My front suspension is now in place and adjusted properly. I also spent the day aligning the rocker panels. This involved modifying the support framing slightly. I'm hoping to get the rocker panel mounting studs installed soon, then it'll be easy to mount and remove the panels as needed.

Since I apparently have the attention span of a fruit fly, today I found myself starting to build the door framing required for mounting the door skins. It wasn't the plan when I walked into the garage...just sort of ended up happening...

Wow, this build is incredible. Hats off to you for showing everyone how a custom build can be done. I'm preparing for my first build but havn't decided yet on which Lambo I want. Starting with a 85 SE Fiero. On a scale of 1-10 what would you say the complexity of this build is, as compared to others you may have done?

------------------
s.mac22 - "release the Kracken!"

quote Originally posted by s.mac22: Wow, this build is incredible. Hats off to you for showing everyone how a custom build can be done. I'm preparing for my first build but havn't decided yet on which Lambo I want. Starting with a 85 SE Fiero. On a scale of 1-10 what would you say the complexity of this build is, as compared to others you may have done?

Welcome to PFF!!!!

This is my first build. Any build like this is going to be 10 out of 10 for complexity. Your skills, available tools and personal situation will weigh heavily on if it's something you should take on. Check out the Construction Zone section on PFF for tons of ideas of what else can and has been done. I'd recommend starting with an engine swap as a first project...simple enough to get through, but it'll show you if you have the skills to go further. Also...don't fool yourself...a build like this is very expensive! Only 3% of kit cars actually get completed...not good odds... You really need to be in this for the build, not the end product. If you focus on the end product, you may as well walk away from it now. A build like this can easily take 3000+ hours. Hope this helps (and doesn't scare you too much...). Good luck with whatever projects you take on...and make sure you document everything you do.

quote Originally posted by Neils88: Welcome to PFF!!!! This is my first build. Any build like this is going to be 10 out of 10 for complexity. Your skills, available tools and personal situation will weigh heavily on if it's something you should take on. Check out the Construction Zone section on PFF for tons of ideas of what else can and has been done. I'd recommend starting with an engine swap as a first project...simple enough to get through, but it'll show you if you have the skills to go further. Also...don't fool yourself...a build like this is very expensive! Only 3% of kit cars actually get completed...not good odds... You really need to be in this for the build, not the end product. If you focus on the end product, you may as well walk away from it now. A build like this can easily take 3000+ hours. Hope this helps (and doesn't scare you too much...). Good luck with whatever projects you take on...and make sure you document everything you do.

Thanks so much!
Way to dive in on your first build! I'm pretty confident I can complete a build. I've been building and tweaking things mostly all my life, so its in me! Diesel & motorcycle mechanic, construction framer...I suppose being a jack of all trades, having patience and attention to detail, are all essential to completing a working build. I definitely would be in it for the build, but the thought of hitting the gas for the first time is kind of enticing too!
I just did an engine/turbo swap on my TT but that's another project, another Forum. But since I'm not rolling in the dough, looks like I'll be taking my time!!
Thank You for the encouragement Neil, I'll be sure to document everything once I get underway. The more I think about it, an Aventador build would be kind of fun

------------------
s.mac22 - "release the Kracken!"

The door frame is starting to come together...

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]

The door framework is looking good. I would get rid of the perpendicular beams you have there and triangulate that top section as much as you can. If you ever get into a side accident that is the beam that will take the hardest impact.

quote Originally posted by Neils88: Since I apparently have the attention span of a fruit fly, today I found myself starting to build the door framing required for mounting the door skins. It wasn't the plan when I walked into the garage...just sort of ended up happening...

You do that sort of thing too huh?

quote Originally posted by 2.5: You do that sort of thing too huh?

Yup...

I worked on the new driver's side door hinge today. The door angle (angle from the vertical when looking from the front) is much better than the original hinge I created. The original hinge was too vertical, whereas the new hinge leans out closer to what it should be.

The door is just propped open in the pics below. I'll still need to install the gas shock. The location of the shock dictates how high the door opens. It'll take a little work to get it in the right spot.

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]

So I'm having some difficulties with the door shock. It's too long to go where I really need it...and too high pressure for me to compress it to fit. I really don't want it extending inside the door since it'll interfere with the glass, but I can't fit it just infront of the door. It's a standard 200lb, 12"-20" shock. Ideally I could find a 12"-16" shock (initial investigation only turned up low pressure shocks of this length). Of course, I won't know the exact pressure required until the door is completely finished (with glass, tracks, regulator, skin, and interior trim, etc). I've also found lots of smaller shocks...but they are extremely high pressure so they'll need to be mounted much closer to the actual hinge. I'll likely wait until I know the exact weight of the door then I can actually calculate the requirements for a better fitting shock.

Back to finishing up a few simple items that I've put off for a while. I needed to cut the emergency door handle opening into the passenger side panel (just between the main side vent and the door), and install the emergency handle/lock unit on both sides. Simple enough job, but I've kept putting it off. I can now finish hooking up all the door release and lock mechanisms.

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]

Another item I've avoided for a bit...the gas fill door. The opening still needs to be finished, along with a small securing frame to hold everything in place. Then I'll also have to re-route the fill pipe to the other side of the car. Originally I was going to switch it to the driver's side to simplify installation, however some friends convinced me to go with the more authentic look. Easy for them to say since I'm the one left doing the work... Ok. I concede...it looks pretty good in the right spot.

(OEM Aventador fill door...obviously from an orange Aventador...)

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]

Great work! I always check for your progress and you never cease to amaze!
Why you haven't been elevated to the construction zone baffles me.......,

Any idea what it'll weigh when complete?

quote Originally posted by steve308: Great work! I always check for your progress and you never cease to amaze! Why you haven't been elevated to the construction zone baffles me.......,

Thanks Steve!

quote Originally posted by TommyRocker: Any idea what it'll weigh when complete?

Great question. Unfortunately, no. I can tell you that when I took all the metal parts that had been removed to the dump, it was surprisingly heavy. Combined with the weight of all the Fiero body panels, I'm hopeful that I won't end up with a big net increase (though I am expecting a small increase, if anything). The heaviest increase is along the sides (rocker framing), but these look heavier than they actually were. Left to right balance is easy. Front to rear balance, obviously, is much tougher. Eventually I'll get it on a four point corner scale...and keep my fingers crossed.

I built a small frame for the gas-fill molding (the plastic cup piece below the fuel fill flap). The molding drops in place and will be secured with a couple of bolts. The fender then sits on top...obviously things need to line up. It took a little bit of fiddling...had to tack weld and then remove and re-weld the frame multiple times until everything was set just right.

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]

Neil......nice job on that Door up there ^^^^^^. You must've grinned when it went up like that Love the fuel door. Nice touch on using the original. Your a TRUE builder as even thou it would've been way easier to mount that fuel door on the drivers side you went the harder way not the easier. That's what IM TALKING ABOUT ! Keep it up buddy

Boz

quote Originally posted by Bozzie: Neil......nice job on that Door up there ^^^^^^. You must've grinned when it went up like that Love the fuel door. Nice touch on using the original. Your a TRUE builder as even thou it would've been way easier to mount that fuel door on the drivers side you went the harder way not the easier. That's what IM TALKING ABOUT ! Keep it up buddy Boz

That's me....given the easy way of doing something and the hard way of doing something...I always jump to hard way...

I decided to do a little work on prototyping the door glass setup. On the weekend, I had gone to the local pick n pull (conveniently called "Kenny U-Pull"...) and looked around for a car with window curvature similar to the Aventador. I have oem door glass going in (which I already have)...and so I brought a curvature template with me. Much to my surprise, the glass from a Grand Prix (I believe I got everything from a 2003) is identical to Aventador. This surprised me since the oem glass seemed quite curved...I didn't think anything would match. Happily I grabbed the window regulators, plus the front and rear tracks.

This is what the Grand Prix regulator looks like:



...and the front and rear window rails:



The front rail that I'll be using is actually the rear rail on the Grand Prix. But also conveniently, the rear rail has an integral trim piece that is removable from the door. This is significant, since most doors have this piece as part of the door frame and therefore not removable. This is the part that is exposed so it's important to have a decent fitting piece. I'll have to make it a little narrower to better match the Aventador trim piece, but the important thing is that the rail matches my glass. More to follow on this at a later date. The rear rail is plastic. I actually got these from a newer Grand Prix, but that had the same curvature as the older Grand Prix .

Now for the downside. The regulator and rails are about 7" too long for the door, so I needed to do some majorly creative adaption.



So this was my solution:



As you can see, I shortened the tracks, and then added the small insert to stretch out the cable. I could have left it and simply shortened the cable, but shortening the cables would be the tougher option. It fits well inside the door:





I still need to create some mounting points to hold everything in place. You can see the approximate placement (without the side tracks for now).

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]

So today was just one of those days. This weekend I decided to carry on the work I've been doing with the power windows and shorten the passenger side tracks. I wasn't paying attention and welded the extension piece to the wrong end of the track. So I decided to cut it off and weld it to the right end...and of course the small plastic pulley decided to catch fire and melt. And...(yes there's an And...) if all that wasn't bad enough, when I hooked everything back together I found the cable was suddenly about 8" too short. Turns out, that yesterday I had hooked up the power to the motor briefly just to put some slack in the cable....while the other cable was disconnected. Fyi. Don't do that. Since there was no resistive force, the cable had twisted and wrapped up inside the motor...and everything I did after that just made it worse. You also can't open up the motor to fix this problem. So....next weekend, I'll be heading back to the pick n pull to get another regulator.

If it ends up too heavier than expected, just add more HP

So uh, at which point is this no longer a Fiero? Ship of thesus stuff hahaha

quote Originally posted by Threedog: So uh, at which point is this no longer a Fiero? Ship of thesus stuff hahaha

Let's see....it has (or will have when finished) about 50% of the original space frame left, the pedals, the gas tank, parts of one wiring harness and the seats (soon to have new leather covers)...pretty much everything else will be new/replaced. There will actually be more OEM Aventador parts on it than Fiero parts.... but I'm guessing if I drove it up to a Lamborghini dealership they'd let me know it's still just a Fiero...

I actually stopped calling it "my Fiero" a while ago. It just no longer seemed appropriate for exactly that reason. Lol

quote Originally posted by Neils88: So today was just one of those days. This weekend I decided to carry on the work I've been doing with the power windows and shorten the passenger side tracks. I wasn't paying attention and welded the extension piece to the wrong end of the track. So I decided to cut it off and weld it to the right end...and of course the small plastic pulley decided to catch fire and melt. And...(yes there's an And...) if all that wasn't bad enough, when I hooked everything back together I found the cable was suddenly about 8" too short. Turns out, that yesterday I had hooked up the power to the motor briefly just to put some slack in the cable....while the other cable was disconnected. Fyi. Don't do that. Since there was no resistive force, the cable had twisted and wrapped up inside the motor...and everything I did after that just made it worse. You also can't open up the motor to fix this problem. So....next weekend, I'll be heading back to the pick n pull to get another regulator.

LOL, Sorry Neil, sometimes you have to grin and bare it. Two weekends ago, I wanted to tinker and finish off my front rocker mount. While welding it on, I blew through the chassis. Not typically a big deal, until I saw flames on the inside. In my haste, i didn't make sure everything was clear and caught that 30 year old dry jute on fire. Talk about panic mode. Fortunately, no damage and everything was ok. Killed the mood though and I was done...

Bob

Neil.......Man, you take everything to the 9th degree. Modding regulators ????? DAMN !! Super COOL ! When I saw them welded up I thought to myself ........I wonder how many takes THAT took ????? Cause GOD knows most one off things are a few off just to get there. Don't let it get you down buddy. RCR ^^^^^^^ that's CRAZY what happened to you ! Glad all's good afterwords. At that point its "drop the mic" time and walk away. Great job GUYS !! Keep the updates coming.....ALWAYS looking for inspiration


Boz

quote Originally posted by RCR: LOL, Sorry Neil, sometimes you have to grin and bare it. Two weekends ago, I wanted to tinker and finish off my front rocker mount. While welding it on, I blew through the chassis. Not typically a big deal, until I saw flames on the inside. In my haste, i didn't make sure everything was clear and caught that 30 year old dry jute on fire. Talk about panic mode. Fortunately, no damage and everything was ok. Killed the mood though and I was done... Bob

I've had a few minor fires as well...several of them involved me setting fire to myself... I'm going to pick up a new regulator tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to just swap in the motor assembly, but if necessary I'll mod another regulator. Stay tuned...

quote Originally posted by Bozzie: Neil.......Man, you take everything to the 9th degree. Modding regulators ????? DAMN !! Super COOL ! When I saw them welded up I thought to myself ........I wonder how many takes THAT took ????? Cause GOD knows most one off things are a few off just to get there. Don't let it get you down buddy. RCR ^^^^^^^ that's CRAZY what happened to you ! Glad all's good afterwords. At that point its "drop the mic" time and walk away. Great job GUYS !! Keep the updates coming.....ALWAYS looking for inspiration Boz

I was lucky that first one worked perfectly, otherwise I probably would have walked away from the concept. But now that I know it works I'll keep at it. The most important thing was to get the track ground as smooth as possible around the weld site. I find that fine work with my new grinder is much tougher than with my old Dewalt grinder....but still gives a better finish over using my Dremel.

I picked up a couple of replacement regulators at the pick n pull today. I only really needed one track/motor unit, but decided to grab two just so I'd have a spare just in case I messed up another one. This time it came out perfectly.

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]

I've been a little lax this week...really didn't feel like getting into the garage until today.

Now that I have the passenger side regulator finished, I need somewhere to put it.... Time to build a door....

The main framing and crash beam:



Also starting to get the hinge put together. Basically I put the hinge bearing blocks in place, get the door in place, then connect the two parts... always sounds so simple...

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]

I now have two functional doors. It took a few attempts to get the door angle correct, but I think I finally got it. Of course then I ran out of welding wire....

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]

Wow Neil great work ...Nice pic..

quote Originally posted by Neils88: Phase III of the project is going to take care of all the weight issues, lol. Current plan is a longitudinal twin turbo V12 (BMW 760Li) ... but I haven't measured it for fit yet, so that may have to change. But I promise whatever ends up in there will put a smile on my face

Sweeet

Looking GREAT Neil ! Super Sweet job on the doors. Really coming together and looking like a picture. That's funny about the welding wire......sometimes after going and going and going it takes something like that to make you stop for the night !

Boz

quote Originally posted by Dubuc SLC: Wow Neil great work ...Nice pic..

Thanks Mario. Slow work....but getting there.

quote Originally posted by Bozzie: Looking GREAT Neil ! Super Sweet job on the doors. Really coming together and looking like a picture. That's funny about the welding wire......sometimes after going and going and going it takes something like that to make you stop for the night ! Boz

Thanks Bozzie! Of course the welding wire just bit me in the a$$.... Was outside changing my wife's car over to her winter tires. On the last one, the key for the stupid locking lug nut sheared apart. I couldn't get a pipe wrench onto the lock-lug so I figured no problem...I'll just weld a nut onto the end and take it off. Set everything up....and then...oh yes....out of welding wire.... Hopefully I can pick some up soon, otherwise she'll have to take it in somewhere to have them all changed.

It's been a couple weeks since my last post...and actually not much progress made. I elongated the bolt holes for the hood hinges, allowing me to properly adjust the hood alignment. I will still need to fine tune the gaps, but that'll be done with a little Bondo when I'm doing the actual bodywork. After the hinge adjustment, the front gap was mostly eliminated. I also started to attach bonding fasteners to the driver's side rocker panel. I had a little trouble with these so I may have remove some of them tomorrow and redo them. Lastly, I've start to work on the rear bumper. The molding that I have needs to be modified to fit the centeral exhaust, and needs the lower diffuser built.

I trimmed the center portion of the bumper to make room for the OEM exhaust shield. After getting the shield lined up where I wanted it, I made a bracket to allow me to bolt it to the frame. (The shield is bolted to the bracket, and the bracket is welded to the frame). I may have to tweak the shield angle slightly, but it looks pretty close to stock. Obviously the exhaust pipes will sit inside the shield. The OEM pipes are normally some sort of square shape. However, there are a number of aftermarket versions of the Aventador exhaust that use four normal 3" exhaust pipes sitting in the shield...I'll go that route since it is much simpler to build. I need a little more trimming for the fiberglass, then I'll add an aluminum mesh grill on either side of the shield and a lower fiberglass diffuser panel that goes under the shield.

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]

A little bit of creative fiberglass work today... Started to put together the rear diffuser. Not exactly oem, but hopefully it'll have a similar feel when viewed from behind. I'll need to cut the opening for the exhaust shield once I finish the fiberglassing. Once in place I'll be able to see if it works as is, or if I'll need to make some adjustments to it.

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]

Here is the website with the gas pressure adjustable door shock.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#gas-shocks/=135piyz
Type 6465K7 in the search box (upper left).

I used these in the Reventon I'm building. You will be surprised how quickly the weigh of the door will add up.

Joe Sokol

------------------
85 SE Daily driver with a 3.4 DOHC OBD II
88 Formula/GT 4.9 Allante Intake (My Baby)
www.fieroking.com