I'm down for anniversary get-together. Count me in! I worked out a deal with Dave & Karen and they're gonna paint my fiero for me. Maybe I'll just hold off and have them do it then.
I'm down for anniversary get-together. Count me in! I worked out a deal with Dave & Karen and they're gonna paint my fiero for me. Maybe I'll just hold off and have them do it then.
I also talked to them about doing my Indy next spring. It's looking like there going to be getting some extra work from us..
We'd be glad to have you there cornersonrails, Maybe we call up dave and karen and let them know there's a fiero meet at their shop next year... Nah, let's just show up and surprise them!
I haven't really been on the forum much lately due to work stuff but a friend of mine from MN who isn't a Fiero person sent me a link to the article. What a tremendously awesome project! Kudos to everyone who was involved!
This shot has more of the build team in it... I feel bad because there are a lot of people that did a tremendous amount of work not in the other shot. Especially parts of the team that wrestled the front of the car back into shape, a lot of the wiring work, tinting and more....
[This message has been edited by carbon (edited 11-23-2009).]
We'd be glad to have you there cornersonrails, Maybe we call up dave and karen and let them know there's a fiero meet at their shop next year... Nah, let's just show up and surprise them!
Reunion in Frazee is a great idea but I do agree with a previous posting; some time earlier (read:warmer) time of the year. I would drive my Fiero and join a cruise around the town where it all happened.
You guys are always welcome in Frazee. When you guys plan on the next visit let us know and we can get some things set up and make a good event out of it. A big car show would be awesome!!!!
I'm up for a car show in Frazee. I do think warmer weather is a good idea. If there was snow, ice, and salt on the roads, it would make a car show tough. I suggest this spring.
Tyler you are in our thoughts every day. Stay strong. ANYTHING can happen!
I haven't really been on the forum much lately due to work stuff but a friend of mine from MN who isn't a Fiero person sent me a link to the article. What a tremendously awesome project! Kudos to everyone who was involved!
~ Jennifer
------------------ Vin
MAFOA Webmaster 1987 Fiero GT, Medium Red Mettalic, Lowered 2008 Solstice GXP, Aggressive
1988 - 2006 - The 18 year dry spell between 2-seat Pontiac Excitement was finally over... RIP Pontiac.
WOW..........unbelievable what happens when you don't pay attention to the Forum for a couple weeks !!!! Wouldn't have missed this for anything !!!
Read on for an inside view of the weekend....
Though i heard about this really late, & unaware of the magnitude of the help needed to do this. GTJeff stopped by my shop for some parts & told me what was going on. Chris ( Synthesis ) happened to call at the exact same time. I rearranged my entire weekend to do this, with a slightly ticked off family at first. I told Chris & Jeff i'd offer anything right up to driving my 19' flatbed up there with my toolbox on it & even a spare car. They seemed to think most everything was covered so all i needed to bring was myself. Planning the trip to ride with Jeff on Friday fell through when another "helping hand" project rolled in the shop Friday night. Adjusted the plan to head up later, but again missed the meet & greet & tried for midnight. That didn't work either. Got home at 2:00 a.m. With only $25 & 21* temps i bundled up in the early a.m. on a GSX-R 1000 & headed for Frazee. 2.5 hours later i arrive.....frozen, at 10:00 a.m. and missed my mark by 2 hours.
By 11:00 feeling is coming back & were chest deep in the project. Looks like they wanted to freshen up the top end, give it a tune up to run well. With the exception of INCREDIBLY worn parts, side slop in the dist. missing grounds on spark plugs, etc, i find the infamous cracked in half exhaust manifold This car would have sounded horrible !!! Knowing the history of the broken bolt in the head of the Fiero, it didn't look good. With literal blood, sweat, tears, & a torch, the manifold was out without one broken bolt !!! Welded the manifold back up & got it back in, finished the top end & tune-up. We have ignition !!! Except BOTH manifold gasket leaked BAD, and it ran rather poor & rich enough to burn your eyes in 15 seconds. What a bummer. Where are we going to find manifold gaskets at this hour. The crew worked their magic & found some in Fargo, so the decision is a go to remove both of them....again. Repaired one comes out no problem. Y pipe bolts needed heat & were so rotted, needed replacement. Off to the hardware store someone went. Rear manifold came out with a fight too, except for one bolt......1/4 of the way out, snapped flush with the head. Great, this will be fun.While Fred ported them for a few extra ponies, believe it or not with the VERY limited tools we had, someone had a right angle drill. So more than 2 to 3 hour was wasted drilling the bolt & snapped 1 easy out in the hole before i could tap new threads. With a tap & vice grips mind you
Reassembly begins again much later than expected. Gaskets show up & were on the way. Few more hours & were trying again, except the starter is bad , Bendix won't engage on the flywheel. Napa Johnny to the rescue again with another starter. Except once again PK breaks the solenoid ( among many other things !!!!! Ha Ha Rick ) New starter makes it's way in & the car runs again.....except poorly Need to deal with the rough run/rich issue.Fuel pressure test shows 30PSI on initialize & immediately drops to 0. Leaking injector is trying to hydrolock the motor. Tear down the top half again.....pull up fuel rail/injectors?coldstart injector as an assembly, key it up, & found cylinder 2 injector wide open. Replaced it with one in the pile & retest. Looks good. By about 4:30/5:00 a.m. were done ....again. Trying for another fire up, the doesn't run at all Everyone's exhausted, i actually nodded off a couple times laying on the motor & head against the back glass. Few more tests finds no pressure....looks like we need a pump. Until a new set of eyes looks around & found the broken clip on the connector to the ICM it wasn't plugged all the way in. Little push of the connector & it fired right up, ran beautifully, & quiet !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time to sit for a bit. Keep in mind all of this was done with limited tools that were all someone elses, almost NO air tools, UGH !!!!! Finishing touches & some little rework is done, & the only issue it has is the rebuilt headlight motors....not to shabby for a 24hr resto. Time is running out, get the car to the unveil location, head to Jeff's hotel room & grab a shower & 45 min of sleep ( not very good either ) 9:30 and were underway with the awesome unveil & everything goes well. Outside of a minor coolant leak easily fixed & the new ICM failed on Tyler's test drive ( saved by 87antuzzi ) they're back.
Short break for breakfast & back to the body shop to clean up, finishing touches of the car & say goodbyes. Sun afternoon, top off gas & head out, most of the ride back extremely hard to stay awake after 31 hours & no sleep, until 45 min away from home it starts raining. Now i'm REALLY cold & fighting a fogging helmet visor. Made it home, took the family for food & home again by 6:20p.m. lost consciousness & didn't wake till 11:30 the next day for a little food & then 4 more hours of sleep, and here i am posting. My goal was to make Tyler's car run....run well.....and quiet. And that happened. The entire crew of about 64 people worked so well together ( even with PK breaking stuff j/k ) and flowed like an orchestra. Simply awesome.
Everything possible can & does ache in places i never thought possible. But it was SOOOOOOOOO worth it & would do it again !!!!!
Take care of yourself & the car Tyler !!!! and a HUGE thanks to the Family, Dave & Karen at the body shop, our Dream Team Crew, all of the volunteers, sponsors, donations, donator's, those that outreach across the globe, Vendors, and everyone not mentioned that should be. It was a heck of an accomplishment seen & heard by many.
P.S. We will definatly make an event out of coming up there each year !!!!! As long as PK doesn't break anything else
Purple Reign
------------------ MINNESOTA MAFIA Real men get blown If you're going to run your mouth make sure the proof isn't all over the net that you're full of sh!t. 87 GT MP-112 powered, 3800 Supercharged on 19's 372 rwhp & tuning____88 GT T-top 1 of very few, 000,194.4 miles 87 GT custom______90 Grand prix STE Turbo_____2007GSXR 1000 Nitrous is like a hot chick with an STD, Ya want to hit it, but are afraid of the consequences. IF YOU AIN'T BREAKING STUFF..................IT AIN'T MODDED ENOUGH If your'e not living on the edge..........you're taking up too much room. Best Fiero mounts available
[This message has been edited by PURPLE REIGN (edited 11-24-2009).]
I have spent the day trying to think of what to say, and how to say it...
Below, you will find the ramblings of an over-tired but happy man. For the first time in many years, I feel at peace with myself, and don't feel as if I am constantly struggling to do something decent with my life.
Friday morning, bright and early I met JohnWPB and DIY-Stuart at the Embassy Suites in Brooklyn Center. I had never met either of them before, but walking in, I hugged them both as if they were long lost brothers. Personal space be damned! They flew here for something that we knew was a good thing, but we did not truly realize how potent the emotions were, yet.
I, being the geek I am, ran a program on my Windows Mobile based cell phone that allowed people to track my progress from the Twin Cities area of Minnesota up to Frazee. The live tracking allowed people who could not make it to live vicariously through me, and also allowed the townspeople of Frazee to follow my progress.
The last 13 miles between Wadena and Frazee passed in about 5 minutes, as DIY-Stuart, driving in his Rental Kia and I sort of raced to get there.
Once we arrived in town, I pulled over at the hitching post (gas station for you city folks) and asked for directions. All of the people standing around looked very hard at my car. They knew why I was there.
At the body shop, I walked in, and saw standing in front of me two men. I looked at Jay, Tyler's father and said "You must be Dave." I recognized who he was from the earlier photos, but at the same time, I was so excited to finally be there that I messed the names up. lol
As people started rolling into town, things progressed rapidly.
We inspected the car, and the parts and supplies that were laid out for us. I began prepping for the audio system installation, and I set up the camera system and laptop for the initial video stream.
From this point on, everything is a blur.. The Meet and Greet was great. The hospitality shown by the people of both Frazee and Vergas was phenomenal. I felt as if I had returned home after being away for many years.
That night, to welcome our Southern members, I stood outside in a t-shirt and bare feet, while Stu and John, both wrapped in parkas shivered next to me. Yes, we do have a photo of this.
The next morning I awoke at 6:30 when my alarm went off, and I found myself down at Frazee Auto Body and Glass by 7.
I immediately set up the laptop and the camera, and began streaming.. The day progressed from there.
I don't need to go into details on the day, as many of you watched, and the FLVs will be online soon of the entire build day and commentary.
I will simply say this...
The event ran very smoothly for the most part. We would run into a small hangup once in a while with missing parts, but those were usually found where I was sitting... The whole dash went missing at one point, but as soon as I got up, we found it.
Everyone who participated impressed me very much. I have received a lot of praise for my part in the event, but I have to humbly pass this on to the people I worked with. Without exception, everyone gave their all until they could give no more. People I had never met before were working by my side to resolve problems.
I was sort of "in charge" on the build, but gave everyone their own path to follow.
You all performed admirably, you have restored my faith in humanity. I have cried more in the last 3 weeks than I have in the previous 10 years. You were all a joy to work with, and I look forward to meeting you all again.
Like an Orchestra Conductor, I did my best to assign projects to those who needed a project, and made sure that project was within their strong suit of skills.
My entire vision of the project and this car was realized because of the hard work, dedication, and heart of almost 250 people both on and off of the forum.
YOU made this happen. I was simply the trail guide.
I am proud to call myself a Fiero owner..
To expand upon the words that one of our Fiero Forum members put so eloquently:
"It isn't about the car. It is about the people. The car is just a common interest that allowed us to do this."
WOW..........unbelievable what happens when you don't pay attention to the Forum for a couple weeks !!!! Wouldn't have missed this for anything !!!
Read on for an inside view of the weekend....
Though i heard about this really late, & unaware of the magnitude of the help needed to do this. GTJeff stopped by my shop for some parts & told me what was going on. Chris ( Synthesis ) happened to call at the exact same time. I rearranged my entire weekend to do this, with a slightly ticked off family at first. I told Chris & Jeff i'd offer anything right up to driving my 19' flatbed up there with my toolbox on it & even a spare car. They seemed to think most everything was covered so all i needed to bring was myself. Planning the trip to ride with Jeff on Friday fell through when another "helping hand" project rolled in the shop Friday night. Adjusted the plan to head up later, but again missed the meet & greet & tried for midnight. That didn't work either. Got home at 2:00 a.m. With only $25 & 21* temps i bundled up in the early a.m. on a GSX-R 1000 & headed for Frazee. 2.5 hours later i arrive.....frozen, at 10:00 a.m. and missed my mark by 2 hours. By 11:00 feeling is coming back & were chest deep in the project. Looks like they wanted to freshen up the top end, give it a tune up to run well. With the exception of INCREDIBLY worn parts, side slop in the dist. missing grounds on spark plugs, etc, i find the infamous cracked in half exhaust manifold This car would have sounded horrible !!! Knowing the history of the broken bolt in the head of the Fiero, it didn't look good. With literal blood, sweat, tears, & a torch, the manifold was out without one broken bolt !!! Welded the manifold back up & got it back in, finished the top end & tune-up. We have ignition !!! Except BOTH manifold gasket leaked BAD, and it ran rather poor & rich enough to burn your eyes in 15 seconds. What a bummer. Where are we going to find manifold gaskets at this hour. The crew worked their magic & found some in Fargo, so the decision is a go to remove both of them....again. Repaired one comes out no problem. Y pipe bolts needed heat & were so rotted, needed replacement. Off to the hardware store someone went. Rear manifold came out with a fight too, except for one bolt......1/4 of the way out, snapped flush with the head. Great, this will be fun. Believe it or not with the VERY limited tools we had, someone had a right angle drill. So more than 2 to 3 hour was wasted drilling the bolt & snapped 1 easy out in the hole before i could tap new threads. With a tap & vice grips mind you Reassembly begins again much later than expected. Gaskets show up & were on the way. Few more hours & were trying again, except the starter is bad , Bendix won't engage on the flywheel. Napa Johnny to the rescue again with another starter. Except once again PK breaks the solenoid ( among many other things !!!!! Ha Ha Rick ) New starter makes it's way in & the car runs again.....except poorly Need to deal with the rough run/rich issue.Fuel pressure test shows 30PSI on initialize & immediately drops to 0. Leaking injector is trying to hydrolock the motor. Tear down the top half again.....pull up fuel rail/injectors?coldstart injector as an assembly, key it up, & found cylinder 2 injector wide open. Replaced it with one in the pile & retest. Looks good. By about 4:30/5:00 a.m. were done ....again. Trying for another fire up, the doesn't run at all Everyone's exhausted, i actually nodded off a couple times laying on the motor & head against the back glass. Few more tests finds no pressure....looks like we need a pump. Until a new set of eyes looks around & found the broken clip on the connector to the ICM it wasn't plugged all the way in. Little push of the connector & it fired right up, ran beautifully, & quiet !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time to sit for a bit Finishing touches & some little rework is done, & the only issue it has is the rebuilt headlight motors....not to shabby for a 24hr resto. Time is running out, get the car to the unveil location, head to Jeff's hotel room & grab a shower & 45 min of sleep ( not very good either ) 9:30 and were underway with the awesome unveil & everything goes well. Outside of a minor coolant leak easily fixed & the new ICM failed on Tyler's test drive ( saved by 87antuzzi ) they're back. Short break for breakfast & back to the body shop to clean up, finishing touches of the car & say goodbyes. Sun afternoon, top off gas & head out, most of the ride back extremely hard to stay awake after 31 hours & no sleep, until 45 min away from home it starts raining. Now i'm REALLY cold & fighting a fogging helmet visor. Made it home, took the family for food & home again by 6:20p.m. lost consciousness & didn't wake till 11:30 the next day for a little food & then 4 more hours of sleep, and here i am posting. My goal was to make Tyler's car run....run well.....and quiet. And that happened. The entire crew of about 64 people worked so well together ( even with PK breaking stuff j/k ) and flowed like an orchestra. Simply awesome.
Everything possible can & does ache in places i never thought possible. But it was SOOOOOOOOO worth it & would do it again !!!!!
Take care of yourself & the car Tyler !!!! and a HUGE thanks to the Family, Dave & Karen at the body shop, our Dream Team Crew, all of the volunteers, sponsors, donations, donator's, those that outreach across the globe, Vendors, and everyone not mentioned that should be. It was a heck of an accomplishment seen & heard by many.
P.S. We will definatly make an event out of coming up there each year !!!!! As long as PK doesn't break anything else
Purple Reign
Thank you for taking the time to type all that out!! No audio and very very jumpy video on my end left me with a lot of unanswered questions about what was actually happening in that engine compartment. That's a LONG time to be bent over in that space--hope ya had someone at home to give ya a back rub.
Originally posted by maryjane: Thank you for taking the time to type all that out!! No audio and very very jumpy video on my end left me with a lot of unanswered questions about what was actually happening in that engine compartment. That's a LONG time to be bent over in that space--hope ya had someone at home to give ya a back rub.
When Shawn showed up, I was happy he was able to join us... When the engine work started, I trusted noone else to be in that bay.
While it was hard on Shawn physically, and he did quite literally bleed for the car, he is the only person I would trust 100% to be able to do what he did.
His knowledge of the Fiero, and his many years of experience as a mechanic on any type of vehicle you can imagine made him the perfect person for the engine work.
Shawn, I can't express my gratitude enough for you being there. I am very thankful for your participation, and glad that you made it home safe.
If I had known that you just needed some gas to get up there in a warmer environment, I would have willingly helped you out with fuel.
Anything you need that I can provide, just let me know.
[This message has been edited by Synthesis (edited 11-23-2009).]
Originally posted by maryjane: Thank you for taking the time to type all that out!! No audio and very very jumpy video on my end left me with a lot of unanswered questions about what was actually happening in that engine compartment. That's a LONG time to be bent over in that space--hope ya had someone at home to give ya a back rub.
Thanks Maryjane, ....got a short backrub.....
Didn't realize that the live stuff was jagged with no audio ??!! i would have been much more descriptive, but oh so tired. That was a milemarker for me in hours straight. Didn't get up for more that a pee break & food twice. Didn't get to see or post even once on live chat or contribute to it. In fact while Tyler was chatting with Huki & getting his plaque, i was busy welding his manifold
Didn't realize that the live stuff was jagged with no audio ??!! i would have been much more descriptive, but oh so tired. That was a milemarker for me in hours straight. Didn't get up for more that a pee break & food twice. Didn't get to see or post even once on live chat or contribute to it. In fact while Tyler was chatting with Huki & getting his plaque, i was busy welding his manifold
We had audio. Maryjane is on Dialup, so it cut out on him many times. Everyone there worked very hard, but I honestly feel that you worked the hardest of them all.. And the result was perfect..
I suspect the reason that Tyler wanted to get rid of the 2.8 was because of how badly it sounded and how poorly it ran. Fixing the exhaust manifolds and gaskets, and tossing in a new distributor resolved all of the issues with the car. That 2.8 sounds MEAN in there, and I know that Tyler was surprised it was his original motor with nothing too major done to it.
When Shawn showed up, I was happy he was able to join us... When the engine work started, I trusted noone else to be in that bay.
While it was hard on Shawn physically, and he did quite literally bleed for the car, he is the only person I would trust 100% to be able to do what he did.
His knowledge of the Fiero, and his many years of experience as a mechanic on any type of vehicle you can imagine made him the perfect person for the engine work.
Shawn, I can't express my gratitude enough for you being there. I am very thankful for your participation, and glad that you made it home safe.
If I had known that you just needed some gas to get up there in a warmer environment, I would have willingly helped you out with fuel.
Anything you need that I can provide, just let me know.
Thanks.......glad to have helped, and would do it over and over again. Especially glad it turned out as well as it did. Again we had the perfect team doing everything. I would have hated to see the being either pushed at the unveil or sounding like it had no exhaust ( or rod knock ) LOL.....
If i had known sooner i would have brought the Rollback with my toolbox, parts, & another car !!!!!
Shawn you were awesome in your determination to get the car running. Chris you had what it takes to get the mission accomplished. All of you made a kid smile that will always be imprinted in my memory, along with many others. I swear when the car was being unveiled god made the sun the shine on a very special kid. We celebrate Turkey days usally in late July. This has been a strange fall, we normally are cold with snow.
I wanted to go this time but my work had kept me here.
.
Great, this will be fun.While Fred ported them for a few extra ponies, believe it or not with the VERY limited tools we had, someone had a right angle drill. So more than 2 to 3 hour was wasted drilling the bolt & snapped 1 easy out in the hole before i could tap new threads. With a tap & vice grips mind you 
Ha Ha Rick ) New starter makes it's way in & the car runs again.....except poorly 
