Truly AWESOME! how proud you must be,,Sounds like the girl is working her @$$ of ,, I have a step daughter who works just as hard to follow her passion of singing..This project is truly and inspiration to all , young and old (like me). keep up the good work ..
I feel like I've abandoned all of you for way too long. Sorry about that, I'm not fond of excuses but life has decided to be hectic this year. Apparently, life just gets busier and busier. Oh well. Let's see. Updates. The engine will have its finishing touches done soon, which means then it needs to magic itself up the basement stairs. lol Once that occurs it will be going back in the car. I have a few more pieces to vinyl and a few more "essential" pieces to put back in/on the car...like doors. they're kinda important. Especially in winter. BUT! Once those things are done, it will be drivable which means my baby can come home for the first time in a really long time, and that means my awesome Uncle can have his space back Then from there the interior and suspension will be fixed here at my house. So I have made a little progress, and it's close! If I can scrape together enough time it will be home long before Christmas.. hopefully. Thank you all for your amazing support, and I know that without all of you I wouldn't have made it this far. To all those people who on the news say the world has more bad then good, I have to disagree. All of you have shown what can happen and how we can define each other when appreciate each others successes and help people through struggles. You have all been absolutely wonderful, I can't thank you enough. Here's to the hope of a quick return home for bee, and for all of your projects I wish you all the best of luck! -kathryn
I thought I'd give a brief update. Kathryn and family have been fighting the flu and upper respiratory problems since before Christmas so not much work going on except I believe the engine is complete with all the pieces and the estimate is if they could have the time possibly 3 weeks work and the car could be on the road. Pictures of car hard to do now that winter in the Great white north has hit because it's in the back and everything is in front. K is a bit antsy to get it done but high school classes and University take priority but her baby bee is always on the front of her mind. We've talked a bit and early this summer might be a reachable time for completion and if so there just might be a party. All who have had a hand would of course be invited or who would like to meet the girl and family. Please keep sending her your support and comments. We all want to see this done and none more than her. Thanks to all who support her on etsy. She bought car parts and her new computer with money earned from "art". Hope this finds all well and stay in touch.
Thanks for the update, hope Kathryn and Family are feeling better shortly. It's been so damn cold here in Michigan, not many people even want to venture out of the house !!!
This has been an AMAZING glance over (didn't have time to read every post)
The Fiero was always one of my "dream cars", I never got one, stumbled upon something else first.
Kathryn's dad, I am hoping we can meet sometime after the car is on the road, would love to look over you and Kathryns hard work. Registered, just to keep tabs on this project, look forward to seeing new updates.
Hope you all shook the Flu, I brought it into my house after Ithaca's state playoff game, everyone got it (wife and kids).
Bump. Hope ya'll got better. Know the snow and cold are a pain but drop by and say hey. Life is too short. I know the path you are climbing is hard, but you are climbing for your dreams and for the stars... Smile and wave when you get a chance. We miss hearing from you and yours. ~Zep
Let's just say that I feel like even the weather is conspiring against me at the moment. With wind chill the past two mornings have been at an amazing -31 degrees Fahrenheit. I would love to say I have all these amazing updates but between school, work, and subzero temperatures, work has come to a stand still. It's rather frustrating. I'm hoping for some good weather and prime working time over my spring break that's coming up soon. Hopefully with a few hard working days over that spring break it will be drivable! Cross your fingers! Completion is so close... I hope you all had a great holiday and that the new year has brought you all good luck and opportunities! I wish you all the best with your projects, car related or not! Thank you all for always supporting me and for all your help and continued interest!
Hang in there! This is the part of a project that gets difficult to keep up the momentum. It's easy when you start off and are excited about the new project. Then life gets in the way, money, time, weather... just about anyone who's ever done anything on this same scale knows exactly where you're coming from.
I guess I'll post and update everyone with what I know. The engine is out of the basement and to the barn, more of a job getting it up than they expected. When they got it there had to move some cars, Uncle Bob's mustangs and after this winter some problems getting them started after that needed a different gasket for the oil pan, no one carries it in stock any more and then a problem with some other parts needed changed. Then Miss K. had to go to class. Right now in her spare moments she's working getting the vinyl on the body parts. So yes she is working on it and still doing all her other projects, high school, college classes, part time job at the university and her etsy business. Yes she is busy and determined and sometimes very very tired and wore out. So will all of you who watch this continue to encourage her and stay in touch. We do and it helps. When she doesn't post sometimes she thinks what she's done is so trivial that why would anyone be interested in that but we know it's the small steps that reach the goal. She has some things coming up maybe later this month that she'll share. Thank you all for staying with her. How great you all have been. She knows everyone of you but your posts and support. I'm just writing because most of you do know what it's like. I'm just as excited and waiting for the next bit to be added as everyone else. The olde GP says hi to all.
I started reading Kathryn's story after I did a search on Fiero Restoration last Fall. I was so impressed it finally motivated me to start working on my own 87 Fiero GT I had purchased a couple of years ago. Now I have it up on jack stands with the gas tank out of it and am trying to find a replacement. I read about the aluminum ones on another post in the Forum so I am trying to order one of those.
Please keep all of us posted on any updates you can find the time for Kathryn! Pictures are welcome too. I realize how busy you must be but we're all rootin' for ya!!
Hey Pops! Thanks for the update... Some of us follow ball teams, some of us follow Kathryn's updates... Wonder what the Las Vegas spread is for the completion date... !LOL! Got to say Kathryn is an achiever. Pretty soon she is going to have to give a celebrity coast to coast tour in Bumble Bee, or get her own 'Tool Time'; move over Tim, ya'll ain't got nuthin on this girl. Will wait patiently till then. Thanks. ~Zep
Zep, glad to hear you're waiting for the continuing saga. I like to see the bumps because they are motivators and that's good. She has something's going on this weekend if everyone gets back to her that I'm sure she would like to share, so stay posted. Hi to all and thanks for showing support to our girl. Papa D.
I read this whole thread a few years ago and never got around to signing up for a user name on this site but I kept it book marked and looked at it when I could. I love what you're doing and it is a very neat thing that you have the resources available to you to do this and the support from so many people. I got my first car a '78 El Camino when I was 14 and rebuilt it with the help of my Dad and it is a great treasure that I'll hopefully be able to keep forever (I've had it since 2000) I'm still playing with it and its back under the knife right now getting a ton of work done to it. The funny thing is I was looking for another car to have in case my daily driver broke down and I stumbled upon a very sad '87 Fiero and I'm now working on it and I hope to be driving it soon. I'd love to hear how the vinyl wrapping goes and how much you ended up using as I think I will probably go that route as well with mine. Good luck on your project and I can't wait to see what you accomplish Its not the easiest road to be a woman in this hobby and if you end up going into engineering its still a struggle but its possible and very rewarding. All the best! Jessica (gear head and mechanical engineer)
Giving this a bump, the Weather is turning here in Michigan, finally the temps are getting to a point where you don't freeze your butt off. This should help Kathryn make some more progress shortly.
Roads are so bad in my area that I'm not in any hurry to get my car fired up.
The weather is finally getting better but progress has also made a turning point for the better! The engine is back in the car! It's not fully hooked up yet, but the engine is back in the car, and my vehicle has three wheels back on. Right now it's pretty much my three wheeled wonder. We encountered a fun time with the suspension spring on the front passengers side, to say the least it's a nightmare to try and compress it enough to get it back into where it belongs. Some more vinyling was completed as well which is good, but kind of boring as opposed to turning wrenches. The fuel tank is back under the car and where it's supposed to be. It's finally all coming back together which is nice to see. I'll have to post pictures after another work day tomorrow, although since we usually get back pretty late you may have to be patient for a few days and give me time to get them up online. Wishing you all luck with your projects! Hope you're all doing well, and thank you so much for all of the encouragement and support you have continuously given through this long process! -kathryn
So, yesterday we had my brother's soccer game in the morning but then my dad and I went down to work on the car at about 12:30. We wanted to finish the front suspension and get all the wheels on so my car could stand on its own "feet" again. However, we had to attempt to wrestle the front suspension spring back into place because we'd removed it on the passengers side. Luckily we'd gotten smart and didn't remove it on the drivers side because let me tell you it was a nightmare. If you've never removed one and tried to put it back, don't. Dad and I tried so many different things, not just yesterday but also on Thursday when we went to work the last time. We'd tried finding different methods online, from other sources, everything. Then my dad called one of his friends for advice and he decided to come and help with the endeavor, after he showed up a little later my uncle came and joined the adventure. To say the least it took all four of us to get that stupid spring into place and it only took an hour to get the suspension finished and the wheels on after that point. Yet we were there until 9:00 pm. To say the least it was extremely frustrating, but we won and the spring is now where it belongs. (If it wasn't this rant would have been a lot longer lol)
We also got the fuel lines hooked into the engine yesterday as well, but other than that not much progress was made due to that spring. Hopefully this coming week the engine will be running. (Cross your fingers!) Hope you're all doing well, will have my dad post pics soon! -kathryn
Those front springs can be a real pain. I've replaced them by myself, and the best thing I've found to do is remove the knuckle, and the sway bar link, and loosen the bolts for the lower control arm, and swing that puppy as far down as you can get it, put the spring in with a pry bar, then put a Jack under the arm and raise it slowly. Not sure how you worked it out.. but that's the way I've found
I'm glad to hear you're making progress. Keep up the good work.
Also, if you have any fiero related questions, just p.m.me. I usually respond within a couple minutes.
2 Saturdays ago the engine and transaxle and cradle were installed. Last Saturday Kathryn told of her adventures which were quite trying. This Saturday they're down I believe hooking up lines and hoses and maybe even an engine start if they get that far. Kathryn has been really busy with tests and finals. Give her a big congratulations she has a 3.93 at the university and still doing all her H.S. classes too. She was inducted into PHI ETA SIGMA many of you know that's pretty great especially considering she's still a junior in H.S. I'm probably going to catch it from her because she doesn't like this stuff to get out. She really is quite humble. I know there are photos coming, when ? Thanks to all for staying with her the end seems to be insight but she has an extremely busy summer coming up, aren't they all? Papa D
With her skills, both academic and mechanical, I foresee her being busy for quite some time. It's so wonderful to hear how well she's doing. So many young people squander their talents and ability and it seems she's definitely making the most of the opportunities available to her. That attitude will take her far in life.
Looking forward to pics, and VIDEO of that engine start!
Topic Closed
Then from there the interior and suspension will be fixed here at my house. So I have made a little progress, and it's close! If I can scrape together enough time it will be home long before Christmas.. hopefully. 
