Hello Skitime, have a few question for you. On page two you are talking about how you "recessed the bonding surface" How far did you take the surface down? The thickness of the scoop? How did you get such a straight cut, did you use a router? thnks for your help.
Good question. I did not know how to do that either. I knew it would do a better job if I could. So yes I first tried a wood router. It soon became apparent that all I would do was succeed in burning up the bit. So I looked around at what I had and spied the circular saw. I adjusted the depth platform to about 1/4 inch. It worked great but the dust was unbelievable. I had to hold the blade constantly at the right depth to prevent cutting through. Not the easiest thing to do. I just followed my pencil lines and hand held it. My garage looked like a cement factory exploded after I was done. It took days to clean up the mess. (Note to self-Next time do that outdoors.)
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Red 88 GT T-Top 3800 Supercharged White 88 GT Stock Please give me a rating if you appreciate my contribution.
[This message has been edited by skitime (edited 02-13-2003).]
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09:16 PM
NotOldEnough Member
Posts: 21 From: Redding, Ca. USA Registered: Dec 2002
Ski, As my first post (I'm a big time lurker) I think your car is stunning, I wish mine was like it. I hope this thread goes back to the discussion about the development of your car!! I missed the response about the additional vent/louvers on the Trunk/rear hood. Where did you get something that matches the stock ones so well?
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09:37 PM
skitime Member
Posts: 5765 From: Akron, PA, USA Registered: Aug 2000
Ski, As my first post (I'm a big time lurker) I think your car is stunning, I wish mine was like it. I hope this thread goes back to the discussion about the development of your car!! I missed the response about the additional vent/louvers on the Trunk/rear hood. Where did you get something that matches the stock ones so well?
It was mentioned in the thread. I was only going to use them if it looked stock. The only way I knew to do that was to use the stock grills from the GT. It took two sets of grills to get them to be just right. I just cut piece of grills to create it.
Oh and let me be the first to welcome you among the thread posters and thanks for the compliment.
[This message has been edited by skitime (edited 02-13-2003).]
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09:41 PM
FieroGTChile87 Member
Posts: 458 From: Reading, PA, USA Registered: Oct 2001
Didn't you also do something with the "Pontiac" in your tailights? I thought I remembered that certain letters would light up at a certain time in sequence.
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[This message has been edited by FieroGTChile87 (edited 02-13-2003).]
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11:00 PM
skitime Member
Posts: 5765 From: Akron, PA, USA Registered: Aug 2000
Didn't you also do something with the "Pontiac" in your tailights? I thought I remembered that certain letters would light up at a certain time in sequence.
Yes, I still have several mods to go in the story. I am leaving for Vermont for 4 days so The thread will have to wait till I get back. Sorry to hold it up.
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11:21 PM
Smoooooth GT Member
Posts: 8823 From: Lake Palestine, Texas Registered: Jun 2001
True, he doesn't deserve to be kicked off the forum, but a nice apology would do a lot toward making people think better of him now.
I TOTALLY AGREE!! He need's to let this come to an end. I want to get back to the build up of one of the top 5 Fiero's on PFF!!! Thank's again for sharing what you have. I want also to say that I am on noone's side... I was just posting what I had heard of what was going on... I don't need any bad rating's or 'flames' from this as I was just stating my side....
Smooth!!
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11:24 PM
fiero go fast Member
Posts: 1728 From: Royersford, PA Registered: Apr 2002
Have fun skiing Ski. Maybe we will get this blizzard thing they are talking about which will make it awsome skiing. You driving up yourself or are you taking one of those bus trips? Matt
Didn't you also do something with the "Pontiac" in your tailights? I thought I remembered that certain letters would light up at a certain time in sequence.
What? Hunh? Your kidding right? How in the heck did he do that? I can't wait to hear about this!
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12:12 AM
Songman Member
Posts: 12496 From: Nashville, TN Registered: Aug 2000
I will say again.....Nice car, DUMB ASS owner!!! revin must have been refering this to me as it describes me perfectly. revin and ski both just got positive ratings from me both by showing their both human. revin gets the positive for realizing that he made a mistake and took the proper steps to try to correct the situation. skitime gets one for not canceling his ski trip and coming to texas and kicking revins a$$!
I am sorry for the highjack of this thread, and to ALL PFF people on here!
I DO NOT want a war with ANY of you!
Thank you Smooth!
I have been under pressure with this swap.
I understand that I do not talk/write very good, or explain myself well at all and I am sorry for that. I am a very nice guy,99% of the time, rate me how ever you want.
Ski, PLEASE forgive me and my stupidness. I thank you for the help you have given me. If I ever in need of help, I will post,send you a pic. maybe we will both understand each other better that way.
Ski, PLEASE forgive me and my stupidness. I thank you for the help you have given me. If I ever in need of help, I will post,send you a pic. maybe we will both understand each other better that way.
VERY sincerly,
Revin Kevin
Well done Revin... well done.
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11:26 AM
Songman Member
Posts: 12496 From: Nashville, TN Registered: Aug 2000
I've always admired your car, but reading this thread, seeing the detail pics, the whole process, and reading about all the work you put into your car just gives me a whole new appreciation for your work of art.
You truly have a beautiful car, and can be proud of the work that you've put into it. I have neither the money nor the expertise to put into a project like this, but maybe some day I'll be able to buy a Fiero that wouldn't get laughed out of a show. :-)
Looking forward to the rest of your story!
Andy
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1984 Sport Coupe
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08:54 AM
Hartz Member
Posts: 1511 From: Plymouth, MI USA Registered: Jul 99
as Mr. Harvey would say "and now you know, the REST of the story"
But, he didn't say that, so you need to tell us more.
Do I have to come out there and break you knee to get you to come out to fierorama again?
No you only have to schedule the show a week earlier.
Just got back from being stuck on the ski trip in Vermont because of the snowstrom. Thanks everyone for the praise of my car. I hope to have time to write more but I leave for another trip to Vermont on Friday so I have to start getting ready for that trip.
I just laid my hands on a decent 87GT SBC unfinished project. Now that it's fresh i'm going to do all those cool things you did to your car...not a direct copy but just use them as Idea's. I believe the 2 most importnat parts of your car must be the Paint color and Rim choice...I mean those chrome rims and ruby red paint really call for a good jaw dropping. Awesome stuff Ski...takes passion, time, and the green stuff do to that...Great work
Steve-O
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06:56 PM
Feb 22nd, 2003
sdm1964 Member
Posts: 315 From: Glennville, Ga, usa Registered: Oct 1999
Bravo, Very beautiful car. Your craftsmanship and attention to detail is to be admired by all. I have been converting an 86SE to a Fastback and have to say that your car is EXACTLY what I am trying to create. I have been working on mine for 3 years now. My job, spouse and military obligations keep me quite busy. I plan on painting mine 2003 Dodge Ram Red. I hope that mine turns out half as good as yours.
A bow to one of the fiero masters.
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02:33 PM
Feb 23rd, 2003
skitime Member
Posts: 5765 From: Akron, PA, USA Registered: Aug 2000
Bravo, Very beautiful car. Your craftsmanship and attention to detail is to be admired by all. I have been converting an 86SE to a Fastback and have to say that your car is EXACTLY what I am trying to create. I have been working on mine for 3 years now. My job, spouse and military obligations keep me quite busy. I plan on painting mine 2003 Dodge Ram Red. I hope that mine turns out half as good as yours.
A bow to one of the fiero masters.
Thanks very much and to you too Steve-O. I finally got back from Vermont skiing so perhaps I can add to the tread very soon.
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07:38 PM
Raydar Member
Posts: 40925 From: Carrollton GA. Out in the... country. Registered: Oct 1999
Jeesh. Over the past months, every once in a while I'd log on and see another mod that Ski had done to his car. And I'd always say "Yeah. That looks cool." Only because you made it look so easy! While all the mods you have done are first rate, and have made your car one of the nicest examples anywhere, this thread makes me truly appreciate all the skill, craftsmanship, and hard work that went into its creation. And you even took the time to document it. Everybody always says "I intend to take lots of pics!" But very few do. Thanks! Two thumbs up.
------------------ Raydar
88 3.4 coupe. In progress. Out of my mind. Back in 30 minutes.
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11:00 PM
FieroHarry Member
Posts: 1809 From: Virginia Beach VA Registered: Apr 2001
I'm speechless. I didn't know this was the "how to make the perfect car" thread.
I saved all your pictures, zipped them, and uploaded them, in case anybody wants to get all the pictures of your beautiful car in one file. http://www.teamcaf.org/stuff/skitime.zip
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12:09 AM
Mar 13th, 2003
JacobHaley Member
Posts: 269 From: Columbus, OH Registered: Feb 2003
Yes, I still have several mods to go in the story. I am leaving for Vermont for 4 days so The thread will have to wait till I get back. Sorry to hold it up.
Any chance we can get the rest of the story?
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02:49 PM
skitime Member
Posts: 5765 From: Akron, PA, USA Registered: Aug 2000
I reeeeally need to know how you did the engine window. Please? I'm sure there are others out there that love that mod as much as I do. The 360 is my favorite car. Anything that I can do to make my GT a little closer to it is worth the work. Your car is incredible.
------------------ 84 2m4 85 GT project
[This message has been edited by sypher1078 (edited 03-16-2003).]
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09:10 PM
Mar 20th, 2003
skitime Member
Posts: 5765 From: Akron, PA, USA Registered: Aug 2000
OK, sorry this continuation took so long. I last was talking about doing well at the Carlisle Fiero show. I looked at some pictures from then and see another mod that I did prior to the show. I love going to junkyards looking for stuff to use on my car. That is where I found the hardware for the removable rear window as well as the vents for the front fenders. Well one day I was looking at a large Buick and notice the small dual struts holding up this huge steel hood. This was surprising to me that such small struts could do the job. I removed the struts and hinges and took them home for further development of a prototype. I hate the stock prop rod with a passion. That second stopping latch that catches drives me crazy. BTW,I worked on this after I had finished the hood mods. I was able to adapt these struts to the Fiero but they ended up being too short and weak. I went to AutoZone in search of a longer stronger strut. I took my bathroom scale along to help determine the strength of the struts. I found a likely candidate and bought two of them. I was able to design a mounting system for them and was quiet pleased with the results. You could lift the hood with one finger. I was planning to sell this as kits when I got time so I was keeping the design to myself. Well like many of my designs others worked on my design and one person is now selling the dual strut kits.
Let me say a few things about people that have copied my designs. I usually do not have a problem with someone copying my designs if I am given credit for the idea. If I totally wanted to protect my ideas I would not obviously be writing this thread. What usually happens is someone copies an idea, they come out showing their work and no credit is given. What I find interesting is people that choose to build and sell my ideas seem to always forget where they got the idea. This has happened to me several times lately. I would often just mention something like “Where did I see this idea before” in their thread. Usually they would then offer credit. Now everyone uses ideas from others. For example my spoiler is often called the “Skitime spoiler” here on the forum but I will usually mention that I got my idea from Lawrence since that is only right since he originally came up with the idea. The sharing of ideas is what makes the forum so great. People should just give credit to where credit is due. I had one person that emailed me often asking questions about my 3800SC dogbone/alternator/tensioner mount. I figured I was helping an individual with his Fiero. Suddenly the design was being offered for sale on the forum. I had no idea I was helping someone that wanted to build my design to sell it. That left a pretty bad taste in my mouth for helping others. I hope this doesn’t sound like sour grapes but I felt I needed to state my position on this. I am sure many others like V8Archie, West Coast Fiero can understand what I am saying.
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Red 88 GT T-Top 3800 Supercharged White 88 GT Stock Please give me a rating if you appreciate my contribution.
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08:40 PM
skitime Member
Posts: 5765 From: Akron, PA, USA Registered: Aug 2000
Let me get back to my car but first I need to talk about my knee since it affected my car. In May of 2002 I had an arthroscopic operation to repair my meniscus. Some might remember me limping around at the Carlisle show. The operation did not fix the problem so in mid July I had a partial knee replacement done with a new procedure called Unispacer. That procedure did not go well either and on December 18th I had a third operation to repair the Unispacer position, which ended up being in the wrong position for 5 months. Well the knee problem prevented me from doing any more major projects. I did a few minor ones. Vonnie and I enjoy getting our cars out to the local cruise-ins to expose the Fiero to the automotive public.
I am often amazed how many people do not recognize my car as a Fiero. I decided that one modification I could do soon after the Unispacer operation while limping around was underbody neons. I know many of you think that is” rice” but at the cruise-ins we have noticed how much more attention cars with the neons have. I added the top of the line Streetglows in red. For the front neon I built a steel bracket to hide the direct view of the light but lets the light shine brightly on the ground and out the nose. The side neons created an interesting problem. The bulbs should not be visible.
The Fiero is nearly perfectly flat from the bottom of the rocker panel to the opposite rocker panel. So how could I mount them with out them being seen? Some tuck the bulbs into a tight crevice right behind the rocker panel. The problem with this is that it creates a sharp cut off of the light instead of a soft glow across the ground. What I came up with worked out great. I bought some 1-˝ wide aluminum straps. I remove the fasteners along the bottom of the rocker panel and mounted the long straps painted black along the length of the rocker panel.
This piece does two things. It blocks the view of the bulb and provides a “bumper” to help protect the bulb. Since the strap is black it is almost totally unnoticeable. Most people never see it unless I point it out and even then they always go over to see it close up. The side bulbs are mounted about 5 inches from the rocker panel. The rear bulb was easily mounted between the trunk compartment and the rear bumper skin.
Sorry I have had a real hard time getting good pictures of the car with the neon lights on.
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08:41 PM
skitime Member
Posts: 5765 From: Akron, PA, USA Registered: Aug 2000
Another modification I did for the cruise-in crowd was to add some strobe lights. I added strobe lights to the PONTIAC lights in the back of the GT. I used two strobe light sets designed for headlights. I added one strobe light to each of the four light bulb reflectors housing. I put the strobes in alternating between the two sets. This allows the lights to flash in alternating pairs and I can separately control the speed of each set. The result is quiet captivating and helps bring people over to the car. These pictures do not really give the effect but you can get the idea. They are really bright and hypnotizing to watch.
The next modifications I felt I could do with the bad knee was to the interior. Up to this point the interior was bone stock. I really love the way the beechwood interior looks with the factory bright red body. I always wanted the factory lumbar seat. I was lucky to find a set of 88 Beechwood seats with the lumbar option on Ebay and won the auction. I decided to put Mr. Mike leather seat skins on them. I contacted Mr. Mike and decided to get the custom made Sport model. This seat skin looks like the Italian model but has different stitching. That would allow the inflatable side bolsters to match the shape of the leather bolsters stitching. I also wanted to bring a touch of red into the interior without being overdone so I had red piping added to the seats. I ordered extra red piping to allow me to further add some more red touches. I really do not like overdone interiors and remember I like my car to look like it could have been done by the factory. I added the red piping around the door latch panels and the outside dash vents. The seats and trim came out great. I really liked the look that resulted.
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08:42 PM
skitime Member
Posts: 5765 From: Akron, PA, USA Registered: Aug 2000
By the end of August the seats were in and I was still limping with a cane. The doctor told me I would have to stay off work as a Tech Ed teacher for another two weeks, which meant missing the start of school. I decided that since we had no vacation because of this surgery that Vonnie and I would drive my car from PA to Chicago for the Fierorama show for a mini vacation. I had never driven my car for more than under a 100 miles at a time so I was concerned if my engine and my engineering of the installation would successfully make it the 1200 miles round trip. The car ended being a sweet car on the interstates. It could pass cars in an instant and got 30+ mpgs. We arrived in the Chicago area and proceeded to clean the car at the hotel. We met a lot of new Fiero folks while we were there. Here we are arriving at the show.
The day of the show I could not believe the size of the show. They had 132 Fieros there. I was very disappointed to find out that I was in a huge modified class of 25 cars and they did not break up the class into notchback and fastback or V8 and V6s. There were 12 V8 cars alone which included Chris Moores’ Northstar V8 convertible, the Stinger and Tina awesome V8 T-top and many others.
V8 row. This is ˝ the Fieros in my class.
And the rest of my class.
I told Vonnie there was no way I would have a chance against the V8 cars. The day ended up going very fast. I was stuck as usual showing people my car. I was hardly able to walk around and see everyone’s cars. Soon it was time to gather for awards. When they got to my class the butterflies were tearing me up. Well the third place went to the Stinger, second went to Chris Moore, I figured the Tina V8 was next. I was then stunned when they called my name next. I was really in shock. I did not think it was possible to beat the V8 cars. I was even told I was very close to getting the best of show award. After the shock wore off I was thrilled and it sure made the long drive home a lot easier.
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08:46 PM
skitime Member
Posts: 5765 From: Akron, PA, USA Registered: Aug 2000
We planned to stop half way home but we drove straight home from Chicago without stopping and took only 12 hours. God must have wanted us home because after being home for only 10 minutes we got a phone call. The phone call was to let us know that my younger daughter had just been in an accident. She was driving my other 88 GT T-top and another car pulled out in front of her. She had no chance to avoid the collision. The Fiero hit the front end of the other car and continued across the street and then hit a fire hydrant and broke the hydrant off. She luckily had her seatbelt on and only suffered seat belt bruises. The car was totaled and I bought it back from the insurance company and spent weeks dismantling it and selling the parts on Ebay.
I also added a factory DELCO CD changer to a late model Pontiac radio. I love this setup. The lighting on the radio is really cool. The cassette radio looks fairly common and no self-respecting thief would risk stealing a stock cassette radio while trashing your car trying to get it out. The changer plugs into the radio and the radio buttons and display turns into CD changer controls. There are no tale-tale remote controls to tip a thief off that there is a changer anywhere. The radios sound awesome especially with the factory subwoofer I added. I have the CD changer mounted on the front trunk on the left fender. The sound is great and retains the factory look I like.
Another few projects for me to do while recuperating were adding Lawrence’s electronic goodies. I added the sequential turn signals, daytime running lights, and third brake light flasher. He makes great items and I feel they add to the safety of the car.
This brings me nearly to date. We went to several smaller shows during the summer and the car always did well. I had a lot of plans over the winter. To date none of them have been done due to the damn knee. I am getting stronger and will be able to soon get back into the garage. The hood developed a slight crack prior to going to the Fierorama show and I replaced it with the stock hood for the drive out and back. So I have to repair and repaint it. I have some custom headlight covers that actually were all but done never put on the car. I plan to have them on for their debut at Carlisle. I will say that they are different than any other headlight cover, and doubt that anyone has anything like it. My other plan that got held up was building an intercooler and possibly a body mod for the intercooler radiator. I designed a body mod that nobody has done to mount the intercooler radiator. AusFiero even did a Photoshop of the design. (No he won’t show you) I might make the actual intercooler myself with my machining skills. The 3800 supercharged engines mounts the intercooler between the blower and the intake manifold. I would like to start playing with pumping up the horsepower on the engine as well.
My other Fiero things I would like to do in the future. I would like to do a V8 Fiero. Not sure which engines. I have looked at a lot including the Audi V8s. I would like to try something different or something that has been done but is a different or better way. Who knows if I will ever get around to them.
After having the car for a little over two years I am anxious to start my third season with this car. Not sure what will be next but I am sure I will have more to do to it. Well I guess this is the end of the history story. Hope I did not bore you. I am sure I will think of things I forgot and I will add it to the story. Sorry it got so long. If you enjoyed it let me know since it makes the work and typing worthwhile when and if it is appreciated.
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Red 88 GT T-Top 3800 Supercharged White 88 GT Stock Please give me a rating if you appreciate my contribution.
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08:49 PM
litespd Member
Posts: 8128 From: No where you want to be Registered: Aug 99
Ski, that was a great story. I know I kept coming back to the thread, to see if you had made any new posts. Thanks for sharing the story of your car with all of us. I've been aware of your car for quite some time, and to get to see how the final (for now) result was attained was fascinating. I hope that you keep making those trips to the junkyard, and coming up with new ideas for your car...it sets a benchmark for many of us to follow!
------------------ Mike...86 GT 4 Speed "Sucks to be me..."
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10:35 PM
fiero go fast Member
Posts: 1728 From: Royersford, PA Registered: Apr 2002
Wow...... I think I'll print this thread out and read it over and over again. Waiting for you to finish the thread I've read it probably 10 times. It makes me sad to see it end =). You've also made me realise I have a very long way to go and much to learn. Great job as usual. Matt
PS: It looks like you have the night rider thing going on here. I like.
