Thank you for the update Kathryn! Once you are finished, and driving it, I would love to see it at Cruisin' The Coast, in the Mississippi gulf coast! I am working to get the motor together and back into another project that I have. I'm working on acquiring parts for my Fiero project now, just need to get my parts, and I'll start working on it next. You are definitely an inspiration. My daughter just turned 12 today, and my relationship with her is a little damaged at the moment. Once I can get her back into my life, I want her help to build my '87. Good to see you back in the swing!
Always great to hear from you Kathryn. I'm looking forward to video of the car running! Don't feel rushed even if it's taking longer than you expected. I have no doubt you'll get it finished.
Best of luck with juggling all your irons in the fire.
thought I'd send some greetings and a small update. Kathryn has been super busy, as you can imagine with finals and college and high school and of course work. We spent 2 weeks up in the "Great White North" while our daughter -in -law went to her brothers wedding so we know how those weeks went for her. She did get to work on the car some and brought some things home to work on in the warm. I can't believe what she does at her age, if only I had energy but I must have been lazy.. no I was lazy! she doesn't seem to have many idle moments and her day starts at 5:30 and ends when the last homework or paper is complete. I appreciate all the positive feedback she gets and the encouragement. It helps us all and keeps her motivated. She tries to find time to work on the car but it takes real organization to do everything and she does some how find the time although with school it's and hour here and there. Everyone have a merry Christmas, prosperous New Year or holidays. Kathryn has had some great news that I'm sure she will share when she's ready. Papa D thanks everyone and I'll remind her to post.
The time management skills she's learning now will pay dividends the rest of her life, not to mention all the mechanical experience she's getting. Progress is progress, even when you have precious little time to spare. It's very easy to give up and say you don't have enough time. I'm impressed with how dedicated she's been over the years.
Just wanted to wish you all a belated Happy Holidays! I can't believe it's almost 2016, the date of graduation is slowly approaching and it feels like only yesterday that I started this whirlwind of a project. Thank you all for the continued support it means so much to me and the family. My car is so close to running it's almost painful at this point. My dad and I will be working on it today and tomorrow so I'm hoping to make a fair amount of progress. I will post updates later with a few pictures hopefully.
Right now we're struggling quite a bit with this wiring harness that's a mess that connects to the engine and a thousand other places it feels like. We're hoping that we've figured it out. If not I'll let you all know and post pictures of the problem pieces, and I would appreciate any help possible with this to be honest. Right now it's a huge stumbling block to overall completion... and a running car!
Again thank you all for everything you have done and continue to do.
Kathryn, Wiring harnesses are a headache and yet anything you miss now can cause problems later. Also over the years the insulation on a wire in a harness may wear thru and when you turn a corner or hit a hard stop sit may ground-out causing some weird things may happen that are hard to replicate. Get a continuity meter and check each and every wire also run your hands along each wire to make sure you don't miss potential broken wires inside of unbroken insulation.
Also last but not least every connector plug needs to be cleaned. If you know how to do it ,carefully remove each wire from the plug that houses it and clean and inspect it and replace it back into the connector. This requires a bit of skill and knowledge to pop the tiny barbs free from the plastic housing... You may want to skip that. Some could be green with corrosion and otherwise unbroken. If this is not your cup of tea so to speak, Buy pigtails from the automotive store for the part or cut another one from an old harness and then you should be in business.
I personally recommend hand soldering each connection but not before putting the shrink tube insulation in place. Modern crimp connectors often fail under mechanical stresses. Then slide the shrink tube over the soldered connection and blast it with a hair dryer till it seals up good . ~ still doesn't hurt to put vinyl electric tape over this in places where the wiring is exposed to water.
Over the years I have "unwrapped" almost every cluster of wires to find my problems. Sadly though sometimes the wiring is not the problem but the component that won't work.
When you can get a wiring diagram you may end up making new partial harnesses. It is hard work, but sure way to know what is working and what is not. Sometimes getting pieces of another harness might be a better option. When you are done you will have passed your own automotive wiring course. Seriously though you cannot take for granted that all of your grounds are good between body panels. The car is old...
I have added a separate grounding strap between my engine block and the firewall ( braided wire from a machinery ground application) and also a grounding wire from the engine to a side pillar in the passenger compartment. It usually solves problems where the body doesn't function well as a continuous ground. I also check that the alternator/ regulator is putting out a steady output. Sorry I don't have the wiring diagram but I am sure you will be guided to one shortly.
None of this advice is meant to be insulting, it is just the way I learned how to do things ; much of it you already know about.
Best of luck! It is great to hear from you. Happy wiring.
Kudos on your great school work!!!
Happy New Year! ¬Zep
[This message has been edited by mwzephyr (edited 12-28-2015).]
I hope you all had a great day! For me it's been a little cold and frustrating with finding these electrical connections. Zep you are right, they are a headache. Thank you for all the advice I could use all the help I can get for this whole wiring harness. It is probably my second least favorite thing, after sanding of course.
I have some photos with certain connections and pieces that I really haven't figured out what to do with. I'll add them to this post. If any of you know what they are and where they go that would be fantastic because my dad and I both feel like we've hit a bit of a dead end with this.
Other than that I fixed up a few mistakes with loose hose clamps and a missing gasket in the coolant system today along with finding a few more of the electrical connections. We've now got horrible weather here in Michigan, that snow I wanted for Christmas decided to show up today and it's now pretty cold outside.
Here are all the connections I am struggling with, any help would be greatly appreciated!
I hope you all are doing well and that you have luck with all your projects, work, etc! Thank you all for everything! -Kathryn
Some of these may be wrong because I am use to looking at the engine. Hope this helps if you need pics of how thing run I have a 85 GT in the garage I can use.
I hope you're all doing well and that everything is going okay for you all. Thank you for all the help.
88lambofiero - Thank you for the information you've given; some pictures showing where the connections run to would be wonderful! I really don't know what I'm doing with all the wires and tangles of cords, it's gotten me a little baffled. Again, thank you.
Good luck with all your projects everyone, wishing you all the best! -Kathryn
I hope you're all doing well and that everything is going okay for you all. Thank you for all the help.
88lambofiero - Thank you for the information you've given; some pictures showing where the connections run to would be wonderful! I really don't know what I'm doing with all the wires and tangles of cords, it's gotten me a little baffled. Again, thank you.
Good luck with all your projects everyone, wishing you all the best! -Kathryn
I would rather pound my #*%(%$ flat with a sledge hammer than hunt down and electrical problem. hey I cleaned it up as much as I could. Good luck Kido and stay away from the boys and you will finish it in no time.
Dad you got a hell of a good kid there, so you must have done something right.
Steve
[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 12-29-2015).]
When I get to places that like on complicated stuff like wiring harnesses, I find it easier to pull ALL wiring off the car, verify each harness against the schematic on the bench and then install each one at a time. That helps with identifying what each connector is and you can even label them to make install easier.
Was any repair work done on the harness? If it's still in stock configuration, an option might be to get a complete engine harness for the car from someone on here.
Consider this part of your engineering training. You're going to get very good with reading wiring schematics and doing continuity tests. Even experienced pros like BMWGuru take the harnesses completely apart and assemble them one wire at a time. It's probably the most tedious part of working on a car, next to sanding.
Thanks for the updates Kathryn, good to see you're back on the project. The winter months in Michigan would have to be the best time to work on a project, provided you have a GOOD heater in the shop. I was not a big fan of the cold when I lived up there. I'm hoping to go finish up my non-Fiero project Monday or Tuesday, if it warms up enough. Too cold down here in the swamps for me to be in an open shop wrenching.
Hope the New Year is treating you all well! I'm hoping to work on the car tomorrow, any last minute tips/help/thoughts on this wiring harness would be much appreciated!
It really helps alot to have a warm place to work on a car. If thats at all possible.
I second that, heat is always nice, even if it is just a torpedo heater pointed in your direction. That's what I have been using the last few days working on my snow blower motor, #@%&*+*&%$#@. Finally decided I can't remember **** so WTF I am doing and it would be quicker, easier, cheaper to just go buy a new one. So now today while it's 22 F for a high I get to put the new motor on and go on to the next project, I lost all the brakes in my yard plow truck, AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH it never ends Kat, it never ends for any of us.
Kat, just take your time, it will all be something you can use later in engineering, listen to the old fogies who are making the things for a long time. they will give you input from the real world.
I just glanced at the start of this thread, has it been 5 years since you started this.
Great work kido and perseverance I can't wait to see it up and rolling.
And as Formula said it will give you incite into the engineering world on the best level to start out, never forget the people on the floor have experience with making the things you put on paper/computer.
Not too many updates to post I'm afraid, I've had a lot on my plate and I had managed to get sick for a while... again. This fall/winter just hasn't been my seasons or something. Thankfully I'm better again. And I've decided that I will be going to Central Michigan University due to winning a scholarship that along with my dad's tuition waiver gets me practically a full ride for four years. In the meantime I'm hoping to get down to work on the car a couple times in the next few weeks and hopefully I'll have more to say then!
Thank you for all the support, good luck with everything! -Kathryn
And I've decided that I will be going to Central Michigan University due to winning a scholarship that along with my dad's tuition waiver gets me practically a full ride for four years. -Kathryn
Congrats, Kathryn! Be sure to take time for yourself with all the stuff you have demanding your attention. Overburdening yourself can weaken your immune system. If you find yourself getting sick easier than normal, it may be your body telling you to ease up a little bit.
Good job on the nearly full ride. That takes a huge burden off your plate that lets you focus on your studies. I tried working while going to engineering school. I know some people can do it, but it was more than I could juggle.
I went to an Advanced auto parts store Saturday and when he found out I was buying a part for a Fiero he started telling a story about this young girl who is completely rebuilding one. Your becoming famous everywhere!
Keep up the good work on all fronts and thanks for making me believe there is hope for young people here in the good old USA.
Oh by the way here is a picture of my Granddaughter age 4 painting one of my drive axle shafts from my 88. Get them started while they're young! And yes the paint was toxic. Probably why she spends all day running in circles driving her Grandmother crazy.
------------------ ∇PONTIAC∇ “The difference between a Fiero owner and genius is that genius has its limits.”
I went to an Advanced auto parts store Saturday and when he found out I was buying a part for a Fiero he started telling a story about this young girl who is completely rebuilding one. Your becoming famous everywhere!
Keep up the good work on all fronts and thanks for making me believe there is hope for young people here in the good old USA.
Oh by the way here is a picture of my Granddaughter age 4 painting one of my drive axle shafts from my 88. Get them started while they're young! ...
I've had people bring up Katherine's story to me as well.
I've missed you all as I've been waiting out this ridiculously bad weather in Michigan... I swear winter just doesn't want to leave us! Plus, I must admit there's a bit of me that doesn't really want to finish this car because it's so much a part of who I am I'm not sure what I am without having it to work on anymore. But, as my parents tell me; I will regret it till the end of my days if I don't finish this precious project of mine. It is so great to keep hearing from you all and you are all such a support and inspiration. I have good news.. here's the list of what needs finished to make it drivable.... Center Console needs finished, the door skins, front/rear facia, and spoiler need put on, the headlights, brakes, and mirrors need put back on. And of course this nightmare wiring harness. But after that in theory it should run!!! Crazy.. If any of you have a working Fiero with a wiring harness that is hooked up the way it is supposed to be that can be found near Mt. Pleasant Mi please let me know because I am struggling pretty badly with this. If not, pictures would be immensely helpful for where all the connections are...
mjnyc: It will be done for when I'm on campus but I might not bother bringing it on campus with me... I live close enough to home and everything to just walk everywhere... plus I don't want people hurting my baby... lol
Imnuts: Your granddaughter is so cute, enjoy your time working with her.. speaking from experience I'm sure she's having a blast too!
You've all been incredible through this all! Thank you so much, I honestly can't say it enough! Good luck with everything, both car related and not. I should have updates soon... it's so close it's insane!
Actually if any of you are close to my area and would be willing to help with this wiring harness that would be greatly appreciated or like I said previously if you have a Fiero with that harness that I could take a look at that would be amazing .. my Dad, Uncle, and I are basically stuck with this one.
Actually if any of you are close to my area and would be willing to help with this wiring harness that would be greatly appreciated or like I said previously if you have a Fiero with that harness that I could take a look at that would be amazing .. my Dad, Uncle, and I are basically stuck with this one.
i can take a buncha pics and help you some, but it would be a pita here... does your dad have facebook? ill be away in philly for work tomorrow, but fri-sat-sun im free, could do a vid chat and give you a hand.. have him PM me on here and we can exchange info, i know most of those connectors offhand.
Don't worry about not having to work on your Fiero anymore. As long as you drive a Fiero, there will always be something that needs to be done. I'm not necessarily saying there will be problems-sometimes improvements or things you want to change.
Also, your identity is the girl who accepted a challenge and won--not failed. You are the girl who got her Fiero running--not the girl who tried and failed. After this, you should be able to accomplish anything you decide to do.
This Papa D to all the viewers of this site and I'd like to say that Miss k is truly amazing and we are very proud of her accomplishments to date, many of you are probably aware that more news will be coming. I also like to say we have another grand-daughter, who is also amazing and has been a big support and help to her sister. J has different areas of interest and has helped with photos and style etc. This has been a family and friends project almost from the start. Those that have helped in so many ways know who you are and we are all grateful and the little miss for sure. Some of the skills she has learned and advice has come from near and far. There are many who have watched from the beginning offered help and encouragement to a child who is now a young woman. THANK YOU ALL! Papa D
I don't know how to give you the link but she has a new you tube called the power of our stories it's not about cars but.......
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Good luck Kido and stay away from the boys and you will finish it in no time. 
