Hey everyone, all old friends, and welcome to the new ones!! I got on here a few days ago with 23 pages and I turn my back for one second and another page is added. I really want to thank you all for your marvelous comments, feedback, and support! I love hearing from every one of you and I hope to continue to stay in contact. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get much work done....well if I'm honest I haven't done any work for the past few days.....but still I just hope to be able to do a few more things before Michigan is covered in snow.....it gets too cold too quickly around here. I hope to have more updates soon but for now I will just sit back and enjoy all the comments and suggestions. -kathryn p.s. I do get covered in grease my sister just likes to take pictures before the grease multiplies and gets on her....lol
[This message has been edited by kathryn (edited 10-30-2012).]
You have your priorities right, don't worry about posting quick updates on your project. Rewards come from taking time to do it right and many times there are higher priorities than working on the car, we all understand that.
By the way, Fierosails makes excellent decals, and will customize to just about anything you want. They are very high automotive quality, which will last a very long time. Decals on my car were made by them, Paul and I collaborated with designs/colors back and forth on email to reach final print stage, so don't be afraid to get creative with sketches of what you would like to make your car personal. Examples below:
Speaking of your page count, I can't even imagine what it will be in say in a couple more years, but I'm sure it will be absolutely huge.
[This message has been edited by California Kid (edited 10-30-2012).]
Glad to see that Kathryn got on and posted some updates today. A few of you saw that she was with a film crew all weekend. They are working on a PBS documentary on kids that are working on projects and taking on significant responsibilities and how that helps them learn outside of the classroom. A big shout out and thank you to Steve and Vanessa, they were absolutely great with Kathryn. She was able to take some measurements on the engine and tolerances....folks it looks like we are going to have to do some boring on that block. That is if Kathryn's measurements with the telescope gauges were accurate, and I think she was pretty close. She also got a big hole cut that you say by the battery box. Massive, but the welding is going good. I think we are going to try to get all the welding done in the next two weeks and then that gets us working on the engine over the winter! Here are some photos of the photo shoot for all of you.
She was also invited to go take a look at a college of engineering that is involved in Baja racing so we will be going to look at that school Monday. She was invited to participate in the Women in Engineering program at Michigan Tech this summer, which I think she will end up doing.
Finally to cap it off, we know of at least two young ladies, one aged 8 in Texas and one aged 10 in California that have been in touch to tell Kathryn that this year they are going as "The Girl who Played with Fieros" for Halloween. Kinda fun. Till next update.
bulldog85043, Kathryn is excited for the fender decals. Thank you! She was looking at them tonight, and says she'll respond probably tomorrow, she wanted to think about which one she likes the best.
bulldog85043, Kathryn is excited for the fender decals. Thank you! She was looking at them tonight, and says she'll respond probably tomorrow, she wanted to think about which one she likes the best.
-MH
I have a set of the "new" Fiero decals on my 86SE. I can safely say that the material is very durable and will hold up nicely for you.
Trevor
------------------ ~Trevor 1986 Fiero SE V-6. TH125. Lovin' the sound...
hey everyone, as my dad said we hope to get a lot of welding done and then during the winter we can to some more things to the engine..... oh HAPPY HALLOWEEN by the way! I hope to have updates soon and i will be replying today! -kathryn
Looking forward to the power plant surgery and all the juicy details and pictures.
We'll be sleeping on the waiting room floor... Till then let us know when Doctor Kathryn and assisting surgeon Doctor MH come in! (grin)
Can't wait for the part when the electrodes are connected, the key is turned and... Igor shouts "Master, its Alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Muah haha haha! ~Zep
[This message has been edited by mwzephyr (edited 11-01-2012).]
This is such a neat story! I read about it first awhile back and hadn't made it onto the forum. My dad and I started my first Fiero project when I was a freshman in college and it was such a special father-daughter experience and bond that we still share today. For my first rebuild (my Silver 88GT), my dad took pictures and made a memory book with his commentary on the experience. I still treasure that. The second major project was my Blue 85GT, which was a total overhaul of the car during my senior year of college and a project we still work on today. I recently moved 4 hours away from "home" and miss my dad dearly, but I often think about all the fun times we had working on these cars and the countless other Fiero engine swaps and projects we worked on together. You are doing a great thing together and it is so awesome that Katherine is getting recognition for it.
I'll have to dig out some pictures and share soon!!
This is such a neat story! I read about it first awhile back and hadn't made it onto the forum. My dad and I started my first Fiero project when I was a freshman in college and it was such a special father-daughter experience and bond that we still share today. For my first rebuild (my Silver 88GT), my dad took pictures and made a memory book with his commentary on the experience. I still treasure that. The second major project was my Blue 85GT, which was a total overhaul of the car during my senior year of college and a project we still work on today. I recently moved 4 hours away from "home" and miss my dad dearly, but I often think about all the fun times we had working on these cars and the countless other Fiero engine swaps and projects we worked on together. You are doing a great thing together and it is so awesome that Katherine is getting recognition for it.
I'll have to dig out some pictures and share soon!!
This is awesome! You are awesome! Fieros are awesome! I have a white formula myself that my uncle and I are fixing up for my first car. No v6 though, we are swapping to the iron duke for the gas mileage. It's definitely cool that a girl around my age is building her own Fiero, especially when I haven't found a girl who can even remember the car's name.
[This message has been edited by radicult (edited 11-03-2012).]
radicult, welcome to the forum and Fieros. Just wanted to tell you that if you need local help or parts, contact the Georgia Fiero Club at http://gafiero.org or GeorgiaFieroClub@Gmail.Com Also, come up to the meeting on the 10th.
And Jen, it's good to see you and Matt back. Welcome again.
[This message has been edited by fierofool (edited 11-03-2012).]
Jen, Thanks for the link! Awesome thread. Love the blue car. Radicult, welcome to the forum. Let us know if we can be of any help. The duke isn't a bad engine.
Hey everyone, I did recently...well fairly recently do a little bit more welding. Also in terms of the Biology project I did that I mentioned a while back I got full credit and one of the top scores. Also I officially just got back from my first ever College visit! It was really fun, and I learned quite a bit too. There are so many different directions you can go and I think that I could have a ton fun in pursuing the mechanical engineering field!! Sorry for not getting back quicker, I've been pretty busy. Also in one of my electives for school I'm taking a Machine Trades class and my teacher is considering letting me try to weld together a gate....like you know the fancy ones that you can use for like a driveway or something.....with the rods/poles? Well either way it could be interesting. As for my College visit (sorry I'm skipping around to different topics quite a bit) I got to look into several classes/shops. Robotics, wood, electrical, ect. Thank you for all of your support and for all of the enthusiasm!! -kathryn
Kathryn, I think it is cool you are sharing about your sucesses and challanges at school. I remember starting out in 69... I can't possible be that old...LOL It was overwhelming and exciting.
Glad you are able to keep balancing your life. It gets hard sometimes, I know. Thanks for keeping us in the loop!
BTW~ robotic is way cool. I used robots when I worked at an OEM manufacturer to paint various car add-on assemblies.
~Zep
[This message has been edited by mwzephyr (edited 11-05-2012).]
Kathryn, Wood and metals are great mediums for creativity! Let's hope you can make that fancy gate and show us how creative you can get.
You still have time to get a good background for an Electrical Engineer (EE), Mechanical Engineer (ME) or in your case AE (any engineer) I tried not making my fun my work but you have a passion that I don't think can be quenched by having the skills you are gaining being left as 'just a hobby'.
Hey everyone, I did recently...well fairly recently do a little bit more welding. Also in terms of the Biology project I did that I mentioned a while back I got full credit and one of the top scores. Also I officially just got back from my first ever College visit! It was really fun, and I learned quite a bit too. There are so many different directions you can go and I think that I could have a ton fun in pursuing the mechanical engineering field!! Sorry for not getting back quicker, I've been pretty busy. Also in one of my electives for school I'm taking a Machine Trades class and my teacher is considering letting me try to weld together a gate....like you know the fancy ones that you can use for like a driveway or something.....with the rods/poles? Well either way it could be interesting. As for my College visit (sorry I'm skipping around to different topics quite a bit) I got to look into several classes/shops. Robotics, wood, electrical, ect. Thank you for all of your support and for all of the enthusiasm!! -kathryn
What was the subject of your biology project? What did your research turn up?
Hey. Um...the biology project was a poster that i had to do and i had to compare the functions of all the organelles in a cell to functions of everyday objects...and i managed to compare every single organelle to something on a car. Ex: A cell membrane is like a car door because the cell membrane allows molecules into and out of the cell the same way a car door allows people into and out of the car. AND I managed to find pictures of every part out of one magazine. I was quite happy with that accomplishment. Anyway I might be going down to work tomorrow probably to do some more welding thank you everyone for all your support! -kathryn
thank you bulldog that is perfect! Unfortunately i didn't get to go down to work yesterday but i will be going down tonight... sooo....more welding yeah! updates soon! Thank you everyone for all of your wonderful support and help!! -kathryn
thank you bulldog that is perfect! Unfortunately i didn't get to go down to work yesterday but i will be going down tonight... sooo....more welding yeah! updates soon! Thank you everyone for all of your wonderful support and help!! -kathryn
I've got some wonderful news from you from Paul McKibben of FieroSails.com:
Trevor,
Thanks for your note and for the link to Kathryn's story. Kathryn sounds like an awesome young lady. We'd be happy to contribute the two fender decals for her project at no charge. I'll work on the artwork over the weekend and send it to you for approval prior to doing any production work.
By the way, are you still at the same address in Phoenix? Or should I send the decals direct to Kathryn?
Paul McKibben fierosails.com
I've asked the decals be sent to me pending receipt of the mailing address. If he finishes them and I have the address, I'll have them sent directly.
I promised Kathryn that I would update the thread with some of her most recent photos and progress. She will probably be along shortly to update on what she has been doing. Her welding has come on a treat, and she seems to really be enjoying it. A LOT of fabrication work recently. Of course those of you that have seen what she has to work with can kind of understand that. The frame rails were mostly gone and of course there were some holes in sheet metal as well. She recently worked on fixing one small hole on the drivers side of the engine bay, just aft of where tha gas fill would be.
after grinding back to good metal she used some cardboard to template the hole and cut the part.
then weld it in.
Easy! it was relatively flat, and the thin gauge was easy to shape. Good practice, but it was going to get progressively harder. Both sides of the trunk were/are completely gone. So we need to cut out all the bad metal and see what we are left with.
that leads to really big holes in the trunk!
and some welding!
and of course you have to have some fun and chat and take a break from time to time
the spot welds don't look to bad
Still, this is pretty straightforward so far. But the big hole that we had to cut in the passenger side of the engine bay was massive! The battery tray was completely corroded (We have a new one to put in), but it had gotten into the side walls as well. By the time that Kathryn was done cutting back to good metal you could have passed a basketball through the hole pretty easily and with room to spare. That mean that it would be a lot of work. Probably time to chill for a few and think about how to assault this next problem,
and then time to start piecing it back together
The last piece of this is complex, there were 4 unique curves and building this in 16 guage means that it is a bit harder to get these shapes into the metal. Kathryn started to learn the use of a ball peen hammer!
Hey everyone! As you have seen via the best dad ever, I have improved my welding a little bit....and we got quite a bit done! Also I have completed a tap stand in shop class. (metal shop) So I also have some exams coming up....uggg. Who knew that gym had an exam? Well it does and I'm not necessarily pleased with that fact. Anyway I will probably be slowed down even more with that but oh well. I will probably be getting some more engine measurements done. Also I found some sort of vacuum hose that the last driver was using as a prop-rod thingy. thank you for everything!!! -kathryn
I joined this forum because of your story Kathryn, it is amazing to watch this project come together and you have sparked an interest in Fieros that I never knew I had!
I work in a machine shop and have seen welds that our staff has done that are not nearly as good as what you are doing. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing your story. You are going to have an amazing car to go along with the wonderful experiences.
Kathryn, on the subject of welds. It is a skill, that with practice gets better. Your determination and progress shows. The welders who make absolutely perfect welds usually do it for a living. So lets say that they do it 4-5 hours out of an 8 hour day 4-5 days a week. I have never seen anyone take to it so fast. I used to love watching through my mask the golden-red molten metal flowing from my stick. I was not as good with the wire welders but everyone is better at something. Everything takes time and practice, even school and even gym come to think of it. Time is a thing that goes by whether we pace it or not. It is up to us to use it to our best advantage. You have a marvelous friend and mentor in your dad and also in your uncle. You have a huge following of adopted aunts and uncles and cousins here to help. Not all of us had that growing up. Many of us had to fix a car just to keep it running to be able to go to work.
It is great that your family and your mom especially are letting you grow with your car.
That said keep up the good work! Lots of people view this forum even though they don't comment. Keep your sun shining! You inspire with that smile of yours.
Zoom! Zoom!~Zep
[This message has been edited by mwzephyr (edited 11-14-2012).]
Kathryn, Quick post to let you know that Paul sent the decals and they arrived today. I'll be sending them out in monday's mail. They look GREAT and I'm positive you'll be pleased
Bulldog: thank you for everything I'll let you know when they get here On thursday, I went down to the shop and got some more welding done, also my uncle got two deer...so I helped a little bit with that. Now i mostly just need to finish up the frame rails, and finish the two holes in my trunk which is kinda bitter sweet. because i love welding but then i'm one step closer to finishing the car. although for christmas i got a cool idea for gifts that require some welding.... thank you all for your enthusiasm, more updates will come soon...promise. but first i have to get through exams, and thanksgiving is a break. so i'll be on but won't have much updates....thank you all for your patience. -kathryn
Well I thought I would post a brief update tonight while Kathryn is in the other room studying for finals. She says she wants to post a bigger update tonigh, but we'll see if she gets done before bed time. Still a couple of fun things. I'll let her update you on a few of those, but we heard from a large company that most of you are VERY familiar with that want to do a surprise for Kathryn....so I probably shouldn't post too much more than that on the forum...yet, but I think she is going to have a fun time when she sees what they have in store for her. There have been a lot of other exciting happenings. We have all the welding repairs done except the bottom of one frame rail and two holes to close up. The rest she has completed and has learned that she really likes welding...she even has some ideas for Christmas presents utilizing her new skills. So we'll see how that goes.
I came across a couple of photos from the recent visit by the film crew...so here are a couple of those:
Also we got a phone call at home the other night from Autozone that said they had a package waiting to be picked up for Kathryn. When we showed up we found a new water pump and they just said it was sent by someone that wanted to support her project. We don't know if it was someone from the forum or local community, but if you are reading this...thank you! I'm sure that Kathryn will echo those thanks as well.
and of course some shots from the last evening of welding
and she told you about helping to hang the deer I think...so of course here is a photo of her hanging the deer!...She says she is going to finish the update, so I'll sign out and let her sign in.
Hello again, well i don't have any working updates but i do have a few things that i have not managed to update you all on. First off I got an offer from Bridgestone for a set of any free tires of my choice and they will mount them and balance them for me, when i am ready for them. Which means that I will need to make a trip down to Detroit in order to get them ect. So i'm pretty excited about that Secondly i have received attention from the University of Akron, who might be coming up to meet me and to invite me to come to their school for college. Mixed feelings about that i guess, excitement for yet another amazing oppertunity and nervousness for meeting/talking to yet another group of important people....but i think the excitement might win out for this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcdAOPCaR6A
Thirdly i have recieve gifts from multiple people that i have delayed posting about. So....I got a care package from Mrs. Shipman, which was really sweet and I was really touched by the gifts she sent and by her words of encouragement and advice. I especially loved the hat she sent...but she also sent me tee-shirts from the Tyler Shipman Memorial Show. Along with some of the rubber bracelets...i don't really know what they are called specifically... but also she sent me a Tyler Shipman memorial sticker..... i really liked all of it....it meant a lot to me.
This was a very nice letter from her....it will be going in my scrap book for sure!
Someone also sent me a model fiero that is still in the original packaging and everything its a MPC Pontiac Fiero 2-seat convertible coupe model. I hope to keep it the way it is now because i think that even though it was built it's even cooler to keep it in it's original state.
And then I also recieved an new alpine stereo head unit, along with some torx wrenches.....i didn't even know what torx wrenches were until that point.... but i was really amazed about the stereo.....now i don't have to stress about what i wanted to do for my stereo anymore....lol.
And then later on i recieved an new water pump...yes! Although when i went to pick it up in the box i wan't expecting it too be as heavy as it was so i almost fell over....fun stuff. but it was still pretty cool.
And then last but not least someone on the forum { they specifically asked that I don't mention their name, but I wanted to say thanks!} sent me a torque wrench, a micrometer, some telescope gauges, a standard combination wrench set, and a tap and die set. Which i found kind of ironic with the tap and die set because i literally just learned how to use them in my metal shop class. but i loved all of it and i am really grateful to everyone who sent my support through artifacts or comment and suggestions.
Mrs. Shipman, thank you so much for the care package it means a lot to me. i love the color of the hat by the way thank you though for not just the gifts but also your kindness and enthusiasm.
Some other things are thank members of the forum for the new stereo, torx wrenches, thank you for the new water pump, thank you for the model fiero, thank you for the wrench set, the torque wrench, the micrometer, the telescope gauges, and the tool and die set! to all of you thanks!
And to all of the others who have helped my project on the forum, from other internet places, through e-mail, letters, ect. thank you all of you for the support, encouragement, and help that you have all given in your own ways....thank you.
To family and friends, thank you for being the support system that i can turn to with problems, and for helping me out of frustrations ect. Thank you all of you.
I will have some updates soon....hopefully Including some of me using my new telescope guages to measure my engine bores!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! Also more pictures should be coming soon. -kathryn
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I tried not making my fun my work but you have a passion that I don't think can be quenched by having the skills you are gaining being left as 'just a hobby'. 
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