Jan 05 - When you start to do one thing...

But then you wind up doing another.

I did that today.

I went out to the car to work on the steering.  I've really been wanting to put that to bed.  Just all of the physical mounting of the hardware.  It feels like it looms over me.  Been wanting it done!  :-D

So my son comes out to help me on the car.  I'm like I really want the steering done today.  He's like ok.  But there is only so much I can have him do while I'm there too on the front of the car.  So he goes to start working out the last of the shifter install.  Cables, adjustments, working out what needs to line up where so we can actually shift gears.  As it was, the cables were connected but we couldn't row through the gears.  There was too much out of spec on the alignment of things.  I hadn't had time to work it out yet and wasn't going to today.

Then I went to the store for more hardware (nuts/bolts/etc).  I come back and he has this idea of shifting the car into reverse to get the max travel required and then we'd see where things lines up to see what all we needed to do.  Made sense to me so I jumped in and helped out there a bit.  Then back to the steering.

Long story, short, I didn't get the steering all lined up and tacked in like I wanted, but we did get the shifting done.  To the point, that I lack a very minor adjustment to one of the cables throw, and need to source a couple of the clips that holds the cables to their mounts.

So I can neutral the car and shift most positively through most of the gears.  I think it'll try to jump out of gear in a couple of them, hence the slight adjust still needed.  But too, it may just be that once I get the proper clips on there, it may hold it well enough that taking the slop out of it will better engage the gear and I'll be done.

So I'm very glad I was able to pretty much check that one off now.  So I'm not so fussed that I went to do one thing and then it turned out to be another; as long as I (we) made progress and got another chapter down.  I'm happy!  :-)

Had to cut an 1 inch and  3/8th's out of it and then it was able to throw the levers like should.

 

Views of both sides of my weld.

It was easy to line the part up as there is a hump in the middle of the plate that allows you not to lose place.

I mounted the shifter back into the car after I cut it and took the grinder to both parts for a nice bevel.  I put a piece of thick sheet metal under the tab piece to keep it lifted from the top of the tunnel as I welded the two back together while it was in the car.

Then I removed it again and flipped it over to make a final weld across the bottom of it.  Ground it smooth and called it a day.

Installed back into the car for the last time and hooked all of the rods up to the shifter.

All the way into reverse from the lever.  Pretty nice.  It works like it should.

Here's how far I did get with the steering.  It won't be crooked as it is in the picture once done.  It wasn't being supported anymore in this shot.

I did mock up the new location pretty well.  I do have a beginning on some supports.  It's not a waste of time.  I got some things figured out that needed figured out.  I got some progress in there.  I did hose up my rack so I'll be going back to my buddy's place for another one.

If you're into 3rd Gen and newer F-body GM cars, then he's your man!
http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/

Check him out.  He's started from his garage out back of his house and has grown over the years to something pretty good sized.  :-)  I'll be hitting him up for some dyno time this coming spring I'm sure.

I just got a notice from eBay, I won the bid on the electric power steering pump!!!  I'm gonna go pay for that sucker and get it in here!!!  I'm doing the 2000-2005 MR2 Spyder one.  There's a very nice install write up on that from a guy with a Red Fiero.  I'll have to look him up again so I can give him props here.

Jan 02 - They don't make them like this anymore

I've had a few people asking about my coil over suspension.  They're really good quality and the company who made them, did a very good job at making them a bolt on application for the 84-87 Fieros.  The rear setups are here for reference of those who may be interested in how they're made.  Hopefully enough can be gained from the pictures to help others out in their own fab builds for themselves.

As much as I don't like rust, it may actually help here in seeing the contrast of the different elements and help distinguish the parts.  :-)

These are 27 spline S-10 Blazer front hubs from the 4x4 (of course).

The end of an S-10 4x4 Blazer axle actually pokes out more than is needed here and has to be trimmed to fit center caps on the wheels once mounted.

These photos should allow to be zoomed into.

Jan 02 - Steering into the right direction

I've read up quite a bit on the power steering scene on the Fiero forums and such.  For what will work best for me, I'm finally getting together. 

I'm also using my original 95TA steering wheel, so I have a different angle need from those who are keeping their Fiero steering wheel.  (I wanted my buttons on my wheel for the tunes, I still like to use them.)

I need a steering rack from an LS1 F-body (98-02), check. 
I need to cut the original mounting locations off of that rack, check. 
I need a plate to make a mount for the rack to mount to, check.
I will use the 2000 - 2005 MR2 Spyder electric power steering pump assembly (includes ECU and reservoir), on it's way from eBay.

I've cut off the tabs on my rack and the drivers side original Fiero rack mount from the cross member.  I'm basically looking over what WCF says to do overall for the physical install bit, and what Spoon over at Pennock's forum is saying about the MR2 electric power steering unit.

I've copied a couple of pics from VWvortex forums for the wiring illustrations for this setup as well.

So today I got all of the cutting done.  Still need to drill a few holes, make a baby bracket and put it together, but I had to POR it once I was done that far along so it'll set up overnight. 

Here's what it looks like now.

Jan 01 - Shift into a new year

I know that might sound like I'm stealing it from Nissan, but not really. An old ad campaign that they once had. What I'm talking about is my new shifter. Ok the shifter isn't new, it was rusty and I got it cleaned up with the help of my son. But once that got freed up, then we installed the new shift cables I got in from Rodney Dickman. Got everything attached up and connected it up. Only thing I'm missing now is the clips that hold the bushings on the shift cable for the bracket where it connects on the transmission side.

I tried printing some clips on my 3d printer which I will still pursue but they're only temporary until I find the proper metal clips.  It looks like the ABS won't hold up to the pressure and it'll allow the bushings to slide out of the bracket.