Slow progress lately but here's a few things
Nothing too new lately, I started mounting the parts that I recently built, also started working on the fastback sails to the notchback rear end. Also started thinking more about the rear hatch and how to do it and not pictured yet is a cardboard cutout/shape scoop for the air intake on the intercooler. Just about got my rear swaybar so I can finish the suspension work 100%, but I still have to wait a week or two more before I get it in.
Small update
I know its been a week since my last posting, there has been a little progress, also I brought in the first body piece for test fitting and modifications. This week I have mounted the transmission bracket for the cables, I still have some work to do to this piece, it seems the angle of the lateral cable to the transmission lever is out a little bit so that I can't properly engage reverse gear, also I think that I need to add a bracket to hold the cable in place, they seem to come out too easy.
Progress has been made with other small pieces on the car, I have welded in the meth pump support bracket, nitrous solenoid bracket and engine coolant overflow tank. Tomorrow I have a new front trunk tray (for the lack of a better term, basically its going to be a larger lower trunk area where the spare tire usually goes) I made it larger so that I can fit a battery and the nitrous tank, also I have a battery bracket and meth tank brackets that will mount to the car.
In one of the pictures you will see the trimmed piece of a GT fastback that will ultimately be glassed onto the original notchback. The funny thing is that I was looking at the intercooler/support bar/notchback and had the idea that I could install a curved window that could still keep the notchy look but still have the room for the intercooler.......think about the late 80's mustang coupe rear window, but then the more I thought about it the more I didn't like the idea.
Progress has been made with other small pieces on the car, I have welded in the meth pump support bracket, nitrous solenoid bracket and engine coolant overflow tank. Tomorrow I have a new front trunk tray (for the lack of a better term, basically its going to be a larger lower trunk area where the spare tire usually goes) I made it larger so that I can fit a battery and the nitrous tank, also I have a battery bracket and meth tank brackets that will mount to the car.
In one of the pictures you will see the trimmed piece of a GT fastback that will ultimately be glassed onto the original notchback. The funny thing is that I was looking at the intercooler/support bar/notchback and had the idea that I could install a curved window that could still keep the notchy look but still have the room for the intercooler.......think about the late 80's mustang coupe rear window, but then the more I thought about it the more I didn't like the idea.
Shifter assembly and cables
Started working on the shifter assembly this past weekend, I was hoping to change a few things from the factory Fiero and ION shifter assemblies, I wanted to move the shifter pivots low in the assembly and move the linkages up above the pivots, this shouldn't affect operation since I have only moved the linkages to the other side of the fulcrum keeping the distance the same as before, but what I do gain in moving the shifter pivot lower down is (hopefully) more movement in the shifter without adjusting the throw.....because I want to run a Ferrari style gate on my console and I hope with these adjustments I will be able to.
Also instead of running custom cables, I am using the stock ION cables with extensions and heim joints, in doing this I wanted to keep custom made parts to a minimum in case there is ever a need for a replacement part they will be off the shelf pieces (yes I know my suspension is custom, but I tried to use standard off the shelf racing parts and standard GM parts as much as possible, the only real custom parts in the suspension is the front and rear knuckles)
This week I am hoping to start mounting other pieces in the engine bay and front boot like the nitrous tank, meth tank, overflow tank, meth pump, nitrous solenoids, battery, etc. This weekend I should be bringing the first body piece to the shop for test fit and customization. On to a few pics.......
Also instead of running custom cables, I am using the stock ION cables with extensions and heim joints, in doing this I wanted to keep custom made parts to a minimum in case there is ever a need for a replacement part they will be off the shelf pieces (yes I know my suspension is custom, but I tried to use standard off the shelf racing parts and standard GM parts as much as possible, the only real custom parts in the suspension is the front and rear knuckles)
This week I am hoping to start mounting other pieces in the engine bay and front boot like the nitrous tank, meth tank, overflow tank, meth pump, nitrous solenoids, battery, etc. This weekend I should be bringing the first body piece to the shop for test fit and customization. On to a few pics.......
Front suspension update 9
This is going to be a quick update, but the Fiero inner tie rods have seemed to work great with the ION outer tie rods (Thanks Rourke), I need to do some lock to lock steering tests to see how everything works together.
Wheels are on for the first time in almost 2 years!
Well I was thinking that it was going to take longer to do than I thought, but it wasn't, today I got both front wheels on and I removed the dolly that the car has been sitting on for almost 2 years.
So far everything looks good and there isn't much that I can see currently that requires any adjustment or modifications. The chassis is sitting 4.25" off the ground currently, but since I am using coilovers I have the ability to adjust that up higher as I see fit.
Keep in mind that I still need to do a rough alignment before I do the final welding to all the components and tighten everything to its final position. Also the first pics are from a couple days ago when I got the ION steering column married to the car and the Fiero steering rack.
So far everything looks good and there isn't much that I can see currently that requires any adjustment or modifications. The chassis is sitting 4.25" off the ground currently, but since I am using coilovers I have the ability to adjust that up higher as I see fit.
Keep in mind that I still need to do a rough alignment before I do the final welding to all the components and tighten everything to its final position. Also the first pics are from a couple days ago when I got the ION steering column married to the car and the Fiero steering rack.
Front suspension update 8
This is going to be a quick update, today I am going to be working on completing all the pieces for the other side of the suspension, most of the pieces were built/cut/welded when I built the first side to ensure that they would be symmetrical, but I avoided doing all the work so that I could focus time on ensuring that everything would work. I am hoping to get the car sitting on four wheels in the next two days, unfortunately I am not on my home computer right now and I don't have the pictures of the ION steering column and custom/hybrid Fiero/ION steering link connecting the ION steering column to the Fiero rack, that will be the update later today. What I do have for you right now is the Corvette rotor with Brembo test fit with the rim, you might notice in the picture that the bracket I have doesn't fit right, I am going to have to get a custom one made up but in reality that doesn't need to be done right now seeing as the car needs to be torn down after the fabrication is done for dipping and painting so I can put that design on the back burner and build it during final assembly.
Front Suspension update 7
Today I got a few parts that I had on order for a couple months, which was great because I got to mount one of the wheels on my front suspension. Unfortunately I didn't take progress pictures of the buildup, I bolted everything together and then figured that I should have taken a few pictures.
Everything went well, had some machining to do to the knuckle to get the cobalt hub to fit (there was a slight change between the ION and Cobalt knuckles), the upper ball joint from the Impala seems to work well on the ION knuckle, I still need to weld one of the clevises to the ball joint plate but I want to get the camber close to stock with the car on the ground before I do that. I did run into a problem with the Corvette rotors, they hit the lower Cobalt/ION ball joint, I need to either switch rotors or add 1/2" of spacers, I was thinking of a 1/4 on the knuckle to hub and another 1/4" between the rotor and the hub face.........but this will be up in the air for a while, I want to check the front brake caliper placement with the Corvette rotor before making the decision. Also CCfiero called it, I will have to do something with the tie rod being bolted into the upper position of the ION knuckle, with the location of the stock Fiero steering rack the tie rod would be on the completely wrong angle when compared to the lower control arm, in its current setup I would have some really massive bump steer issues, I will have to look at tapering the ION knuckle to the other side, or run a similar setup to CCfiero's build with a heim joint for the tie rod.
I did get the front wheel mounted and checked my spring height compared to the rear end........low and behold they are the same height, not bad for a guess (well not really I did measure it out a bit, but it did take a bit of luck as well). I lifted both tires to the point where the springs are sitting properly in the spring perch and without the weight of the car on the springs the lowest setting of the coilovers will put the frame 5" off the ground. Add a couple thousand pounds and it should sit another inch lower, granted this is at its lowest setting, I do have the ability to lift the car almost 5" with these coilovers.
Now for some pictures
Everything went well, had some machining to do to the knuckle to get the cobalt hub to fit (there was a slight change between the ION and Cobalt knuckles), the upper ball joint from the Impala seems to work well on the ION knuckle, I still need to weld one of the clevises to the ball joint plate but I want to get the camber close to stock with the car on the ground before I do that. I did run into a problem with the Corvette rotors, they hit the lower Cobalt/ION ball joint, I need to either switch rotors or add 1/2" of spacers, I was thinking of a 1/4 on the knuckle to hub and another 1/4" between the rotor and the hub face.........but this will be up in the air for a while, I want to check the front brake caliper placement with the Corvette rotor before making the decision. Also CCfiero called it, I will have to do something with the tie rod being bolted into the upper position of the ION knuckle, with the location of the stock Fiero steering rack the tie rod would be on the completely wrong angle when compared to the lower control arm, in its current setup I would have some really massive bump steer issues, I will have to look at tapering the ION knuckle to the other side, or run a similar setup to CCfiero's build with a heim joint for the tie rod.
I did get the front wheel mounted and checked my spring height compared to the rear end........low and behold they are the same height, not bad for a guess (well not really I did measure it out a bit, but it did take a bit of luck as well). I lifted both tires to the point where the springs are sitting properly in the spring perch and without the weight of the car on the springs the lowest setting of the coilovers will put the frame 5" off the ground. Add a couple thousand pounds and it should sit another inch lower, granted this is at its lowest setting, I do have the ability to lift the car almost 5" with these coilovers.
Now for some pictures
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