Post by: Karidan on November 28, 2015, 12:16:44 pm
My car get hit in the rear awhile back and I'm just now getting around to really surveying the damage and looing into what it might take to fix it. It's an 85 SE. After pulling the bumper cover off it looks like the rear support and honeycomb took the bulk of the impact but my trunk is also dented in and there looks to be some damage (minor? I hope) the driver's side frame rail where the support bolts on. Also, although the bumper cover didn't tear it looks to have been deformed by the bent support underneath. Even after removing it from the car its misshapen.
First thing is I'll have to replace the support and honeycomb- can I pull this from any bumper pad notchback? Can the bumper cover be repaired or is this cover common enough it would be cheaper to just replace and paint? Is the frame horn and trunk damage a simple fix or should I leave this to a professional- any idea on what I should expect to pay someone to go this route?
Post by: Karidan on November 28, 2015, 12:21:43 pm
Post by: f85gtron on November 28, 2015, 01:16:26 pm
If that doesn't work, You could always fire up that Delorean in the background, hit 88mph, introduce 1.21 jiggawatts, and travel back in time to before the accident (or even further to buy crash parts?)
Need more pics of the Delorean ;)
Post by: Fierofool on November 28, 2015, 01:29:25 pm
Your picture host doesn't allow non-members and visiting guests to see the pics. When you have time, download the Georgia Fieros image posting program in the Administrators Announcement section. With it, you can post pictures on almost any forum and they will remain there until they're physically removed and everyone can see them.
Now, to your body repair questions. I've seen much worse damage being repaired. ThaDriver of this forum has a paint and body shop and is intimately familiar with the Fiero. A year or two back he repaired an 88GT that was hit on that corner at about 50MPH. He may even be able to give you some advise on repairing it yourself. Contact Paul Angel at Imthadriver "at" Yahoo dot Com He has a number of Fiero bodies at his shop so he may have a decent rear fascia.
The rear honeycomb and other bolt-ons from any bumper pad Fiero should work. The only thing I'm not sure about is the fascia. If yours has double exhaust cutouts, only the 85SE V6 fascia will work. Repairing a dented fascia would require sending all the finish off, re-priming and painting to avoid spider cracks from coming back through the new paint.
Where are you located?
Post by: Karidan on November 28, 2015, 01:46:04 pm
Fortunately I've managed to never crash the DeLorean but I've had my share of close calls. I actually bought the Fiero so I'd have something to play with (i.e. make go fast) and no be tempted to try to modify it.
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Post by: Karidan on November 28, 2015, 02:06:23 pm
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Post by: f85gtron on November 28, 2015, 02:14:51 pm
Post by: Karidan on November 28, 2015, 02:28:55 pm
Since it's picture posting day I want to share a pic of what my clutch did. :) I've done several clutch replacements on all kinds of vehicles but I've never seen one fail like this. I'm writing it off to cheap stock clutch, hard driving, and the extra torque of the 3.4.
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Post by: Tha Driver on November 28, 2015, 02:39:35 pm
I'm up near Commerce. You can PM me or email me at ImThaDriver at yahoo.
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"
Custom Fiberglass Parts (http://angelonearth.net/customfiberglass/)
Post by: Fierofool on November 28, 2015, 02:56:25 pm
I've been running a LUK stock clutch kit in my 3.4 and so did Don Hulse. Neither of us had any problems.
Post by: Raydar on November 28, 2015, 04:04:57 pm
I did the same thing with a Miata bumper cover that had been driven under the back of a pickup, with enough force to trigger the air bags. Took an hour or so.
You should be able to coerce the frame horns back into shape with a hammer and a backup block (dolly block?) of some sort.
Bolt on a replacement bumper bar and make sure that it's even, from side to side.
I had a fiero with a trunk that was caved in from underneath, from someone trying to place a jack under the trunk well to lift the car. I placed some boards in the trunk floor, and placed a small floor jack on top of them, in the trunk. I then jacked against the back edge of the trunk to push the floor back out.
You may be able to do something similar with your trunk wall.
Post by: Karidan on November 29, 2015, 08:46:46 am
@Fierofool: I almost bought a Luk but Rock Auto emailed me awhile back about a wholesaler closeout on a Valeo 5230221 clutch kit for $44.75. We'll see how long that lasts. I took another look at the throwout bearing that came with the last clutch and now I'm suspecting it as the culprit. Its rattles and has a lot of play to it. Come to think of it there was a bit of a hiss in neutral with the clutch out on the day it failed.
@Raydar, Fierfool: It looks like it might be hard to replace the cover if I mess up. Looks like the 85 GT didn't have bumper pads and the other bumper pad Fieros of any year didn't have dual exhaust. Mine says SE on the sails and is badged 2M6 on the decklid. The car came with a plaque mounted inside that reads "Custom built for Chris Knighton" (the previous owner who I bought it from)
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http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/089741.html
Post by: Fierofool on November 29, 2015, 09:40:20 am
Georgia Fieros has 5 or 6 aero rear fascias stored at TopNotch's in Lawrenceville if you wanted to go that route. You would also need the egg crate for the aero fascia. The fender well liner is slightly different, not having the little filler piece that covers the extra aero flare at the bottom.
My sister worked at Boomershine during the era of the Fiero and her 86 Trans Am had a plaque like that. It was a beautiful copper color car. I don't know that she had it specially ordered or anything special the dealer did to it. I thought it was such a beautiful car at the time, but have since come to dislike that long back glass with the whale tale spoiler.
Just out of curiosity, I looked up Christopher V. Knighton and he lives in Marietta. You might be able to get some history on the car.
OOPS! Didn't see that you already know where he is since he sold it to you.
Post by: Raydar on November 29, 2015, 07:16:28 pm
It looks like it might be hard to replace the cover if I mess up.
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What are your options? Either fix that one or find a replacement?
Unless I'm missing something, the damage doesn't look too bad.
Truth be told, If it were still summer, you could probably drape the bumper cover over a sawhorse in the sun, and gravity combined with the heat from the sun on that black paint would probably almost pull it back into shape.
I'm pretty sure you're not going to damage anything with a hair dryer. Probably not even with a heat gun.
I'm not too far from you. Hwy 92 at Brownsville. I'm having some (hopefully minor) health issues at the moment, but once I get an "all clear", maybe I can mess with it. Will be a few weeks.
Here's a video. Not too hard...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qjb4I9kTy0
Here's the repaired Miata bumper. It was crushed down over the driver's side parking light. If you look carefully, you can see the scratches under the light. It wasn't even repainted before I put it on the car.
Post by: Karidan on December 05, 2015, 08:21:07 am
Sorry to hear you're not feeling well. It doesn't sound like you're too far away- I'm near 278 (Jimmy Lee Smith) and 61 (Villa Rica Highway). I know Brownsville Road and 278 is just on the other side of Hiram, maybe 15 minutes. I'd have to look at a map to see where it intersects with 92.
Let me know when you're feeling better maybe we can meet up sometime.
Post by: f85gtron on December 05, 2015, 12:13:19 pm
Post by: Raydar on May 01, 2016, 06:01:14 pm
Did you find a replacement bumper bar and energy absorber?
I'm committed for, probably, the next three weekends, but after that I should be able to come up and see if I can make myself useful. I can also shoot you John's (the body man) info if you need it.
Post by: Karidan on May 05, 2016, 11:58:33 pm
Great meeting you too. Meant to reply earlier but this has been a crazy week :-\
Yes, the group was kind enough to pass a slightly used but very well loved bumper reinforcement my way along with a good absorber. I took a couple of pics side by side with the replacement- didn't realize how bent my old one was. I set it on some sawhorses and set my bumper cover on it and hopefully gravity will do its work. I lashed it through the bolt holes with parachute cord to hold it straight and tight against the bar. I'll check it out this weekend and maybe apply a little heat and see if I can reshape it a bit.
I'm busy too for the next couple of weekends but I'll hit you up toward the end of the month and see if we can get together. It would give me some time to clean up too, seriously it looks like Fiero threw up in here.
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Post by: Raydar on May 06, 2016, 06:14:44 am