Hello all, just to introduce myself, a member on transamcountry referred me over here. my main toy car is a 76 trans am but i just got a fiero and need some help with it.

its an 88 formula, automatic. with a god awful testarossa kit car built onto it. but with some work it could look pretty good but its going to take a bit to get there. i got the car for free for helping out a friend. it was in his yard for many years, so before i can put it in my garage to get playing with it, i need to make sure there's nothing living in it. however, i cant open the hood or the deck lid. i found skitime's post about a tool to get into the hood with broken cables (which i have, so i will try that when i get home) https://www.fiero.nl/forum/A...010924-2-008917.html but for the deck lid, the body kit eliminated the key. and theres no battery or a pull release. and the dash button ive seen pictures of isnt there any more. (there is a mystery black push button under the dash though) so i have no clue how to get it open. the back grilles in the engine bay were broken, so i unbolted the hood hinges and was able to lift the deck lid enough next to the window to whack the transmission linkage into neutral to get it to roll (the shifter was stuck) i can see the deck lid latch from the section i have open. is there a spot on this latch that i can pop it open similar to how skitime did with the hood latch? also, the key turns backwards to accessory, but it wont turn forward the steering wheel is locked so i cant really try wiggling it like ive seen people suggest, any thoughts? if i can solve those three issues, then i can at least power wash all the junk out and roll it inside to start making a fun toy out of this car.

mechanically, from what i can tell, everything, from the shifter to the brakes are gummed up and doesnt want to move easily. even the parking brake handle wont budge. so theres alot of wd40 and pb blaster soaking in various spots as we speak.

its not as bad as some testarossa body kits ive seen, but its still just wrong dimensionally just enough to keep it from having good lines, so i have alot of work to do to get it looking right. heres a few pictures from where it sat for about 8 years, and one of it at its new home in my driveway:




someone on the trans am forum said it perfectly " it looks like a 12 year old drew what he thought a testarossa looked like"
my plans: get rid of the nose extension, and bring the nose back to the front edge of the hood. then ill probably lower the back side of the roof , and extend the roof "fins" all the way to the end of the deck lid. they get in the way of looking in the engine bay though, so im thinking about molding them into the deck lid, and move the hinges up to the roof line. then have the whole roof fins, and deck lid open as one (more like a real testarossa) so there's plenty of space to get in there. probably change up the side fins on the doors , either just have a deep hole there or do something a little different, not sure yet though. also id remove all of the badging, i think kit cars are cool, but id rather drive a cool "custom fiero" then a fake ferrari. and if my plans all come out like crap, i already have a donor car to start a different kit car build on, one of the modern ones with 1 piece bodies that are nice and proportional, instead of the graft on style kits like this is.

as for drive train, i'd like a porsche G50 trans axle, so i can put something bigger , longitudinally mounted, either a bmw v12 or something like an ls1. i like to work on my engines, and having one bank of cylinders buried next to the back window because its transverse mounted, just seems inconvenient to me.

ive also thought about putting the stretch into the engine bay and extending the back of the car a bit, to keep the length of the car. the way it is now, the length is nice for the style of the car, but the nose looks rediculous, so i can work the extra length in behind the doors where the lines are easy to work with.

anyways, id love to hear your thoughts and ideas, as well as advice. if it was your car what would you do with it? ive never had a mid-engine car before so some of this is kinda of like working on a space ship for me. but im really excited to start messing around with it.

I like the big yellow spoiler and the back-up lights! But seriously, good luck with the project and I think the removal of the nose will be a great change. Lose the emblems so that you don't end up on "Ferrari Chats" crappy replicas page. You might want to check out http://www.madmechanics.com - This is the former kit car forum and should be very helpful.

haha, ya that spoiler is great for down force, and 30" snow storms.. ya definitely losing the badges. ive read some of those ferrari chat posts. they are brutal... im not going for a ferrari replica. its just what im starting with...

without the ferrari badges it could make a nice fiero . i kinda like it. if it helps there is a secondary cable under the dash right beside the handle to open the front hood.
good luck

theres a secondary cable? from what i can see, the cable assembly that went to the handle has been removed. and its just dangling under the dash. in this cable assembly, there are two separate "wires" in there. one has a fishing weight type of thing on the end, the other was broken off as the end of the assembly. i cut back the sheathing and the steel spings the wires slide through and exposed both cables. there is no give is either of them. i tried yanking on them with pliers. does it work with just one and the other is simply a backup? or do they both need to be pulled at the same time? irregardless, they didnt budge, i can see the latch, because my windshield is broken, so i can get my head far enough down. so i sprayed it with wd 40 hoping its just jammed up. maybe pulling the cables after it soaks, itll work?

i can see the deck lid latch too if i stick my head in where its popped up from removing the hinges. is there somewhere i can poke and prob at on that latch to make it release? or does it have to be electronic?

To pop the hood, you only have to pull on one of the two cables... both are attached to the latch and either one will release it.

To pop the decklid, if you can see the latch mechanism through the light grill, then you're in luck. Here's a photo of the latch with an electric trunk popper solenoid:



Given that it's a kit car, there's no telling whether the latch was installed to the underside of the decklid or to the frame of the car so look for something that looks similar to the photo. It will most likely be installed with the side you see in the photo facing towards the front of the car. In any case, if you can fiche the black wire out, then simply cut it and connect it to the positive terminal of a spare battery. Then run a second wire from the negative terminal of the battery and touch it to the housing of the latch or any other good metal on the car frame. That will pop the solenoid.

If that doesn't work, then you should see the little window with the slot in it as shown here (just be aware that you'll be looking at it from the back side):



If the car originally had an electric solenoid, you'll see a small bar of metal poking through that rectangular hole in the window. Reach in with a pair of pliers and give the metal bar a twist one way or the other and it will pop the decklid. If the car didn't originally come with electric trunk release, there will be nothing in the little window so all you need to do is stick a thin flat screwdriver into the slot and give it a twist. Good luck.

Edit to add: BTW, don't let anyone tell you what to do with your car or how to dress it up... it's your car and it's your choice whether you put Ferrari badges on it, paint it purple, or stick a humungous wing on the decklid. People should leave matters of taste up to individual owners unless the owner specifically asks for other's opinions. As for negative comments on other sites (and this one) regarding kit cars, you'll have to learn to live with them... they are a fact of kit car ownership whether you spend $5K or $120K. Some people it seems are just born to criticize others.

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 05-16-2013).]

oh man, that it exactly the info i need. thank you SOOOOO much. i will try all of your advise as soon as i get a chance.

I like the car, welcome and good luck on the build... I personally think if shorten the frony clip alittle it would look even better... Either way enjoy it...

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87 GT
series 1 3800sc (7.597 @88.53 1.579 60ft)
(series II swap in progress)
85GT Northstar
86GT 3800 n/a

Ya it's not as bad as other attempts at graft on kits and I'd say its growing on me. Invisioning it without the badges improves my feelings even more. Also, perusing the site has seriously fueled my fiero lust. So that to the helps alot.

So, update regarding opening her up, using jumper cables to my truck, and since I had the hinges in bolted to the back side of the deck lid was up in the air, the wire were right there, I was able to short out the latch like you suggested. So I got the deck lid open.

And I got the hood open, but... Gonna have to get a new latch assembly, nothing else is damaged though so that's good. Just pried the latch open from the front edge of the windshield with a big screwdriver. Thank you again for the advice.

What i found? some rotted boxer shorts with some large rodent Skeleton inside them,,, wierd i know. a rusted catalitic converter, and what looks like sdredded prison pants.... under the hood was an old takeout food container. so nothing too bad. nothing living anyways. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

So I took the loop off the hood so it won't latch anymore. My plan now, (since I know nothing is living in it) I'm going to simple green and power wash everything, then roll her into the garage.

Wow that is a great find, especially for free !

Yes it is a pretty bad replica, but it has tons of potential as a custom fiero. You are defiantly on the right track by getting rid of that loooooong nose, dumping the badges, and planning other tweeks to just make it a cool custom fiero.

I would love to have something like that to just play with and tweek. Good luck and keep us updated.

Not bad at all. and when it comes down to it when its all finished people are stupid and really cant tell the difrence between the 2 unless you put them side by side. the testerosa kit is a very tricky kit to duplicate. I've only ever seen one spot on kit in my life.

i think i know the kit your talking about that was spot on. must've been the company in texas that were so good ferrari sent a rep to their shop and watched them destroy the molds and kits they had left in stock. so i guess they only made about 10 cars and about 25 kits before the rest were chopped up. they were beautiful.

anyways as promised. heres a few pics of what i did. i may start a separate "heres what ive done to the car so far" thread. then carry on with various questions elsewhere.



everything is really chaulky. i need to powerwash an simple green everything, that should get it in a better spot to start really tinkering.


heres the skull i found in there:


then it got dark so the picture isnt as good but i got the hood open.

Makes me want my 355 back

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Dan
Build Thread

You can steer it by using a small flat tip screw driver to push the locking PIN back into the colum. Than stick a small plastic card ( like a credit card) into the space to hold it. Tape the card in place. the pin is at the 11 o clock.

Oh awesome thank you. Is there any trick to starting it without the key too? Like a screwdriver across the solenoid like when I'm troubleshooting my trans am? Does that work on fuel injection too? Or do I need more power to things for the computer and whatnot?
On the 86 mustang I had there were two screws on the column to remove a piece of plastic molding. Under that, just clipped in place was the ignition switch, actuated by a rod sticking out of the ignition lock cylinder. So literally. Two screws, unclip the switch, and push the tab to start, The. The spring released and the switch returned to "run" to power the computer snd everything. Does this work on the fieros? I think it might, but I also think, from looking at other posts, the actual ignition switch is behind the dash? Is it easy to get to?

so my wife stumbled on a real testarossa up at the mount washington hotel over the weekend , ( i was incredibly happy that she knew what it was, but thats a different story) anyways, she sent me a picture, and dimensionally, i think the nose of the car is just about as awkwardly long as mine, however, it doesnt look like its awkwardly long. Heres the picture she sent:



Comparing it to my car, (from the wheels forward only) you can see the length is there but the goofiness isnt. ( i found a pdf of testarossa measurements, and the center of the wheel to the nose is only about (within "eyeballing the tape measure" errors) an inch longer on my car, from what i can tell, the difference is really in that the hood extends down to the bumper, with the lights just above the bumper, instead of the in the stock fiero location.
that eliminates the gap that the nose extension adds. also i think it looks a little more "smoothed out" where as mine is more boxy. is it those subtleties that make it look really good? do you thinks its possible to reshape the nose on my car to smooth it out a bit and make it look better? i could round the front edge a bit, to bring in that inch extra i have and smooth that better into the side skirts. also, is it possible to extend the front section of the car (where the headlights/ radiator, hood hinges etc mount and then extend the back of the hood with fiberglass back up to the windshield (i could also mold in that nice intake scoop in the back edge of the hood for some style) what are your thoughts?

another option, that i thought looked neat, is to keep the flip up headlights where they are, but add 300 zx style lights into the nose extension. (so its got 4 headlights, more like an f40. this would break up that awkward "slab" of fiberglass between the hood and the bumper. i would also cut out the center of that "slab" and extend the front edge of the hood (id leave the hinges where they are, so the nose drops when the hood raises. thatll eliminate the seam and make tt a little sleaker so it would look more like this:



but remember, im not looking to build a ferrari replica, and since its already a fiero thatd been messed with, id like it to be a sleek custom car. but ferrari of course is doing something right, so im not opposed to working in some of their subtle design features.
of course, im interested in any and all opinions.

we all definitely agree something has to be done about the nose, having seen a picture of the real one, i dont know if chopping it off is the best way to deal with it, there could be other ways to sexy it up a bit.

I think the Fi512 bumper Amida makes would be the one to use

ya that looks great. ill have to PM him. i found the original thread he posted about making them. thats kind of what id like to do. do you have a side shot?

From his thread: New nose Fi512 by Amida's FieroVation...any interest?

quote Originally posted by fourpoint9: I think the Fi512 bumper Amida makes would be the one to use

That's what I was thinking when I first saw this car.

[This message has been edited by Marine1981 (edited 05-21-2013).]

quote Originally posted by ngrybrd: Oh awesome thank you. Is there any trick to starting it without the key too? Like a screwdriver across the solenoid like when I'm troubleshooting my trans am? Does that work on fuel injection too? Or do I need more power to things for the computer and whatnot? On the 86 mustang I had there were two screws on the column to remove a piece of plastic molding. Under that, just clipped in place was the ignition switch, actuated by a rod sticking out of the ignition lock cylinder. So literally. Two screws, unclip the switch, and push the tab to start, The. The spring released and the switch returned to "run" to power the computer snd everything. Does this work on the fieros? I think it might, but I also think, from looking at other posts, the actual ignition switch is behind the dash? Is it easy to get to?

Why not try turning the motor by hand first? See if it will spin freely. How long has it been sitting? Judging by the fossils I'd say a few years anyway .

I really like your new car! It has a lot of potential I think. Good luck with it, thanks for posting and please keep us updated! I will subscribe to this one for sure. Also I'm very glad to see you understand our love of PICS!

Thanks for that pic. Any info on the kit that's on that fiero? It looks very close to the one one my car It looks good with the othe style bumper photoshopped onto it. What kind of mirrors on it? Love the "2 post" look on them

Ya the car sat at least 8 years the guy i got it from guesses. (His brother thinks more like 12 though) The inspection sticker is from may of 97 so it's probably been longer. At least not legitimately on the road since then. I haven't tried turning the motor yet. Been pretty busy the last week. Hopefully this coming week I can put more time into it.

I just did some searching to find a photo to photochop. Here's the site where I found it
http://cars.smartcarguide.com/listing/10784529/
9th Annual California Coast Run

This is going to be a fun project to follow, thanks for sharing all the pics.

Ok the car is officially in the garage, so let the tinkering begin. What does everyone think, try to get it running first, or start reshaping the body?

Start by checking the actual condition of the frame. I'd be concerned about rust. Make sure the car under the body is worth working on the engine. That and get a new windshield

Ya good point, given the body is all fiberglass, rust never came to mind. Any hints on where in particular to look? Given what a fiero looks like without a body on it, its set up a little different then the unibody and full frame muscle cars I'm used to. Short of patching rust here and there, are there any spots that if they are rotted out, would make the whole chassis worthless and I'd be better off using it as a donor car for a solid chassis? Also, on windshields, I've looked at Sebring windshields and everything to get more of a rake to it. Since I want to reshape the back of the roof, would it be worth chopping the front down a little bit to add a little rake to the windshield or is a different windshield with the frame adapted to fit and make a tray for the front of the dash be a better solution?

Sounds like it's not too bad but post some pics of the areas so we can give a little better opinion.

Ben

If it were me- I would go ahead and drop the engine/trans, rear suspension and gas tank. If your wanting a nice looking/dependable car when your done almost everything is going to need to be cleaned,replaced,repainted,ect. I see good running used 2.8's on this forum for free or almost nothing. Its not worth it to rebuild that motor when you can get something better for less than the cost of a rebuild. Perhaps even look for a 3.4 out of a camaro, I have seen these for dirt cheap also.

Ok, so a little update/question. So I changed the ignition lock cylinder, and the key still wouldn't turn. (I turned the motor by hand so I i know its free, so i bought a battery). Anyways, I dropped the steering column and found the ignition switch itself was jammed up and rusty so that's why it wouldn't turn. It just couldn't push the rod because it was stuck. I'm going to have to get a new one, but since all the connectors on the ignition switch are exposed, and im waiting for parts, I figure ill try just hot-wiring it. (Ill need new connectors too as some of the pins are rusty and a couple of the wires actually broke off the pins) Anyone know how to go about this? What wires need to be put together and which ones do I need to touch together to click over the starter solenoid? Also I read the yellow wire goes to the starter but through the neutral/park switch, where is this switch, and or wire so I can jump it out, I know because the shifters jammed, that's going to cause me trouble. I've done the search but haven't found any info on what I need. I did manage to get the running lights on (somehow) as well as the volt meter to read and the other garages to wiggle around. Oh and I found out the taillight are out of a 79 mercury Capri, so ill have to find one to replace the ones that's broken.

Hello everyone. Been a while since I posted on this. Any ways here's the deal. Life got in the way and the car sat a while. I revisited it and before I got any money into, I asked the state how to register it. Turns out I'm screwed. The guy who really owned it last let the guy I bought it from keep it because he owed him money. He was off in florida, died and wasn't able to give a bill of sale. To officially transfer it. So the paper trail died on the car with the original owner. The state says it's not stolen, but can't be registered without the paper trail , also cant sell it due to the same reason. So its only as good to me as a non Street legal race/Derby car, or as the parts i can sell off it. So that's the plan. Part it out. I apologise, I have no clue what the selling policies are for this forum, some guidance would be nice but the long and short of it, who wants what off of it?

We have a separate forum called THE MALL for buying and selling.....Good Luck!

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[This message has been edited by qwikgta (edited 03-08-2016).]