So as promised, a few more photos of the update. Kathryn want's to learn how to upload photos, so I will do the first part of the update and then we'll let her do the second part.
We managed to get most of the front panels of the car at our last trip to Uncle Bob's. Most of the stuff under the front panels looked pretty good, thankfully, because what was under the rear wheel wells didn't look good at all. Here is the photos from under the back quarter panels.
Luckily the front looked much better.
Clearly there is some wire wheeling that needs done and some painting, but it is livable.
And the inside underlayment for the carpet is down.
here are the last of the photos so I can update now! dad said how i painted the calipers so here they are i've only done 3 coats so far and will probably have to continue but they're close!
Dad and i have been working on my fuel tank he already posted the pics of how it looked before with all the rust... so what I did was wire wheeled the bottom edge and sides, taped off the non-rusted top, primed it and then put on the last, black coat of paint.
last i have been working on the back vents; first to try and get the paint off of them i tried.... first paint stripping them but the paint obviously refused to come unstuck second i tried sanding by hand yet of course i could get all the way down between the slats so that was a fail third i simply sand blasted them much much easier i tell you if anyone gives you the choice take the blaster! after blasting them i just scrubbed away all the sand, dust, and other stuff that was left behind then dad and i powder coated it yellow. here's the pics
I like that yellow on the faces...but then I like that whole yeller car too. Hmmmmmmm, no stay away......I don't need any more temptation. In looking at that though does anyone know where or how individuals have been redoing the face on the HVAC controls?
Kathryn, I came across this thread last night and I was captivated by your story. I ended up reading till after midnight. You should be very proud of yourself. I know alot of adults who could not come close to the amazing job you are doing! I cant wait to see more progress. Keep in mind that you have a great Dad as well to guide you through this.
I had an 84 SE back in the day and now I bought an 85 IMSA which is still being shipped to me. I cant wait to get back into the Fiero world.
Good luck with everything and remember that the hard work will all be worth it in the end !
I like that yellow on the faces...but then I like that whole yeller car too. Hmmmmmmm, no stay away......I don't need any more temptation. In looking at that though does anyone know where or how individuals have been redoing the face on the HVAC controls?
-MH
IIRC there was some kind of PDF that had the HVAC control labeling on it that people were printing out on stickers or vinyl or something to place over the original HVAC lettering. I'll search around on here for it.
i have only continued to work on my back panel but i have also got to finish the work on my wheels....hmmm. thank you all for continuing to be followers of my story! thanks for all the encouragement and i wish you all luck on your own car projects big or small!!!! i hope that soon i'll have more exciting news yet i suppose every part of it counts. thank you all again!!! -kathryn
Originally posted by kathryn: i've only done 3 coats so far and will probably have to continue but they're close!
-kathryn
Amazing how a 12 year old's grammar and spelling is YEARS beyond some other members. *cough* pontiackid86 *cough* She even used the correct form of "they're."
On a slightly more serious note - good job with the car so far!
I'm not a fortune teller but I have seen many on TV and I can tell you now that you will go on a long trip sometime in the next couple of years. I would like to say it will be this year but the signs simply aren't clear enough. (Unless your Dad can make the vision clearer) Your adventure will take you to Frazee, MN where you will be greeted by fans and followers you have never met but seem to know you and your car. You will drive in a parade, wave at admirers and admire others. You will have a wonderful and memorable time. Yes, this is very much in your future. Keep up the good work.
Originally posted by CoryFiero: Amazing how a 12 year old's grammar and spelling is YEARS beyond some other members. *cough* pontiackid86 *cough* She even used the correct form of "they're."
On a slightly more serious note - good job with the car so far!
Vernon, Hmmm, Unfortunately this year probably won't happen, but next year might....and it might be a fun first long distance Daddy Daughter road trip when it is completed in the summer of 2014 :-)
Hooked, Right now I think she is leaning towards a 3.4 swap, although her 2.8 seems pretty solid...we won't know for sure until we get it out of the car and can pull the pan, valve covers etc and reallly start to have a look. She might leave that alone, or might build a 3.4. She would love 300 horse I am sure, but Dad has limited her to 200 horse as a target. So while if Dad builds one, it might get an LS, Kathryn's at least at this point will not.....though you never know what she might plan for it when she gets a bit older....lol
Hooked, Right now I think she is leaning towards a 3.4 swap, although her 2.8 seems pretty solid...we won't know for sure until we get it out of the car and can pull the pan, valve covers etc and reallly start to have a look. She might leave that alone, or might build a 3.4. She would love 300 horse I am sure, but Dad has limited her to 200 horse as a target. So while if Dad builds one, it might get an LS, Kathryn's at least at this point will not.....though you never know what she might plan for it when she gets a bit older....lol
-MH
3.4 @ 200hp is doable, but might wana do some reading about the 3800 or 3400 swaps, a bit more modern, and would be a "smoother" drive rather then a built 3.4l. just a suggestion.
uh...okay about MY engine i would love to be able to give my mom's corvette a run for it's money but my not so willing dad put a big no sticker on that one! soo i'll be sticking with what ever is in my car or going with a good 3.4 so i'm going as high and mighty as i'm aloud!!!! but i'll be outvoted by my dad for giving the vette a beating...shame. -kathryn p.s. anybody willing to help me convince him?...lol
uh...okay about MY engine i would love to be able to give my mom's corvette a run for it's money but my not so willing dad put a big no sticker on that one! soo i'll be sticking with what ever is in my car or going with a good 3.4 so i'm going as high and mighty as i'm aloud!!!! but i'll be outvoted by my dad for giving the vette a beating...shame. -kathryn p.s. anybody willing to help me convince him?...lol
Just tell him that it would be very nice to have a 3800 Series II or III in it naturally aspirated (N/A) since it would give you something close to the 200 hp he is limiting you to. Then as you get older and more independent you could build up a 3800SC series II or III to drop in, in-place of the N/A engine. Wiring would already be done along with all the mounts and things. And if you put in the 4T60E-HD tranny at the same time with the N/A it would hold up to the SC engine too. It would get better gas mileage than the 2.8 and be even more fun to drive. With the stock SC you would be pretty close to what your mom is in the Corvette. And then for the coup de grace you could build up one of the SC engines (preferably a series III) with a turbo and then you could easily push 400 to 450hp on pump gas with an almost stock engine. Then I don't think your mom's Corvette would have a chance. Just take it incrementally and you would get there and still meet all the requirements of your dad, being a good dad. At any rate have fun with the project.
There are a lot of Corvettes out there, we all see them on the road every day. How many Fieros do you see on a daily or even weekly or monthly basis. Being unique while being stylish is fun. Stick with the Fiero and in this case, Dad is probably right. At least until you've got a few years of driving for experience. Have fun.
If you end up with the 3.4 you could always sneak a turbo in a bit later. Old guys have bad hearing and he may not notice the blowoff valve opening and a creative installation could at least partially hide the turbo from a quick visual inspection.
Nelson
quote
Originally posted by kathryn:
uh...okay about MY engine i would love to be able to give my mom's corvette a run for it's money but my not so willing dad put a big no sticker on that one! soo i'll be sticking with what ever is in my car or going with a good 3.4 so i'm going as high and mighty as i'm aloud!!!! but i'll be outvoted by my dad for giving the vette a beating...shame. -kathryn p.s. anybody willing to help me convince him?...lol
Kinda like when Chevy outvoted Pontiac and the Fiero got canned?
Don't let GM corporate history repeat itself!
LOL, nice one ole, i agree w/ madmark... cept id keep it in the 60degree V6 realm (3400, 3500, 3900, or maybe even the 3.4TDC), all NA, then later add some boost.. the 3500 with some boost will make just as much as the 3800's, keeps the stock 60* engine pattern, no needing special mounts or flywheel, and well... with boost that poor vette wont know what happened.
cool, how i wish i would be aloud to beat that vette......hmmm oh well no need to give up hope. some pics will be coming soon. so far all i've really been doing is sanding, and sanding, and oh yeah more sanding. wonderful...ha ha the last thing that i want to do is the thing i've been doing the most of!!!! none of you will hear from me on the thread or web until this saturday i have girls camp from monday through friday.... so i'll have to let my dad keep everything going until then! thanks for all your support and willingness to follow my story!!! happy 4th weekend to all of you enjoy yourselves and have a fun break! -kathryn
Well, we got Kathryn off to camp yesterday. Before she left, she finished up a couple of items. We didn't get as far as we might have liked over the weekend, but some of her side rub strip trim was cleaned up and is being painted. The gas tank is done and ready to go back in. The "egg crate" that goes in the front bumper got cleaned up and repaired, and we made the start of some repairs on the console skeleton. She of course has been "sanding, and sanding, and sanding" But in those immortal words I have told her that she has not yet begun to sand.
That's what happens when you want it to be right, AND you are changing the color, AND the person before you thought it would be a good idea to slather the whole car in rattle can paint. Soooooo, sanding it is.
Now for a quick question. On the aero nose, there is the vertical bar that separates the two openings in the center. Those two openings look like they have sagged a bit over the 25 years. Anyone have a good way to fix that sag? We're open to ideas.
There is a place in Lansing that reconditions front fascias - I will get you the name.
An interesting thing about the nose material is that when immersed in boiling water, removed and allowed to cool, it will come back to it's original molded shape - but only one time.
hey i'm back from camp no updates though i think my dad has kept you all up to date so just got on to say i'm back and that all i'll be doing is you guessed it sanding. ( i hate sanding.) anyway so yeah i don't have anything else to say except somebody already has my licence idea which was bmblbee. shame. hope you all had a great 4th and i hope all your projects are running smoothly, thanks for keeping up with me on my thread!!! -kathryn
there also someone here who offers fiberglass o.e. looking replacements of the front bumpers, i cant remember who at the moment tho
The Fiero Store also sells factory reproductions in the factory material, which is a bit sturdier if anything ever gets bumped, like wheel stops in parking lots.
Just simply awesome!! Congrats to you Kathryn very impressive and belated B-day. I had tears in my eyes reading this and way to go dad. I hope my son has as much gumption as you do taking on this task and more importantly keeping up with it. I have an 88 formula waiting for him. I will definitely show him this thread and hope he gets some of your enthusiasm...again totally awesome! Oh and kadoos for the members support they are a great bunch!
Hey all, thanks again for all of your support of Kathryn, special thanks for helping her to find a plate that she might like.....a little less thanks for trying to help her convince us to give her more power...lol! I think we have setttled on a 3.4pr with a more aggressive cam. We'll see where we end up. Anyway, after another good night working on the car I promised Kathryn I'd post some pics for her. So here we go.
As Kathryn has been saying she has been doing some sanding....she has done a bit and has a lot more to go. Here is where she was the other day on the back decklid.
She managed as you can see to get the spoiler off on her own.
Its in good shape but needs sanded and repainted like the rest of the car.
Some of the other pieces she has worked on at home have been the passenger side rubstrips....cleaning off all of the old rattle can paint down to the plastic and then prep for paint.
So we started to take the lower bumper off and found this some rust. So Kathryn needed to clearn that up and wire wheel it
We also got the carpet out of the trunk, and look at the cool holes we found!
and of course there is the obligatory rust on the parts of the undercarriage back there. It wouldn't be a Michigan car without a little rust cancer.
And we needed to encapsulate the front end and spray it as well. At least this metal was just surface rust and easily fixed.
Of course a big part of the reason that we wanted to let Kathryn do the project was so that we could spend time together....and we have accomplished that. But it was also important that Kathryn learn some new skills, we figured that this would actually be a cheap graduate course in so many things. We figured that she would learn: Painting Body Repair Interior Repair Hard Work Dedication Commitment Etc.
Tonight she started to learn a new skill and something she has not done before. WELDING!
So here are some photos of her Uncle Bob giving her her first welding lesson.
Of course as you can see from the photos she was pretty nervous from the noise and the big sparks...lol, but you can't learn from 10 feet away sooooo.
It is important to get a little bit closer, and then....it is time to solo
okay wielding looks terrifiying lets just put it that way at one point i had pressed my back all the way against the sand blasting cabinet. i was doing just fine until i'd hit the points where big sparks would come out of no where and make me jump so i felt pretty good when even with a hammer the metal pieces wouldn't come apart so....i just hope that in some way or another i can get my car to stick together. thanks for keeping up but just a before the hand warning i'll be leaving sometime tomorrow and will only be back not this saturday but the next one. so there may or may not be updates. but i will try and get on to just say hey, so just warning you all nothing interesting will be happening for just over a week. -kathryn
Welding is an art. With the start you have it looks like you could become a very good welder. By art, I mean you cannot read a book to become a good welder it takes an inate skill combined with practice. Keep practicing and you will do quite well. As you get more used to the welder and the arcs that it generates you will appreciate what it can do for you. One caution is to make sure you are well covered so that your skin is not exposed. Somehow the little weld sputters find their way onto your skin if you don't take care and the light from the welding arcs can give your skin a serious burn similar to a bad sun burn. Of course make sure your eyes are always protected. I am sure that your dad has taken all of these precautions, but it probably wouldn't hurt to hear those cautions reinforced by someone else.
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