Yesterday, Thursday, I took my '88 GT up for reinspection. She had failed for "YELLOW HEADLIGHTS". I really didn't want to, but I replaced the 3000K (yellow) Hella bulbs, (which I really do like), with a set of the Silver Star 4000K bulbs. The car went through the reinspection without a hitch. So I'm good to go for another year.
P.S. Thank goodness that they didn't look too close at the headlamps because they are the European version of the Hella conversion headlamps which are not DOT approved, in spite of the fact that they put more light on the road than the DOT approved headlamps.
~Bob
------------------ "Its nice to be important. Its more important to be nice."
Reinstalled my alarm system, and made an Anti-theft stereo bracket... Copied and Pasted here...
So, as many of you know, I recently had my car interior thrashed by thieves when they ripped my dash apart to get my stereo out.
Many thieves will just grab ahold of the stereo mounting adapter and yank. This usually works because of the cheap nature of most adapter brackets for DIN sized stereos in oversized openings, such as the Fiero opening.
Today, I installed the new console skeleton that FieroSTS gave to me. I also decided I wanted to make a theft proof (or at least, very resistant) bracket that would prevent anyone from easily stealing my stereo in the future. (I also reinstalled my new Alarm system, which will help.)
Below are the photos of what I put together. I used 16g Galvanized steel for the bracket.
The bracket, pre-bend... Note: I drilled holes in the center "flaps", and on the outers. This will allow me to use screws in the stereo itself, rather than the flimsy mounting sleeves that come with the unit.
Test fit..
Removed from console skeleton...
Mounted with Clarion in place. It is a little off center, but only because of my bends on the center flaps.
Closeup of how I have the screws mounted to the stereo.
The bracket is designed to slide over the factory opening and hold a single DIN unit. The lower section sits below the outer console trim, and prevents a would-be thief from getting his fingers around the edge of the bracket.
The outer flaps that surround the side have one screw on each side that goes through the console skeleton, and a nut on the backside. Yes, this complicates stereo installation, but will make sure that even the firmest tug will not pop the bracket out. The top flap that sits inside the housing is to prevent an easy grip on the bracket to pull.
I installed the bracket in the car today, and then proceeded to try to rip the radio out. It is not going anywhere, and trust me, I tried.
It sits recessed behind the trim panel, so I will need to build a panel that can be mounted over the top for a "beauty" insert.
I am looking into refining the design and getting them laser cut and bent. Would there be any interest in these for around 70 a pop? (This should include a bare aluminum "beauty panel" that can be painted) The price is not firm... I have to figure out how much time/effort this is going to be first.
Made a trip to the local Pull-A-Part and picked up a HUD unit for installing in my '86 GT. Not sure how and the exact location but I'm sure that will come to me once I begin the install.
Pushed the silver GT out behind the garage. Wife decided it was time for another new car, and I have stalled/stopped working on all of the Fieros lately. So my car gets pushed outside she can fit the car in the garage. Apparently she wants a 2 seat sports car.... and the Nissan dealer has got a new car in, with the color she wants.
Fiero looks sad sitting out there with the neighbour's truck and a friend's RV. The spot time has forgotten. The other 2 vehicles have been back there for a year now, I'll get to them next weekend....... I said that 6 months ago
I was walking past my 87 GT today and I heard a slight ticking sound like a relay engaging and then disengauging. When I traced the sound to the left front fender I was fairly certain it was the headlight module. That is when I started troubleshooting the headlight module problem I have been having. I have had two modules stop working since I bought the car in 02. This last time one crapped out I stuck a spare module in that I had but not sure worked. Well it worked so I put everything back together...then it didn't work. When I opened it up again today and as I touched the big connector I heard the relay inside chatter. Hmmm. More touching and relay chattering while trying to pin point a loose wire. I finally decided it was in the connector itself. This made me curious enough to check my previous "bad" ones. I rarely throw parts away unless they are completly bad/useless. Guess what? They worked too but one suffered from the same looseness at the big connector. The other one was pretty tight and I couldn't make it chatter as easily. So after all this I have 3 good modules and one slightly flakey connector. I am using the tight one for now and will probably start collecting this connector when I am in the parts yards. I strongly suspect that this is also the culprit in an intermittent parasitic drain I have been dealing with.
Anyway...woowhoo! The headlights work again.
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[This message has been edited by 1MohrFiero (edited 04-25-2009).]
Changed the spark plugs on my '88GT. All six of them and it was not as bad as i thought. I did remove the decklid for clearance on the front 3 plugs but they were not rusted real bad. Oh I also installed the recall weather strip while I had the decklid off. It turned out to be about a 3 hour job as I have never done this and took my time. I also applied Permatex Antisieze on all plugs and gapped them to the stock .45.
Wow, I turn the key and it fires right up without hesitation.
Edit to add afterthought of the permatex and easy starting.
[This message has been edited by Nilknarf (edited 04-26-2009).]
I bought my first Fiero today....An '85 GT with a 2.8 and a 4-speed...Loaded with what appears to be 143K on the odo...Everything seems to work, yet the recently installed clutch needs adjustment(hard to put in gear and moves the INSTANT you lift on the pedal) and the motor runs rich-seller said it had a fuel injector problem(also sounds like a miss)...Not really McGuivered at all and even has the factory sunroof....Drove nice on the trailer.......$500.00....Happy, Happy!!....Now, where do I begin?....Mike
not really what i did today but over the last week getting ready for the Round-Up. 1. added Kris Munson flush mounted headlights and turn signals covers.
2. driving lights
3. this next mod i have to give credit to blakeinspace for getting me to think about this. after one of our NTFC monthly meeting blake and i were heading home and he spots a Pontiac G8 with eyebrow lights. he ask me if i seen that G8 with the eyebrow lights i said no, i did not. this got me to thinking how could i add eyebrow lights to the Fiero. i like the way Audi does it on their cars. there is no easy way to do it with the stock Fiero headlight that i would like. so i seen some of Kris Munson's headlights and ding, ding... i can mount the LED strip lights in the flush mount recess bucket. and this is what i came up with. the photos are not that great, it's hard to get a good pic when lights are shining in the camera. i hope you get the jist of it. i still need some more tweaking.
This is a repeat that I posted in the Gateway thread, but this is what I did today. Great deay to be working the GT.
My son helping take out the dash to put the Glove box in. Put new T-Top weather seals in today. Had to adjust the T-Top a little it was a 1/8" low in the back. Installed the door panels, I need to adjust the drivers door a little. Put the FUBA antenna in. The headliner board needs major work after taking it out and looking at it. Major fiberglass time I think.
I worked on the car 4 hours yesterday and 10 today.
finally got back to working on the "great red paperweight". pulled the head and found i had enough of the broken bolt exposed to get an extractor on it :-) pulled that sucker out and started prepping to put the spare head on. also replaced the broken bracket on the trans cable mount and replaced the e-brake lever. we have a whole low mileage motor to swap in but the car has been sitting since the head bolt snapped last year and i just want to get it running again while i wait for the rest of the parts. thinking about switching out the distributor from the donor motor too so my tach will work again but that's a project for next weekend.
Finally after 3years of no A/C because I didn't have the time to install it, I got the compressor hose in! Blows real cold now. Had to tighten the four bolts in the column too.
Gordo's '88 Lil' Dukie was laid to rest in the back yard this past Fall. He has an organ donor card so I am spending the day swapping some of his interior parts into Audrey, my '88 daily driver.
yesterday, out of frustration when trying to change my firewall side spark plugs, i pulled my engine harness, and coolant lines and tried to reroute them. no luck. yet. but changed plugs and put everything back together. no i get to go refill a motorswap system. oh the joy
After mocking up 3 different designs, I finally settled on one for my headlights and custom front bumper. Started making templates for the forms I will be using. Found welds broken on the passenger side hood mount. Found a way to install 1996 Corvette tail lights in a notchy rear end.
Driving home from school I heard a bang and saw something blow out from my left rear rim. I pulled over and stopped immediately and saw flames coming from behind the brake disc. After running to the nearest house to get buckets of water to put out the fire i concluded that my brake seized up over heated then blew out the brake line and lit the brake fluid and nearby rubber parts on fire. Took these pics after towing the car home.
aeffertz, could you go into detail about the dynamat? How many sheets? Bulk pack? How many hours? How much did it cost ($)? Any difficulties/obstacles during installation?
I finished the oil pan, pick-up, relocation of the starter, distributor plus the shaft. Installed the new 17# injectors, cleaned and reinstalled the injector wiring. Re wrapped the wiring harness. Installed the new stainless steel vacuum lines (thanks Rodney - They look great!)
Finally mated the engine to the frame. Torqued the flywheel, installed the clutch and pressure plate. Throw-out bearing to the tranny and tried to mate the two together.... Ran into an issue with the guide bushings to line the two up... Males don't mix with males...FYI. 12 midnight last night.... Time for bed
Here's some pics
This pic below is incomplete - I found some black 212* heat rubber tape for the Y and T splits just like the factory did. It's amazing of what heat tape was back then. --( gauze cloth with an outer black vinyl substance. ) Crazy how the old stuff just kind of flaked off.
Below--- I think Adam goes well with Eve ---- FINALLY - NOW WE ARE GETTING SOMEWHERE!
I CAN'T FORGET MY HELPER IN ALL OF THIS CAOS..... She's my best bud!!
Driving home from school I heard a bang and saw something blow out from my left rear rim. I pulled over and stopped immediately and saw flames coming from behind the brake disc. After running to the nearest house to get buckets of water to put out the fire i concluded that my brake seized up over heated then blew out the brake line and lit the brake fluid and nearby rubber parts on fire. Took these pics after towing the car home.
The same thing almost happened to me only with the front brakes a few days ago. My '86 gt has been sitting for 2-3 years as i drove my '88 2.5 5spd. to save gas. I decided to drive it since it has a A.C. that works as its getting hotter out.Barely made it to a friends house about 6 miles down the road with rotors smokin from semi locked up calipers.The back seem to be okay but i'll check them out to be sure after your lil incident. Today i replaced the 23 year old front brake lines,calipers, had the rotors turned and put in new inner and outer bearings. Brake pads didn't come in so i'll finish it tomorrow and drive it back home.FYI, O'Reillys' front calipers are $15.99, about half the price of the other auto parts store.I thought i was getting a composite piston, but it was shiney alum.Odd as last year on my '87 gt they were a black ceramic type piston for that price but i'm not complaining. They looked great.All togther it was $178.12 with a quart of brake fluid ,can of wheel grease and wiper blades. So it will be right at $200.00 total tomorrow when i pick up the pads. jesse ------------------
[This message has been edited by possumlips (edited 04-28-2009).]
aeffertz, could you go into detail about the dynamat? How many sheets? Bulk pack? How many hours? How much did it cost ($)? Any difficulties/obstacles during installation?
Yeah, no problem. You get 9 sheets with the Bulk pack. I got the entire floor and fire wall covered with one pack. It took about 4-5 hours total. I found it cheap on Amazon.com (about half the price) and it's still brand new. Installing it was easier than I expected--just peel and stick. I would suggest getting the heavy duty roller instead of the cheaper version. The Dynamat is also a lot thinner than I expected. Probably the toughest part of installing it was working it into all of the crevasses and whatnot. It's easy to get wrinkles in it, but hard to get them out. As you can see in the pics, you can see how I laid it down. 1 sheet on the firewall, and then it needed about 1/4 a sheet to cover the rest of the firewall. And then on the floor, they are just about the perfect size if you lay them the opposite of the firewall way. I used 3 on the floor and 1 on the firewall. So, I used 8 sheets to get the bulk of the floor/firewall. Then with the last sheet, I used it to cover the rest of the open spaces on both sides. And it makes a huge difference in sound. Wow! Once you finish one side, kinda bang on it with your fist, then bang on the other non cover side. You'll hear how much a difference it makes. I'll be doing my doors soon, too.
[This message has been edited by aeffertz (edited 04-30-2009).]
attached my coolant lines, well the last clamp anyways and filled it with coolant. its a different work with a 3500 in your trunk. and im getting a 3500 tune from superdave over at 60degreev6.com to use as a base tune for my cammed 3500. woot.
Put new grounds on it and took a quick drive around to enjoy the results. Week before last went on a 1600 mile trip from Frederick, MD to Memphis no problems except the 8 quarts of oil it decided to drink. No leaks or smoke just drank oil; ideas anybody?
The front modified fenders were not aligning right with the doors. The T/A fender vents took a little curve out of the fenders I think. I played with that today along with installing the rest of the trim. I got the car alarm out and started looking at that since I have some of the interior trim out redoing the headliner. Definately need a alarm on this car, I do not want it stolen. To much time, energy and money in it.
I came to the conclusion years ago I would never be finished with the car. Always something to modify. Engine next, I may need help with this especially if I turbo the 3800 I have for it. I keep thinking LS1, but then I think 11 gallon gas tank............
Replced front LHS and RHS swaybar stabilizer bushings...the pass side ones were a little worn but the driver side ones were only about 5-10% left!!! This got rid of a very distracting "jingling" sound that sounded like loose change in your pocket.
