Okay guys and gals, this Car belongs to PFF member joshua riedl of Watertown, Wisconson.
Joshua has tackled the job of cooking up his own Home brew chop top ! I will let the masses decide what kind of a job he has done,..but if you ask me it looks pretty damn good for a home brew !
Not bad,....not bad at all.
[This message has been edited by exoticse (edited 04-27-2005).]
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12:03 AM
PFF
System Bot
MiZer Member
Posts: 1673 From: Chilliwack, B.C. Canada Registered: Jun 2003
Congratulations Joshua,....the hardest parts may come when you have to come up with some glass or lexan for the windows and rework the interior trim pieces.
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12:18 AM
fieromadman Member
Posts: 2217 From: Oconomowoc WI, USA Registered: Jan 2003
As always you do amazing work. Looking forward to seeing it all together! Dells is comming up soon, but who knows, maybe I'll see you before then!
By the way, here is a short list of whats done to that car. Choped top Viper red paint 3.4 DOHC w/ getrag 18" wheels with 245 rear 215 front interior dyed black (Havent seen that completed yet) WCF big brake upgrade Poly everything 1" lowering ball joints on front and slightly cut springs in front front battery box WCF spintek muffler with dual resonator tips
I think that just about rounds off all the major things done to it. its a beautiful car and Josh's skills are amazing.
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12:21 AM
exoticse Member
Posts: 8654 From: Orlando, Fl Registered: Jun 2003
AWESOME JOSH ! Do you have the door plexiglass installed? Can you describe the cuts and welds or post some close up pics? Would love for you to write a whole story about this. I hope to do the same to mine. Looks GREAT!
Anyone who works on their own car or makes an attemp is OK in my book and the job Joshua has done looks really good from the pictures, can't wait to see it completed...
thanks for all the complements. i do have some other progress pictures but they aren't on disk. i can have them put on disk and see if exocticse still wants to post them. i have more pictures now. those were taken over a week ago. all the panels are on but i can't say that about the bolts that are supposed to hold them in place. those i'll email to exoticse so it won't be snail mail. the truth is that in some respects it doesn't look as good in person. if you noticed that some of the pictures it has a sunroof and some are a hard top. what happened was the roof was broken at the painters and he glassed it back together. lesson learned don't ever do this. that is why i had weights and tape on the car to bend the panels into place. i left it in the sun to see if it would soften up and it did, but not in a good way. so making lemonade from lemons i decided to make it a hard top while i fixed the pillar alignment to avoid the hastle of the sunroof glass. the hard panel i had for the sunroof flexed too much and wouldn't seal. well a full weekend of filling and sanding and monday it went back to paint. another lesson learned don't rush your body work. the roof looks like a fat lady's ass but i have no one to blame but myself. i also have a couple cracks already. i removed the rear clip probably 10 times by myself and although i knew the repair was thin in spots i figured it would be ok, again i was wrong. this was my first attempt at body work and i did a good job until i started getting in a hurry trying to make the dells and it shows. again no one to blame but me. for the cuts i just took out two and a half inches from the rear, started grinding to lean the windshield back, cut some reliefs to bend the roof up and kept at it until i had the look i wanted. when it was done i had the pieces i cut out left over and they fit perfect on the sides for reinforcement. i'm not worried about frame ridgitity at all. exocticse, i'm going to send the new pictures to your email on your profile if this is not a good idea let me know.
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07:05 PM
exoticse Member
Posts: 8654 From: Orlando, Fl Registered: Jun 2003
right now i'm making templates out of aluminum to get the fit right then i'll copy them in lexan. i have been thinking about glass side windows but it's too late for me now. basically, the window seals are seperate from the frame so you can move them wherever you want and bolt them in and you could build up the front part pretty easily to fit the seal. what it really comes down to is you would have to find the side window first and chop it to fit. the fiero glass really isn't that far off. the curve is way off at the bottom but the shape isn't bad. a custom track would have to be made if there is even enough room to lean the glass in far enough but then your back to the window seals which can be adjusted. basically it wouldn't be easy but if you started with the glass first and made the car to fit i think it could be done. for me i'll just keep the templates and make new windows every once and a while. but then again i saved enough on the chop in a couple years i might spring for glass. there are custom limo places that do it, everything has it's price.
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08:50 PM
exoticse Member
Posts: 8654 From: Orlando, Fl Registered: Jun 2003
i figured people lost interest already. i have most of the trim installed and the rear quarter windows made, they came out really nice, i'm real happy with them. oh, i put my fiero ram air scoop on, that's at least 20hp. i'll probably do the windshield next payday and i haven't found a place to get the aluminum bent for the side windows. i have been curious about other chop top windows. archie's site says he uses 1/4 inch lexan, does anybody think it would be benificial to use 3/16 to try and cut down on the scratching? i'll try and get pictures tomorrow if it's sunny again. i didn't care for the last ones, the red is awsome in the sun. i installed longer swaybar bushings for the lowering balljoints also $20 at autozone if anyone is curious.
[This message has been edited by joshua riedl (edited 05-04-2005).]
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07:12 PM
sonic50 Member
Posts: 3873 From: All over the USA Registered: Aug 2004
That looks sweet!! Looks like a red version of the stinger! 
That notchie is gorgeous though...
