With all this talk about convertibles, why don't more people build them???? Do you have any pictures of the folding top mechanism? Thanks, Mark Anybody with a convertible could post pictures of their folding top mechanism... ( I started mine 1992? Never finished the top....)
Holy crap I know that car! I wasn't sure until I saw the "SC rust" post and I saw the interior, but I know that car. I've driven it many times. It's been over a decade, and I'm trying to remember what went where and from what, but that car used to be a 4-spd. The PO, Jim, got tired of the standard tranny in the Myrtle Beach traffic so he had it converted to an auto. The auto tranny came from my old '88 coupe when I swapped in a V6. I can't remember if the convertable got my '88 engine or if he kept his same engine. The interior carpet was replaced with vinyl. I would see his car all the time when I'd drive into Myrtle (I used to live in Murrells Inlet), and I don't think I ever saw it dirty. It was always in good shape and great working order. The tranny swap was done by a friend of mine, Mike, and he's a very good mechanic. I'm sure I have some pics of it during the tranny swap. Gonna have to dig tho! Good luck with the car! You're close so I'd like to see it again when you get it. You'll enjoy it. Back then if it were for sale I would have bought it!
Yup there's one pic I have of the car, and I found it. Let me see if I can figure this PIP out again...
Aaarrgh!!! Emailed you the pic. Post if u can figure out how to re-size it!
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[This message has been edited by turbo86se (edited 02-18-2010).]
With all this talk about convertibles, why don't more people build them???? Do you have any pictures of the folding top mechanism? Thanks, Mark Anybody with a convertible could post pictures of their folding top mechanism... ( I started mine 1992? Never finished the top....)
Mark it doesn't have a folding top. It just comes off and stows in the trunk. Sorry.
So what do you guys think about welding the doors shut and glassing over the seams? Provides rigidity and would look cool.
I'd have to say no. What happens if you are out driving one afternoon and it starts to rain? Means you'd have to take the top off and put it back on to get in and out of the car, in the rain. Not good.
Also would be a pain in the arse climbing over the door everytime me thinks. What is this, Miami Vice? I'd stick with the door popper idea myself. What are your thoughts on the vertical door hinges boss? Maybe add those with the door openers and reinforce the door frame where the hinges bolt up...
No verticals. Just hate them lol. The top is light fabric and looks like I can put on the back then get in and fasten from the inside. The windows would still work too haha.
But how cool would that look though? No seams no handles. This beast could really becoe a great show car eventually.
Poor 88 , any idea what happened to that car? Are those Formula rims?
Brad
I'm pretty sure the yellow '88 is still runnin around in PA somewhere. I miss that car! It started out as a red CJB coupe. I bought it wrecked, fixed it and painted it yellow. Then I threw in a V6. Kinda built a Formula. Ugh I miss that car.
Do you know if the convertible was ever in PA or has it been in SC?
And I'm still not sure about the doors. I think welding and glassing the seams would look badass and be pretty unique...
As far as I know the convertible has never left SC. What part of SC is it in now? I drove it around for a day or two before the tranny's were swapped. With the top down it was awesome! I don't know about welding and glassing the doors, would be kinda cool for a bit but I think the novelty would wear off. Just my .02 and I hope to get a ride in it again!
Problem solved. Just asked a girl. They would side saddle the door then slide over it and drop into the seat. No free shows. Darn lol
Hmm...Still a free show, sorta
Just make sure you install, errr..."anti chafing guards" for them to sit on Something soft and nubby for that extra bit of anti slide traction Wouldn't want them to fall of the door while they straddle it
She's home! I pulled a long haul down and back last night/this morning and pulled my new project back home with me.
Gonna need some work. I'll get more detailed pictures of everything in a couple days. Was too tired to stay and take pictures after I dropped the car.
edit: Yeah that Toyota has a 4 cyl in it. It would attack long sloping hills with all the enthusiasm of... well, of someone who would prefer not going up said hill.
[This message has been edited by MarineFiero (edited 03-27-2010).]
Ya, Jim owned the Aphraditie shop right next door to Studebakers(which is shut down for good). Jim had a bout w/cancer but is or was doing good last yr. Haven't seen him in many months. He offered me the car for $800.00, but I have too many projects. I may even sell my INDY, 30,0036 miles, all still together, has been repainted(needs repainted). PO let a wad if ciggarette butts smolder overnite and burned the shifter/ashtray surround & some of the headliner surround. Have parts to replace them. It is a 4 spd & all emblems r in place, floor matts,etc. Drivers seat has a burn hole(po). Factory INDY wheels. Anywas--good luck w/ ragtop. If I recall, I made a simple "C" clip to fit over the shift cable end on the tranny-is it still there?? Cheaper than buying a new cable. I think a 4.9 would serve well 2. I'll follow your project--Rick
Woohoo! Glad you got it back nice and safe! What do you think so far? Judging from the pics it looks like it's in great shape! When's the first get together?
I dunno man, the interior needs some work and there's spidering a lot on the bumpers. The top doesn't much matter cause I won't be using it. I'll probably sell it. But yeah the interior needs help. Mr. Mikes seats and Archie's waterfall here I come haha.
You know what would be cool?! You said you wanted it to stay as a convertible, right? But what do you mean you're selling the top for it? Anyway, what I was thinking would be cool is this. Swap a regular fastback (or notchie) back onto it and make it a targa top! Now that'd be something sweet.
The whole top assembly comes off. I don't want it. I will be selling it. And while targa would be cool, that's also a no because I am trying to make this sleek and smooth. the decklid will blend smoothly into the waterfall that will blend smoothly into the interior trim and so on...
I might be interested in the top for my 86 roadster. From the pictures I've seen, it looks better than a lot of them I've seen. I think that the idea of having a folded top in the trunk is worth looking into as I've never seen one folded behind the driver that looked good at all.
It's a little rough and is a bit complicated. I'll get pics of the top tomorrow if I can tell myself I don't NEED to go to the beach in tomorrow's 90 degree weather.
Started working on it today. After new battery cables and battery, I got it running. Could not find the source of the coolant leak, if there even is one. Was smoking a lot so I replaced the head cover gasket and broke the TPS in the process. Couldn't check the head cover after that. Getting another tomorrow.
This reminds me... anyone wanna come lend a hand? Beer and/or lunch and whatnot for your troubles! I know nothing about these 4cyls.
Figured we might as well continue the build thread that Marine Fiero started rather than starting a new one.
Fierfly and I picked up this convertible back in May. Here are some pics repeated from the post where we picked it up...
Here is Marine Fiero and I before loading it onto the trailer (can you guess with one of us is in the Marines?)
Loaded up, ready to roll
Gotta love that Washington DC traffic
Home next to her first one
It needed some quick work before we could put it on the road: Tires: We stole the tires from her other car while we do the engine swap in it...we still need to get a new set for this car. Interior: We did a lot of cleanup on it and it doesn't look too bad now. We dropped a JVC CD player in it...and found that the seat speakers don't work and the front ones sound like crap....add those to the list. We also replaced both door panels. We have a new center console and new carpet ready to go in...and we are still deciding what to do about the seats...but that vinyl is not going to work when the sun beats on it. Drivetrain: It had a bad rear wheel bearing/hub. After a scare thinking it was the tranny, replacing the hub seems to have taken care of it. Body: We replaced the drivers door...it was easier than fixing the door handle and latch. The new skin was already painted white, but a really bad paint job that has some peeling and is missing the door trim.
Then we took it for a drive...here is Fierfly in the driver's seat for the first time:
She made it 7 miles before she broke it. Blew a spark plug right out of the head ( https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/081786.html ). An easy-out and a set of plugs later, we drove it to the poker run at Road Atlanta.
The Lotus trying to keep up with us (ok, ok....he was behind us because we had the map):
At Road Atlanta:
At this point, we considered it to officially be on the road. But we found a few bugs we weren't comfortable with on the poker run. 1. Started idling really bad toward the end of the run. Suspected vacuum line issues. 2. Bad rattle and sounded like the engine was about to puke during mid to hard acceleration. Wasn't sure what to make of this one. 3. Extreme understeer. Suspected alignment issues.
When I got home, I corrected the directional tread on the front tires, correcting a majority of the understeer issue. I was amazed at what a difference that made, and felt foolish for putting them on backward to begin with. Today, we dug into the vacuum lines, and discovered a loose EGR valve. Turns out, someone tightened it too much and stripped the threads on the bolts. No problem...the threads go all the way through, so we just got some longer bolts and bolted it down tight. That, combined with replacing a couple rotted vacuum lines completely transformed the car. Vacuum lines fixed the idle, and allowed the brake booster to work properly again. EGR repair fixed most of the rattle, and all of the "engine about to puke" issue.
We drove it for a little over an hour tonight. Now an alignment, and we will consider it mechanically done. On to further cosmetic repairs.
Thought I would toss in an update...sorry, no pics with it.
Tonight, Spider finally got windshield wipers. I am also happy to announce that we now have the heater fan working, and the radio and trunk popper are now working properly...and the radiator fan works now in theory. In short....everything works now. It has been driven quite a bit lately. I admit it is a really addicting car...I can see how previous owners have stacked up 245,000 miles on it. We are taking it to Run For The Hills this weekend...and will use it as a daily driver in nice weather for now.
There will be no more work on this car until spring. It runs great, drives great...if it ain't broke, don't fix it. This spring, we will redo the interior. The plan is to rip everything out, and cover the interior with Lizard Skin...then put it together with some nice condition parts. Really just needs a dash, carpet (which we have), some trim pieces, seat covers, and a good cleaning. I am considering talking Sharon into letting me do a dash swap in this...we will have to wait till spring and see what happens.
Time for an update on this car. We are currently cramming to get it back up to par for this year's Run For The Hills. The engine started making some funny noises last time we drove it (sounds like a bearing), plus it needs a water pump, and some severe wiring issues resolved in the engine compartment. I have a 63k motor that I was saving for my mother's car...until I picked up a 4.9 for her. So...this is the ideal time to throw it into the convertible.
We ran into a problem removing the cradle....it stripped the head off one of the rear cradle bolts. So, I cut the head off the bolt, and dropped the cradle over it....now I have a couple inches of the bolt showing to work with to finish removing. Plus, with the cradle out of the way, I can get to it to spray it properly with PB Blaster and heat it if needed. New bolts are already ordered.
The mandatory "standing in the engine bay" photo:
The engine, de-wired (the harness that was on it is a disaster...I have a fresh new one ready to go in):
Calling it quits for tonight. We had thought about selling this, at which point the idea was to get it running really good, then put it up for sale. But...then Sharon was looking at the top and found a way to make it seal well across the windshield...and with that, and knowing that it will run good, we decided that we would change our minds about selling it. So...we will be doing this properly as a long term restoration rather than just a repair. This includes painting the engine compartment and powdercoating most of the engine.
You gotta get rid of some of that powdercoating and make sure your alternator case grounds on that bracket.
The Person who powder coated the parts told him " Now don't call me when your Alt is not charging!" Since we know how He Loves Fieros with Charging Problems!!! He was told and know that he needs to sand down for good ground points.
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**************************************** 88 Formula CJB Arrived Finally. #689 of 1252 Time to start Working TONY! There are Two kinds of Fiero's : Notchies and Donors!
Didn't get as far as I planned today. I didn't take into account the time it takes to clean and paint the bolts. I also had to track down matching bolts since the original engine had been pulled apart several times, so bolts weren't necessarily the correct bolts. I discovered that when you put them against a white background, they have to look REALLY good. There are also a several holes that I have to tap because too much powdercoating got in them....and of course I don't have an 8x1.25 tap.
A bit of the new intake gasket shows at the top. Should I: 1. Leave it alone? 2. Paint that bit black so that it blends in? 3. Carefully trim that bit off? (the thought of trimming an intake gasket scares me, but obviously this bit isn't being used to seal anything)
edit to add...I also have another alternator that I plan to pull apart and paint the housing on...but I want to have this running for the GFC meeting on Saturday (that is the soft deadline for the test run....the drop dead date is RFTH next weekend), so some things will have to wait for round two. Round two will likely happen this winter when we plan on also installing A/C in the car.
[This message has been edited by CowsPatoot (edited 09-08-2011).]
Since that photo was taken, it has been attached to the tranny and mounted to the cradle with new mounts. Ready for wiring (fresh wiring harness is ready to go) and vacuum lines, and the car will be dropped onto it tomorrow. I have been amazed at all the little details required to make an engine look perfect...they have definitely added a lot of unscheduled time to the project. I have also been amazed at how hard it is to get some of the parts for the duke. Almost every part has had to be ordered...I think the spark plugs are about the only thing the local Advance Auto had in stock....that has also added time that wasn't planned. I expect to be firing it up Wednesday once the PCV and air cleaner grommets arrive. I didn't plan on replacing them...figured I had 4 dukes sitting here to get parts off of, one of them should have good grommets, right? Yeah...they were all good until you try removing them. I gave up after trying to remove the second set.
On a side note...the car currently does not have air conditioning...but we intend to install it in early spring, so the engine and wiring harness are being set up for it here (dual pulleys on the engine and compressor wiring in the harness).
, any idea what happened to that car? Are those Formula rims? 
I'd stick with the door popper idea myself. What are your thoughts on the vertical door hinges boss? Maybe add those with the door openers and reinforce the door frame where the hinges bolt up...
Since we know how He Loves Fieros with Charging Problems!!! 
