Dale Van Blokland / Lamborghini

Couple small changes. I added the rain gutter between the rear deck lid and the the trunk. Also changed out the ABS in back of the mirror. I've only done passenger side at this point as I had to redo that mirror to increase the angle so I could see. This involved cutting out the shell that was in the mirror and relocating the motor at a different angle.

I finished off the trunk area with the trunk lining. I started by coating the two areas that house the gas shocks with trunk splatter. I then lined the inside of the trunk with trunk felt. I did install an insulated pad on the floor to keep the heat out. I have also removed my wing for a while and filled the holes with carriage bolts that I ground smooth and painted.

I have decided on a simpler solution for the gas release. The plastic Fiero Gas release did not have enough strength to pop the door. I used a simple choke release cable instead

I installed a longer cable on the gas filler release. You can actually take the filler door release apart and insert a new cable. I fed the cable into the drivers compartment just in front of the drivers seat. By cutting an opening in the side wall, you can actually fit the Fiero Gas opener into the opening and fasten it to the floor. Carpeting and padding will cover the flange.

Started on the weatherseal around the motor deck lid area.

Working on the mechanism to release the latches that hold the roof on the decklid. Bought a 50# solenoid from Autolock to open the latches. I fabricated a piece of angle iron with two holes for the cables that will be bolted to a bracket. a second angle iron is used to hold the cable ends. By using a bolt I can adjust the tension on the solenoid. The bicycle cable are run to the latches and terminated in the center of the decklid to be connected to the solenoid. Connected everything, pushed the button and it isn't strong enogh to open them. I will have to keep working on it. This was most of the weekend's work. Sometimes it goes very slow with limited results.

The rear bumper and wing have been primed with the catalytic primer. Working on the body where the bumper will fit. Bottom picture with it all back on.

Beginning to prep pieces for the first coat of primer/filler. Sanded everything down with 80 grit, filled holes, dings, etc. As you can see for this stage, the garage is acting as a paint booth. All will have to be sanded with 120 grit then coated with a sealer primer.

Started closing in the trunk. I'm using 28ga galvanized metal in precut 24" x 30" sheets. I do not have a break machine so I am using C clamps and gentle pressure to make the bends. I have pop riveted the metal in the bottom. I will use screws on the sides as I will have to be able to remove the panels to get to the lights. I am using poster board to start making templates to use for cutting the last pieces of metal. I cut openings in the side that I will cover with a removable panel that will allow me to have access to the lights and grills

A little more work on the key mechanism to open the trunk. I reworked the rod and connected the two pieces with a threaded coupling. I added a return spring to the lock to pull it back after it was opened.I installed solenoids to open the motor deck lid and also installed one in the trunk. Both will be controlled by a push button in the cockpit. The key will open the trunk in the event there is power loss. Finished sheet metalling solenoid in place

Ray has a new receiver that has a flexible pivot point that can be used for accepting the pins from the roof. They look like a bearing with a flexible center. I spot welded one to a piece of channel iron, put a tab on the top, positioned the roof on the deck lid and then bondoed the receiver in place. After it was dry, I used more fiberglass to secure it permanently. I then covered the glass with a coat of bondo and built it up. What you see in the pictures is the unfinished product.

I fastened my plastic tubing to the front of the deck lid to keep it in place.

Time to redo the deck lid braces. The braces that I had glassed to the deck lid didn't provide the rigidity for the shocks. I decided to use the technique that I had used on the rear trunk. I removed the tabs that held the shock ball, bent 1/2" tube to fit the shape of the inside of the deck lid. I drilled holes in the bottom of the tube to allow the bondo to better grip the tube. I welded the tabs onto the tube. I also devised a way to route the bicycle cable through the tube that will eventually open the roof receivers. I used plastic tube that you would use for a refrigerator ice maker. It is just the right diameter to allow the bicycle cable to be inserted. I drilled a hole in the tube and then ground it to an angle to allow the tubing to protrude. I applied bondo to the bottom of the tube, clamped it in place and after it was dry, covered it with glass mat. Repeat on other side and now the decklid is extra strong and works well. Hindsite being 20/20, I should have created a hinge that had the tubing on it like I did for the small trunk, then simply fastened the decklid to the hinge structure.

In going through some parts off of the Fiero, I ran across the front hinges that were used on the original trunk. They were nice and heavy and thought that they could be modified to make a stronger hinge for the motor deck lid. The picture shows the unmodified Fiero hinge and the modification made by cutting off the ends and welding one end on as a tab. It worked out very nicely.

I got gas shocks from IFG to raise the motor deck lid. I fabricated two brackets to hold the shock balls. I used a 2 x 3 tube to mount to the body and a bracket was then bondoed and glassed to the deck lid. I will need to ad some additional bracing to keep the deck straight under pressure from the shocks.

I decided to create a grill to fill in the area between the motor deck lid and the trunk. I made the shape out of 3/4" tube and then fabricated a Tab on the bottom to hold the pin to close the deck lid. I created a frame to hold the grill in place. I then bondoed it in place on the deck lid. It now serves as the grill and the latch for closing the deck lid.

The latch was attached to a 1" tube that was then bolted to the firewall to accept the pin from the grill bracket.

I removed the rear bumper to start working on connecting lights. This was a good time to take pictures of how the holes are cut in the bumper to fasten the two pieces together. The bottom photo shows how the metal was inserted into the bumper mount. Fastened in place with a countersunk screw and then two holes were drilled and tapped in the metal bar to accept the bolts from the car.

To mount the shock brackets for the trunk, I fabricated a frame that would hold the ball ends of the brackets as well as a plate to hold the rear latch. I decided to use the Fiero latch for the trunk

More Fiero hinges. I thought that I would modify them for the rear trunk. I worked on this for a full day before I finally scrapped it all and just used the hinge pin itself. I decided to use a hinge that was the full width of the trunk lid where I could fasten the shock brackets directly to the bar instead of stressing the trunk. I mounted the Trunk pin directly in the metal framework of the trunk. I will build it up to give it a nicer finish. I bondoed and later glassed in plates to the trunk lid that would allow me to bolt it to my long hinges.

In order to use the key for the trunk, I did not want to have the opening in the middle of the grill. I moved it off to the left in a tiny spot next to the tail light and above the grill. This was challenging to create a solution. There happened to be some body steel where I needed to mount this. After removing the steel and getting the hole cut, I had to figure out how to hold it in position. I ended up taking a 1" square tube, welded nuts on each side, bolted the lock in place. I then made a pivot arm and secured it between two brackets that would keep the key shaft in place. I welded a bracket to that assembly that I could bolt to the Trunk frame. This allows me to take it out if I need to. Because the receiver for the trunk release had been moved, I had to make another pivot arm for the latch. I drilled holes in the arms and using a series of rods that were placed through the tubes of the trunk frame, I can now open the trunk with the key.

I created the opening for the side name plate using the same technique that I used on the side marker lights.

I began the process to mount the roof to the deck lid. I started by cutting out the openings on the deck lid with a hole saw to match the diameter of the receiving units. I turned the deck lid upside down, placed a board under the openings, set the receivers in bondo. The board kept the receiver tops flush with the top of the deck lid. I will glass over the bondo later on. I used bicycle cables to release the latch mechanisms from inside the cockpit. I will probably use the interior door handles from the Fiero as the inside release

Next was to fasten the pins to the inside of the roof section. The easiest way to find the mounting points was to set the roof in place and then insert a pen through the recivers to mark the center. The front edge should be slightly back of the rear window tunnel. Cut a slot in the roof panel large enough to accept the bottom part of the pin. Use the washer and nut to lock it in place.

I started laying out the floor in the trunk. I have not fastened anything down yet as I still have to pull the body once more for final fittings. After the body was removed, I test fitted the heat shield.

I have inserted an inline radiator filler to make it easier to fill.

I attached the radiator frame to the standoff from the body. I also started the base of the trunk floor with 1 x 2. I test fitted the heat shield that will be placed between the muffler and the floor of the trunk.

Because my roadster was one of the first ones, there was a design problem where the motordecklid had a slight sag and which caused an alignment problem with the trunk lid. The solution was to create an additional metal brace that went into the edge area of the decklid. By using a c-clamp to hold it in place, I then used glass mat to hold the decklid to the metal brace and maintain the proper alignment.

I started to put the bolts in the wings. I bought carrage bolts and ground them down on two sides. I made a hole in the wing to accept the slotted bolts. The inside of the wing is hollow so I am in the process of filling it with foam to reduce the amount of resin that will have to be used.. Once the cavity is filled, I will position the bolts and them fill the cavity with fiberglass resin to anchor the bolts.

I installed the motor decklid and trunk.

IFG faxed me some additional details on installing the motor decklid. I decided not to use the standoffs that I fabricated earlier. The solution from Ray is much cleaner that what I was planning. It involved modifying the hinges to match the faxed drawing.

Worked on the motor deck lid brackets. IFG has an option to build up from the firewall. I am trying a different method. I welded a 1 x 3 to the inside of the metal framing. This will rest on the top of the firewall. From that piece I welded a 1" square tube. I drilled a hole and welded a 1/4" bolt to hold the bracket. The top right shows the hinge as seen from the bottom of the car looking up.