Archive Page 2
I just set up a new image gallery that is integrated with the blog and updated the link. The only problem is now the images are out of order. Before they were in reverse order by date. From now on they will be ordered by date, but all my past photos will remain out of order. Oh well. The old gallery is still up at http://www.ricklord.com/galleries/formula/gallery.shtml for now. I will eventually redirect that page to the new gallery.
I will eventually (that word keeps coming up) categorize the images so you can view all pictures of the interior, exterior, or whatever.
I am making progress, slowly but surely. I mentioned in my last post that I have been gluing the gauge pod upholstery on little by little. Well, right after that I left town for a few days. So I should have the gauge pod done tonight if all goes well. I should also have the computer cover done tonight. Once the gauge pod is done I should be able to start putting the interior together. I’m putting off hooking up the vents for now and some gauges won’t work. My brand new VDO oil pressure sender doesn’t work and I lost the instructions to the tachometer. Other than that things should work. Eventually I will take things apart, get all the guages working, hook up the vents and clean up the wiring a bit. I still need to add turn signal indicator lights to the gauge cluster. While I’m doing that I might as well install the warning lights, though I may not hook them up yet. I really want to get this car back on the road so I can enjoy it for a little while. It’s been almost a year since I took it off the road. Besides, I have to have it emissions tested this month.
I should have pictures of the gauge pod and computer cover up tomorrow.
I posted some pics from the SEMA show to my personal site. I figure they might be of interest to anyone reading this. Gallery is here.
I’ve made a bit of progress over the last couple of weeks. I am having someone doing the sewing for the upholstery. She finished the gauge pod last week and gave me the lower dash and computer cover yesterday. Of course, I still have to put them on. I have been working on the gauge pod, gluing the material on little by little. I am horrified of screwing it up. I do not expect it to be perfect, this is my first time doing this, but I don’t want it to look like a child did it.
I have also rewired the main gauge pod. The first time I did it I didn’t do it very smartly. Now it looks much better. I have the gauge pod wiring mostly done, just have to connect the wires to the gauge. The only gauge left is the tach and I can’t find the instructions for it. I still have to install and wire turn signal indicators, check engine light and a warning light.
Obviously I am not going to have it driveable by tomorrow like I wanted, but it is nice seeing progress again. Once I get back from SEMA I am going to go all out trying to get it done. Well, I will get it done enough to drive it and be proud of it, then fine tune things later. You know, minor details like hooking up the vents and stuff.
More than a month later and I still haven’t accomplished much. After getting the 86 GT as done as it’s going to be, I started working on my Harley. The 86 is now my daily driver. I was going to sell it but with gas prices what they are my wife suggested we keep it for a while. I got my Harley put back together and it runs like crap. I’m very frustrated with it. I really don’t want to tear it down again. My Diablo has taken some of my attention lately also.
I haven’t completely ignored the Formula though. The other day I worked on the airbox. I was drilling holes in the plexiglass that is going to go over the airbox opening when it cracked. The plexiglass, not the airbox. That stuff was very difficult to cut and I cracked the first piece cutting it. I may just put some sealer over the crack and see if I can get away with that. It will look like hell but who cares? It won’t be visible when it’s installed.
I also tried working on the tail lights again. I had them all wired up and working at one point. Then I cut the wires so I could install the lights in the new panel. The plan was to add some extensions and use connectors behind the panel. Well, I wasn’t very good about keeping track of what wires wen’t where so now I have to figure it out again. Plus I couldn’t find the wire I bought for it. After a lot of frustration and searching I remembered I never did buy it. Oops.
I’d really like to get the car done enough to drive to Vegas for the Sema show next month. That means I have about 2.5 weeks. Everytime I think I can do it no problem I remember I have that freakin oil tube problem. That will make it very challenging. I will do what upholstery I can between now and then, but I’m still waiting on someone else to help me with the sewing. So I may just have to put those pieces in unfinished.
I just wanted to post to let everyone know I haven’t forgotten to post and haven’t abandoned the project. I have too many projects going right now and I’m trying to thin the herd. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks getting my 86 GT (the one that donated the body to this car) running and driveable so I can sell it. I only have a few minor things to do to it now, then I will focus on one of my other projects. I have the Franken Fiero and my Harley to work on. Not sure which I will do but I will probably focus on one of those until it is done. It will probably be the Harley since I am still waiting on someone for the Fiero upholstery. That should only take a week out of my time though, then I’ll be back on the FranenFormula full swing.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted an update but I have gotten a little bit of work done.
I finished cutting out the tail light panel holes, though it may still need some clean up. I finally got a body saw to make jobs like this easier, but when I was cutting the panel with it my air hose blew up. Son of a ……
I got the dash wiring cleaned up a bit. Now I can sit in the car and not get my feet tangled in the mess. Now the power door lock wiring won’t reach the switch, which is something I kind of expected anyway.
I swapped the rear wheels and wheel wells with my other car. Seemed like it took all day, but the wheel wells needed some modification and I was trying to get the other car running at the same time too.
That’s about it. I have someone lined up to do the sewing of the upholstery, just not sure when. So in the meantime I will do what I can and get the pieces in place that I can. That reminds me, I still have to mount the light switch to the lower dash and hook up the vents. There is an end in site though and I think I’m pretty close to the home stretch.
In case I never mentioned it before, there were some things I had planned that I am putting off now. I was going to install a decent stereo system and move the heater controls to behind the fake passenger side air bag cover. Then I was going to turn the air bag cover into a glove box door. Oh and make a glove box too. It’s these kinds of things that make a project drag out so darn long. In fact it’s partly why this has gone on as long as it has (Started in January), because I have held off doing some things while trying to figure out how to handle other things. In fairness to me though, I have not only been working on the interior. I’ve also converted it to a GT, added power windows and door locks and added Lamborghini tail lights. Well, I finally decided to just get it done. I’m going to put the heater controls where the stereo would go and leave the airbag cover alone. Then I can get it back on the road and enjoy it. Then I can deal with the other things as I feel ambitious.
Last night I managed to get all the holes for the lights cut out. That was a pain. I don’t think that a dremel cutting bit was the right tool for the job. I then tried to mount the tail light housings on the panel, but the lights don’t want to fit now that I have the wiring on there. It’s a little hard to explain without a picture but I’ll do my best. The tail lights are three pieces. There is the lens, the housing, and an insert piece that the bulbs sit in. One the back of the insert there are connector things to connect your wiring to. Problem is, when I connect my connectors to them, they stick out too far. I almost had it fitting, but when bending one of the tabs to try to make it fit, the tab broke. $%^&*! I am this close to just welding the damn wires to it!
Got a little bit of work done last night. I got my old lady to help too. We started cutting out the holes for the lights. Got two of them done and the bit broke on the third. I’ll have to get a new bit tonight. I worked on the wiring a bit. The wires keep pulling out of these connectors so I tried to make them a little more secure. I cut off the unused sockets and wrapped the wires in electrical tape. Oh, and my turn signals work without me having to dork them up. I thought I was going to have to make it so the brake light or backup light flashed when the turn signals were on. Without having two bulbs in the back they wouldn’t flash. But I found out if you swap the turn signal flasher mudule thing with one for the hazard lights they work fine with one bulb. So I stole one from my other Fiero and everything works great now.
I’ve come across another challenge. This tail light panels has six screws along the top (like stock), and two on the bottom sides. You are supposed to put the panel in place, then reach in through one of the holes and screw in the bottom sides. Problem is these lights will be attached by sandwiching the panel between the housing and the lens. That means the lights have to be in place before I install the panel, so there won’t be any holes to reach through. Not sure how I will handle that yet.
My connectors came in today. They will do quite nicely.
I had to work overtime again today so no work on the formula. I’m starting to consider paying someone to do the sewing on the upholstery. That is my biggest hold up right now. That and my lazy ass.