I've been at my restoration for a while now and realized I should make a thread. I got my Fiero 2 years ago at 17, took her home, and began to take her apart. This week I'm planning on assembling my front suspension, which has been powedercoated and POR-15'd. Later in the week I hope to drop the front, raise the back a bit higher, and drop out the cradle and engine. Then I'll take the cradle to be blasted and powdercoated. She's currently got no suspension and only door skins and roof as far as panels go. I'll be updating this thread, and hopefully some of you will be interested. :-D I'm getting as much as I can done before I go back to college at the end of the month.
Earlier in the month I found a blast and powedercoating place in Manassas VA (Diamond Powdercoating) who powedercoated a bunch of my pieces and didn't break the bank. The pieces look awesome. I'll post some pics. Tomorrow I'm planning on rubberizing the wheelwells. I have the plastic inserts too, so it'll be extra protection.

I'll post pics once my Fiero Domain login is approved. But that may not be until tomorrow 'cause I'm going to sleep. Big Fiero day tomorrow!...

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"A guy know's he's in love when he loses interest in his car for a few days." -Tim Allen

i got my first fiero 4months a go and i am 42 lol i will reading your posts have fun ther bud

Humble beginings, starting off...


POR-15ing everything to rustproof. POR-15 is amazing stuff for what you can't or can't afford to powdercoat. It's awaiting rubberizing today.


Rear wheel-well early on



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"A guy know's he's in love when he loses interest in his car for a few days." -Tim Allen

[This message has been edited by Fierology (edited 02-24-2008).]

Yesterday's work:

Sway bar: Por-15 Hardnose


Clutch weight, front rotor shields, front caliper brackets, front frame strut: Por-15 Hardnose


Rubberized passenger wheel well. Very nice, but this stuff takes forever to dry!


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"A guy know's he's in love when he loses interest in his car for a few days." -Tim Allen

[This message has been edited by Fierology (edited 02-24-2008).]

Welcome to the 84 to I got one also ..Never think there alot of work once you start seem no end after a bit ,but nice to see that you have saved her Coming along great keep up the good work .....Rob

Yeah. The details add up, and I ALWAYS underestimate how long things will take. Suspension assembled last Friday? Sure! (didn't happen, hahahah.) I'm going to put the front arms together now.

-Michael

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"A guy know's he's in love when he loses interest in his car for a few days." -Tim Allen

This is a sub-thread on my front poly's and their troubles. https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/088861.html

-Michael

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"A guy know's he's in love when he loses interest in his car for a few days." -Tim Allen

A bearing/rotor shield question I asked: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/088927.html

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"A guy know's he's in love when he loses interest in his car for a few days." -Tim Allen

Check out my restoration! Comment if you can.

Michael,

I'm glad the parts arrived quickly and are as expected. Will those bolts work too? Nice build thread! Keep after it! Good luck!

quote Originally posted by Fierology: Do I just get rid of the cadmium brackets that came with my Fiero Store front upper ball joints to use my polyurethane ball joint grease caps? Here's a pic of what I mean. The cadmium bracket's on the left, the balljoint in the center, the poly grease cap on the right.

i am having that problem too with my moog upper ball joint theres no way the poly will fit under the cap....

I heard on another thread someone even mentioned that the poly's didn't work at all. I'm definitely gonna try to use mine, and I hope they don't have the problems the guy said they would. I don't remember the thread.

-Michael

quote Originally posted by Fierology: Trunk sides awaiting fiberglass

Hey Fierology! I'm glad to see that someone is fixing up an 84! They are becoming more and more rare. They were the first and there were many things, attention to detail, in the 84s that the later year Fiero's didn't have.

If I can offer one bit of advice, where possible, you'd be MUCH better off replacing that metal with actual metal and not fiberglass. The fiberglass will break loose soon enough. Harbor Freight tools sells a mig welder that you can get for about $200 bucks. It's a flux core which means you don't need gas or anything. I have a Lincoln Electric Flux core. With a GOOD pair of welders gloves ($25 bucks) and a flip-down helmet from Harbor Freight ($9.95), that's all you'll need to weld. You can buy sheet metal from an automotive paint supply store.

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Todd,
2006 Pontiac Solstice
2004 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible (Wife's Car)
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6 (3.2) 5-Speed
1984 Porsche 944 5-Speed
1981 Pontiac TransAm (Olds 455BB)
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

quote you'd be MUCH better off replacing that metal with actual metal and not fiberglass. The fiberglass will break loose soon enough.

Oh, thanks for the tip. Luckily my brother got a Hobart Mig w/ all the supplies a year or so ago, so I'm set w/ the investment. I know there are various resin bases for fiberglass. Do you think it would vibrate and come off even if well prepped? Does this area just flex a lot?

-Michel

did we ever find a solution to the bushing issue?

Yup, I got to the bottom of it. Here's what I posted on my Polyurethane Bushing Thread

-->

quote THE ISSUE IS RESOLVED So, good news and bad news. I've come to what seems the bottom of the issue, but the kit is simply wrong. I talked to the Fiero Store. The guy just said: "What I do is cut em" [paraph.] Next I talked to Prothane and this answer surprised me the most. He said: "I'm at a loss." He'd Never heard of this before; he'd never gotten any previous complaints. [If you're wondering, my part #'s match up, and my measurements match to The Fiero Store's pieces.] Clearly other forum members are giving all their solutions to the problem, but appatently no one ever ended up calling Prothane personally. In the end: Prothane is ignorant and needs to fix their kit. Then... all us Fiero owners trying to install Polys will be a bit happier.

I'm planning on using either a lathe (if my neighbor has one) or a drill in a vise on which I'll rig up my Thrust washers one-by-one. With a new razor blade I'll slice the spinning washer. I'll post to say if it works or not.

-Michael

Unfortunately school started up again last week so I'll be moving a bit more slowly, but on Saturday I cut my thrust washers and I'm really happy w/ how they turned out. I ran out of time for mounting the arms and needed some new bolts, but it's progress. I'll post pics of what I did later. I don't have a lathe, so w/ my father I made a makeshift lathe from a radial arm saw. We took off the blade, (accessory shaft too short) and put the bushing on the shaft. We took measurements first to figure out how thick to make the washers. With the washer spinning on the shaft I held a utility knife (w/ a new blade) to the spinning washer and w/ moderate pressure cut through it in about 5 seconds. I'll post my measurements w/ my pics.

-Michael

I think you will have one nice Fiero when you get done with it. I have never tried restoring an vehicle. Other than years ago patching rust holes. What does that por do? Rust proof the metal? Is that what powder coating does also? Don

quote Originally posted by centervilledon: I think you will have one nice Fiero when you get done with it. I have never tried restoring an vehicle. Other than years ago patching rust holes. What does that por do? Rust proof the metal? Is that what powder coating does also? Don

Por 15 is a different kind of paint. Somehow it utilizes water vapor to dry, so it actually dries more quickly in warmer/more humid conditions. My brother found it when restoring his '75 Spitfire. Por stands for Paint Over Rust because the ideal material to paint over is a moderately seasoned but clean rusted metal. It reacts with the rust to create a pore-free, incredibly tough, well adhering and flexible coating. It is a big expensive, but it's cheaper than blasting and powder coating, if you don't have the equipment for powder coating already. I got some of my pieces poweder coated because I'm low on time and the pieces were really hard to clean. I believe to powder coat you need a bare-metal surface. The nice thing about Por 15 is it will stick to old painted surfaces. They've got lots of good customer service.

Hahah, I sound like I'm some sort of salesman. No, they just sold me on this stuff, and I really like it. it's especially good for big pieces, like the frame, which you can't take to get powder coated (at least not too easily). You can Por-15 it and it's pretty close. I want to do a Por 15 and powdercoating durability test, but i haven't gotten around to it yet. I assume powdercoat would win.

I'm really excited about getting it driving!

-Michael

Here's a Ball Joint and Tie Rod boot thread, Poly or Rubber?

Ok, I took a while, but here are the pics.

Cutting the washer:

The thrust washer is fastened to the blade shaft after the blade is taken off. With a new utility knife blade I just put in up to the spinning thrust washer and got a nice, clean cut. The trick is to press kinda hard because the polyurethane will heat up, making the cut a bit rougher and sticking to the blade. Making a quicker cut = less heat --> less melting.

Job done! This is me looking inordinately tired.

Ready to mount!

[This message has been edited by Fierology (edited 02-24-2008).]

I just looked at the West Coast Fiero site yesterday and looked at brake options and that really got me excited. I was planning on buying remanufactured Fiero ('84) calipers and installing stock rotors, but I see West Coast Fiero's kits.... and I get to thinking. It's a lot of money to dish out, so how good are '84 stock brakes? This is what I'm figuring out now.
School is really impeding things. All I did this past weekend was look through the bucket of Mercedes bolts to pick out replacement crossmember-to-frame bolts. And it's below freezing: not pleasant garage cond. Next weekend: I should get a lot done. Encourage me!

-Michael

[This message has been edited by Fierology (edited 01-11-2013).]

Stock brakes are pretty crappy, I don't know anything about the WCF kit though. FieroStore has a kit as well I believe.

Good work with the car, you're doing a very detailed job.

for the price the grand am brake upgrade is pretty cheap and a nice upgrade from stock.

Thanks
I'm avoiding Fiero Store if I can because I've had so much hassle w/ them. The thing is their selection is really convenient. Just yesterday I was dry fitting my upper a-arms and I realized one of my new bolts (those really long ones) was bent. So I'll have to unbend it. But maybe I'll go w/ them.

I need my parking brake so I can't do the Grand Am upgrade (sadly) but I have a question about it. If I put front calipers/rotors in the back won't I get off balanced breaking w/ too much pressure in the back? The front's always bigger for more breaking in the front than in the back,... right?

It's going a bit slow. Hopefully I'm more effective with my schoolwork this week/next weekend so I can get her front suspension mounted at last!

-Michael

Front suspension's closer but not finised yet. I finally went and made all the pics on this thread smaller... they had been a bit big. My suspension's not mounted completely yet, but it's closer. I did go to a Fiero meet this weekend, the first in MD, courtesy of ALLTRBO's planning. True, it took garage time away, but it was great as well as motivating.

I'll post pics of what I did later. Both my stainless coolant tubes were bent, seemingly from a bad lifting job, so I cut them and rebent them. I got an extra radiator hose w/ which to splice the tubes together w/ stainless tube clamps. The pics will clarify. So, they're in place on the car. They had to be before I put my crossmember back in. I have to order spring pads and bump stops tonight so they come by Friday so I can mount them Saturday. That's the plan.

Pray for me!!!

-Michael

Yep, its never too late! I had two Fieros back in the 80's then got away from them for years. At 50, I bought a rough '88 GT to work on. Have fun with your rebuild and post lots of pics as you go along!
-Tom

quote Originally posted by Toms88: Yep, its never too late! I had two Fieros back in the 80's then got away from them for years. At 50, I bought a rough '88 GT to work on. Have fun with your rebuild and post lots of pics as you go along! -Tom

Thanks

Here's my most recent purchase, a little over an hour ago. It has 80,000, and runs (that is before it was dropped 2 or 3 weeks ago). It has a 5 spd, which is what sparked my interest in the first place, but I plan to swap in for my Duke. I wasn't looking for an engine, only an tranny. In fact I was planning on buying a Getrag from Saxman, but when I got this for $260 while I was going to pay at least $200 just for a transmission I knew I got a deal. Because my Fiero's an '84 there's a good bit of modification to do to mount the 2.8, but I've started my research. It'll be fun and rewarding.


More good news, front upper spring cushions and bump stops came today from Fiero Store. I have to go pick up the engine in NJ, probably Saturday, but hopefully it won't consume my whole Saturday and I'll still have time to assemble my front suspension.

Ciao.
-Michael

Upper A-Arm Spacing Thread

-Michael

Sorry for no pics, I've been quite busy! But today I got my V6. That thing's darn heavy. I'm happy w/ it. However, as of now I will be mounting the Getrag it came with on my Duke. I don't want to rush my swap. I'd rather do it really well. Also, I know my Duke runs decently well. I don't know yet how the 2.8 V6 runs. My plan as of right now is to swap my 5spd for my 4spd, for that swap is very easy, and bag my V6 until I'm done my restoration, which should be mid-summer. At my earliest convinience I'll start a performance rebuild on my V6. Then, once that's done, I'll do the real swap. My this time I'll have learned more as well, and I can aquire all my needed parts prior to attempting the install. I may, however, drill the proper holes for the extra V6 mount onto my current cradle before having it powdercoated. More later, and I'll post pics soon.

I'm currently having trouble with mounting my front springs. They're stock. I can't compress them easily because my compressors want to scrape my nicely powedercoated springs, and once I fit the compressors on they don't want to fit over the bump-stop shaft on the crossmember. Here's a post about the spring installation..

-Michael

[This message has been edited by Fierology (edited 03-14-2008).]

School's bogging me like a clogged up throttle body!
The project will be a bit slow for a bit... alas.

Nevertheless, all is well.

-Michael

[This message has been edited by Fierology (edited 03-19-2008).]

Buon Pasquale a Tutti!

Im Back! At last, the torture and festivities are over. Back to my garage!

Today I cleaned the garage. It had been shamefully messy. Tomorrow I finish the front spring installation ordeal. It has been quite an ordeal. But I have a plan, and it's very doable.

I'm going to compress my springs in a hydraulic press and tie them in the compressed postion w/ some really strong nylon, transfer them to the car, install them, then undo the ties. Now I have to figure out the compression rates of '84 SE front springs. I'll look it up. If you know it, please post it. Otherwise I'll post it when I find it. OK, off to bed soon to start a good garage day tomorrow.

-Michael

Subsequent tranny swap question post

i love my 84. bot it new in 83. the 84's have tighter steering and short shifters. i have added the side panel vents to my rear so i have ventilation all the way across. this winter i put on 16x6's in the rear and 14x6's in the front, with 215 55 rubber in back and 195 60 rubber in front (tiger paws). the handling is greatly improved from my 13x5's with 85 series rubber. im planning on buying a new hood to modify with a radiator vent to lessen the uplift in the front at speed.
jon

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I'm the original owner of a white ' 84 2M4 purchased Dec 10, 1983 from Pontiac. Always garaged, no rust, 4-wheel drifts are fun!

[This message has been edited by longjonsilver (edited 06-17-2008).]

Awesome. I've seen some vent threads, but I don't have the links off-hand. I wanna hear how that goes. I might do it some time.
Side panel vents: do you mean the ones next to the deck lid that are solid on '84's?
What makes 84's have tighter steering?
I just reassembled my rack and put it in on Saturday. Lots of work left to do! Do you have the stock duke?

by tighter steering i mean fewer turns lock to lock - because they have a different ratio in the rack and pinion i guess. yeah i have the stock duke, still runs fine so why mess with it? i think that the car would be cool with an ecotec in it. i plan on putting a grill from a pontiac van as a vent in the hood, perhaps with the arrow insignia as well. yeah, i also replaced the solid panels with the vented ones - most of the heat still comes out the center vent - i estimate 50%, and the right vent is always hotter than the left - and thats where pontiac put the battery which surely restricts the air flow. i put my battery in the front, and it makes a big difference in handling, and i also have tools in the front to keep the front end down at freeway speeds, but if i could eliminate the uplift from the radiator, then surely the car would feel much more stuck to the road. i should have added that my wheels are from a grand am in the rear and a sunbird in the front and they match including the pontiac name, so they look sorta stock.
jon

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I'm the original owner of a white ' 84 2M4 purchased Dec 10, 1983 from Pontiac. Always garaged, no rust, 4-wheel drifts are fun!

Do you have pics or a thread on PFF?

-Michael