OMG awesome story! I'm 16 years old and i wonder that you can do it yourself! I'm boy and i can't do around 70% of your work. Full respect Katheryn. Good luck!
Just a suggestion here but your interior would look so much better with a GT steering wheel. If you do decide to keep your current " horn paddle" wheel, go easy on the horn pads when getting mad at drivers on the road. They break off very easy. Kit
[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 06-09-2014).]
Hi Kathryn If I figured it right it's got to very close to your birthday. So I want to wish you a sweet 16 and many more to come. I think your car is looking great and can't wait to see it. Chuck
Thanks everyone! I've been on vacation for the past week or so but I'll hopefully make some more progress on the project in the near future... I hope you all have a wonderful summer, I'll be sure to keep posting updates as they occur -kathryn
Hey guys, While I haven't made much progress on the car from this past week... my dad and I are going down to work today And on a whole different note, I'm starting my first job on Thursday, and I've also got a summer college class starting in a few weeks.... Which essentially means I need to/will get this car done. Lol Thank you all for your support, you've all been amazing through this whole thing! - kathryn
Thank you Kathryn. You are an inspiration to more people than you know. I showed my daughter your thread and several of the youtube video's about you. This got her excited and gave her the confidence that she could do the same thing with our Fiero. Hope things are going well with your project and thank you again for inspiring my daughter!!!
UPDATES ALERT!! lol Hey everyone, As mentioned before I did work on the car yesterday so now I'm going to attempt to remember all the stuff. hopefully in order but probably not. Firstly, working with my dad we got the vinyl onto the other door... and either we're getting better or we just got lucky because it went really quickly in terms of how vinyl usually goes. so now that door is ready to have it's trim pieces put on once they're painted. for some reason we'd only painted the one... don't ask me why because i really don't know. Secondly, we discovered that while we remember painting the trim pieces we now need to figure out where we put them....we found some of them but we are still looking for a few. but the ones we did find a few of them need painted as well so that's the next step so we can attach those. We did attach the long yellow one to the already vinyled door. and we attached the new ground effects to the front fenders. We also found a way to cut the fiberglass on the new rear quarter panels (although it made a noise like you wouldn't believe. it sounded like a banshee no joke.) once we'd survived the noise and gotten them cut we had to attach the metal mesh that goes behind the scoops in them....but the mesh was black...and I wanted it yellow....so powder coating time!!! we got those done fairly fast... but then we realize we'd powder coated the wrong side of one of them so we had to do the other side...we should have checked that before we did it...oh well. lesson learned. so yeah. i think that's all that we got done yesterday. not too bad. and no...truly. you guys (and girls included of course) are amazing. You have all been a huge support and I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am for it. <3 kathryn
Kathryn, Hello from Albuquerque, NM. I just read all 38 pages of your thread. You've grown up so much in the past 4 years and it's wonderful that with all the pressures of highschool and the media and everything that you've been able to stay focused. It is wonderful that your Mom, grandpa, uncle and especially your Dad have been there so much for you. I hope I can be as much help to my daughter in another 10 years. I only hope I can teach her as much as my dad taught me.
Most impressively, you haven't let anyone tell you, "you can't do it". You're doing it "like a girl" and proving that means you're doing it better than most of the guys out there, you own it. All of us are impressed, and with your hard work, you deserve to have an amazing car. Sure you didn't get it done by your sweet 16, but, your Sweet 16 is all year, so you've got plenty of time. It will be great once it starts for the first time. You're in the home stretch, (literally with the vinyl) putting things back together. There's a lot to it, I know. (I've been rebuilding Z cars since I was 15) But so long as you kept up with labeling baggies and boxes, you should be able to figure it out.
Some suggestions, I'd like to recommend is, now that you've welded your frame and all and are getting ready to paint. You should really look into the inner-sealing spray for those internal structure parts. It's a waxy stuff that you spray with a long tube inside the frame to seal and prevent the chassis from rusting inside out. especially since you could not grind/sand/cut the internal rust.
The undercoating and trunk areas where you worked so hard to repair the rust still will need to be painted. I would recommend POR-15 for all of that, and underneath. Followed underneath by a rubberized undercoat. That all will help protect your baby from the salt. POR-15 is awesome stuff. POR-15 is also great for all those suspension parts. it leaves a strong gloss black finish, while neutralizing existing rust. It's so much better than paint since it dries almost like powdercoat. Read up on it. POR-15
Next with your Poly-bushings, those are great, they hold up better than rubber, and are tighter, but be sure to grease the heck out of them or your car will creak around corners/bumps, so keep that in mind.
It's awesome you love welding. It's very enjoyable, I hope that you're wearing at the minimum a paper mask under your welding helmet, or at least having a fan flowing air, since as metal burns is gives off all kinds of nasty gases, which you shouldn't breathe if you can avoid it. Also please be careful of your hair, maybe get a bandana or something, since all it takes is an errant spark. You may be able to take a free/cheap welding class along with your other college courses, since most places teach trades cheaply. I know your schedule is full, but it's definitely something to consider.
Thank you for sharing your Fiero Adventure, (maybe I can get my sister to work on her 85') I'll be checking back and just with most of the guys here please let us know if you have any questions on how to do any part of your build. That's where Forums are really handy, combined 100's of years of experience in one spot. So please ask if you're wondering about anything.
I found this story off my facebook leads from my local Maker-space Qlab. Thanks Again... PharaohABQ - Eric.
Yes, i basically made this account just for this. I found your THNKR video on YouTube, and have all these pages, which took a while. It is not often you hear about an 11 year old girl starting a project as big as this, and keeping it up, and doing it well. A lot of grownups don't even last that long.
Cool to see how many people are interested in this, and yet, not surprising. It is clear you have quite a future ahead of you, with both your project, after that, your car, and also school.
While reading this i kind of guesstimated what your age and progress would be at the last page, i wasn't too far off, but was hoping it would be done, just because i couldn't wait to read about it ! It seems you've gotta quite far, and have quite some media coverage, fun, surprises, help and support over the years. I am sure you will enjoy it when it's done, and i wonder how long it will take before you start a next project, or maybe even first do an upgrade, it never hurts to have a nice turbo on it
To my surprise i also saw the forum was based in the netherlands, while clearly 99% of the people here are american, including the host. I guess he moved here (yes, i am dutch and based in the netherlands) for work or love, or probably both. Who would have thought, though a lot of people here love especially the american classics, in comparison we don't have much. We are swimming in Euro and Japanese cars though :P
It's been a long wonderful hot summer but it's been dissappointing becuase we've not been privy to any new pictures in a few weeks. Any chance dad might post some to show the progress?
Hey guys and girls! Sorry I have abandoned you all for too long huh. I'll get my dad to post some pics of the things I haven't add pictures of yet, and mostly I've been working on doing welding orders for a few weeks because it all of a sudden got attention again. I'll start working on the car again soon, probably once I have completed this college class I am in. I only have a week left, so it will be over faster than we know.
Again I am so sorry that I haven't been on in a while. I'll try to do better. And I promise to have updates soon. Summer is crazy busy this year! I've got my first job and my first college class and at the beginning I wasn't home for more than a day or two at a time. Hopefully August can be my awesome get everything completed month. Cross your fingers!
Thank you all for all the support! I love hearing from all of you! Old friends and new friends alike!
Kathryn, Don't feel you owe us any explanation for why you haven't put anything to this thread. It's YOUR thread to let us know what progress you're making, as you make it. If you don't have time to work on your project, there's nothing you can post I know my current project (motor R&R) has stalled since the Arizona heat has rolled in since May. I probably won't get back to it again until late September.
Take your time and give us a snippet when you have time...
Do I sense an upcoming career as the owner of a rod, custom and automotive repair shop?You could really rewrite history as the first female owner of a business of this type.
I remember seeing the thnkr video of Kathryn, and i was twelve at the time. I begged my parents if i could get a car in need of restoration, but they did not oblige.... Great job with the car Kathryn.
[This message has been edited by Isaac (edited 08-27-2014).]
Just stopping by to say that I hope everything is going good for you still. Remember when putting your car back together that no detail is too small, so don't over look anything. As far as school goes, good luck with that. Keep up the good work.
Papa D. here, just to let you know the little miss is not losing interest. Time seems to run out for her this summer and early fall. An update on her life, hope she doesn't mind, not an excuse just letting you know what plates are spinning. Kathryn has an early morning youth meeting at church every morning then goes to High school. She also attends University on some evenings, 2 classes, also works at the University. This summer family from the UK was in and so fun time for all. This summer she also was a youth camp leader at girls camp; a leadership opportunity. At camp they met a young lady who is deaf and Jessica , her sister, thought it would be nice to learn sign language so next year and at other youth activities they would be able to help her and talk to her so the whole family now does a sign class on Sunday evenings and Sundays after church are silent. Everyone signs until bed. Kathryn also does her own laundry and other chores around the house. I give our Son and Daughter-in-law credit for mentoring their children and teaching them the value of work and of giving back to others. K tries to get down to work on the BEE but as we all know time sometimes is fleeting and she needs an adult when she does sort of like the scuba divers just in case. Those who work around equipment understand.
My update for those who are curious but please continue to bump her she is working on it and hasn't given up but she doesn't post the little stuff. She also has her etsy business and at times it too takes a lot of her time. She always asks me why does time go so fast?
All for now. To all of her friends and adopted family thank you. The hiker has photos to post and probably will soon.
I'm sure her dilemma effects many of the youth that are trying to learn and wanting to not waste a bit of the precious time. later Papa D.
Pops, Thanks for the update. All of us older folks know to well that time is fleeting when you are young. Glad to hear Kathryn is still looking forward to a future that includes the Bee! Tell her good luck from us all out here in cyber-space land... LOL Thanks , ~Zep
Just a note to all, I spent last week with the kids as I was needed to help while my wife and D-IN- L went on a small trip. It's much like being an air traffic controller. Kathryn starts the day at 5:30 and doesn't stop until ?. She has put priorities on everything, even her free time. I noticed some body parts, fenders, that looked to be in the process of sanding but her big project besides classes and work was making her Kreations for a craft show. As many of you know this is her project and she wants to get it done but $$$ enter in. Right now her computer is on it's last legs so she has been welding her "people" for the show to raise $$$. It looks like a small army has invaded. She has promised to post as soon as there is some visible progress and she can spend some time at the shop. The Hiker and Uncle Bob both think that the final stretch is near for the "Bumble Bee" about 3 weeks work if she could only do that but as we all know with her doing both high school classes and University plus working and her Kreations to fund it all, well time is hard to come by. I hope I've answered a few questions. What I'd like to say is she's building a car but the rest of us, all of you included, are building a girl or should I say a young woman and that's what this is all about. This last build is right on track and is looking very good. Thanks all and keep the support coming.
Topic Closed
are amazing. You have all been a huge support and I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am for it. 
