And PAGE TWO BEGINS!!

Ahhh yes I remember the first time I worked on my pride and joy Fiero. Very much like her with a huge smile ear to ear!!
Then I had to do more work, then more and a little more then some more. The smiles fade, but the end results make it come back when it is on the road!

Very nice! Wish I had a son or daughter to follow my footsteps!! lucky man!!

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88 GT, 3800SC, Getrag 5sp. 12" Vette Rotors,Custom stuff done

[This message has been edited by revin (edited 05-02-2011).]

It's been a while since we've updated.. so here goes..

I picked up a new cherry picker at HF.. man child decided to give us a hand and he assembled the whole thing for us



Now, in that time... Since we're converting Ternunda to an automatic.. I'd given the 5 speed to a local fiero guy here in town. Kind of pressed for time, we just rocked the back of the cradle down to get the tranny out without pulling the cradle and the engine. In hind site, that was a huge mistake. It would have been faster and easier to just do it right in the first place. The cage nut on the passenger side spun on us.. so I had to cut a window in the frame in order to get the rear cradle bolt out.

Once the tranny was out.. we left it that way for a day or so.

Last night fieroguy123 came over and helped disconnect the rest of the engine from the car so that it can be pulled. That task was made a bit harder due to the fact that the cradle was lose and the rear end was up in the air.. The plan was to go all the way with the engine removal last night.. but the drivers side front cradle bolt was seized to the bushing sleeve and frame. No way that was coming out.

After talking it over.. we decided the best plan of attack was to cut the bolt out and replace it later off of a parts car. The busing sleeve had to be cut through, there was no way around it on the outter side... and let me tell you, that thing is wicked hard. Ternunda and I went through 5 thick steel titanium dipped sawzall blades.. having barely made a scratch in the bushing sleeve before giving up and heading to Lowes for some tool advice.

The sales guy showed us this "diamond brazed cold steel" blade.. said it was the strongest blade they carry and hooked me up with some cutting oil. The blades came in a package of one.. at $14.98 per blade... I got two just in case.





We burned through the first blade having gotten 2/3rds of the way through the sleeve and bolt.. switched to the "spare, just in case" blade.. and finished the job. Out comes the cradle!



Once the cradle was out and in the sunlight.. Ternunda got started on stripping it down the rest of the way..



After all the parts to be sandblasted were removed.. she went to focus on prepping the cradle for refinishing.. queue pressure washer:



Since water, rocks, dirt and grease was flying EVERYWHERE... I decided to turn my attention to getting the engine off the cherry picker and on to the cart so it could be rolled out. Once I had the engine down, she came over to help me gently roll the engine out the drivers side..

Leading us to :



Lunch break.. more to come

Sounds like that cradle bolt put up one hell of a fight!

There is a thread somewhere around here that's specifically about standing in your engine bay photos. You should add that one when you get a chance.
Tell Brooke to keep up the hard work!

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May the Lord guide me where I must go. May the Fiero get me there in style

quote Originally posted by michhiker28: Datacop, Awesome, awesome, awesome. I know that you have been following Kathryn's build thread, this one is awesome......We'll do your interior if you want to do our front end and brakes!.....lol. In all seriousness, how is that new blast cabinet? I've been looking at one of those as well? Did you have to hook up a vac to it? What powdercoater are you using if I can ask. Thanks in advance, and keep us up to speed! -MH

MH,

I showed Ternunda Kathryn's build thread and now she's excited to get the exterior, engine and suspension work done so that she can dive into her interior!

The blast cabinet is beyond awesome! I don't have to hook up a vac to it, but it does help keep the dust down in side the cabinet during long and extended periods of blasting.

The power coat gun we use is an el-cheapo from Harbor Freight



For an oven, Fieroguy123 and I found a used one on Craigs list that the previous owner wanted to get rid of for free. I have to say, for the price, the powder coat gun works incredibly well.. Dust the parts, bake them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.. come out all shiny and new and pretty

One thing for sure, you don't want to bake parts in your kitchen oven.. Ms. MH will have your hide and your meat loaf will taste like crap

Great thread! I remember my daughter wanted a Fiero shortly after her 16th birthday, but I thought the lack of power steering would have been a tough hill to climb, as she doesn't have strong upper muscles.

I'm confused...who's Ternunda, and who's Brooke?

quote Originally posted by KraigG: I'm confused...who's Ternunda, and who's Brooke?

One and the same... Ternunda is Brooke's username on the forums.. and what she's named her car..

datacop, did you get my pm?

quote Originally posted by fierodustin: datacop, did you get my pm?

Sorry about that.. I missed it some how.. replied

Hoping to get a chance to see this in person some day. Keep up the good work!

And so begins the long and slow process of re-assembly...

Freshly packed and loaded with new ball joints and poly:



Installed into the car



The process of installing the ball joints scuffed the paint a bit.. She's not happy about having to repair that, but decided that it would be best to wait until everything was installed before doing it so that all the damage is done at once.

Assembly is taking a touch longer than we had first though because before we do anything with a part, we are wire wheeling every nut, bolt and washer associated with it

Some more progress on assembling the front end..

Upper Control Arm installed:




Spring, knuckle and new shock..


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After looking back at some of our older pictures.. it's hard to believe that we actually started with this:

[This message has been edited by datacop (edited 05-22-2011).]

Interesting choice with the white.

I thought the same thing at first but when you see it in person against a white car its actually pretty awesome!

And the adventures continue today..

After getting the passenger side put together with the upper and lower control arms, spring and knuckle to get it to the same spot that the drivers side was left last night, the first order of business was to get the sway bar mounted.





With the sway bar in place, time to turn our attention to the steering rack..

Refinished on the bench with new inner and outer tie rods and steering dampener



Mounted to the cross member...



Attached to the knuckles





Dust shield and "new" hub on the drivers side with new wheel bearings



Which takes us to right now. We are on our way over to Fieroguy123's place to molest his parts car for nuts, bolts and washers that seem to have grown legs and walked off on their own since they were first removed.

This evening marked the finalized mock up of the front drivers side with the Grand Am / Beretta brake upgrade



Yes, those are braided stainless steel brake lines....



We're still waiting on the replacement stainless steel hard lines from the Fiero Store.. they were on back order, but that was a few weeks ago. I will call them tomorrow and find out what the status of that package is.

BUMP

....any thoughts? What do you think?

The white with the white body is a fantastic idea. Making me think of red with the black body i'll be doing to mine once i financially recover from the overhaulin project.

Please tell me your gonna finish it off with a white and black interior!?

Got the passenger side with the upgraded brake fabrication done tonight..



Still waiting on the replacement brake lines from the fiero store.. so decided to move towards the back side of the car and work on the rear control arms. Getting the old ball joints out was a total pain. After I cut the tops of the rivets off, they still wouldn't punch through. So I had to flip the control arms over and cut the bottoms of the rivets off as well. After much cussing and tool throwing and finally having an excuse to buy an air hammer / chisel.. I don't have any pictures of that process... to much angst.

When it came to getting the bushing out.. After trying to press them out, drill them out, hammer them out, etc, etc.. Brooke and I finally learned the proper way to burn them out.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up this BernzOmatic welding / brazing kit from Lowe's (Since I don't have an Oxy/Acyl torch)



The trick is to not heat the rubber directly. Instead to heat the metal sleeve that the bushing is pressed in...



After a short while, the bushing will start to smoke from between the rubber and the sleeve.. this smoke is toxic.. don't breath it. Eventually the smoke will ignite...



After a short while of burning.. and continuing to apply heat.. the rubber part of the bushing closest to the metal sleeve will liquify. Once this happens.. the bushing can simply be "pushed" out. We used a stick. Careful when it comes out. It will be on fire. Keep water close by

The end result will be a nearly clean and perfect sleeve ready to take your new poly bushing



The control arms are now sitting in the blast cabinet getting all 187k miles of crap and old finish stripped off of it.

My god that suspension looks awesome! I'm really proud of the work that you and brooke are doing together. Its a fantastic example for fathers everywhere.

I'm sorry i didn't get a chance to come out and see the car in person while i was out there. i really wanted to but was way to tired to go anywhere but to sleep my last night in Indiana. Hopefully i'll get another chance. Thank you guys for all that you did for the Rallaster build!

No worries...

We didn't get a whole lot done on her car this weekend for some reason

Sweet, Sweet, Sweet.

This is making us excited to tear into the suspension. uber uber nice work guys!

-MH

Honestly i thought you followed me home this morning. Took this pic on my way to work today. Note of the Indiana license plate.

Bump for updates? How's it going Brooke?

-MH

ok it's been way too long... anything new and exciting?

quote Originally posted by Finally_Mine_86_GT: ok it's been way too long... anything new and exciting?

Inquiring minds gotta know!

datacop has been MIA for a while. Hope everything's going OK with him and family.

Hey guys, sorry we haven't been on at all.. My dad has been busy with work, 2 jobs now I think and I have been really busy with school and such.. I'm still trying to figure out a means by which I can continue my project.. *sigh* But thanks for your guys' concern. I'll try to check up and such more often, I only just thought about it today as I was telling someone of my Fiero .

I'll keep you posted!

Well.. My car has been sold for good use. I really hope they enjoy it. The buyers are actually on the forums!

Today I'm going to purchase a new Fiero, one that actually runs. Completely rebuild engine, there's some cancer in the back.. But it's easily fixable. Break pads need replacing but it's not really a project car.

I have plans to play with this car.. Alot. I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'll be playing around with the front end like I did on my old car. It'll be sexy .

Should I decide to, I'll be making a new build thread, not sure yet though.

Hope everything is going great for everyone.

So, today I loaded up Ternunda on the back of the bike and took her down to pick up the car that she picked out for purchase...

That is a VERY nice car. I like the copper color on the lower portion and stripes. I haven't seen that color on a Fiero yet.

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 05-19-2012).]

was this car on ebay? thought i seen it on there, i recognize the mb five x rims

Yes... The seller also had it locally on craigs list.. he took it down from e-bay when we committed to purchase.

Hey Brooke,
That one is missing the third pedal!!!!!

Looks nice, congrats.

-MH