Nice thread, the car looks to be coming along nicely.

quote Originally posted by Darren's 87 coupe: Congrats on the savings. That's always fun. I'll take one of the extra parts for the Tach mod if thats ok. Are you doing a speedometer modification as well? I have left over capacitors and resistors to make you a module for that if you need it. My wiring is coming together really well. It's a pain, but it's finally getting done. Should have the whole harness done this next weekend. If the sun would stop going down so early, I could have had the harness finished this weekend. Talk at you later, Darren

I'll send you one of the tach mod pieces. For the speedo I just bought one from fieroaddiction's ebay store. 10 bucks and I don't have to worry about it. I haven't even got started on the wiring yet. If you have any tips you can provide I'm all ears. I just got lucky on the starter. Good thing too cause I need it to continue on with the rest of the build. Gotta go to work. Later Darren

Man I have to tell you that the wiring will drive you nuts. I'm glad I'm getting close to the end. I have about all of the computer done, and most of the C203. Not much of the C500, but that's only a few wires, so I'm getting close. There are differances between years of caddy's, but mine is a 91 from a deville, and the Fiero is an 87 5 speed base model 4 cyl. I'm also swaping the 5 speed to the automatic 4T60E that came with the caddy. Depending on what year 4.9 you have I should have a lot of answers as you come to the hard parts. There's not many, but a few things get confusing. just let me know how I can help out.

After the wiring gets done this weekend, I just have fuel lines, water lines, and trans cooler lines till I can try to turn it over. Won't get it on the road for a while, maybe even spring, but I'm just ready to hear it turn over.

Talk at you later,

Darren

quote Originally posted by Darren's 87 coupe: Man I have to tell you that the wiring will drive you nuts. I'm glad I'm getting close to the end. I have about all of the computer done, and most of the C203. Not much of the C500, but that's only a few wires, so I'm getting close. There are differances between years of caddy's, but mine is a 91 from a deville, and the Fiero is an 87 5 speed base model 4 cyl. I'm also swaping the 5 speed to the automatic 4T60E that came with the caddy. Depending on what year 4.9 you have I should have a lot of answers as you come to the hard parts. There's not many, but a few things get confusing. just let me know how I can help out. After the wiring gets done this weekend, I just have fuel lines, water lines, and trans cooler lines till I can try to turn it over. Won't get it on the road for a while, maybe even spring, but I'm just ready to hear it turn over. Talk at you later, Darren

Nice. I will keep you in mind when I get started wiring. My engine is out of a 93 deville but I am wiring as a 91 seville/eldorado. Car is an 85GT 4 speed so it wont be much for wiring there. At least as the tranny change goes. Not sure how to do the reverse light wiring yet. Open to suggestions here. I have all the wiring diagrams I need and have been studying them when I have some free time. Thanks for the offer Darren, I may have to take you up on that.

A little update while I'm at it.

The starter showed up and looks to be the correct one. One bonus is it came with a lifetime warrenty. They will cover any manufacture defect as long as I own the car. Pretty cool for 55 dollars delivered. I won't know for sure if its the correct one til I get it to the car to check unless someone can confirm for me now.





( I just really cant take pictures. Its either the lighting or me shaking the camera. )

Also, on order is a new set of front ball joints (upper adjustable and lower) from Rodney. Should be here by wednesday according to him. And a set of front poly bushings and new exhaust tips from summit . UPS says monday for the poly and next monday for the tips . Here are the tips I finally decided on. They have a 2" in and dual 2.5 out with dual resonators in each one. 15" overall length should work out great. I measured 14 7/8 from the tip to the inside radius of the first bend on the 85SE so they should be near perfect. I always liked the look of the slant cut tips of the non GT cars better. They were just too small to look right to me. I'm hoping this gives me the look I'm going for. Should be nice and quiet too with the 4 resonators and a muffler. It'll should sound really good without being loud.

http://store.summitracing.c...508+115&autoview=sku
I'll be using a stock muffler that has been modified to use a larger cat to muffler pipe (2.5"). So the exhaust will go like this...

Caddy manifolds with dual 2" pipes to cat. Cat to muffler 2.5". And dual 2" from muffler to tips. The single 2" pipe that crosses over the tranny will be wrapped and shielded to keep the heat down. There will be 5 speed shift cables, a coolant hose and inline filler, oil cooler hoses and the filter housing and filter to deal with to its got to stay cool. The entire catback system is run in the stock fiero way and can be replaced down the road with something from WCF or similar companies. I'm hope to find someone else to get one from but can't think of anyone else that sells them right now. Who makes custom size catback systems for a fiero besides WCF?

And last but definately not least I got the 88-95 corvette 12" front rotors (x4), front hubs (fiero hubs with rotors machined off, new bearing races and studs installed x2), and a 4t60 shift cable bracket (for Dad for christmas to help with his 4 speed auto swap) from Rockcrawl. He has to order the rotors so I don't know how long it will take but they are paid for and in the works. He also has an option for slotting an cross drilling but I opted for the plain ol big brakes. Still need to order up a set of brake lines and pads to go with the rest of the set, but I have some time for that still.

Plan is to go back down next week. I get thanksgiving off and have taken friday off also for a 4 day weekend. I should be able to spend at least 2 days on the car. There is a ton to do. I will be pulling the front crossmember out to replace all of the lines (clutch, coolant tubes, adding auto tranny cooler lines). While the crossmember is out I will also replace the ball joints and install the poly. Should be much easier while it is on the bench then it was for the 84SE on the car. A little side note here. I will be returning the 84SE to stock rubber sometime in the near future and will probably sell of the control arms with the poly in them if anyone is interested.

Oh, and the m16x1.5 taps showed up so I can officially make a my custom shift nob, and, attach it to the car. I am going to test out a couple of ideas and see what you guys think. If you like them I can make more pretty easily. Later.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 11-18-2007).]

Alright, everything that was suppose to come in, did.

Parts list of what I'm taking with me...

Rodney front upper and lower ball joints
Allante starter
Tranny cooler lines
84-87 front poly bushings
Bolts to attach shift cables to shift arms
Exhaust tips
Newer trunk carpet out of an 85 2.5 (without molded blower motor part) very clean
Tach mod multiturn trim pot

Everything else is already there and the rest of the brakes will come in when they come in. I will post an update with lots of pics probably sunday night. Stay tuned.

Ok update time again. I think this is getting repetitive.

First off I thought this was a good pic. Twin black 88GT's (one auto one manual) and a Gold 86SE V6 auto.


And here are those pics of the top of the strut towers that I promised so long ago. It just took forever to get decent pics of them.



Ok now for the actual update.

First off I removed the front crossmember as the begining of the work. In order to do what I had planed there was not other way. I had never done it before and although it wasn't too bad I hope I never have to do it again. I started by puting the car on jackstands and removing the wheels. Next I removed the front spare tub and unbolting all of the brake lines and coolant tubes from the crossmember. I then unbolted the shocks, seperated the brake hoses from the hard lines, and removed the rear lower control arm bolt. Next up I unbolted the braces that go from the crossmember to the lower radiator support. All that was left now was the 10 bolts that actually hold in the crossmember. There are 3 on each side above the upper control arm and 4 under the car just behind the front lower control arm bolt. I positioned a jack under the center of the crossmember so that I could easily lower the crossmember after the bolts were removed. I then realized that I forgot to remove the bolt that connects the steering arm to the steering rack. OOPS. If you ever have to do this make sure you remove this bolt before unbolting the crossmember. What a PITA. After that it dropped right out with no problems.




We took the crossmember next door to the real shop so I could get to work on it. Dad worked on pressing out the ball joints and replacing them with new ones from Rodney. Next up we pulled the old rubber bushings our the the control arms so they could be replaced with poly. You can tell from looking at the lower control arms that the previous owner had not raised the bump stops. I'm sure they hated the ride. I know I would have.
Before


While we had everything in the shop we raised the bumpstops. I figured you guys might get a kick out of how we did this...



Gas power chop saw! Gotta love power tools.
Bumpstops cut and about 1 inch of metal removed, now we weld them back together followed by zinc primer (sound familiar?) and paint.





We finished up the poly install and I took the spindles to the glass beader. One thing to note is anytime you glass bead something you must remove the moisture before you paint it. We do this with a propane torche. After paint I was pretty impressed with how they turned out. Almost like new.



That was about it for friday. We took the parts back accross the street to they could be put back into the car.

Saturday morning I got started on reassembling the crossmember. It went back together very well. Its so much easier to do this stuff while the crossmember is out of the car. Just not worth the time to remove it.




With the crossmember ready to go back into the car I started working on replacing the clutch line and adding the auto radiator to tranny cooler lines which I am using as an oil cooler. I removed the clutch line and found that someone had cut about 6 inches off of it and reattached the fitting. Guess thats why it looked so funny in there. I replaced the line with the one I pulled out of the parts car. With that out of the way I took a look under the car to see if I would run into problems installing the auto trans cooler lines. With a little grinding and bending of the little mounting brackets I was able to get them to fit right next to the clutch line. I was even able to re-use the original bolts that hold it all in place. Sorry about the pics, the lighting in this part of the shop is almost non existant.




With that done I also replaced the bent coolant tubes with better ones from the parts car. The pics didn't turn out at all for those though. Then It was time to bolt the crossmember back in. It went in much easier then it came out but again I forgot to attach the bolt from the steering column. Doh! Finally got it back together by taking the steering column loose from the inside of the car. Good thing the interior is not back together yet. Dispite the self inflicted frustration I think everything came out well.





Looks like shite now but soon the new 12" rotors will show up to replace these ugly things.


That was it for this trip. I will be doing a couple things to this car this weekend on top of installing the new tires on my daily driver. Since I had about 4 choices for a 215/60-14 I went with these. Yokohama AVID T4
http://www.tirerack.com/tir...Compare1=yes&place=1

Car is coming together. I'l should be driving her in a couple months.


More to come as time allows.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 11-28-2007).]

Looking good. Glad to see a ton of pics. That's always fun. I have had to put a stop to my progress again to save for the baby coming in Feb and to get more work done on the house, so I won't be updating my build very often. And I was getting so close. Oh well. I reall want to see yours up close when you get done, so I was wondering if you are going to go to the 25th anniversary show up in MI? I already have my reservations made, and will definatly have the car done by then. Probably not much sooner though.

Keep up the updates. Let me know how those KYB shocks work. Thats what I have on my front and KYB struts on the back, but have never had them on the road to feel them. Can't wait to get mine finished.

Take care,
Darren

quote Originally posted by Darren's 87 coupe: Looking good. Glad to see a ton of pics. That's always fun. I have had to put a stop to my progress again to save for the baby coming in Feb and to get more work done on the house, so I won't be updating my build very often. And I was getting so close. Oh well. I reall want to see yours up close when you get done, so I was wondering if you are going to go to the 25th anniversary show up in MI? I already have my reservations made, and will definatly have the car done by then. Probably not much sooner though. Keep up the updates. Let me know how those KYB shocks work. Thats what I have on my front and KYB struts on the back, but have never had them on the road to feel them. Can't wait to get mine finished. Take care, Darren

Hey Darren, good to hear from you again. I took way more pics then I was able to post but most of them did not turn out so in the trash they went. I think I took about 65 but only kept 35.

I was thinking about going to the 25th but just don't think I will be able to pull it off. Its almost 3000 miles from where I am and I just wouldn't feel right about flying in and going fieroless. I'm still trying to work something out but its not looking hopeful. Luckily for me a week later there is a show up in Washington (FieroFest Northwest) that will also be doing some kind of 25th celebration. Should be no reason I can't get to that one at the very least. I understand about other things coming up. I couldn't do anything for a little over a month and am just now getting back to work on it. Should be able to get a few things done this weekend but I only have a few hours since I have to come back to town to go to some Christmas party my work is putting on saturday. The main reason for the trip down is to get new tires installed on my daily driver so I can stop sliding around on my bald rear tires. lol After thats done I should have a few hours to maybe get the starter mounted and replace the broken decklid torsion bar. This car had a ton of problems that I couldn't see at first glance. Repairing everything has really slowed the progress but its making steady progress again and should be on the road in a couple of months.... hopefully.

I'm really curious about the KYB's also. Same situation here, I have not got a chance to feel them yet other then the time I was sitting on the floor boards (no seats) while someone else was pushing the car. I guess that doesn't really count though. I'm just not really liking the mis-matched set that is on the car now and will probably change them out eventually to the Koni along with new springs and possible swaybars. Problem is they just don't make a Gas-A-Just for the rear so I am stuck with the GR2's. Even if they made a GR2 for the front I would be happy, but no, they have to odd about it. We'll find out for sure how they work out when I get her on the road.

Congrats again on the new addition to the family. Talk to you later Darren.

Caalon

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 11-29-2007).]

I have to say it is looking great and coming along quite well...

Had a couple of questions for you...
The following image shows the upper control arms with the upper ball joints installed upside down. Sticking up from the top of the arms. Intentional or just storing them there for reassembly? Looks great otherwise.


The next 2 images show the Upper Balljoints mounted INSIDE of the upper control arm, instead of through the top hole. Any concern about this being a potential weak point in the suspension? OEM and most replacement uppers are designed to be mounted through the top. If you have the adjustable ball joints, the grip surface is on the bottom of the flange to grip the top of the control arm when the bolts are tight.

quote Originally posted by Synthesis: I have to say it is looking great and coming along quite well... Had a couple of questions for you... The following image shows the upper control arms with the upper ball joints installed upside down. Sticking up from the top of the arms. Intentional or just storing them there for reassembly? Looks great otherwise. The next 2 images show the Upper Balljoints mounted INSIDE of the upper control arm, instead of through the top hole. Any concern about this being a potential weak point in the suspension? OEM and most replacement uppers are designed to be mounted through the top. If you have the adjustable ball joints, the grip surface is on the bottom of the flange to grip the top of the control arm when the bolts are tight.

Unintentional. I was hoping nobody would notice but I should know better. The upside down thing was just me too early in the morning. I think I was still half asleep while I was installing them the first time. The under the control was just me not remembering. I took a look at the parts car later that night and realized my mistake. Its OK, I am still going to replace the tierod ends and put on the new hubs when they show up so I can take care of it then. Good eyes!

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 11-30-2007).]

Fieroeverywhere,
Wonderful write up :- ) When you get the time (oh yeah, that's a mouthful), let me know what parts you might be selling. I saw the shift-surroung on the parts car. I'll ask now, if that's OK, how much? There are other parts you might be selling laying around. Maybe a list in the near future? Let me know...

Cordially,
Kevin J. Sullivan
kevin.sullivan@horacemann.com

quote Originally posted by kevin: Fieroeverywhere, Wonderful write up :- ) When you get the time (oh yeah, that's a mouthful), let me know what parts you might be selling. I saw the shift-surroung on the parts car. I'll ask now, if that's OK, how much? There are other parts you might be selling laying around. Maybe a list in the near future? Let me know... Cordially, Kevin J. Sullivan kevin.sullivan@horacemann.com

Alright. Here is the deal with parts. The garage is in the process of being built right now (only the inside left). We just got the welder over there last week. There is still no cabinets or tools as of yet. It should be done by this spring. Once it is done we will start restoring a few of the fieros and fixing up the rest for sale. We will also be digging into the parts cars and fiero parts sheds to see what we want to let go. I will start a big thread when we are all set and organized to sell some stuff off. If you want I will send you a link to the thread when I start it.

That parts car is my Dads so I will have to ask him about the shift surround but I doubt he will be willing to let it go. Pretty much the only nice thing about that car was the interior and that was the only reason he bought it. I have sinced robbed almost everything else of value to fix my few fieros, mainly this project car. He seemed pretty set on keeping it to fix one of the cars he plans on keeping. I'll ask him and let you know. I'll also check the shed and see if I have another one lying around. What tranny do you have? Just so I know which one to look for.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 12-01-2007).]

Got a little done yesterday. Only had the one day this weekend with Christmas approching.

First off dad got his compressor up and running for the new garage. The motor need to replaced now though. It will only build up ~95 psi now before the motor just runs out of power. It should max at 160psi as a comparison. Its about time. This thing was built in 1951. They just dont make anything like that anymore. Almost 57 year is a pretty good life span for a 220 electric motor.


I started this trip with pulling the motor again. At this point I've done it so many times I can do it by myself in ~30 minutes. I'm sure some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.

With the motor out of the way I replaced the broken torsion bar for the decklid. Without the motor in it is a very easy job. Just make sure you put something accross the window to be safe. Don't want to lose your back window. Two 13mm bolts and the one pin is all that holds them in place.
I also temporarily mounted the starter. I need to head down to the yard and pick up the correct length starter bolts from a caddy since I don't seem to have them. The fiero ones will work for now but they are not long enough to get enough threads to hold it right. Pics will be below.
I cleaned up the rest of the engine bay with some scrubbing bubbles and a rag. Works like a charm on grease, dirt and oil.
I cleaned up and re-installed the heat shields also. Looks good now, not show quality, but good. This car will probably never be shown. Its for driving. I will be pulling the motor at least one more time to finish the cleanup and weld covers over the blower motor holes to the trunk.

Next up we got started on the exhaust.

We got out some long pieces of welding wire to mock up where the pipes are going to sit. Once we were satisfied with the mouting I headed down to the local Goofy's muffler shop with the stock under car pipe and the welding wire and had them mandrel bend up a couple of 2" pipes and a 2.5 pipe for under the car. Cost $125. They are very simple bend and will be no problem for any shop with a mandrel machine. It took a while to get it all together but I'm pretty happy with the results. I think the "Y" cat will work great. It saved space and allowed something better (IMO) then the traditional "Y" pipe. We used the stock Deville crossever tube and heat shielding for most of the main crossover piece (grey primerd part in the pics) and the mandel bent pipes for the rest. The cat is clamped into place but I forgot to get pics. We figured it was the only way to be able to remove it from the car without droping the engine. I will be wraping the manifolds and pipes to the cat also with some exhaust wrap at a later date also. Here are some shots of the process. If you want more details let me know and I will elaborate on how we built it.








This thing is strong. We were trying to tweak (hehe) it a little from some slight shifting before welding and let me tell you it wasn't easy. It will support my weight without any problem and we haven't even got the under car pipe or muffler on yet. We will try to finish up the rest on the next pass. I need to get a muffler also since I have decided not to use the stock fiero one. I'll probably go with the flowmaster they had at Goffy's since they always give me a good price ~$125-$150.


With the broken decklid spring fixed we could put the decklid back on. At the last minute we decided to do just that. It not fully alligned and we found a couple cracks that need fixing, but, its on the car.

I still think I'm going to change it to a fast back but that is a while off. Its got to run first before I even consider starting that job.

On a side note. My brake parts are in the mail from Rockcrawl. I already have the caliper adapters but now the 12" rotors, and modified from hubs are on the way. Rotors will be here tomorrow and the hubs sometime later in the week. There is also a set of 4t60 cable and one of the tranny mounts in there also for Dads christmas present. He's going to be so excited.

The reason I only worked one day is cause we had to put the parts car back together enough to be moved off of the slab so we could finally start giving the 86GT auto the attention it deserves. We got it started and moved out of it hole so work can begin. It has no reverse so it wasn't as easy as it should have been. Dads puting a 4t60 in it and still doesn't know about the brackets I got for him. Shhhh, don't tell.

Thats it for the work this trip. I did manage to grab a couple of decent shots of the engine bay so far. Still a lot more work to be done but its looking good so far.




Later.

EDIT: I finally decided on the wheels for this can but now I am un-sure about the paint. Dad really wants to paint the 86GT silver since he always wanted one. I don't want them to be the same color so I'm going with something different. I found out that we can get a couple pints of what ever Harley colors we want. They got some nice stuff on the new bikes. Just need to decide which one. You can see some of colors here.
http://www.harley-davidson...._landing&dwp_ps=wide

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 01-02-2008).]

Got the rotors in today!!




They look great and will look great on the car. Finally something bigger then the stock fiero brakes and they are pre-drilled with the 5x100 pattern. Should look great behind those wheels also. I'm very excited to get everything on.

More pics to come as the parts come in. Brakes going on the car this weekend.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 12-18-2007).]

Did a little work this weekend while visiting Dad for the last time before Christmas.

First off, the garage is finally done enough to start getting cars into it to get worked on. Both Dad and I are very excited to get to work on all the fiero projects we have. First on the plate is Debbie's Gold 86SE auto. The passenger side headlight stoped working so I fixed it. It had a motor problem which we did not fix yet. Just replaced it with one we had lying around. Dad worked on replacing the tilt steering column that broke that day. I need to give him a call and see how it turned out. Also getting the snow tires on it for the winter.



Its almost time for a change. The shop I've been building my silver 85GT in is being torn down to make room for the Harley shop going up in its place. This should start soon after the first of the year so my car will have to move to a better location. Good thing Dads garage is ready to start accepting Fieros. I will be moved in the next couple weeks and work will continue without being restricted to the times the shop is open. This is a very good thing IMO. I can start working all night long or til I pass out on my feet. The lighting is much better so now I will be able to see what I am doing. Can't wait to get the garage fully set-up so we can really get to work on the serious mods. The welder and air compressor are already there along with a somewhat complete set of tools. The rest will come soon including the lathe and milling machine.

This trip I didn't spend too much time working on the car. But with the little time I worked on it I got some important things done.

First off we finished the exhaust with the exception of mounting the tips. I decided to just stick with the stock fiero muffler for now. I will probably make a change to the camaro flowmaster later once the car is running. We'll see when the time comes. It turned out pretty good. The cat to muffler pipe was replaced with a 2.5" pipe to support the extra displacement of the 4.9. The stock 1 7/8" pipe would not have been sufficient IMO.


With it all welded together and hung in place with the stock springs I then clamped it to the cat using a lap joint clamp. The pipes were also left long enough to slip inside the cat on either side. They were a tight fit so with the addition of clamp I am very sure they will seal properly. I like that they were so easy to use and do not crimp or crease the pipes in any way. The other side of the cat is clamped in also so that the complete system can be removed while the engine is in the car if needed. Or if I want to take it to the track I can replace the cat with a true "Y" pipe after emmissions testing.

Sorry I didn't get pics of the exhaust on the car. With the bad lighting in that shop I couldn't get them to come out. I will get more once the exhaust is wrapped and the car moved to the new garage to continue with the rest of the build.

Next I got started on mounting the vette rotors, new hubs, and caliper adapter brackets. Everything went very smooth. The concentric rings were perfect as are the brackets. Rotors were also perfect but the new studs that were installed into the freshly machined hubs were actually shorter then the original fiero ones. They work but I want a little more threads for the lugs to attach to. With the extra thickness of the vetter rotors the lugs are only threaded 1/2 way through. They do look great on the car but this is just the test fit and the brakes are far from being complete.


Still needed to finish the braking and front suspension...

4 - 88 caliper rebuild kits - Rockauto.com ~50 dollars total.
2 - Inner and outer tierod ends - Rodneydickman.com ~100 total
2 - Bolts to hold the front caliper adapter brackets on. Size undetermined at this point.
4 - Front inner and outer wheel bearing for an 85 fiero along with seals.
4 - 88 fiero brake pads

Once these parts come in I will complete the install of the brakes and suspension. I will also switch the upper ball joints to the correct position so ignore what you see in the pics for now.

Thats it for the work on the car this trip. I will be heading back to down to continue the build in a couple of weeks. I am now preparing for inventory at work so time is very limited at the moment.

I spoke to Don at the Harley shop just to verify that he can get a couple pints of whatever color I want from either the 07 or 08 harleys. He can but couldn't give me a price as it varies depending on color. He did say with dads discount they wont cost much. This is very exciting as HD's have some of the best colors available IMHO. Still trying to decide which color to go with. They all look great and trying to decide without seeing them on a fiero is difficult. Suggestions are always welcome. What do you think?

Later.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 01-04-2008).]

Anyone still interested in this build?

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 12-26-2007).]

yeah me man, keep it comin keep it comin

Ok. Just making sure I'm not talking to myself again. Doctor said if I keep it up they will commit me.

Car is getting moved to the new garage this weekend where the rest of the work will be done. No longer limited to shop times.

But... work just got extra hectic so after this weekend there will not be any progress for a little while. One of my employees managed to get himself suspended and probably fired. Since there are only 3 of us and we are right in the middle of inventory prep me and the one other person left will be pulling at least 6 days a week until someone else in hired and fully trained in the position. So until after the 18th this is it. I'll get what I can done and hopefully I can still take monday off and get a 4 day weekend to get the work done. Wish me luck.

EDIT: Can anyone see my avatar? Looks like its working but it did last time too and I was the only one who could see it.

Wanted to add the photoshoped pic of the wheels from above on the car. Not the best but gives you an idea at least. What do you think?
EDIT: Changed mind again. Edited both posts to remove the wheels.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 01-02-2008).]

Can see your avatar just fine.

Good build thread. I have been following it for quite some time now as it seems you are going through a bunch of the same things I will be taking on in the very near future.

Keep the pictures and info coming.

Your avitar is cracking me up man. Please keep this post going. It's the only post that I am always looking at. Glad that you include all of the pics. I like the detail. By the way, I got a battery tray for Christmas. And I think this weekend might be nice to work on the wiring harness for a little while.

Talk at you later,

Darren

Good to hear from you Darren. Hope your ready for the new addition. Must be very close now. Hows the house coming? How about the car?

I am on a unplaned break from working on the car right now. Inventory at work is on the 13th and after this sunday, I won't get another day off til the 20th. Then I go back to one day off a week. Top it off I lost an employee and am now behind on the work to get the store ready for inventory.

But there is a bright side... if you can call it that. More overtime then I can handle for the next couple weeks and no time to spend the money. There will be lots extra for the next couple months also, at least til the new guy is ready to go it alone, that is when there IS a new guy.

I do have a little pile to work on in the meantime. I'll get them torn apart on sunday and get started from there.

Top - 93 deville engine harness
Left - 85 2.5 harness for harvesting c203 and passthrough from
Right - 93 Deville climate control and wiring, trying to use as a code reader like it was setup in the deville.

I will also be ordering some parts to complete the brakes and hopefully the suspension/steering soon and will post when it comes is.

EDIT: I've decided to replace my springs with a better set more suited to the KYB's on the car. I found a company that will sell Einback in custom lengths and spring rates. I'm looking at $220 for two 1-2" front lowering springs and a pair of 12" rear spring to go in the coilovers in the spring rates of my choice. Just need to decide my handeling to ride ratio.

Also may have tracked down an 88 rear swaybar and brackets finally. We'll see what happens in the next few days with that one.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 01-04-2008).]

I'm sure I'm not the only one out here in "lurk" mode who's been following your threads! Keep them coming!!
You mentioned possible use of the Eldorado dog bone set-up that bolts to the front of the head.
Are you still going to use that?

quote Originally posted by HarryG: I'm sure I'm not the only one out here in "lurk" mode who's been following your threads! Keep them coming!! You mentioned possible use of the Eldorado dog bone set-up that bolts to the front of the head. Are you still going to use that?

Once I got the motor in I found that it will not work in the stock position. For that matter there isn't even enough room next to the strut tower at all even with the original fiero dogbone bracket removed. With a bit of shaving of the stock caddy head bracket it may be able to work but I decided I would go a different route if its needed later.

I am using a 4 point mounting system. It should be strong enough to hold the motor just fine. If need be I will add a torque strut from the head to the cradle at a later date. According to what I have read a GM suspension link is about the perfect size if needed.

One of the things I wanted to do with this car is use as many fiero parts as possible. So far I've done pretty good. Only the brake rotors and engine and ECM are non fiero at this point. All other parts are factory fiero just re-arranged to work with my build.

I'm also lurkin' this, very nice build man, I have this bookmarked FYI.

There is more interest then I thought. Thanks guys for letting me know that some are still watching.
Wheels are pissing me off at this point. I know what I want but no one makes them. I have looked into Diamond Racing Wheels but the sizes I am looking at don't have the backspacing that I am looking for. I have also looked everywhere else that I can find. Problem is I don't want bling wheels and that what is made right now. I am more interested in performance and for that you want a lightweight wheel. To clear the vette rotors I need at least a 16" and would prefer to stay with a 16" if possible. I want to go with staggered width 16x7 front and 16x8 rear but does anyone make wheels in a 5x100 with a decently compatible offset for these.......... NO, not that I can find. I can probably do it with a 17" but it adds weight and a higher tire cost. Just not ideal for me. I'll keep looking but at this point it looks like a 17" is my only option and that will add more weight then I want. I want to compensate for the added weight of the brakes ?(rotors, brackets, 88 calipers) to keep the unsprung weight the same or lower then the original fiero 14's and brakes. Not an easy task so far, deffinately not while also trying to go 8" on the rear. If you have any ideas throw them my way, please.

Sorry, rant over.

On the lighter side I called Aaronrus here on the forum a few days ago about the chip. I wanted to get a few more details about what info he needed. He confirmed that he can indeed set up the chip to run the fiero speedo so I no longer need Rockcrawls speedo circuit that I bought oh so long ago. Still trying to figure out if I can use it to run the speedo in Dads formula. The previous owner swapped in a FWD getrag and the speedo hasn't worked since.

Anyways, back to my talk with Aaron. All he really need in the way of info is manual or auto, tire size being used (for speedo calibration), and single of dual O2 setup (please correct me if I missed anything Aaron). He will turn off the passkey stuff so there is no need for a bypass or any other modules to make this work. The details are starting to come together.

Started with the wiring harness but only looking at it at the moment. I don't have the time to pull it all apart yet with work being as crazy as it is right now. I have started labeling wires and unwraping to a point. Mainly research to get ready for it. I think it will be pretty easy but then again I don't fear wiring so it could just be me.

Oops, I have to get up for work in 6 hours. Gotta go.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 01-08-2008).]

Any updates on the brake upgrade? I PM'd you about them as well due to the fact that we have been discussing the '88 rear sway bar for your car!
I am considering this brake swap from Rockcrawl as well.
-Gary

quote Originally posted by FieroFanatic13: Any updates on the brake upgrade? I PM'd you about them as well due to the fact that we have been discussing the '88 rear sway bar for your car! I am considering this brake swap from Rockcrawl as well. -Gary

Pm responded. Everything I got from Rockcrawl is on the car. Had no problems except I need to install longer studs in the front hubs. This has nothing to do with the product though. Its those stupid ugly wheels that are on my car now. No biggie. Rockauto has longer 54mm ones for about $1.20 a piece and thats where I'm getting the caliper rebuild kits anyway. More info in PM.

For those who haven't figured it out already I will be adding an 88 rear sway bar to this build also courtesy of FieroFanatic13. Guess I'll eventually need to upgrade the front bar to match also since the 88 rear and 84-87 front are the same diameter. Crap gotta go back to work. Don't know when I'll get back to work on the car again. My next day off is 1-20 and I don't know yet if I can get more then one. I will be rebuilding the 88 calipers and installing the rest of the brakes when work starts back up. Ordering the parts on friday.

I might get some time to work on my harness today or tomorrow. I'm not rushing it since I'm not having much time to get to it, but My 83 Cutlass is starting to give me problems, and I would rather get the Fiero running, than work on the Cutlass.

Glad your not to worried about the wiring. It's not to hard to understand in my opinion, but I've been looking at it for years now so that might be some of it. The main pain for me is the routing of the wires and all the soldering and cutting and adding wires to get them to go where they need to be as well as making it look like it was meant to be there. I am really trying to make it look clean and from the factory looking.

i has been approved for a loan and we should be closing on it in the next few weeks, so I am probably getting a nicer used car for my self, but will also have a little left over to finish the Fiero like I want, and hopefully get every thing done before the 25 anniversary show. The Fiero will be my daily driver, but I am getting me another sedan for the realities of needing a four seater. But for me I want to drive the Fiero as often as possible.

I'll fill you in as I go. Keep me posted. Hope to see more pics after the 20th.

Later,
Darren

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

Finally made a real decision on the wheels. Been looking for months and finally gave up on the idea of using 16's. Just couldn't find anything in that size.

I was trying to find something in a 16 and a bit wider then the stock 15x7's without being excessive (16x8's would have been ideal). Also looking to spend somewhere around 600 total for 4 wheels and keep them 17lbs or lighter each (elliminates 18" or larger for the most part). Finding all of this while also having a 5x100 bolt pattern and a decent offset is why my choices were so limited. I have decided on the Konig Feather.


17x7.5 with a 45mm offset. Price $129 each. Weight 16.8lbs each. Combined with the vette rotors they should sit about 2mm further inward then the stock 15's did. I will be going with a 235/50-17 on the rear and probably a 225/50-17 on the front. Tire brand is still up in the air at this point but choices are limited unless I go with a 45 series which I don't want to do. Choices are Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3, Yokohama S-drive, or the Yokohama Advan sport (*new tire not tested much yet). If anyone has run any of these let me know how they worked for you.

Caliper rebuild kits are ordered along with new bearings and seals for the front hubs. Caliper kits are on backorder so it may be while before they come in. Swaybar should also be going out today.

Inventory is over, (whew...) thats a load off. We killed any previous record by having only a $3.99 variance on approx $325,000 worth of stock. Far less then 1% difference (company average 5%). Low enough that it did not register in the system as being anything. New employee should be starting tomorrow or wednesday so as soon as I get him trained I will go back to two days off a week. When he is ready I will also be taking 3-4 days off to get back to work on this car.

May head down this weekend for a day if time permits and I decide not to sleep on my one day off. Later.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 01-14-2008).]

12 days straight and 106 hours. I was tired but still managed to make the drive to get some work done on the car.

I worked the system a bit and got myself saturday and sunday off (had to work a few extra hours but it was worth it.). Got a bit done on the car on saturday but spent sunday working on my daily driver.

Oops. I just realized I forgot my camera a work so will have to post the pics tomorrow.

Got the front bearings and seals installed along with the caliper brackets and rotors on all 4 corners. The caliper rebuild kits showed up yesterday so the calipers are not yet on the car (will be done next trip) but I did put together what I had to get a look at them on the car. I'll just run back to work and grab the camera so I can get the pics up tonight. Back in a few.

Ordered some more parts yesterday and today.

First up I wanted to make sure I have everything to finish the brake upgrade.
This stuff I ordered from summitracing.com
1 set - Russel Braided stainless brake lines. Summit part # - RUS-692110 - $99.88 (these are fiero specific, NOT a universal kit.) They are DOT approved and I feel a better brand then the Oscelot the fierostore sells. If you need costom lengths WCF is your best option.
1 set - Poly sway bar end links. 2.625" (2 5/8"(all fiero end links are the same size) center sleeve length. Summit part # - ENS-9-8117R - $15.39 for red. Use last digit "G" for black.
1 set - Poly sway bar frame bushings. 23mm ID greasable Summit part # ENS-9-5158R (again "G" for black)- $15.95
Also picked up a Permacool p/n 691 Oil cooler (summit part # PRM-691). I am going to see which way will work the best and weight the differenced over using the auto radiator. ~$45

Ordered from fierostore.com
2 pair - 88 caliper bolts. $9.90
2 pair - Solo bleeder for calipers. $19.90
1 fiero side scoop for permacool oil cooler. To direct air towards the cooler which will be mounted inside the scoop. ~$22

Parts should be here next week sometime. I will post pics when they come in. Questions?
Caliper rebuild kits are here also.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 01-27-2008).]

Just a little nostalgia. This is a pic from a few years back of dad doing some racing at Woodburn Drap strip. The man in the background was the reining national champ in that class. Dad got the wholeshoot but after about about 3rd gear there was no real chance. Problem was the Harley was stock for the street and very heavy compared to the other bike. The bags were removed along with the windshield and a velosity stack replacing the air cleaner only. That run was low 14's high 13's. That was also the lowest Dad had lifted the front end of the bike all night. Gotta love american torque.


Here is a few shots as promised of a few of the parts when they came in.





First up we got started on rebuilding the calipers. The kits were almost as complete as I would have wanted but did not include the thrust washers or nylon washers for the rear calipers. If you want more details on how the rebuild was done let me know.




Now thats a happy caliper. Look at that smile.



Next I got the car up in the air. I removed the old fiero intake grate and rubber whatever you call it. I removed the water seperator months ago so there was not much in the way. The new side scoop was put into place and the oilcooler was measured up (hehe. Measured. ). I think I will probably end up puting it in at an angle and possibly running a fan behind it if needed. I want to keep the inner fender well in place so I will need to make sure that there will be enough airflow to do the job. To test which will work better (automatic radiator or oil cooler in an un-traditional spot) I have decided to install an oil temp gauge to see which works better.






Here is a shot of the completed calipers with new braded lines and the 88 rear swaybar and bushings. Ready to go on the car.


I could not get the swaybar in with the motor in the car so I had to pull it again. This meant the exhaust from cat back needed to come off. Its only the 6th or 7th time I've had to drop the motor so far. Only another 12 or so to go.






The swaybar frame bushings were the correct size for the bar but the bracket that hold them in place was larger then the stock ones. I slotted the holes in the cradle to support these new brackets. I did the first one in the car but waited til the engine was dropped for the second one. 1000x easier out of the car. They came out pretty good but I may wind up switching them with the front since they are so much heavier duty and the swaybars are the same diameter. Only test driving will tell for sure.



Inprogress shot of everything spread apart. Ass in the air and all.


I also took the struts to the shop next door and removed the original spring perches. I'd been meaning to do this for a while and figured that is was time. Next I put the motor back in and got started installing the brake calipers. Turned out pretty good I think. Stock e-brake is retained unchanged since I used an 88 cradle in this swap. Clearance is very good on a 16" wheel and I'm thinking I may try out some GT 15's on it and see if they will fit. Originally I wanted to use a set of these anyways since the 85GT never came with them and I always really liked the look of them on the aero notchies.






I tried for a while but the old brake lines were not coming off for anything. Notice how rusty they are in the pics above. I spent so much time trying that I was not able to get the front calipers mounted. I had tubing wrenches, WD40 and a mapp gas torch but it was not enough. Dad will bring over the big torch sometime this week and get them off. The hard brake lines are the only ones that have not been replaced on this car and I don't want to because of some seized fittings. I'll just step back and let the pro handle it.

One more shot of the car before packing up to go. She sure sits low to the ground. Poor fiero. Probably gets pretty lonely sitting in the dark all the time. Almost all of these shots were taken with the lights on (all 4 remaining flouresent tubes.) and the camera flash on. I pretty much work by droplight in this shop.


The garage in being insulated right now (ceiling almost done) so It won't be long before the car can be moved to its final build location. Its gonna be nice to see what I am doing again. Later.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 02-04-2008).]

quote Originally posted by Fieroseverywhere:

Nice work. Home come your ride is so low? Was there something with the 85GT? My friend got a 85GT last year and its almost lower than my choptop...

------------------
Regards SHARKMAN
Europe # 1 choptop

im putting the same scoop on my bro's fiero

quote Originally posted by Sharkman: Nice work. Home come your ride is so low? Was there something with the 85GT? My friend got a 85GT last year and its almost lower than my choptop...

I don't think there is anything special about the 85GT's. I could be wrong though. I know the 85GT's are the longest of all the fieros by about 4 inches. This could have something to do with how low it looks.

This car came to me with cut springs. They were cut in a way that had then at all different lengths ranging from 3/4 to 1.5 coils removed. This just would not do so I bought a set of springs from a forum member here. I believe they are from WCF originally but there is no way to tell for sure. The front springs are 10" (400lb) long and the rears are 8" coilovers (350lbs), set pretty low in that pic. This car also has 16" wheels (temporary) and is running 205/45-16's on it. They have a shorter overall diameter then the original wheels. They are also low on air in that pic. The car is actually too low and I will be raising it up a bit. I can't get a floorjack under it without using a second jack to lift the suspension a bit. Front or rear. I also don't think I'll be able to get out of the driveway with it set at this height. These springs will work great at the track but on the street I'm going to need something else.

The rear in the last pic I posted last night is actually about .5" shorter then the pic you quoted cause I set the coilovers to their lowest setting after the final modification to the struts (original perch removal). Just wanted to see how low it will actually go as a starting point for where to raise it to. I could remove the front spring pads for even lower the height another .5" in the front if I wanted to. I believe the car is sitting between 2 and 3 inches lower then stock at this point.

Love your car sharkman. Its one of my favorite choptops out there. I think fieros look really good in silver and metalic grey. You have given me quite a bit of inspiration for my build.

quote Originally posted by JesseM: im putting the same scoop on my bro's fiero

It's not bad for the price. I like how the fiero part is removable. I'm thinking of making an aluminum piece to replace "fiero" with something else. For a simple, inexpensive, bolt on piece it looks WAY better then the original fiero grate. IMO of course. I'm just using it to test a theory. If it works I think I might just keep it around.

I will edit my last post to add details about what I did in the pics.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 02-04-2008).]

Well happy belated birthday to you. Glad to hear you got the return check also. I'm not checking in here as often, but it's still the first thread I look at. Nice to see how it's coming along.

As far as the brake lines, I remember mine being a total bear to get off as well. Had to use a torch, PB Blaster, and tons of patience. I never have any patience lying around when I need it. Good luck with getting those off.

You might have the info in the post, but I didn't see it. What did you pay to have the hubs machined down? Also, since you did the upgrade, if you have your old Fiero calipers, and they are rebuildable, The Fiero Store is giving out gift certificates for those. I'm sending mine in so I can get my exhaust tips from them. Just a heads up.

I hope you get to work on it this weekend and take some more pics.

Later,
Darren

quote Originally posted by Darren's 87 coupe: Well happy belated birthday to you. Glad to hear you got the return check also. I'm not checking in here as often, but it's still the first thread I look at. Nice to see how it's coming along. As far as the brake lines, I remember mine being a total bear to get off as well. Had to use a torch, PB Blaster, and tons of patience. I never have any patience lying around when I need it. Good luck with getting those off. You might have the info in the post, but I didn't see it. What did you pay to have the hubs machined down? Also, since you did the upgrade, if you have your old Fiero calipers, and they are rebuildable, The Fiero Store is giving out gift certificates for those. I'm sending mine in so I can get my exhaust tips from them. Just a heads up. I hope you get to work on it this weekend and take some more pics. Later, Darren

Thanks. Its coming along steadily again. Next weekend will be a longer one. Should be able to get a ton done.

I just waisted too much time on those brake lines and patience was not one of my strong suits that day.

I got the hubs from Rockcrawl as part of the brake kit. They are fiero hubs that have been machined. Looks like he is working on starting up a store on his site right now so they may not be available. WCF also sells ones that are ready to go if your in a hurry. The old front calipers will be rebuilt for one of the other fieros here. We need at least one good set ready to go on in a pinch. The rebuild kits for the early cars are only about 7 bucks from a place up the street. Fierostore charges how much for their calipers?

Its good to hear from you Darren. How is the little one? Later..