Side louvers. IFG provided the fiberglass louvers for the side. I
filled in the backside with bondo. I made a decision to actually bond them
in instead of using fasteners. I believe it will give the car a more
finished look. It is important to do the back one first and then to the
front one. Each end was set in bondo and then the edges sanded smooth.
Finished the drivers side louvers.
 
 
 
 
I have bondoed the center Brake light holder into the roof section.
 
I fabricated the wing rod by taking a #10 rod coupler and drilled and
tapped a #10 x 32 hole through the side to accept a #10 allen head
stainless steel screw. I then cut a notch to go around the tab on the wing
and the wing leg. I cut and treaded a rod to fit the #10 x24 rod coupler.
I put a #10 nut on one end of the threads to act as a lock nut. I can now
adjust the wing flap based on how the rod is threaded.
 
 
I created two metal ends and welded a rod between them. This will be
drilled to accept a 1/4" rod for the hinge pin. I fabricated a connection
point that will allow me to adjust the wing. This required slotting the
wing flap. I then fiber glassed the rod into the wing flap. The wing
itself was filled with foam to fill the cavity. I then used fiberglass mat
to fill in the area that was open. I had also fastened metal plates into
the edge of the wing to accept the hinge pin. I will fabricate a rod to
tie from the wing strut to the wing flap which will allow me to adjust
it.
 
 
 
I purchased a flasher for the third brake light that actually goes on
a motorcycle. When you step on the brakes it flashes for three seconds,
goes steady for three seconds and then repeats the cycle. I did this so
people would notice the car.
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As promised, I finished the wiring diagram on how to connect the
lamborghini lights. I have created a PDF file. You will need Adobe Acrobat
Reader which is a free download.
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Spent most of the month working on wiring and helping my Son with his
wedding. Chad and Kim were married on the 21st of October.
When I made
the decision to use real lamborghini lights, I didn't know what would be
involved in hooking them up. IFG uses the normal Fiero holders and their
lenses. The Fiero has more lights than Lamborghini. The Chilton's wiring
diagram is very good. However, when the brakes were applied, the amber
lenses for the turn signals were also illuminated. It was necessary to add
a seperate relay for the brakes. I am working on the drawing and I will
post it when completed. I used a 6 socket Painless connector, 2 for turn
signal and three for tail/brake lights. I spent about 2 days before
I finally figured out that I had a bad relay. I replaced both of them with
new ones.
 
 
I connected up the headlights, horn and the turn signals
 
I began the process of installing the rear side marker lights. I am
using the same process that I used for the front.
 
I started again finishing my bezels. I had not used the undercoat for
the candy apple red. I sanded them down again and started with the base
coat. Two coats of candy apple red finished by clear coat. The finished
picture doesn't do it justice.
 
Because I am using original taillights from Lamborghini. it is
necessary to cut out the bezels and mount them to the back of the car. I
have used epoxy to mount 1/4" bolts inside the bezel after I had removed
the coating. Once the epoxy was dry I drilled holes where the bolts would
go through the body and marked where the openings needed to be for
the lights. I have had two of the bolts come loose from the bezel so I may
have to try something different. Duncan Smith used bondo with a super
adhesive spray which may be my next option.
 
I finally put in the grills. I change from my initial plans and
actually mounted them from the inside. I squared up the openings and then
used bondo to attach the grills. As you can see I used string to hold the
grill inplace while I applied bondo.
 
 
 
 
I installed the front screens. It was a challenge to hold the
screen in place while I applied the epoxy. I used a piece of weed eater
string to hold it in place. Seemed to work well. I will coat with bondo
later on.
 
I am using original Lamborghini parking lights. It was necessary to
fabricate a frame with tabs on either end. I will weld a tab for the
screws to be fastened to when the lights are finally positioned. The tabs
are then bondoed to the body and glassed in. The lights were trial
fitted and then bonodo was used to form the new shape to match the lights.
I also filled in the center Lamborghini emblem area because I will be
mounting the emblem in the trunk lid.
 
 
Side marker lights were positioned by drilling a 1" hole 8" in from
the seam and down 21/4". the marker was place in the hole and a line
scribed around the light. I used my cut off tool to cut out the opening. I
used waxed paper to cover the back side of the light and inserted the
light into the opening. I then applied bondo to the back side and later
glassed it in. The waxed paper kept the bondo from adhering to the light.
When the light was removed, I now have a recessed receptacle to hold the
side marker lights.
 
 
Spent this weekend engineering and fabricating headlight mounting
brackets. I made tabs to fit on the bottom of the light with a slot that
will allow me to position the lights horizontally. The bolts will allow me
to set the position vertically. I still need to glass in the brackets. The
first step was to build a frame work to hold the lights in position to
figure out what size to make the brackets. The brackets consist of two
posts welded to a piece of 3/4" tube with feet that will accept the bolt.
The side next to the trunk is welded to the frame. the last fastener is
bonded to the front lip of the light.
 
 
I got the new pods graphed in and remounted the body to check the
clearance. I also put the screens in the openings. I cut a template the
size of the opening and then used gutter guard screen that I cut larger
than the template and bent over to match the template. I have temporarily
placed them and will fasten them permanently after I get the body off
again.I temporarily mounted the bumper again so I could see what the
backup lights will look like.
 
 
 
I decided to use the newer style bumper that has the reflector and the
backup lights. This meant modifying the existing bumper. I built metal
boxes to enclose the backup lights and the rear reflector light out of
1/8" x 2" flat bar. I welded tabs on the outside of the boxes and
countersunk screws to hold the boxes in place. I cut out the openings for
the boxes. I used the material from the cutout to fill in the
existing light area on the bumper. After connecting the wires I mounted
the lights in the bumper and filled in the area with bondo.
 
 
I fabricated a bracket to hold the lamborghini lights in place. You
can see the six bolts that hold in the bezel. The bracket is welded to the
steel in the body on one side and glassed to the body on the other side. I
put in diagonal braces to add additional support to the bar that holds the
trunk. Because the wing will be mounted to the trunk lid, I wanted to
provide additional support
 
I used 90 minute epoxy instead of the 5 minute epoxy to hold in the
1/4" bolts. I then used glass mat and resin to hold them in. I used a
white base coat then Candy Apple Red. I understand that a Silver base coat
may work better. I may redo them but they do look good and I think it will
be a very acceptable alternative to the transparent lenses.
 
I got the pod from IFG for the 300ZX lights. I have cut in the first
one and have started to do the final fitting. It was necessary to notch
the frame to the headlight to clear and fit in the proper position.
 
 
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The front bumper accepts the fog lights and the grills mounted
adjacent to it. Al;so shown is the back of one of the assembled fog lights
and parts of the assembled set. The last picture is the grills and lights
mounted.
  
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The headlight hinges need to be attached to the fiberglass shells
using bondo and then glassed in with fiberglass.
 
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Test fit the bar into the car after cleaning the surface on the body.
Once you are satisfied with the fit, then you can bondo and then glass the
bar to the underside of the body.
 
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I have decided to use 300 ZX headlights and have IFG create pods that
will accept them. I will graft them into the existing body. I will not use
the pop-up headlights.
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