Well I don't know...I'm still trying to decide if I'm rolling at all to Florida, let alone in #14.
The list of things is too long for this car for such a short time. I have to finish bonding that scoop. a headlight motor to rebuild, brakes, tires, etc, lots of little things. I would get a lot more satisfaction showing it closer to completion.
- Jonathan
Hmmm...sounds simple issues to me? headlights? I'm sure you can find a spare in your back yard. Scoop? From the looks of it, it's near finished. Just call up some fellow Fiero owners and invite them over for some bar-be-que and beer. While they are there...fix any other issues with the choppper. Problems solved
Did I mention my cruise has stoppeed working? My leg nearly fell off driving from Canada without that.
hehehehe. Now thats one of the items that I agree.... that cannot be tolerated! A bad cruise control, no cup holders, and no power steering. Oh yeah, I think I have as many colors on my as yours now. Red, black, green, and purple. I'm going to spray some of the colors a flat black before I head East.
I am 6'1" and it seemed like there was not much room left for my head.
With losing the 3" from the chop, Archie did a clever job of making you not realize that you are losing that much head room. By shallowing out the seat bottom's and collapsing the seat rails, you may only lose 1" of head room when it is all said and done.
Now the funny part is... that thank God is not pictured... is me trying to get my long legged, arthritic butt, out of that lowered/chopped jewel of a car. It was NOT attractive and probably made the show lose 20 participants, but I made it out. I thing Joel, the former owner, laughed for 10 minutes.... about the length of time I was stuck. Anyway, that remains my favorite Fiero to date... and holds a very special place in Fiero lore for me.
Thanks for the memories, Chuck. And Jon... I am looking forward to seeing that hood treatment in April!
I don't remember laughing THAT hard...maybe I was choking on a choclate chip cookie?!!? As far as room in a Chop Top, I am 6'2" and thought the car was more comfortable than my 88GT w/ lumbar seats. Th custom shallowed seats were fantastic, very firm. For that matter, I fit WAY better in the GBCT than in a real Lamborghini Countach.
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[This message has been edited by Falcon Fiero (edited 02-08-2005).]
My plan for the underside of the scoop is to fill it in with fiberglass such that it looks like it belongs there. Insipration for that is Skitime's hood:
I've already admitted my fiberglass skills are that great so I will probably have it professionally done.
Well Curley talked me into bringing the chop top to Daytona. The t-top was not going to be show ready so I might as well bring the chop top. I am now trying to get that Stage II hood vent smoothed in and I discovered that my fiberglass skills leave a lot to be desired. I am just trying to get it physically mounted such that it doesn't fly off along the road somewhere. I am going to have to have a professional make it look nice.
Looks like the white has been obsorbed. One color down 4 more to go Nice to see you out and enjoying your car.
Pete
The car is a blast to drive. I wish I had driven it all the way to Florida but I needed the room of the tow vehicle. But I will be driving it to San Antonio in two weeks. Look for the other three colors to be assimilated by then.
The down side to chin spoilers...you need some long ranps to get on and off a trailer:
I plan to trim a little off before I paint it.
And I have a Madcurl inspired surprise to reveal...something that's never been done before
[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 04-04-2005).]
I call it the "J-Curl" because the idea popped into my head when I was talking to Curley about the front fender he used on the back of his widebody #15 car. He was looking at the front thinking what he had up front is what he needed in back. So I'm thinking what I need in the back of my car is the same thing I have up front.
So I cut the bottom off a GT rear fascia, (well actually it was my cracked Indy rear fascia) flipped it upside down and bolted it on. I'm still trying to figure out the best fittment but so far I think I like it. It balances out the front and the raised spoiler. And I got a lot of looks in San Antonio.
Looking good. Funny how GM parts can be mounted in different locations. Any close-ups from the rear? Include the wing pics too. And what show were you at?
I see that the red'ish has been absorbed by the black. It now has a mean-ish look like the "Dirty Rat."
These pictures were taken at the Texas Round-up in San Antonio.
Since Daytona I spray bombed the rest of the car black. All that primer will have to be sanded off again, but it looks a lot better all one color in the mean time. It does resemble the dirty rat more now.
In addition to adding the J-Curl spoiler I also did extend the wing tips two inches. They looks a lot better in the pictures than they really are. I still have a lot of fiberglass and sanding ahead of me before they are done.
Notice how a chop top V8 tends to attract a crowd.
I don't have a lot of chop top adventures to share but I got a lot of stares...like people didn't know what they were looking at.
I (6'4") had to sit in it to see how much headroom there was. Way more than it looks like. In fact, I'd say it is very comparative to my stock Fiero seat with sunroof. The curled and extended rear wing really does look like it belongs just like he's done it. Good accent.
Not sure what you officially call the lower rear fascia mod, but it's very unique and only a little rough right now but is gonna really look nice when he finishes it. As someone else said yesterday, "Man, he has vision!"
(A lot of other people also had to 'try it on for size', and JScott was nice enough to allow it. But folks-ya'll don't ever want to have to watch Blake trying to get in/out of a choptop. The booty up in the air thing---well, That was just pure ugly)
But folks-ya'll don't ever want to have to watch Blake trying to get in/out of a choptop. The booty up in the air thing---well, That was just pure ugly)
The rear lower fascia mod I call the "J-Curl" Thanks for the good words
and Blake getting in/out of the chop top looks a lot like this:
To be fair of course, let it be known that Blake does have a hurt back, and I think he was concerned about scooting in over the seat bolsters. We all know how easy it is to get those things awry.
Thanks for the bump. Let me show you a new project I just started. Much to Madcurl's delight the chop top is back to my first prority. I've given up on the Indy for now. The clutch went out as I was preparing to get it inspected. I replaced the master cylinder, which was nearly bent in half, but the slave is also bad...so I pushed it out of the garage and out of the way. So onto the chop top.
Once again inspired by Madcurl,
He is using Corvette C6 marker lights for his #15 choptop. That gave me an idea to try the C5 Corvette lights. The only problem, C5 only has rear markers, the fronts are integrated into the wraparound turnsignals. So perusing GM's catalog I discovered they make amber markers for the rear lights for export. No reason I can't use them on the front.
I ordered them from Eckler's in Florida. Ironically I used to live only a mile from there, never thought I would be ordering parts for a Fiero from there. Anyway to mount them I briefly considered replacing the Fiero bulbs with Corvette bulbs. But I figured out an easier way, I replaced the back ends off a scap set of Fiero marker lights. And to hold them on, I bought all kinds of nuts, but what works best are Fiero seat nuts.
How are they being fitted to the chop top...you'll have to wait and see.
[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 07-09-2005).]
Well I confess that's a photoshop, but the real thing will look a lot like that. I'm making pics so my bodyman knows what I want it to look like. Since he doesn't speak english a picture is worth a lot more than a 1000 words.
I don't want it completely smooth. I think the Fiero looks better with a beauty line. I'm just not a fan of the big honking trim.
I'm also redoing my hood vent. I thought I could get my hood to sit flat by adjusting it properly, but no luck. I'm going to cut out the Aus stage II and start over on a hood that's nice and flat.
Originally posted by jscott1: I'm also redoing my hood vent. I thought I could get my hood to sit flat by adjusting it properly, but no luck. I'm going to cut out the Aus stage II and start over on a hood that's nice and flat.
What do you mean by, "not flat"? Is the hood bent?
Take a look at this shot. I had some gas shocks I put on there to replace the stock strut. It pushed the hood up a little bit. I have them on my T-top and it's fine. But this car because it was hit in the front the structure has been weakened a bit. I thought I could make some adjustments to get it right, but I made two mistakes. One I waited too long and second I glassed in my stage II while it was under the pre-load. That deflection in the hood is now more or less permanent.
Not a huge deal though, that hood was one I bought for $25, since then I have aquired several hoods so I just went out back and got another one. It shouldn't be too hard to glass in the vent again. I actually will probably do a better job this time because I have a little experience; that was the first fiberglassing I had ever done.
The Aus Stage II is transferred over to the "new" hood. The only thing more fun than cutting a hood is doing it twice. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. The new hood is a much better fit.
The Diffuser is trimed to a new shape. I need to add another bracket int the center, but it's okay for now.
Can you say, "ready to roll." Looks good and I like how you change the rear difuser. Do please give us up to dat pics while the chop'r is in the oven. Hmm...where is Exotic Rida?
Nice to see you out and enjoying your car.
