Build Thread

Unsafe At Any Speed · Post by **Unsafe At Any Speed** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:14 pm

Well, I figured that I'd make a build thread of my car so I can keep track of what I've done and what I plan to do. And to show it off some too. (Granted, there's not much to show off right now). Anyway, a quick history. In June 2002 I bought my 86 SE V6. I don't have any pictures of it from then, but picture a Red Aero Notchback and you've got it. I paid too much. $3000 but the body was in great shape and had a 2 year old paint job. Plus I got another parts car along with it. This was basically my first car I drove. (I got a 68 Corvair in 2000 but never really got it road worthy.)
Anyway, the engine went out about a month after I bought it. I was really new to the Fiero scene at that point and didn't know anything about engine swaps or the like, so I missed out on the perfect oppurtunity to upgrade to something better. Instead, I had the engine replaced with a new 2.8. (I got ripped off on that too :knob: )
I drove the Fiero through my Senior year of High School. Only mods done were the typical eBay CRX CAI in February of 2003 and the stock speakers were replaced with Eclipse 4x6s and 4x10s. The POS tape player that came with the car was replaced by some Eclipse deck. I also threw a JL Audio 8W1 in the passenger footwell powered by a Phoenix Gold 250 watt amp. I know the intake offers little to no performance gains, but I don't care because it was cheap and sounds good.

Shortly after graduation in June I picked up some WCF headers and a Borla exhuast and had them installed. Cat deleted as well. Later that month I had a little run in with a Lexus and fucked up the front of my car.
No pictures, sorry.
Damage wasn't actually that bad, but the fender, front fascia and hood were done for. I ordered a 355 style fascia from Twin Lakes to replace my busted up stock one. I had to go to college shorty after it arrived, so it all got put in storage for the winter and I went to school without a car. The next summer (2004) just prior to the front fascia being put on, my mom backed up into my car and messed up the driver's side fender, door panel and rocker. The parts car sacrificed its hood and fender for the cause due to the Lexus incident and I had to find another door panel and fender for the other side. Thus my badass colorscheme started.

That same summer I picked up an 84 K5 Blazer for a daily, so the riceresque primer paint didn't really matter too much.

Anyway, not much else got done that summer, the Fiero went back to storage and I went back to school.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Post by **Unsafe At Any Speed** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:40 pm

I had decided previously that I preferred the fastback body style, so over Winter break I swapped out the rear clips, decklid and grills for the Fastback parts. At the same time, the Stage 2 sidecoops I ordered over a year before (I was one of the one's with a lost shipment) were put on as well.
Before:

During:

After:

So, back to storage with no taillights and back to school with Blazer.
Part of the reason I wanted to do the fastback conversion in the first place was I love the 355 style taillight panels. So, I picked up one of those and the Vette lights that go with them. They went on after I went home for the summer. More colors.

That summer I also hooked up the MSD set-up (6A box, coil, wires) and NGK plugs I bought the previous school year. I also hooked up the nitrous set-up I bought from Shaun, but never got it working before I went to AFROTC Field Training that summer (2005). Between camp and some other not good family/personal issues, nothing else got done that summer.

I'll have more later. Feel free to comment, criticize, inquire and bash.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:04 am

Okay, this is somewhat out of order, but I forgot about the sub upgrade. So I had that 8W1 which sounded pretty good, but I wanted more so I decided to upgrade. I bought this center console box and JL Audio 10W6v2 off of Mr. Pat. To power it I picked up a Kicker 500.1 amp off of a friend for a good price. It's mounted up front above the spare and my Optima Red Top.

Also, I got these bass shakers and an amp from another friend for pretty cheap so I decided to give them a try. My step-dad and I fabbed up some brackets that mount to the seat frame so the vibration is felt throughout the seat. They also move with the seat. They add a nice little extra bass feeling.

Although I do like the current audio set-up, I plan to change it in the future. I want to get another sub and put one behind each seat as well as build a carputer with an in dash touch screen.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:21 am

Last school year I didn't really make much progress. Same goes for this last summer. Again, there were alot of issues which kept me from the car. Not to mention, I'm only in college and barely make any money and have bills to pay. But I did begin my trim/door handles delete. I mounted solenoids and door poppers in the door and door frame, respectively. They work, but they're not hooked up to my new alarm yet (pager, remote start, window roll down, yadda yadda). Not really wanting my first fiberglass project to be on a piece as big and crucial as the doors, I bought a pair of the fiberglass door skins that Driven Visions sells.

The wing has also since been removed since that picture. A few more exterior mods to go, and it should be ready for paint. I have one of the 360 style rear fascias with diffuser sitting in my storage garage ready to go on either this Spring Break or summer.

I also just bought Chris/Oslo's mustang style decklid vent off of his silver car. It's actually sitting right here next to me on the floor.

I need to put those two pieces on, the rest of the trim needs to get taken care of, I need to decide on rockers and a hood vent, and a few other minor things need to be take care of before it's ready for paint.

stimpy · Post by **stimpy** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:29 am

That rear bumper is sex. How is the quality of it?

Unsafe At Any Speed · Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:34 am

It looks pretty good. I can see a few places that it's not quite even but I think that will be hard to see once it's mounted. Also, I should do alittle finishing work anyway. As far as fitament goes, I have no idea yet. I'm telling ya, it looks badass though even just sitting next to me car.

befarrer · Post by **befarrer** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:36 am

What happened to the passenger side mirror? Looks bent downwards.

Pretty colorful car there. Looks like you are making good progress.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Post by **Unsafe At Any Speed** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 1:13 am

I think the mirror was just loose or something. I tightened it up better last time I put the new door panel on and it was alot more level. Oh yeah, some stupid girl hit my car in a parking lot in 2002 and broke the mirror and door panel. They must not have tightened it down well when it got fixed.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Post by **Unsafe At Any Speed** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 4:46 pm

Here's the only engine bay shot I have. It's blurry as hell, but it is just a 2.8 afterall.

Here's one that kinda shows the debadged headlight door.

And another showing the detrimmed door.

Pyrthian · Post by **Pyrthian** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:31 am

nice collection of body panels. right now it kinda reminds me of the Wendy's "mystery fish" - but, once its all painted - that will look great. the nose looks better than most noses like that - the slope is consistant with the hood slope - is that a new make? and by who?

dratts · Post by **dratts** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:03 pm

I'll be interested in what you end up with for a grill as I have a 355 replica and the best deal Ive seen for a real 355 grill was $300 from a dismantler. Car looks great. You've assembled a lot of parts that I think go together really well.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:44 pm

Pyrthian wrote:nice collection of body panels. right now it kinda reminds me of the Wendy's "mystery fish" - but, once its all painted - that will look great. the nose looks better than most noses like that - the slope is consistant with the hood slope - is that a new make? and by who?

Yeah, the slope isn't as bad as a lot of people like to claim. I got mine from Twin Lakes, but I beleive that the Fiero Warehouse now owns those molds. I beleive these are the 6th or so revision of the fascia. I have seen some pictures of the older ones and they do look a lot worse than mine I think.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:47 pm

dratts wrote:I'll be interested in what you end up with for a grill as I have a 355 replica and the best deal Ive seen for a real 355 grill was $300 from a dismantler. Car looks great. You've assembled a lot of parts that I think go together really well.

Right now I'm just going with the grill thats on there now. It came with the front end. I think it's just the grill off of some other car that was cut down to fit. I don't think it looks too bad, but I may go with something different later down the line. I will have black mesh in the scoops and vents, so I was thinking about maybe putting some of that in the front fascia opening but I'm not sure if it would look good or not.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Post by **Unsafe At Any Speed** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 2:24 pm

For sideskirts, I'm thinking about going with modified PISA ZR1 sideskirts like madcurl has on his silver choptop.

I think they might flow well with the 355 and 360 fascias. Subtle change from stock, but a somewhat different look.

Any thoughts, opinions or suggestions?

Unsafe At Any Speed · Post by **Unsafe At Any Speed** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:09 pm

I'm still undecided on the hood vent I want. I know I made a post about this earlier, but I think I have it pretty much narrowed down to a few options that I like.
There's the Fie Ro style vent as seen here on his and Yellowstone's cars:

The Warber style vent, seen here (not sure who's cars):

GTRWidebody/creator's vent as seen on the orange widebody:

And then there's the Driven Vison's vent as seen here on TroyBoy's and Motorhead's Fieros:

Any thoughts or other ideas? All four have their pros and cons. I'm having a hard time deciding which style vent would look best on my car and flow with the other mods well. If anyone is willing to whip up some photoshops, that would be great.

Also, if anyone has a problem with me using pictures of their cars, let me know.

crzyone · Post by **crzyone** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:15 pm

I like the driven visons vent, looks like it will flow a lot of air, not just cosmetic. Nice thing is you just have to buy it and install it instead of making it yourself.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Post by **Unsafe At Any Speed** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:24 am

I do already have a Warber panel, but I definatly see what you mean as for the function of the Driven Visions vent. I'm having a hard time visualizing how it would look with my front fascia and whether it matches up to the Stage 2's and Mustang vent. I used to be leaning toward a single vent design, but I dunno now. Dammit. I just need to make like 5 different hoods. :thumbleft:

stimpy · Post by **stimpy** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:07 pm

I could masturbate to that orange widebody. They just did an awesome job on that car.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Post by **Unsafe At Any Speed** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:02 am

stimpy wrote:I could masturbate to that orange widebody. They just did an awesome job on that car.

It definatly is one of the best looking Fieros around. I just wonder why they didn't get rid of the rest of the black trim.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Post by **Unsafe At Any Speed** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 3:41 am

Photoshop I just did. Gives somewhat of an idea of the look of the Driven Visions vent. I'm not the best at PS, so a little interpretation is needed.