Well.... everything that I have for the IMSA is now reassembled. Only things left are to get the eyelids and fuel filler door painted and installed, and when the windows get back from the tint shop they go in along with the inner door panels. At some point after it gets the "cut and buff" I may have some minor pin striping done, and of course no car of mine is ever truely "finished", but it's getting pretty darn close to "compleat"
It was a nice day today so I took a few pics and thought I'd share:
[This message has been edited by Russ544 (edited 07-09-2009).]
Very nice! I like the color combo. The dark trim and wing look good like that. Have you thought about painting the roof the darker color, also?
------------------ 86 SE 4 spd - undergoing reconstructive surgery 86 SE auto - receiving heart transplant 86 GT auto - daily driver 85 GT 4 spd - parts car
No I haven't concidered a dark top Eyelids will be white I did think about painting the wing stands charcoal, but decided that it might make the wing look "stuck on" instead of being a part of the car. Actually I thought about putting a dual stripe the length of the car, over the roof etc, but the dark vents and wing fit better with my desire for an "understated" clean look.
you could change the wing and roof color, and then when you run your stripes, mask it off for the color changed parts... Then spray down the opposite color on your stripes.. for example.. stripes are black/charcoal on the hood ( Personally I would do a marble effect) then when it hits the dark vents, make it on the dark, then dark again on the white.. etc.. so your stripes would change color all the way down the car.. I think this would like intense, you would need an experienced painter to do the marblizing though.. Are you up to the challenge?
Nice work thus far btw. I really like how it is coming.
One last save from the archives so the thread will still be around when it's time to add the final set of photos before sliping into the abiss. My painter has been pretty busy lately and unable to finish off the couple small parts that I need to compleat the car. he said today that perhaps tomorrow he'll be able to shoot them for me if things go well. I'm expecting to have a nice set of photos of the compleated car posted here by the weekend.
I generally take pics in 640x480 just cause it's quicker, and even then I've been reducing them to 320x240 so they'll show on the forum, but if there are pics in the final "showing" that anyone wants enlarged I can E-mail them dirrectly to you (I'm 56K however, so be kind). It's forcast to be a nice weekend coming up, so perhaps I'll get the car compleated and have some really nice outside pics to share with you soon.
No I haven't concidered a dark top Eyelids will be white I did think about painting the wing stands charcoal, but decided that it might make the wing look "stuck on" instead of being a part of the car. Actually I thought about putting a dual stripe the length of the car, over the roof etc, but the dark vents and wing fit better with my desire for an "understated" clean look.
Russ
ever considered doing recessed headlights with black buckets?
ever considered doing recessed headlights with black buckets?
Ya... actually I have, but I'm waiting to see what Aaron comes up with on his "kit"............ If he'd just quit trying to burn his shop down and get back to work on them . any news on that Aaron?
OK.... here ya go. I guess I'd better stay with turning wrenches and not start a new career in photography LOL . I took 30 or 40 photos today and these are the best I could weed out of those. I did a little minor ps and crop on some of these, so if you want the original 640x480 let me know & I'll send the ones you want your way. A lady friend of mine has a really good eye for digital photography, so perhaps one of these days I'll get her to shoot a few for me also.
The white body color tends to reduce the visual effect of the body flare in photos, so I really tried to get an angle that shows the "bowtie" shape best. The second shot below does pretty well at showing that, but non of these really do justice to the full amount of flare. for a better idea of just how much wider it is now, go back to page one or two where I had the narrow stock wheels/tires on the car LOL.
I still need to get the car aligned, but I've driven it quite a bit in the past week or so, and done a lot of fine tuning on the carb jetting and timing. It will never beat my sbc car in a drag race, but I'll tell ya what ........ it's a surprisingly quick little ride, and a ton more well manered than the sbc (425HP tends to be a bit volatile on the street). With special thanks to Tedd and to Aaron, It's been a really enjoyable project !! Yaaa..... I guess I'll keep it ...................... for a wile anyway .
[This message has been edited by Russ544 (edited 07-09-2009).]
Looks incredible. The white on black contrast is an eyecatcher. It just seems that the wing may look a little narrow compared to the widened rear end. I think you need a massive IMSA wrap around spoiler
OUTSTANDING! You did a fantastic job, and it sure shows. I for one would like a couple of the pics emailed (you know where to send them )in full resolution. That thing looks like a genuine "fat cat" out on the prowl, you are a true craftsman! Congratualtions on finishing (at least for now!) a project that most would be afraid to start. Thanks for the thread and the opportunity to share in your patience and passion.
Thanks for all of your time and effort in posting this thread. I have enjoyed follow your build. I have always liked the IMSA flaired fenders. The "finished product" looks fantasic.
------------------ Ernie
1988 Silver GT One owner 47000 miles. Soon to be a 3.4 DOHC powered.
That is absolutly incredible. How's that 4.3 running?
Bonzo
Excellent ! I'm very happy with the 4.3 as a Fiero swap in general. it really does fit like it was made for it, and performs excellent in this weight car. I may install another type engine at some point in the future in the IMSA, just because it deserves something a little more exotic, but if I do, the 4.3 will go into another Fiero. I'll take it over to the drags this summer just to see what it will do, but I expect it will surprise a few people for "just a v-6".
Russ
Oh BTW: I'm installing a different muffler tomorrow also, so I'll let you know how that works out as well.
[This message has been edited by Russ544 (edited 03-26-2005).]
Well I got the different muffler installed today. I love it . This is just about my ideal as far as a good balance between letting the world know something other than stock resides here.... but remaining easy on the ears from both inside and outside the cockpit. Power does not appear to have been adversly affected either. Sometimes the obvious is just too hard to see...LOL..... I installed a new Fiero OEM v-6 style muffler from the Fiero store and tossed the Flowmaster in the dumpster. The 4.3 is starting to show signs of getting broken in now. smoother running, idle has risen slightly, temp is more stable etc.. I'm likeing this motor more and more all the time.... maybe I won't swap it out after all . I'm set up for a full alignment tomorrow, so I'll "test" the suspension and braking sometime in the PM.
I took the IMSA in for a full line up yesterday. the rear went without a hitch but somehow I had overlooked a bad lower ball joint on the front right so that's on my weekend "to do" list before the lineup can be completed. The other part of my "to do" list was dedicated to fixing an oil leak at the remote oil filter adaptor. When I put this motor together, none of the places I looked could come up with the correct 18 x 1.5MM adaptor so I ended up modifying (the one on the right in the photo below) a side outlet unit to go on the 4.3 . The problem with using this unit was that the 4.3 filter pad is recessed into the block slightly, so I had to grind off some material from both the adaptor and block to be able to screw the adaptor on. by the time that much material was removed, not enough threads remain at the hose connections to effect a reliable seal. It wasn't as severely cut up as it is now however, as when I originally installed it the oil pan wasn't on the engine, and I sure didn't want to remove the pan now, wile in the car, so I just hacked pieces off the adaptor until it would go full circle to come off. In the meantime I found a guy at an auto parts store that had a brain, and he came up with a correct adaptor for me. as pictured on the left below it's a Mr. Gasket # 7678. I ended up using different fittings from those shown, as I'm using the Toyota starter with my setup and clearance is really at a premium. It really tore my guts out to do it, but I had to use the Archie method of tapping off the side of the block for one oil line and using a 90* fitting on the adaptor in the other side. It's back together now and not leaking, so now it's time to start on the balljoints. .......oh yippie........
[This message has been edited by Russ544 (edited 07-09-2009).]
Well I decided to just yank out the engine and do the job right. I had several small items that I wanted to alter on the engine anyway, and it's just easier, and makes for a better end product, to pull it out where you can get at things. It's amazing how grungy the engine can get in only a few months. of course much of this was due to wetsanding on the bodywork.
3 of the items I wanted to change were all kind of "plumbing" related. the first was the oil filter, which now mounts at an angle so less oil will end up in my face and on the cradle when changing filters. I also had shorter hoses made up so they could be routed further away from the exaust. The second item on my list was to remove the tin heat schields from the headers that surround the plugs. changing plugs was a real pain because you couldn't access them from under the car very well. The third item was to flip the water pump "right side up" again. I opened up the steam holes again and came up with some new hoses to re-route the inlet side around the balancer. tomorrow I'll clean things up, take a few pics, and stuff everything back in the car again.
It sure is cool being able to pull a Fieros engine so easily. 2 hours and it's all sitting on the floor ! If this was my Vette it would take one full weekend just to pull the engine, one more to work on it, and a third to put it back in again. and I doubt that I'd be in a very sociable mood after any one of those weekends
more pics tomorrow
Russ
[This message has been edited by Russ544 (edited 07-09-2009).]
Ya... actually I have, but I'm waiting to see what Aaron comes up with on his "kit"............ If he'd just quit trying to burn his shop down and get back to work on them . any news on that Aaron?
Russ
LOL funny.
The shop is about done. The headlights are top priority. Very soon. I think the last cuttings are right, jsut have not had the time to do an assembly.
Whose corn flakes did you pee in? You have one of the coolest build threads on here and red showing in your bar. You must have snuck into OT or something.
Whose corn flakes did you pee in? You have one of the coolest build threads on here and red showing in your bar. You must have snuck into OT or something.
Aaron
He probably only has one or two negatives it just shows up more since he has such few overall. I'm in the same boat I got one or two when I spoke up about GTDude burning his 5th or 6th car and his two piece valve covers. Must have gotten another couple from the red bar brigade because when they left I lost a few ratings and most of my red also.
Russ speaks his mind so he will always have some red. Considering the amount of constructive criticism that he has to give I hope he doesn’t worry about a few negatives.
The shop is about done. The headlights are top priority. Very soon. I think the last cuttings are right, jsut have not had the time to do an assembly.
Cool. Your shop needed cleaning anyway . I'll look forward to your thread on the lights showing up again before too long. As to the ratings, I don't pay much attention to those things, but wile I try to restrain myself from peeing in anyones corn flakes, I seldom add any sugar for them either. Hey.... so I'm old, cranky, opinionated, and blunt. at least I'm good looking
[This message has been edited by Russ544 (edited 03-19-2005).]
Although the motor is back in the car now and has the four cradle bolts installed, I found a couple more things today that needed attention before the motor went back in, and that held me up enough that the rest of the installation will have to wait till tomorrow. I figured now was a good time to install the rear sway bar that I got from PaulV a few months ago, and that required some sandblasting and paint work before it went in. Then after flipping the water pump right side up again, the timing mark, which had been just barely visible before, was totally hidden by the pump inlet. I was able to sneak a new pointer in behind the belt, and hopefully there will be a "hole" where it will be visible when in the car. A big patch of white now covers the area from TDC to 10* , so as long as I can get a glimpse of that area I should be able to set the timing when necessary.
The filter adaptor and it's hoses look a lot tidier now, and the hoses are far enough away from the exhaust that I won't worry so much about it becoming another Fiero fire statistic. It should be a lot more pleasant to change the filter now as well, without having a 1/2 quart of hot oil running up my shirt sleeve and all over the cradle from the horizontally mounted filter. (note drip quide under the filter gasket area also). As I calculated, the radiator hose has a clear path, once the necessary hose bends were figured out, to snake around the balancer, and various suspension, on it's way to it's source for cool water.
[This message has been edited by Russ544 (edited 07-09-2009).]
Back in... running great.... and looking good . It's always nice to get things put back together again. even though it's been raining all weekend and I wouldn't take the car out in this kind of weather anyway, it's nice to know that I could now, if I wanted to LOL. I was tireing of all the stick jokes when I would prop up my rear decklid to show people what's under the hood, so I modified a spare front decklid support to perform the task.
I'm afraid I didn't take any "in progress" photos of the modifications, but it was actually pretty simple, and developed in pretty much the same manner as most of my creations. I'll use my usual analogy of building a canoe from a tree trunk: "once you find a suitable tree, lay it on it's side and clamp securely. then cut everything off the tree that doesn't look like a canoe".
I still need to build some screens for the hood vents.... guess I'll do that next weekend.... then I need to...uhhhh ................................................ uh oh. I don't know what to do to it next... does that mean it's..... "finished"? It can't be, cause I don't have that word in my vocabulary.
I'll think of something. Russ
------------------ "doesn't matter where you've been....... doesn't matter where you're going...... just how cool you look gettin' there." Fonzy
[This message has been edited by Russ544 (edited 07-09-2009).]
O-boy.... did I ever bite off a big one this time . Even though I am extreamly happy with the performance of the 4.3 in this car, somehow the heritage and style of the new body work just beg for something equally exotic, and I've always been facinated with the high tech 4 cammers in the race world so........, when my connection at the wreaking yard called to tell me he "found one of those engines you asked about" I just about choked. This is WAY above the carb and points technology that I've been working with for 40 years, but it's the right motor for the car, and it's way past time for me to get beyond the 20th century anyway . What we found is a 97' VIN 9 (295hp) Northstar 4.6L with 24,ooo miles. It's currently on it's way to me from Texas. I'll be keeping the 4.3 for the remainder of the summer so I can enjoy the car and participate in a few shows and cruise nights, but by next fall/winter I expect to have everything ready as a drop-in package on a spare cradle/trans.
Thanks ! yours looks nice as well. What's the history on yours? did you build it and if so how long ago? what kind of powertrain? The "true" widebodys do seem to be a pretty scarce package. I'm sure there are more out there, but yours would only make 3 street IMSAs, besides mine, that I've seen.
Russ
[This message has been edited by Russ544 (edited 04-03-2005).]
Keep up the good work! 
