I don't have much to update at this time. There are recent pics in GFC in the "Fiero cruise in Northwestern NJ" thread. I've been so busy with the customer's swaps that I've been ignoring my own Not to let out any secrets, but we will be doing two Volkswagen drivetrain swaps in the very near future....one for me and one to sell when we are completed and tested. (there will be a complete build thread in the near future)
Dave
[This message has been edited by bmwguru (edited 09-21-2010).]
That is on the winter mod list for the VR6. I'm putting away the orange and black GT for the year. This will leave my free time to making the mods that Joey and I want done on the VR6 this winter. The only mod that had been done so far is clear front turn signals. I have a list two pages long that will be done in the next four months. Dave
if your interested in this car bmwguru let me know, i might be able to hook you up with a salvage dealer that would purchase it for you (he'd require a $200 deposit i think) let me know if your interested.
if your interested in this car bmwguru let me know, i might be able to hook you up with a salvage dealer that would purchase it for you (he'd require a $200 deposit i think) let me know if your interested.
matthew
now is a bad time for me to buy any more Fieros. I just recently picked up the Jetta TDI off a Copart auction for our Fiero TDI swap. Dave
In a previous post on this build you had mentioned that you were going to put audi rotors with jetta calipers on this car. Just looking into whether you've done this and how difficult it is to do. I've got the Audi TT fat five wheels on my car and would like to add the TT rotors and calipers up front if it's a doable swap. Just looking for feedback...thanks.
I have the Audi TT setup still on my bench, but I am not happy with the way they fit. The bolt holes in the rotors are much larger than they should be and I'm worried that it could cause issues. I've been redrilling the corvette discs and find they fit much nicer. When I get back into the bigger brake setup I want to work with, I'll be looking into the German calipers for their light weight and great clamping ability. Dave
also if any one is interested in doing this swap i have a spare vr6 and trans sitting on a stand
I would do the swap in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, while I have access to CNC machining equipment I don't have the skillset of BMWguru to fabricate and design the parts/shifter.
Here is an update for the VR6 Fiero. The brakes desperately needed an upgrade, so I did the S-10 booster upgrade and went with my own 12" rotor/88 caliper upgrade.
Here are a few pics:
Before:
I powdercoated the caliper brackets chrome and then did two coats of translucent blue to get as close of a color match to the blue fire on the car.
Nothing much to post. I hope to redo the entire interior over this winter....I'm just not sure what we should do with it yet....except get the damn sunroof to stop leaking.
Originally posted by bmwguru: Nothing much to post. I hope to redo the entire interior over this winter....I'm just not sure what we should do with it yet....except get the damn sunroof to stop leaking.
that is true....Summer is almost here and the VR6 will be coming out of the garage within the next week. We plan to take it to the Carlisle show next month, so the Zaino has been ordered and I'm going to start prepping it for the show. Dave
This weekend I purchased some Zaino...I think their kit was about $175 for their kit, towels, and everything else I needed. It is mostly for high end paint jobs and their main office is in the same town as my house. I had to watch the youtube vid to get the hang of it because their polish isn't used like any other polish on the market. I learned about Zaino from my customers at the shop....the MINI owners use it a lot too.
Here is the end result of weekend 1. Washed car with Dawn dish detergent to remove the prior wax and polish. Then used the claybar kit with their recommended spray. Next, I washed the car again with the Zaino Z7. Then I applied the first coat of the Z5 polish...let it dry and wiped it clean. Then wiped it with their Z6 gloss enhancing spray. I did a second coat of the Z5 and then used the Z8 Grand Finale spray instead of the Z6.
Next weekend I plan to use the Z2 polish instead of the Z5 which is a much brighter polish and adds much more shine to it. I'll take some interior pics then as well after it is all cleaned up.
it is pretty sad when my build thread turns into a month long wash and polish thread
I started early today with two coats of the Zaino Z2 high gloss polish with a coat of the Z6 spray in between and the Z8 spray after. Next week we plan to go over the car on the lift at the shop and get it checked over for the drive to Carlisle. The car will be driven and we plan to haul Michael's car in the trailer.
A few days before we drive to Carlisle, I will wash it again, polish it with another coat of the Z2 and then add the Zaino Z-CS (clear seal).
This stuff gets a bit pricey by the time you add all the polishes, applicators, towels (I've gone through about 20 towels so far), but I've never seen a product work like this.
It looks like the VR6 will be coming back out of hibernation this weekend. I plan to upgrade the size of the gas tank this week and I also plan to take a ton of videos this Spring and Summer. The exhaust sound is too sexy to not have a few videos. Dave
The car came out for about a day or two and went back into hiding for the Summer. I decided to take it out this week and tinker a bit with it. The programming of the throttle body (fly by wire) got a little tweaking and now the car is intense to drive. Shifting through the gears (up or down) and you swear that the car is an automatic trans. The shifts are so smooth and the throttle closes a bit slower now to keep the engine spinning with the 25 or so lbs shaved off the crankshaft. I never really realize how much I love driving this car until you spend everyday behind a 350whp 3800s/c Fiero. I thought that my s/c car was great, but driving the VR6 makes me want to sell the 3800. The VR6 is at 1/2 the horsepower, but twice the driver's car....and shockingly keeps up.
The VR6 didn't get much road time this year and my GoPro never made it on the car. I have been really distracted this year. I'd love to make it to Daytona, but if everything goes according to plan, my orange Fiero with the Saab motor will be running by then.
Dave, could you post some updated pictures, and pictures of the interior?
I wanted to relax this weekend, so I decided to clean up the interior a bit. Before I knew it, the entire interior was completely out of the car including the carpet and I was laying Dynamat inside. I also, made a checklist of stuff to order (Mr. Mike's seat covers), and covered the rear covering in suede to match the headliner. The dash was also removed and I plan to flock it exactly like my orange and black GT.
I absolutely enjoy driving this car and had a great time on the last cruise Pete held, but I never had the time to get the interior to look the way I wanted.
When this is complete, Speedhut custom gauges will be installed and the car should be much for comfortable inside.
Dash was removed and the upper portion was flocked. Both A-pillars were flocked as well. The headliner was covered in suede. The B-pillars and floor trim were painted black. The rear covering on the rear firewall was covered in suede.
About 60lbs of dynamat was added to the interior under the carpeting and under the door panels.
The VDO gauges were replaced with Speedhut gauges.
The console skeleton was broken, so I fiberglassed it and sanded it back to shape and it looks like it was never touched.
All the wiring for the dash gauges was redone with a new wiring harness and I rewired the radio wiring too. The OBD-II connector was remade with new wires and I made it slightly easier to access.
I will post more pics once it has been assembled.
As for the doors. The top of the door panel was flocked and the bottom was covered in suede. The armrest was painted black. The window tracks were all cleaned and lubricated and the Dynamat was applied to the door.
I should have the interior back together tomorrow and then all I am waiting on is the seat covers from Mr Mikes, the Momo steering wheel and the Loyde floor mats to arrive.
How is the flocking achieved? Did you have it done or did you do it yourself? It's a nice look with the suede items. And I wonder if you're going to finish the map pockets in suede. :-)
Flocking is done with brush on glue and flock. We have an attachment to use with shop air to make it easier to apply. My head tech, Ryan (also a Fiero owner) did the flocking on both of my cars and his as well. It is very durable and is common to see on race cars. I just like the way it looks. I won't be doing the map pockets in suede. I experimented with a few different looks including deleting the map pocket and I like the cloth gray the best because it gives the right accent and matches the carpet and door vinyl.
Here are the completed interior pics. The current modifications include:
suede headliner, rear covering below window and lower portion of door panels flocked dashboard, rally gauge cover, upper portion of door panels, and A-pillars Speedhut gauges and updated climate control lighting (courtesy of Charlie64) shortened shifter with new shift knob and boot painted B pillars, floor trim and door arm rests Momo steering wheel All new interior swap wiring harness loyde's custom floor mats with Fiero logo Mr. Mike's full cloth seat covers (Joey absolutely hates non cloth seats, so we waited until Mr. Mike's made the full cloth GT style) New window tint 5% rear, 20% sides
Here are a bunch of pics:
Factory VW shifter....modded to go as short as possible without swapping to an Audi TT style shifter. It is a little shorter than the stock Fiero one now.
It took me seven years to get this car exactly where I want it. I removed the rear coil overs and swapped out for Eibach lowering springs at all four corners. I added new KYB shocks and struts. The interior is finally perfect and it feels like I'm driving a completely different car.
BUT (yes there is always a but)
It looks like I'll be doing some surgery on the engine next week. The oil pressure is dropping to 5psi at idle. I'm thinking it may be the oil pump or rod bearings that are causing this, so I ordered both and hopefully will have it done in a few hours next week and it will remedy the oil pressure issue. The fuel pump is controlled by oil pressure. When it drops below 7psi, it shuts off the fuel pump which makes it a little tricky to drive. If that doesn't remedy the situation, I may just order a short block and move everything over. The cylinder head has a lot of work done to it, and I don't want to take that away.
I took the oil pan off to take a look inside and decided that it was time to refresh the engine. I ordered this long block with some of their add on goodies.
Here is what we picked up yesterday.....Looks like I'll have a fun day of work ahead of me in the near future. Also, I met the owner of Schimmel Performance and he is a great guy to do business with. In his shop has to be the largest collection of VR6 engines and VW swaps I have ever seen.
Found a free hour to remove the drivetrain and swap the stuff over. I wound up pulling it out the top so I could keep the cradle in and push the car outside when I needed to.
Found a cracked timing chain rail, so I ordered new timing components. The timing chain on this engine is on the flywheel side, so I'd rather spend the money now than do it again later.
I hope to have it all assembled and ready to go back in by this weekend...or so.
Have you seen or taken apart a W-12 motor? I would love to see one of those apart similar to your V-6. Fascinating concept, the W-12, and a wondrous execution. It's likely that there may not be enough room in your car for one of those, no? :-)
