Capt Fiero's new 87GT Project Car

That is going to look awesome.  I love the 2 tone paint scheme

Hugh

So progress has slowed down a bit.  Running out of time to work on it, and it snowed a couple days ago.  It just melted off enough yesterday that I could go back to work on it this afternoon.

I almost did not post these as nothing got "finished" today.  I ran out of dye for the carpets, but decided to get them in the car regardless and do the final dye with them installed.  I LOST my good tail lights so I had to install the not so good ones.  Passenger side door lock is still acting up.  I am banging my head over it and can't figure out what the issue is.   I am still trying to decide how to route the coolant hoses, another bang my head on the wall moment.   About the only thing that went good today was the floor pan plugs in the 85GT are the same as the 87GT, so I was able to pop them out of the 85 and install them in the 87 then with a little bit of expanding foam and some black silicone locked them in place with no chance of leaking.

Well here are the pics from today.

Patch job on floor pan plug

Blue anti rust paint to prevent the floor pan from ever rusting. I was out of black and am using blue in the places that won't be seen later.

Passenger carpet re-installed

Drivers carpet installed.

Rear lights installed.

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85GT Soon to be 87GT,93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust.  MSD Everything Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics     Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
     

Ok so last pic in the last post was this NASTY A$$ Rust Spot.  I HATE RUST of any kind. So my very next project was remove and start prepping for anti rust coating. (TremClad)

 So I tried my wire wheel and couldn't get what I wanted, so I grabbed the angle grinder and a zip disk, then angle grinder with a grinding wheel, then finally back to the assorted wire wheels on my air die grinder.  (Funny story with video on that later.

After grinding and cutting, I end up with this.

In all these pics, I only have one coat of paint, I'll do a 2nd coat tomorrow.
But this is after the first coat.

This was mainly surface rust, but I still did pretty much the entire area behind the fender liner.

Ah Thats Better

This is where I destroyed the metal removing the battery box.  I plan to get a proper piece of sheet metal and make a proper patch, but for now, lets not let it rust.

Well its not pretty, but it wont RUST.

I had hit part of this area with the blue TremClad but I went in there with a grinder today and touched up some really rough areas, then gave it another shot of TremClad

Hey Thats not too bad.

This kinda strays away from the car for a min to reflect on Tools.    I am not a rich mechanic with the "Snap-On" truck on speed dial.  However, I do understand the value of good quality tools, hence why most of my stuff is Canadian Craftsman, MasterCraft Pro Series, Husky and Dewalt.   However there are some times, when just need a few things for a project NOW, little odds and ends.   There is a place in Surrey called Bionca's Liquidation World.  1/2 of there stuff is Tools, 1/4 is Electronics and 1/4 is Household Stuff.   Everything from cheap $20 Air tools, to trailer Parts.    I went in there today to browse around for a few odds and ends.

Well this is what I came out with.  That entire pile Gloves and needle nose pliers included came to a grand total of $21 bucks.  

Gloves $5
Tape Measure 6ft AutoLock  $1 
Wire Brush Wooden Handle $1
Hose clamps, in Kit were $4
12pc Hos Clamp Set was $2
Wire wheel and wire drums, $1 each. (4 in total) $4
Cool Needle Nose Pliers, $4
Super Glue .50 cents

I had some serious fun with that.  Its stamped Max Speed 4500 rpms.   I figure whats the worst that will happen, it might fly apart and explode the wires.  So I chuck it into a 20,000 RPM Air Die Grinder.  (Insert Tim Taylor Power Grunt)

Now I needed Lugs for the remote battery kit.  I bought these nice 3 ought lugs.  They looked pretty good.

Then I found these Bad Boys.    I used a standard pen, to give a size reference.

When heat that, crimp it and drill a pilot hole anchor a set screw then fill with solder, that baby is never going to break or come loose.

Now if you have read this far, and actually read it, you'll get an early peak at a video that I'll post later in the forums.    Remember that 4500rpm wire drum, it met my 20,000 rpm die grinder.  And it Didn't blow up.  Stretched a fair bit though,  http://captfiero.com/85gtre...h/airgrinderwire.AVI   If the video won't open, pop over to http://captfiero.com/85gtrebuildpics/March5th and manually save the airgrinderwire video to your computer and watch it.

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85GT Soon to be 87GT,93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust.  MSD Everything Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics     Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
     

When you get done reading this post, make sure you read the last line.  Its pretty important.

Ok the Dash is done, yaa.  The cleaning and paint/dye turned out great, its a nice high gloss black finish.  

The screws holding the dash must have been hammered in, as there was no way they got a standard socket to fit between the speaker frame and the plastic surround, so I took an old cheap junk 7mm socket ground it down on my bench grinder into a super thin wall socket and it worked perfect.

We went to the local Home Depot to scout out some sort of conduit for the battery cable.  I looked at different metal pipes, soft rubber / PVC pipes and nothing really seemed like a good fit for under the car, then I found this stuff.  I honestly don't remember what it was called.   Its extremely hard stuff, and took a floor jack to make it flex enough to get the cross beam back into place.  However its also got enough give that you can bend it past a 90 degree ark over an 8" span and with zero signs of damage.  It has an outside diameter of 1" and an inside diameter of 3/4" My 3/0 cable is just a tic over 5/8 outside diameter so this 3/4" was almost perfect.
 

I have not added any clamps at all yet to keep it up, its almost perfect and the only thing holding it up at the moment is the fuel tank belly pan and the front round cross brace.  I am going to add a clamp about every 1ft to keep it above the heater line.   I have also taped off each end of the housing to keep moisture from getting in.  I may even get some large shrink tube and put over the ends.

Now only a Die Hard Fiero Nut is going to look at this and go WHAT THE FU&(& The Steering Dampener is Bigger than the RACK.

Yep looks like they put a damn car shock absorber on the rack.  I have seen it done on big jacked up trucks, but on a sports car?   I may leave it on there just to see what it feels like.  Probably going to make the steering really sluggish around tight corners.

While I was under there today, I snapped a quick shot of the underside of the fiberglass work and the odd shape that the nose is from under the car.  Really is not what I was expecting.  It does kinda louver up towards the radiator nicely though.  I'll bet it helps getting airflow to the rad. 

Now sorry for the lack of updates guys.  I got some really Eye Opening news.  I'm Going To Be a Daddy.  My Wife Lisa, aka FieroChick is going to have a baby. Our First, its defiantly putting a whole new perspective on things.  

Thank you guys   This is one hell of a change for the both of us. 

Hey Steve don't give me any idea's.  I am still trying to find out how to make a Fiero a legal 3 seater.      Ya know I am going to have to mod the baby seat.  It'll get at least a few racing stripes and some flames, regardless of what I end up getting.

Hmm motorized stroller, I think I would have to skip the gas motor, but I could see, electric drive, then add a small platform for the adults to stand on.  Hmm.  I'm thinking styled after one of those stand up law mowers.  Probably have to keep the speed less than 10mph to be safe.    Hmmmmmmm.  Now ya got me thinking.

Well I almost didn't post these.

The dash came out great, so I didn't think I would have any problems with the rest of the panels.    I sprayed with grease and paint remover.  Wiped them all down, gave em a light scuff and proceeded to shoot them.

So here is after the stripping and cleaning its a Urethane / Plastic safe paint and grease remover.

Everything got cleaned the same way as the center console.

I might as well  have just dipped these in paint, as that is what it looks like.  Finish is crap, texture is horrid.  I am going to let it dry over night, and maybe scuff it again and add another coat.  If I can't get it to look like I want, I might just say to hell with it and wrap it in a nice fabric.  Something like a nice diamond pattern black velvet.  Would be nice to have a cloth center to rest my elbow in when I am in the car.   
 

Honestly it looks like I put it in a dip tank, I had to shoot, clean and shoot again, I tried heating the paint, heating the parts, I tried different cleaners and no matter what I did, none of the interior panels would come out with a decent finish.  The only part that I got a good finish on was an un-touched stock plastic panel from under the instrument panel. 

About the only thing that came out positive today was, I think I found the steering wheel horn button.  It was buried in the front of the center console where the throttle cable attach's to the frame then to the gas pedal.  It looks like they took a piece of paper that was the same colour as the steering wheel and printed the Fiero Logo on it.    I'll probably remove it and change it to a better looking Fiero logo.   Something closer to the stock Fiero GT emblem.

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85GT Soon to be 87GT,93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust.  MSD Everything Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics     Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
     

Wrap up for Friday March 13th. 

Speaker Wiring

WooHoo, we have Interior.  I spent the better part of yesterday and today running all the wiring for all the speakers.
It sounds like a lot when you first say it, but its really not that many.  There will be 11 speakers total in the car.
2 4x10's in the dash
2 4x6's in the pillars behind the seats
4 speakers in the seats. (2 per side)
2 Directional Dome tweeters in the dash pointed at the driver and passenger
1 sub in the passenger foot well.

I was able to remove the entire seat speaker harness from the 85 and trans plant it into the 87 so I was able to even keep all the factory plugs and loom.  

I spent literally hours soldering and shrink wrapping all the wires that the previous owner had cut.   

This is the current state of the 85 Interior.  there is nothing left in there aside from the main cabin harness which I will be removing Saturday.

We gutted the entire front compartment on the 85 today as well.

Even found a crazy mess in the A/C area. More on that later.

Lots of coolant pipes, heater pipes, A/C lines.

Gas Tank

To be honest, I have never ever pulled a Fiero A/C system out.  The core was OEM so it has not been out in 25 years.   For the record that is NOT the heater core.  It was over 2 inches thick in leaves, and what looked like fine hair of some sort.