HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Where did the time go? We are over half way through the year and EVCCON is less than 3 months away, leaving me with quite a bit of work to finish if I am to take the Fiero.

After arriving at work last Monday, it was really difficult to keep my mind on the job, as I had basement windows being installed in the house and needed to work on getting a new patio door, in addition to wanting to work on the Fiero, so took the remainder of the week off on vacation.This was a good move as I was here to make a few decisions on the window installation and also was able to find a patio door, and have it pre-painted, sitting in the garage, waiting for my son to come over next Sunday to help me get it on the back porch. Our car got a good interior and exterior cleaning and some Roundup was applied to all of the weeds in the driveway and around the house. It is funny how things just creep up on you and the next thing you know there are a million small chores that need done around the house. Well this week gave me a chance to get caught up a little. The down side is I will have to pay for it when I get back to work on Monday, as I am sure I will be swamped!

NEW PATIO DOOR

NEW BASEMENT WINDOWS

Finally on Thursday I was able to get back on the Fiero by making a template for the front sheet metal to enclose the batteries. After several attempts, the basic contour of the sides of the engine compartment were transferred to the template and I found that when reversed, the template was the same for the driver's side as well. Friday morning work continued on the front enclosure and the end template was fitted on one side, then a mark made on the front hood seal sheet metal, then fitted to the other side and another mark made on that side. Then a measurement was taken between the two marks and a full template of the sheet metal cover was made.

END TEMPLATE

FULL FRONT PLATE TEMPLATE

After a final trim, the template was transferred to a piece of aluminum sheet and was cut out with tin snips. After dressing the piece up with a file to remove all the sharp edges and burrs, it was fit into the front compartment and self tapping pan head sheet metal screws were used to attach them to the existing hood seal sheet metal.

FRONT SHEET METAL IN PLACE

In the picture above, the sheet metal is being fastened to the aluminum angle that goes across the front. The front sheet metal will be removed to get the deck plate in but the screws will line everything back up, as the front angle will be held in place by screwing it to the deck plate on each end.

When the sheet metal is removed tomorrow, the angles will be sprayed with etching primer, then black bed liner paint and hopefully I will have pictures of the finished enclosure to post.

Until Tomorrow,

Randy