that's basically already "showroom finished" I don't think I'd be able to bring myself to make any changes. (Not to mention the fact that I'd have to send it out to a "professional" in order to have anything done at that stage.)

I kind of like the fact that my car needs work. I think it ads character to the car and definitely causes you to form a deeper attachment to the car if you've worked on it yourself. From reading the posts of most of the forum fanatics, it seems as though no one's ever really finished with modifications/improvements on their cars. (Madcurl comes to mind immediately. hehe) lol That's what makes build up threads so interesting. Seeing the transformation process is great and fieros are the best cars to be able to work on because there are so many things that you can do. No two are ever really completely alike.

Say Tress!! Whenever you wanna work on it, the crew will be waiting....Tomorrow i will be putting on my custom intake on my 3.4 DOHC, I gotta find a cone style k&n air filter. I went through hell today trying to find a coupler pipe fitting that will fit around the throttlebody of my engine, its 3 inches wide!!!!!!! Thats big t/b, well anyways im gonna do some driving around my apartment complex in it so I can feel the engines power again. I've had it up to 40 mph in 1st gear hell when i had an iron duke it struggled to get 20 mph in 1st, thats a BIG diffrence!

holla at me and the crew or ill call.............................

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3.4 DOHC V6 pushing mid 13's a true mustang eater!!!

Full tubular suspension!
Fully adjustable coilovers front and rear!
Poly everything!
3.4L TWIN DUAL CAM V6 240+H.P.
Heads p/p!
underdrive pulley!
Darth chip!
Accell performance ignition!
Borla exhaust (how sweet)!
Now who ever said that a V6 can be fast????????

that dash looks like it's in REALLY good condition...

Amazingly good as a matter of fact.

If you decide to do an f-body dash conversion.. make sure you are gentle with that dash and sell it /nod

quote Originally posted by Miss-Tress007:

the knee buster isn't busted! [the part just under the vent. seems like most fieros have that all torn up from people trying to get out of the car.

overall, very awesome fiero. great find!

and hi! fellow fiero-chica!
Janell
[just... don't call me a babe. ]

Haven't been able to post too much lately....I've been working alot. (Tryin' to earn extra Fiero-updating money! lol )

Spoke to the guy yesterday and we're going to hopefully be able to have the title and everything taken care of so I can officially be the new owner of this little baby. Once that's taken care of, I'll be sure to call in the crew, Exotic Rida so you guys can get me rolling.

Datacop, I hadn't thought about selling the dash after I remove it. Thanks for the tip. It's probably going to take some time before I can have the custom-designed one done, (I'm still toying with the design) so I'll keep this one in good condition.

Oh, and thanks for the welcome, Janell (don't worry, I won't call you a babe lol ) I've been trying to keep count of the different, er, fiero-chicas (as you call us) on the forum just to have a sense of how many others are into these little babies, so I'll add you to the list.

Question--does anyone know where or how to replace the door handles? The inside handle on the driver's side has snapped, so you have to reach outside to open the door and the outside handle doesn't work on the passenger side. How difficult is it to do? I'm still going to have to do a more thorough inspection to find everything that needs to be done, but I'm looking forward to it and I'll be sure to post pics of the progress along the way.

--Tress

The car looks decent for $600, but be sure to make sure it's not rusted out. At the minimum, pull back the carpet on the sides of the trunk and look where the side frame rails are welded to the sides of the trunk. It's about 3-6 inches down from the top. That's one of the first places they start rusting. Also check the floors, from under the car.
If your new car isn't rusted and hasn't been wrecked, everything else can be replaced or upgraded. You can completely convert it into a GT, if you want. The only way to tell it was ever anything else will be by looking at the VIN on the dash.
Have fun!

Edit - I could probably blunder through replacing my own door handles, but don't know well enough how to tell you how to replace yours.

One thing I might recommend... If you're not doing anything the weekend of April 29 - May 1, come to the Fiero Factory Swap Meet in Toney (just north of Huntsville) Alabama. You will probably be able to find everything you need to fix your car. There are usually a couple of hundred people there. Lots of parts. Lots of folks. Most of the well known Fiero vendors will be there too.
And (although it's *not* a show) many dozens of really nice cars will be there.

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 02-26-2005).]

Congradulations on your find. It looks like a pretty descent Fiero you've got there. Mostly cosmetic issues and some cleaning up from what I can tell from the pics. It reminds me of my first Fiero way back when. But those are all easy fixes. You'll probably find other issues along the way but that's just part of it. Whenever I find something wrong with my car I actually get kinda excited cause it gives me a chance to learn more about the car through the process of fixing it. That's the great thing about this hobby. But it seems you've got that figured out otherwise you'd probably buy a Fiero that's already been "taken care of."

The handle assembly is not that difficult to replace. You just have to find another one and if you have a repair manual (the Haynes outlines the process pretty well) you should be able to do it yourself no problem.

Yo, Exotic Rida. Give me a call today so we can come over and assist (okay, okay, I know I'll be watching, but I can get refreshments and hand you the tools you'll need. lol)

Did a drive-by to check on the car and it's safely tucked away in the backyard, waiting for me. I'm really excited about being so close. Now that I've gotten a Carfax report (thanks to Tim's unlimited Carfax offer) that shows that everything's pretty much okay, all I have to do is make sure the title and registration process goes smoothly and I'm set. I can't wait to have that car in my driveway so I can start checking things out really closely myself. Not to mention actually getting to drive it on a daily basis. hehe

I'll check on the manual and see about the door handle replacements too. I'll have to check my schedule to see if I can make the Fiero Swap. Maybe if I plan early enough I can fit it in. I'm also planning on going to Daytona and Carlisle, so I have to make sure I'm not going overboard. (As if there's such a thing when it comes to these cars. lol)

Miss, sounds like you are getting lots of good advice. Yes, that car needs a bit of work, but just cleaning stuff up alone will allow you to sell it for more than you paid for it. Here is my opinion of a game plan.

1) First priorty is to fix the overheating problem. You should not drive it much until that's repaired. Could be bad thermostat, failing water pump, crushed coolant tube (that runs under the car), or maybe just air in the system.

2) Check and repair things that affect your safety. Such as like brakes, ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel bearings, tires, etc.

3) Clean everything up. That in itself is a lot of work, but fortunely don't cost much. It's amazing what a good cleaning will do.

4) Do some interior replacement and repair. I know you have big plans for a custom interior, but you will find a lot of the upgrades and repairs to make it dependable might be more expense than you originally thought. I would seriously consider finding some of your interior parts from parts cars or look in the mall. Most of the interior stuff is fairly easy once you figure out how it all comes apart. For example, the shifter surround is simple to remove. Take out the ashtrays and you'll see hidden screws. The shift handle has a little clip that you remove and then it pops right off. The glove box rear console is easy to remove. Replacing these will spruce up things immediately. All Fieros driver's seats look like that eventually. I bought good factory seat covers from another member and replaced the worn stuff. I did my own headliner too. It's not easy, but it's not super hard either. There are lots of instructions available on how to do it. I bought the headliner material at Joanne's Fabric Shop. The door handle is not too tough. You'll need to remove the door panel. Be careful removing the plastic clips, they tend to tear the cardboard backing if you pull them out wrong. I replaced a lot of interior parts in my car, but it looks pretty good now.

Once your babe-mobile is road worthy again, all cleaned up, and has some of the worst interior items repaired, then it will be like a whole new car and then you'll really be able to get planning all your mods. But for now, I would keep things fairly simple and learn about how to work on the Fiero. It's a unique little car. I'll see if I can round up some pics of mine. It has a sick engine and needs painted, but I've done a lot of work to it over the years.

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BATBOY
1985 SE auto with a 350 Chevy V8 engine (Batmobile)
lowered, suspension mods, Grand Am brakes and wheels,
Trans Am hood louvers, side air scoop, DGP front spoiler,
Mustang hood scoop on deck lid, Dodge Shadow rear spoiler
front mounted battery, custom gauges, stereo mods, etc.

[This message has been edited by batboy (edited 02-26-2005).]

Looks like you found a blank canvas

quote Originally posted by ryan.hess: Looks like you found a blank canvas

Speaking of canvas....I was parked at the local lakefront park and found this car...which happens to be the color that I was thinking of painting my car. Deep fuschia---more magenta-like.

I also wanted to incorporate the stripes along the side that F-I-E-R-O suggested, but in white and featuring the name of the car "The Hottie".

quote Originally posted by F-I-E-R-O: Funny you should mention stripes, I was playing around with photoshop last night and came up with this idea...

I've got to get Photoshop (and figure out how to use it) so I can put some of my design ideas together. In the meantime, anyone out there want to take a stab at this one for me?

[This message has been edited by Miss-Tress007 (edited 03-01-2005).]

I bored so I tried this out. It is hard to do on a grey colored car. I colored it, changed the stripe colors and lowered it on new rims. Is that what you were looking for?

I will be at Daytona with a lot of 88 parts, some nice interior parts in grey. I will be in a white 88. I have parted out five 88's so I have at least one of everything. That is a nice dash, most coupes have a black dash, that one is grey.

White's cool and would reflect that hot Naw'lens sun. Just lose the stripes, start detailin, add a set of wheels and in no time it'll look like this.

Or be a little more creative and do my favorite Fiero style.

See you at Carlisle. You've got 81 days to get her cleaned up and running reliably.

quote Originally posted by DZ: I will be at Daytona with a lot of 88 parts, some nice interior parts in grey. I will be in a white 88. I have parted out five 88's so I have at least one of everything.

Coolness. I can't wait. Daytona is the first car show (fiero-focused) that we'll be going to and since it's right around the corner I'm getting more and more excited about it. It definitely looks like we'll be there, so I'm psyched. BTW, do you have these pieces for the interior? This is what I know needs to be replaced so far. I haven't had the chance to really poke around inside the car and get the full details yet, hopefully I'll get to this weekend when the car officially becomes mine (crossing my fingers for easy title transfer) and I get it home. Then I'll have a better chance to see what else is needed.

quote Originally posted by Fierobruiser: White's cool and would reflect that hot Naw'lens sun. Just lose the stripes, start detailin, add a set of wheels and in no time it'll look like this. See you at Carlisle. You've got 81 days to get her cleaned up and running reliably.

Fierobruiser, I love the way that looks! Maybe (and this is a big maybe) my car will be ready for Carlisle. I'm hoping it should at least look decent, but I'm not sure I'd want to drive 22 hours from New Orleans in it however. (At 5'10", I don't know about the leg room on such a long drive, or if it'll be reliable enough to take the road so soon.) BTW, I noticed that your car doesn't have those side skirts along the bottom (just like mine). Are all 88's like that? The car in the pic that 87GTBro Photoshopped for me has the skirts (I'm not sure what year that is). I kind of like the fact that mine doesn't because it gives me room for my customizing idea. Which brings me to.....

quote Originally posted by 87GTBro: I bored so I tried this out. It is hard to do on a grey colored car. I colored it, changed the stripe colors and lowered it on new rims. Is that what you were looking for?

87GTBro, thanks much for the quick PS job! Lowering it was a nice touch. I like that look. hehe Now I need to find out how to actually get that done and what size tires and rims I should use to achieve the right stance.

Seeing it lowered with the accents gave me another idea. (Actually I sort of already had the idea but didn't articulate it very well before.) I was thinking of having the stripes go along the bottom of the car and fading/leading into the words "THE HOTTIE" up near the rear wheels. The stripes would be bigger in the front and get smaller as they go to the rear (or maybe the other way-I'd have to see it to decide). The stripe colors would be white with a black or maybe gray outline. (I figure the gray would tie in nicely with the chrome rims.) I think the stripes would need to have some sort of outline 'cause it may look kinda weird all white---at least it looked naked to me when I tried it on the little samples I did below.

I'd forgotten that I still had Photoshop on my computer from back in my screenprinting days. Never really used it, since we basically did everything in Corel. Anyway, I opened it up to check things out and, since I remembered a link someone posted a couple weeks ago about a website about Photoshop (photoshopjunkie.com), I went there and "learned" how to change the color of cars. I tried to use the picture of the white one above (Fierobruiser's) but couldn't get the color to come out right. So I found another picture that I downloaded awhile back (sorry I don't remember who the car belongs to) and tried again. I got the color to change, not the best in the world but it gave me a decent visual. I used the lasso tool thing but I'm not very precise with it and haven't figured out how to correct it when I don't trace the car perfectly on line. (If anyone knows a way to do that, please tell me, in the meantime I'll keep playing around with it.)

The pics above are what I came up with. I used another program to add the other stuff (I know it stinks lol, but I'm used to simple vector images). I posted small pictures so that the details don't stand out as much, which makes it look a little better. I got the idea for the graphics in the back from a pair of slippers I lounge around in. I thought maybe it needed something else on it, but I'm not too sure what. It's just a general start, but hopefully you get the idea. I could use some help, especially with the black, white, gray stripe thing. Black outline fading to gray with a white center for each block in the stripe may be cool too.

Then I have one more idea for the hood:

A little more practice on Photoshop and this is what I got (don't laugh, I'm still learning). It wouldn't have that front on it or the side rockers. It would be the stock Fiero front and sides and the stripe down the middle would not look like that. Once again I'm sorry but I don't know who that car belongs to (it is very, VERY nice BTW). It would more than likely have solid stripes or maybe something inspired by this car but a bit different. If anyone has any ideas please share.

The hood would have to be airbrushed with the sig I suppose, but it would really suck if someone did something to it to mess it up (scratches, scrapes, etc.). I wonder if there is a way to put a removable protective clear coating on it. Y'know, something extra so that if some not so nice person decides to spray paint it or something, I could simply pull the coating off and the sig would be okay. Then all I'd have to do is recoat it. Is there such a thing?

I think if I put the graphics on the back there wouldn't be any stripes on the top and vice versa. If there are no graphics on the back I think the stripes on the top would really bring it all together and it would be pretty cool. I think having both (stripes and the graphics) would possibly be a bit too much. Which combo do you guys think looks better? a) No graphics on back with stripes on top or b) graphics on back with no stripes on top or c) other ideas?

So what do you guys think?

Do the stripes as ghost flames.... Rawk!

I think you have some good ideas there. I especially like the color. Just make sure that you find a shop that will do a good quality job. It's one of those colors that's a hit or miss thing, like yellow. My recommendation would be to not go too overboard with graphics. A clean looking Fiero with a quality paint job, some rims & tires, and lowered to just the right stance looks better than 99% of the cars on the road today. That's my opinion anyway. Plus if you have too many graphics on the car, it's going to be hell to rectify when you get little nicks and scrapes here and there. However the sig on the hood would look pretty cool I think. Maybe have it airbrushed the same color as the car so that it looks kinda like a mirage popping out of the hood. That way it's not too much and blends in with the car really well. Many clear coats to try and protect it I guess. Maybe somehow you can get a custom cover (kinda like those LeBras) made for the entire hood so you can have that on there when you're driving it to shows and then take it off when you display the car. Just a thought.

Tress!!! So many designs. So many different options. Your gonna kill me, exotic rida, and the rest of us if you don't put and end to the madness. By the time we get finish on the car it'll have a 350, flowmasters, firebird interior, battery relocation, HMS suspension, 13in brake swap, hood scoop, trunk scoop, side scoops, and last but not least a fly a$$ paint job.
You go girl you know we got your back....

Tress, they only made the Coupe body style you're buying two years 87-88. The 'fuscia?' Photoshopped car is the 'aero notchback' style. It appeared first as the Indy (4 cyl) in '84, became the GT (V6) in '85 and then was renamed the SE (4cyl or V6) in '86-'87 when the fastback GT was introduced. The white Coupe isn't mine. I have two '88's (black), two '87's and an 85GT and an '84.

Oh.....and I'm 6'3" and the Fiero is the most comfortable car I've driven on trips since my '70 Datsun 240Z.

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Notchbacks RULE

"Let a man drive a Fiero and he'll own one.
Teach a man to fix a Fiero and he'll own six."

[This message has been edited by Fierobruiser (edited 03-03-2005).]

Quick update....

I'm going to get the 88 Coupe next weekend if everything goes according to plan. I spoke to the guy yesterday and he's going to check in with the original owner so they can have the title taken care of and ready to sign over to me. I'm going to be out of town for a week (Orlando), so we'll have to wait until I get back to finalize everything.

Since the car is running hot, Exotic Rida and the guys are going to help me arrange to have it towed to my house, where we'll clean out the pine needles (what's up with Fieros and pine needles? hehe), flush out the coolant system and hopefully have it on the road so we can give it a thorough going-over.

I'm going to take care of the DMV registration, insurance, etc. when we take care of the title, so once the overheating problem is taken care of, I'll be on the road with it.

Whoo-hooo!

--Tress

[This message has been edited by Miss-Tress007 (edited 03-06-2005).]

It's official!

As of 4pm CST, on 3/26/05 I signed the title to officially become the owner of one 1988, automatic, white Fiero 2DR Coupe. As of 4:58pm CST, "The Hottie" was parked outside my driveway.

Excuse me while I go sit outside in my new ride. I have joined the ranks of Fiero-owners. I am no longer a wanna-be.

Life is good. Fieros are cool and I am soooooo psyched.

--Tress

Congrads! Now it's time to get to work. Hopefully you'll be able to bring it to Carlisle or one of the other shows in the near future. I'm interested in seeing it with the paint scheme you had in mind. Should look sharp.

Congratulations on the "new" 88 coupe. I have a soft spot for white 88 auto coupes as that's what my chop top used to be in it's earlier life. I hope you are able to clean out all those pine needles and get it on the road soon.

I have a whole lot of Fiero parts, including entire parts cars, let me know what you need.

- Jonathan

cool.. now, get cleaning and replacing!

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