On the 20th of October, I undertook a big project. That project was to paint the dash!
Goodbye, gauge cluster.
I didn't pull out the whole dash. I needed to use Fiero by Monday and if this wasn't done I'd need to plug the instrument cluster in quickly.
Here are some 'before' painting pictures:
And after! You can see the two different paint tones in the second image.
I tried painting the window switches too but they kept coming out funky.
Pushed Fiero into the garage since everything was unplugged. My dad was worried it would throw codes if it was started. The interior is very chaotic looking.
On the 21st of October, I had to finish painting the passenger side of the interior!
Taping up the interior. Was real worried about that map pocket.
Another tone difference picture:
Here are two more pieces. The top has the old paint, the bottom has the fresh paint.
One more paint comparison picture:
Here is the passenger side of the dash 'before'!:
Have to be careful to not over spray. A few more coats concealed it though.
I even tried just moving the gas gauge(not pictured, I know that is the speedometer lol) because someone said theirs was just stuck. Of course it's not that easy and it reverted to normal.
On the 22nd of October, all I can say is thank goodness for Amazon Prime! While the instrument panel was off on Friday, I had the idea to replace the bulbs with LEDs. Two days later I got them just in time.
There was one bulb my dad and I couldn't figure out what side was negative and what was positive. I think we guessed wrong. I will point out where in a picture later.
I had to go to Spare Fiero to check if I was using the right fastener when putting together Fiero. As I approached, I saw a mouse in the crack of Spare Fiero's taillights. :/
Before I could finish assembling Fiero, I had to go to a Fiero Club board meeting. Most people brought their Fieros.
Back at home, I finished putting Fiero back together. I think it looks so good!
I am glad I did this. I messed up twice, though. Accidentally got some paint on the handle for popping the hood, and I have four fasteners left over that I am not sure where they go... Oops.
On the 23rd and 24th of October, I got some pictures of the LEDs.
They are really nice looking. See where the 2-4rpms are? It looks a bit dimmer to me, and that is the spot where my dad and I weren't sure if the bulb was on right. Unless I am just crazy and it's fine.
I had two bulbs left over. They were the same size as the two under the dash! Perfect. I will eventually get LEDs for the other bulbs.
If anyone is intersted in those light bulbs(the oem are #194 if I recall right), here is a link to the LED version. The oem bulbs give off 3.4 watts, while these LEDs only give off .7 watts!
There are 14x bulbs in the instrument cluster and 4x in the oil pressure sensor cluster.
[This message has been edited by copperhens (edited 10-27-2017).]
Yesterday, Fiero went to an actual car wash. Since I have had it, it has not been through an automatic one because all of the ones near me have hard bristles. My dad likes this place, and that's saying something because he is picky about his car and where it's washed.
Fiero only looked nice for a day. I told my dad yesterday that me getting a car wash means it'll rain. So it rained today. :/
The end is here! I am caught up now with my posts. They took, uh, almost four hours. Oops. :P
Today turned into a pretty great Friday. Not only was a song I liked playing, but as I came over a hill what do I see driving toward me? Another Fiero! I couldn't believe it. Not sure who, but we exchanged waves. I have never seen one driving around, let alone seen one driving around while driving my own Fiero. The image is so clear because I actually already had my phone on my dash recording a time lapse. I take the same route home everyday and I wanted to try combining it eventually to show fall color change. So that image is a screenshot lol.
I think you mentioned your cruise control is not working? Brake and clutch have a switch on them that shuts off the cruise when brake or clutch is pressed. Since your's is auto you'd only need to worry about the brake one. The switches are adjustable and can sometimes be pressed all the time which will not allow the cruise on. Its located right on the pedal lever under the dash. White plastic squarish thing with a rod through it If I remember correctly. If you haven't already, check that and adjust and see if it helps. That was the problem with mine when I first got it.
I think you mentioned your cruise control is not working? Brake and clutch have a switch on them that shuts off the cruise when brake or clutch is pressed. Since your's is auto you'd only need to worry about the brake one. The switches are adjustable and can sometimes be pressed all the time which will not allow the cruise on. Its located right on the pedal lever under the dash. White plastic squarish thing with a rod through it If I remember correctly. If you haven't already, check that and adjust and see if it helps. That was the problem with mine when I first got it.
Huh that’s interesting. I’ll have to look into it, thanks!
Yesterday, I had the idea to swap radios between the two Fieros. Spare Fiero has a newer Alpine radio, so that has to have an AUX, right? Well after I already got the radio out from Fiero, I realized Spare Fiero's radio didn't have an AUX. It had an MP3 you could get an AUX adapter for. I put the radio in Fiero anyway, figured I could send for the stock radio to be fixed or have an AUX fitted.
Last night I got into taking apart the stock radio.
I finished taking apart the rest of the radio today because I didn't feel like going into the garage to get tools last night. I decided to take the cassette player out and plug the radio into Spare Fiero and see what the heck was going on. Here is a video of what I observed. The belt was not moving at all. The motors all seemed to be moving. https://youtu.be/vyZgdwvdUd8
So, I concluded the belt must be loose. It wasn't broken, it just seemed to be really stretchy.
I didn't want to wait to order a belt, and they are only cheap if you buy in bulk which I only need one belt, so I decided to take apart the cassette part of a radio I have in my room. This was probably the longest part. After I got the belt I needed, I put it in the Fiero radio and ran outside to test it. Lo and behold, it works!
I put everything back into Fiero(that Alpine radio didn't even have a clock, glad it's not in there anymore lol).
Well, I could now put my cassette to AUX adapter to good use. So, I needed to play a special song for the occasion. Now maybe this is nerdy, but before I had a Fiero I said the first song I'd play in it will be "I'm Gonna Be". Why? Because the only reason I knew Fieros existed was because of the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother", and that song is repeatedly played in one of the character's Fiero. Below is a link to the clip. https://youtu.be/Q56iexJcOAI
Hey copper, just thought i'd direct you to this (https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum9/HTML/000021.html) if you ever feel like taking the old radio apart again, and doing a little electrical work.
[This message has been edited by Ben1730 (edited 11-03-2017).]
Hey copper, just thought i'd direct you to this (https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum9/HTML/000021.html) if you ever feel like taking the old radio apart again, and doing a little electrical work.
On the 19th of November, Fiero needed some work done. A few days before, as I accelerated from an intersection, Fiero got really loud all of a sudden and just sounded funny. My dad and I looked into it, and underneath you could see the exhaust pipe from the catalytic converter came undone.
You can also see exhaust coming out from Fiero's side.
A closer picture of the pipe.
We got to work welding the pieces together. Had to undo some springs in order to be able to put the pipe back into place. Since it was such a tight space, it was hard to weld the pipe on the top. Gonna bring it to my dad's friends eventually(he has a lift) to secure it better. Of course my ducks had to come into the garage to see what all the commotion was about.
After we finished welding it sounded normal again!
On the 24th of November, I cleaned Fiero well since the day was nice. I put jackstand under the back to get underneath better. After cleaning and drying it, I sprayed a metal spay protecter on the underneath that my dad has. Really cleaned it up. [b][/b]
My friends and I all park in the back corner of the parking lot.
Also, I was driving Fiero on my way to buy a bowling ball. I passed buy an auto shop, and for the heck of it I glanced to see if there was a Fiero. I swear I saw GT tail lights, so obviously I had to turn around. And hey, it was a Fiero. I think I have seen this one when passing by on the high way months ago.
[This message has been edited by copperhens (edited 01-14-2018).]
I hope everyone had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I got a few Fiero things from various membersof my family such as a Fiero jacket, a Fiero shirt, a Fiero fender gripper mat, a fuel sending unit(on back order, though), and a car cover!
On Friday, I was driving to school today, and as I passed through an intersection I saw a Fiero to the left. I pulled into a parking lot so I could get a picture when it passed. After that I ended up behind it and stayed there the whole way to school. To my surprise, it turned into my school. And it parked in the student parking lot. Guess I’m not the only person interested in Fieros at my school!
Not sure how I missed this thread for the last year especially being in Michigan, but I just enjoyed catching up. Nice work! I'll keep an eye out for it at the shows this year. I recognise a couple of the other fieros in your pics too.
Not sure how I missed this thread for the last year especially being in Michigan, but I just enjoyed catching up. Nice work! I'll keep an eye out for it at the shows this year. I recognise a couple of the other fieros in your pics too.
Thanks for reading! I can’t wait to go to shows again, the Pontiac ones are especially fun since Fieros show up generally. What type of Fieros do you have?
Thanks for reading! I can’t wait to go to shows again, the Pontiac ones are especially fun since Fieros show up generally. What type of Fieros do you have?
Only one, my 87 gt 4.9L. I'm ready for some sunroof off summer drive time. We are almost there. I almost always make it to Automotive hall of fame cars and coffee since its close to me, I'll try and remember to post the dates as they get announced. I had a chance to meet Alex4mula and his son there last time.
My computer that I had PIP on crashed, so until I sort that out, my posts will be picture-less.
Last week, my friend and I went to a car meet in Rochester at OU. I did not bring the Fiero since it had no insurance. Two other Fieros were at the show. Eric's L67 and Nick's '84.
Only one, my 87 gt 4.9L. I'm ready for some sunroof off summer drive time. We are almost there. I almost always make it to Automotive hall of fame cars and coffee since its close to me, I'll try and remember to post the dates as they get announced. I had a chance to meet Alex4mula and his son there last time.
Sounds good! I'm glad spring is here, if only Michigan would act like it and stop snowing.
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