So I have not done much since the motor went down two years ago . Now I have hope of getting it running again so it's time to clean it up from my mess and the dirty po. will try to keep this upto date on what I do and I know I'll have questions. Decided to first start with the appearance of the wheels, wanted rims but decided to keep it stock ( cheap a-- ) so a big THANK YOU to KEV for suppling me with the wheel covers. was not sure I liked the look of silver but when I put them on decided it looks a lot better. The headliner was falling down when I bought the car held up with pins never liked that so started to fix that problem as well. Took out the seats and the trim around the doors could not get the domelight off ( thank you search ) and then the headliner backing board came out easy. To my surprise the backer board was in really good shape no breaks or cracks. It will be of to the fabric store to get new this weekend not sure Joanns or Hancock , will have to match color to get the best match. If I can stay away from the doctors maybe I can get the money to add a wing on the back . Did not know they all had the hole in the roof for a sunroof , dont want it ( just did not know ) not sure how to fix the holes in the driverseat any body out there know a good ( cheap ) way?
[This message has been edited by kendallville (edited 04-20-2012).]
Yes, all Fieros have provisions for the sunroof even if they didn't have a sunroof installed. Sunroof cars simply had that area cut-out, with sunroof hardware installed.
What's wrong with the seats? That one you removed actually looks pretty good.
You really can't do anything to damage that serious on the seat besides replacing the seat. If you want to get by, just get a really strong seat cover and try searching for someone selling an OEM replacement. All that will occur is that gash in the seat will just get larger and larger.
I was afraid of that, did a search in the archives did not see a lot of gray covers for sale . I don't really have the money now so it's a good thing it wont run untill at least June after the new duke is put in. plan on watching for seats to be in the mall or visit the pick a part , seats are usualy gone but could get luckey. About a year or two ago at the acd festival in Auburn there was a guy that does restoration work that told me he could fix it but can't remember his name.
Sweet looks just like our 87. Same headliner and everything. It's been bugging me why we have a T-top headliner but no t-tops. Looks like you have the same headliner!
Thanks , I would rather sell my grandkids than my car ( dont tell my wife ). It only had a little over 140,000 miles when I had to park it. its been stored quite a bit , I keep it in a tent with a cover on it to try to keep it clean.
Thanks , I would rather sell my grandkids than my car ( dont tell my wife ). It only had a little over 140,000 miles when I had to park it. its been stored quite a bit , I keep it in a tent with a cover on it to try to keep it clean.
Lol What kids? Ohh Those kids. Yeah well I posted mine on Ebay. No takers yet. No, not the car either, lol Guess people tend to shy away from kids for sale. Something about some laws or such and such!
Really though that's a beauty looking factory paint job. Nice windows. That aftermarket tint? Hope your ready for me to pick your brain. Nice factory hub caps. Don't see those much anymore. The ones from our 87 are scratched to hell, PO's curb rash. Those look very clean.
Please keep us posted on your progress. Thanks very much for sharing. We will require lots more pics, it is PFF regulation #14. Check the end user agreement. Bet you didn't read the whole thing huh?
Originally posted by kendallville: I was afraid of that, did a search in the archives did not see a lot of gray covers for sale . I don't really have the money now so it's a good thing it wont run untill at least June after the new duke is put in. plan on watching for seats to be in the mall or visit the pick a part , seats are usualy gone but could get luckey.
Make a topic or see if someone in The Mall is selling a seat cover. Look for a passenger side seat cover. The reason i say this is because the covers are interchangeable from side to side, so if you put a great conditioned used passenger side one on the driver's seat it won't be worn on the outer bolster (the passenger side outer bolster will become the inner bolster and vice versa).
Went to JoAnn's fabrics yesterday to get headliner material did'nt have much in stock so went to Hanckocks and found a good match on the gray. plan on cleaning up the backerboard tomarrow so I get a good surface to glue to and will take some pics when I do. A tread is worthless unless it has pics to look at becausse no one wants to just read about something. I got luckey with the wheel covers KEV had they do look good and helps the look of the car.He has another set ( gold ) I believe if any one needs them contact him and I'm sure he could help you out. Wife says with what she saw on the post she could make the seat cover if I dont find one.With any good quest its not so much cant find one but cant aford one that gets to me the most, you can find about anything for the right price. KEV will be sending you another e-mail Plan on working on cleaning the seat rails up starting this week as well not a lot of rust just want to make sure the seat moves easily. not sure I will paint them or just clean them up at this point. Had my youngest grandson with me yesterday ( 11 months old ) and you could see in his eyes he was thinking let the old guy fix the car up and then put him in a home and it is MINE LOL.
started today with cleaning old foam from the backer used a small whisk broom to clean it off whit no damage to surface. then patched the holes left by the visors. with duct tape on the back and cut card board to fill the holes. bad pic date shows sept 11 , 1986 next will be to put on the material when my headache goes away and I get help.
[This message has been edited by kendallville (edited 04-23-2012).]
Got started on headlliner got supplies ready small roller to flaten , could have used hands but went with roller. lost a pic some where laid material on board then folded back half way and sprayed with glue. then used the roller to flaten out on the board cafefull no to stretch it. then I did the other half and let dry , once it was I flipped it over and glued the edges on the back side. then it was time to trim to fit and cut openings for the dome light ect. next will be to put it back in the reverse of taking it out ( if I remember how ) . Problem makes the visors look real bad .
So reinstalled the headliner today, not to bad although I did have some problems with the trim. Still looks good enough for goverment work, better than it did falling down. The visors look like crap, and I found a few other Items that will need work. not sure if this can be fixed These will need to be replaced this will need paint Not real sure what the PO did that they wraped this in black tape. I did not bother to put the passenger side visor back up they look bad now so I will have to try to recover them . Not looking real good though what with the medical problems , no job, no money and the well broke down , property tax due and house insurance. where is my lottery ticket? LOL
started cleaning the carpet today got it a little cleaner , but still has stains under the seat areas sure got the towels dirty , looked like po spilled pop under the seats. next I tried to fix these, not sure if this will work but built the broken plastic up with epoxy putty then I will redrill the screw holes and hope it holds.
Looks like my first Fiero, I had a silver '87 base coupe with an Isuzu back in 1991. Same hubcaps, I also like the deck lid without luggage rack and no spoiler. Cleaner looking but that's just my preference. What is the problem, won't run ? Does it have spark ? If no spark, try another D.I.S. Very easy to change.
Your carpets look to be in the same shape mine were (also an '87 base coupe). I took my carpets to the local car wash and sprayed them down with soap. Made them look almost new, except for the rust stains where the seats mount.
Your carpets look to be in the same shape mine were (also an '87 base coupe). I took my carpets to the local car wash and sprayed them down with soap. Made them look almost new, except for the rust stains where the seats mount.
tell me more , how did you spray the inside or did you take the carpet out? If you took it out was it hard to get out and back in right? and how did you dry them so they did not rot from being wet? I got the carpet wet in my 76 mustang 2 ( long story ) and the carpet always smelled bad after that.
I took the carpets out of the car and took them to the car wash. I had originally planned to use a handheld shampooer on them, but when I removed them and discovered the rubber backing, I changed my mind. I didn't know how well 25-year-old carpet would hold up, but figured I didn't have anything to lose. The car wash water jet allowed me to really deep clean the stained areas. They don't look like new, but I know they're clean. I let them dry outside the car for a few days before re-installing them. They smell fine. They're not too hard to re-install since they're form fitted.
When I pulled up the driver side carpet, there was a lot of surface rust under the foot space. I think the original owner had spilled a soda into the side of the console and it ran down under the carpet. The rubber backing of the carpet didn't let it evaporate so it caused rust.
So I decided to start soaking the cradle bolts today , jacked up the back . some rust on the cradle but that is to be expected for 25 year old cars , not to mention stored out side in a tent. snow still gets under it so moisture comes up under it. Any way here is some pics of what I found.
most of the rust seems to be on the struts , control arms , ect. the trunk looks clean of rust at least that is good ( no dead bodys falling out LOL).
Unless you know they are good I would take the rear wheel well liners out and check the upper frame rails as best you can but in general the rust does not look that bad.
One the rear cradle bolts you really need to get the release agent inside the lower box section frame rail as that is where the captive nuts are that the rear bolts go into. So far I've been lucky and only really ever had to cut into the side of one lower frame rail to get at frozen cradle bolts.
Whenever I do a headliner I fiberglass it with mat and resin on at least the backside, which leaves the side the fabric goes on smooth), to strengthen it. I think the last one I did, I glassed both sides of the board then smoothed the fabric side down a flap wheel on an angle grinder (gentle touch!).
Looks go though so far, always nice to see one being saved.
Unless you know they are good I would take the rear wheel well liners out and check the upper frame rails as best you can but in general the rust does not look that bad.
One the rear cradle bolts you really need to get the release agent inside the lower box section frame rail as that is where the captive nuts are that the rear bolts go into. So far I've been lucky and only really ever had to cut into the side of one lower frame rail to get at frozen cradle bolts. Looks go though so far, always nice to see one being saved.
I wish someone was closer to help with this sometimes , but at least I can ask questions. Thought about taking the wheel liners out , but prety good at taking things apart just not always putting them back together. Not sure how much I can do by my self to get it apart cleaned up , repainted an back together. Definetly won't be the full restore it could use and I would like , but hopefuly will be better than just letting it rust away.
What do I need to take off to get to the lower box section frame rail to get the oil in?
My neighbor is a mechanic but has no interist in helping unless I pay him to do it by himself. decided to work some on my seats , the epoxy putty I tried on the plastic seems to have worked prety good. At least it will look right and stay on instead of just sitting by the seat.
Hopefully when I get some of it done I can start taking it to shows and other events and get suggestions on what else needs to be done and how to do it. will try to keep every one up to date on what it gets.
Remove the wheel then the wheel well liners are just held in with a few christmas tree type rivets and screws,bolts along the outer edge where it joins to the bodywork. New rivets at autonzone etc if you need them, don;t worry to much about saving the old ones. Once it is out you can see up behind there towards the upper frame rail.
This is looking up into the strut tower on one of mine (with the strut out obviously) you can see the rot in the upper rail on this one
If you pull the trunk carpet back and the trunk corners are ok then the rails will probably be ok too, might want to check that first if not already done. There are some holes already in the side of the lower frame rails towards the back/rear fender. Again, easy to see if the wheel well liner is out:
The rounded hols are the 'factory' ones. Shoot some release agent from there forwards towards the nut (which you can see in the square hole). The square one is the one I cut into the side of the rail to get at the cradle nut. You may well be lucky and not have a problem.
The thing to remember about Fieros is that you are your own best mechanic and pretty much ANY problem you might have has already been encountered (and fixed) by someone on here.
Dew wipes can be gotten from the Fiero Store. DIYStu on here was also making them, reported to bewetter then the FS ones as well. I've been lucky, I was able to get orig GM ones for my first car and both my other cars came with (but not installed) orig GM ones too (since installed). Saves the glass!
Have a browse thru the Diary section on my web site. There's not much I have not done to these cars over the past few years and I am no real mechanic but I do take my time and think things thru (with a little help from all the good folks on here).
thanks I always get good advice here, I just lack self confidence. I plan on getting dew wipes from diystu if he is still making them when I get the money. In payment for the info suporting members is the least I can do. Looked over your web site I thought it was good , I would like to ad power locks / remote entry some day and that will come in handy. to bad about your one car, looks like you were very lucky not to have been hurt. realy says alot for the cars that they might be small but were built good.
decided to work on the seat rails to day ( well one of them ) took a few before pics to remember how to put back together.
I used naval jell on the rust on the bottom of the seats
Then went to the rails with my dremel on the bad rust and the naval jell on the light rust.
I think they look better without the rust.
Had trouble putting things back together 3 year old grandaughter snuck off with the bolts and buried them in the sand box, then while I found the bolts she broke the little wire that connects the two latches between the two railes. will have to check the fiero store or try to make something. Not sure how I am going to paint them either, thought about leaving them alone but don't want them to rust again.
[This message has been edited by kendallville (edited 05-07-2012).]
These are both cracked where the pin went through, so they no longer stay on. I know the fiero store has replacements, ( I used thier pic ) but I am broke so thought about just gluing them on with epoxy. Sould'nt have to take them off , so it should work. Has anyone tried to fix them or do you think it would work?
These are both cracked where the pin went through, so they no longer stay on. I know the fiero store has replacements, ( I used thier pic ) but I am broke so thought about just gluing them on with epoxy. Sould'nt have to take them off , so it should work. Has anyone tried to fix them or do you think it would work?
I found out that the ones on 3rd Gen camaros work perfect to replace these. Got mine from the junk yard. Think he charged me $2 for both!
Got around to doing something today, felt better. Started working on the visors had enough matterial left from headliner to do both visors. Started of coursse by taking them apart then laying the old matterial on the new to cut it to shape , and size
Now I just have to wait for my wife to sew them both together ( her idea ) .
Then I went to working on my seats painted the rails and made a new wire out of a coat hanger, not my first choice but cheap. and reinstaled them on the seats , so i could put the seats back in the car at least temprary. ( grandkids were starting to play on them in the garage )
Need to start thinking about if I am going to drop the engine on my own try to find help, or pay the neighbor to do it . ( loss of muscle strength does'nt help ) I can not do as much physical labor as when I was healthier. The problem with the neighbor is 1 money, and 2 he will not do any restoration work just repair , and do it to quick and not let me do any restoration work while it is apart .
[This message has been edited by kendallville (edited 05-15-2012).]
finished working on the seats for now rails repainted parts fixed, and back in the car at least until I get a new cover for the driver side. thought about fixing the below part but not sure how it comes out , does the door come out or do I need to take the hole thing out and how?
Thanks , never thought about it but always thought it was to tall because it blocks the radio. Will have to add that to the bucket list Just not sure if I want to do it my self or buy one , both take about the same amount of time ( no money , no nerve ) to do.
Thanks , never thought about it but always thought it was to tall because it blocks the radio. Will have to add that to the bucket list Just not sure if I want to do it my self or buy one , both take about the same amount of time ( no money , no nerve ) to do.
It's really not that hard to do. Took me about a hour and a half to cut and adjust. I love it. Should have been that way factory
Thanks, I got the stereo at a pick a part the po had put a pioneer casette deck in back in the 90s and it no longer worked. I wanted a cd player but wanted it to look stock , called pick a parts looking for something that would fit. they all said nothing would so I just had to go looking then told the owner not to mind what I was putting in just to sell it to me . I have been real happy with it looks stock , even the right color display , and sounds good.
So putt a few things back together and pulled some apart , found very rusty wheels and rusty rottors that where new when parked. time to clean and repaint I quess got my lighter socket in to day now just need to replace ashtray lamps.
Guess people tend to shy away from kids for sale. Something about some laws or such and such!
