And here's the caliper attached to the rotor:

I finished by screwing in the other bolt,

then tightening both sides:

Here's the new rotor and caliper installed:

A front view:

Mmm, shiny.....

I bet it had been awhile since both sides had been screwed in. I couldn't believe that they actually drove the car with the rotor and caliper in such bad shape. <sigh, shakes head> The way some people treat their cars is absolutely deplorable. I'm beginning to feel glad that I "rescued" this car in time and was able to give it a good home. LOL I know I'm going to spoil it rotten! hehe

--cont--

Now the next step in the process would seem to be pretty simple--just insert the brake pads, pins and springs, then put the tire back on, right? Well, sort of. After taking a look at the pics that I'd taken of the brake setup a couple of days before and referring to the manuals to double-check, I tried inserting the first brake pads on the front side of the rotor, making sure that the springs were positioned around the pins, like so:

Once those were in, I then tried to repeat the process with the second brake pad in the back of the rotor.

But I couldn't get it to go in. There just wasn't enough space between the rotor and the caliper to allow the new brake pad to fit inside. So, I took out the first brake pad and this time tried installing the ones in the back first; then doing the ones in the front. Same problem. They couldn't squeeze in there with the caliper screwed all the way in. Then I realized that I had the bolts tightened too much. So I loosened the bolts a bit, and inserted the other brake pads.

Once I got everything lined up, I tightened the bolts on the back.

My first brake job completed!

side view:

I then replaced the tire:

and "The Hottie" was as good as new:

Now on to the next couple of tires.....
--cont--

[This message has been edited by Miss-Tress007 (edited 05-09-2005).]

Third brake light bulb replaced and ready:

Now on to the driver's side rear wheel:
Once we jacked up the car and removed the tire, I checked the rotor on this side and it looked okay. Aside from some flecks of dirt and small bits of rust, it was fine.

I'd decided not to change the rotors on the other tires since I could only find one rotor in the first place. I figured after getting one done, I could go back and replace the other side once I found the other part with no problem.

In any event, there was plenty of rotor left on this side. It was almost the same width as the new one I'd just installed on the passenger side:

I loosened the bolts on the caliper:

and removed the old brake pads:

One of these was definitely more worn than the other, so I was glad to be replacing these.

We tightened the caliper bolts and replaced the tire on the driver's side:

Good as new!

Or so we thought......
---cont---

Well, as we're about to start her up and move out, another neighborhood mechanic (Herman aka Meathead) comes over to see how things are progressing. (He's the guy who was originally helping me with the car--my mechanic mentor. LOL) So, eager to show my teacher how well I did with the engine, I fired her up (she sounded so cool) and put her in gear to back out. The transmission engages like normal, but when I go to give her some gas and back out, she doesn't move. ?????

I give it a little more gas......nothing. Now I'm confused...the emergency brake isn't on, but the car isn't moving. It's in gear, but not going anywhere. So what's the deal?! We check the brake fluid; check the brake pedal---everything is fine.

Then, Meathead (Herman) says, "It seems like your brakes are locked up".----Duh! We'd overtightened the bolts and actually locked the brakes onto the rotor! So to double check, we take the wheel off of the driver's side and sure enough, the rotor won't turn a bit when we try to spin it. Now we're ROTLFLMAO! Of course, we wanted to make sure that all of the bolts were tightened, especially on the brakes right? Well, in our over-zealousness, we tightened them just a little too much and ended up locking the car in place. hehe

So we loosened the bolts (no longer over-tightened but tight), checked the rotor for spin, then put the tire back on and tried it again. This time, everything worked fine and I started backing her out.

Check out the 3rd brake light---coolness.

Now the brake pedal was really hard. Had to bleed the brakes a bit. So my mentor mechanic showed me how to do it and we got that all straightened out.

It was starting to get dark, so we quickly removed the front two tires and checked the pads on those. They looked almost new, so we decided not to replace them.

Finally! I was able to take "The Hottie" on a quick test drive to check everything out:

That's me! The headlights had been repaired already, so we were night-ready!

Time to hit the road!

First stop was to the gas station to fill up---didn't want a repeat of the running-out-of-gas experience, LOL--so I filled up on 89 octane (the good stuff):

Gas gauge works! All full!

As of this moment, I was one step closer to finally being able to declare my independence from having to borrow other people's cars and am now the proud owner of a Fiero that's close to being ready as my daily driver! Whoo-hoo!

--cont--

[This message has been edited by Miss-Tress007 (edited 05-09-2005).]

My second stop is to the local car wash to get my baby cleaned up. Here's "The Hottie" ready and waiting for her first major cleanup:

I open everything up and get ready for the full cleanup job:

I started with vacuuming all of the leftover pine needles, leaves and debris from the front and insides:

It's amazing how much junk collects in the front of these cars. LOL

Next, I start off with the high-powered soap spray:

All suds and bubble bath:

I scrubbed and washed, but you can't wash off the need for a new paint job. LOL Anyway, I tried. I managed to get off the greasy fingerprints, which was a start, but other than that, there wasn't much else to be done. hehe

All rinsed off and shiny, well sort of. It is kinda a camera trick LOL. The car really isn't that clean:

---cont--

[This message has been edited by Miss-Tress007 (edited 05-09-2005).]

So now that "The Hottie" is all clean, we hit the road to test her out. She handles great and I'm lovin' being on the road. I keep an eye on the temperature gauge and start testing the car's limits.

We stopped after a bit to check on the fan and the water level and parked next to the bayou---made a good pic, especially with the water as high as it was:

Then it was off to Canal Street downtown to test her out in stop-and-go traffic:

Now Canal Street runs the entire width of the city, more or less, and is the busiest place downtown besides Bourbon Street (which begins at Canal St., a simple right hand turn) and the French Quarter. Anyone and everyone who's on their way to either of those places usually ends up somewhere on Canal Street. Harrah's Casino is there, along with hotels, restaurants, etc.

We got plenty of looks, mainly from people who were looking down on us, trying to figure out what kind of car it was. LOL Saturday night on Canal Street is like cruising central, so there were plenty of people there showing off their rides, and "The Hottie" was right in the middle of it all! LOL

The funniest part was how low the car sits compared to other cars---we were looking up at everybody and seemed to be further away from the curb than most. hehe

We got downtown too late to get onto Bourbon Street, since they close it to car traffic at about 7or 8pm, but we were certainly entertained by some other people who were definitely in the celebrating mood for one reason or another. LOL This was the last weekend of JazzFest and the PGA Tournament, so there was quite a number of people out and about who were into having a good time. At one traffic light, there was this guy dressed in a Saints jersey with a football helmet on his head dancing in the street. He crossed over and started doing this weird dance with the traffic pole----talk about leghumping, this guy was pole-humping! LOL

Smile, you're on the "Hottie Cam"! LMAO

We snapped a few pics of people here and there before the battery gave out, then headed to the interstate to really test the engine. Up until that point, I'd only been in street traffic really and hadn't gone over about 40-45 mph. Once I found the closest on-ramp, we headed onto I10 to see what a 4 cylinder could do.

Merging onto the interstate was smooth and she accelerated quickly. I eased into it and kept pushing her bit by bit to see how she would respond. The engine shifted coolly and the transmission was tight. The next thing I knew we were flying at 65mph, then 70, 75mph and it didn't even feel like it! Man, it was the coolest thing! To be riding along on the interstate at 75-80mph in a car whose engine you just got through repairing yourself was the greatest experience!

We rode up and down the interstate; took exits, got off and back on over and over again to try her out in all sorts of road types and situations. Passing, merging, turns, curves---you name it, we tried it and "The Hottie" responded great every time! The temperature didn't get above 170-200 degrees, since we didn't have the temperature sensor plugged in and the fan automatically kicked in and stayed on once we started going.

The only other issue was this persistent bumping/clanking kind of noise that was coming from the front passenger wheel area. I figured it meant that we needed shocks, since the ride was a bit rough at times, so I added that to the list of things to check out the next day.

We drove around for about an hour and 35-40 minutes, then I took an exit off-ramp, then hit a steep hill right after that. The car sputtered a bit for the first time, then the temperature gauge started climbing---damn! We pulled over once it passed 225 since it was still rising, and shut the car off.

So there we were, sitting in the dark on the side of the road, and I was torn between grinning from ear-to-ear and wanting to bang my head on the steering wheel because the temperature was running up again. So we had a brief problem-solving session as we waited for the car to cool down. What had people on the forum said about the fan, temperature sensor, thermostat and cooling system when I'd first posted about the overheating problem? So we discussed it and decided that with everything else that we'd taken care of when we addressed the overheating issue, we hadn't correctly filled the cooling system or gotten rid of the bubbles by burping the system once we'd filled it with water.

BINGO!! A solution! We'd let the engine cool off; get the car back home, then find out the correct fill procedures and burp the system in the morning.

We sat there for about 25-30 minutes, then started it up and started on our way home. The car was fine (we hadn't let it get to the point where the engine shut off because of the temperature) so we were able to drive for a bit before the temperature started climbing again. Then we pulled over and waited some more. Took about another 30-40 minutes, but the temperature cooled off and we drove the rest of the way home.

Once we pulled into the yard, I admit I was a bit torn. I could still feel the adrenaline from our 80mph romp on the interstate and could feel the torque as I took the curves in the off-ramps low and fast. Even though the temperature had risen a bit, I had another solution to solving the problem, and the most important thing was that the engine was tight and I was definitely addicted to driving a Fiero.

I couldn't wait until Sunday morning to try out the fill procedures for the cooling system to get the air bubbles out. But tonight, I would do some research on the forum and my dreams would be filled of open roads and winding turns in my little 4 cylinder.

I got her on the road--at least for a little bit---now I had to complete the rebuilding/restoration process to make her completely road-ready and safe to drive. We still had to check out the temperature problem and find out what the deal is with that knocking/banging sound in the front wheel. All in all, there's still a bit to be done to declare full independence. The knocking sound turned out to be a bit more than we bargained for......

Stay tuned for the next entry in "The Hottie" Diaries......the saga continues!

--Tress

[This message has been edited by Miss-Tress007 (edited 05-09-2005).]

No problem. I could handle this. It made perfect sense that this was the problem. After all, the car had been sitting up for almost 10 years before I got it and from the looks of things I'd found so far, the previous owners weren't too keen on keeping things up to date and changing out filters, so I felt pretty confident that this would solve the problem.

<Deep breath.> Okay. After coming back with the fuel filter and PCV valve, I double-checked the Haynes and Chilton's manuals for information on how to change out the darn thing. They weren't exactly a source of a wealth of detailed information, so I got instructions from the Tech section of the forum on what to do. Indiana_Resto_Guy also gave me a test to perform to check and see if it was the fuel filter or not--pour a little bit of gas into the middle of the air filter where the fuel injector system is, and see if the car would start. Well, I didn't have any gas lying around, so I figured I'd take the filter off and get some from that to use. In any event, I'd at the very least have another new part that I could be confident in when I got done.

So we jack up the car and I start looking underneath to check out the location of the fuel filter. I was told it was on the passenger side, so I was on my hands and knees, looking under the car, when this guy drives up and asks what we're working on. Now, he'd been over before when Herman (aka Meathead) had been checking the car out initially, so I knew who he was. This was also the guy who'd told me that he knew of another fiero that someone wanted to give away and that he'd check on it for me.

So we're outside trying to get this done before it gets dark and his guy drives up. He gets out and tells me that he picked up the other fiero that he was telling me about and that it was over at his house. I asked him what year and he said it looked just like mine. "Well, they all look just like mine---do you know anything at all about the car?" "No, I just know it looks just like that one." Okay, at this point, I decide that I don't have the time right now to go into this with this guy and I get the feeling he's trying to sell me a car that someone gave to him--which I'm not in the mood for right now, considering the problems I'm having with this one, so I just kind of grunt something about getting around to looking at it later and lean over to look under the car again.

Well, he asks me again what we're working on---so like a complete idiot I say that I'm trying to change the fuel filter because the car won't start. So, he does the obligatory surprised look and says, "Who, you?" (Ggggrrrr---okay, I'm NOT in the mood for the "but-you're-a-girl" routine right now) and I say, "yup, me" and lean down to continue checking under the car. As I'm doing this, my hair falls into the dirt and he comes over and says, "Oh, no baby, you can't do that" (wtf? Baby?????), "Look, you're getting all dirty. Move over and let me do that. You'll never be able to get that off and change that by yourself."

Okay, I admit that I wasn't dressed in my "work clothes", but a t-shirt and jeans weren't exactly "dressed up" and I could put my hair in a ponytail to keep it out of the dirt and my eyes. Besides, I could wash my hair when I was done.

So I took a deep breath and said sweetly, "No, I've got it. I've been doing alot of work on the car already (run down the list of what I have done so far), so I'll be fine. Thanks for the help."

Did he take the hint? Noooooo, of course not. He stays put and watches me for a bit as I look for the fuel filter under the passenger side.

Him--"It's not on that side. It should be on the same side as the gas tank."

Me--"My sources (and the manual) say that it's on the passenger side. I just can't see it because the car needs to go up a bit more."

Him--"Here, move over and let me try."

Me---<getting a bit more aggravated at this point> "I found it--right where they said it would be."

So I try to maneuver myself underneath the car to try and loosen the screws on the fuel filter. The car isn't jacked up very high to begin with, and there's not alot of room underneath, so I can't really get a good grip on the bolt to loosen it---not to mention the fact that it's probably not been changed since the car was manufactured in '88, so it's a bit hard to turn. I don't have any PB Blaster, just WD40, so I spray some on the bolt and crawl out from underneath the car.

Mr. Helpful is still standing there, so he asks what's up. I tell him that the bolt is a bit hard to come off because it's been there so long, so I'll let the WD40 soak in while I check it over to see how it screws out.

From what I could see, one side of the filter (the side closest to the fuel tank) would screw off pretty easily if I could get it loosened, but the other side looked a bit more weird. There wasn't really any place for you to just twist it off because of the bracket holding it in place, so I needed to find a way to stabilize one side while I twisted the other side.

Well, this guy decides that the reason why I can't get the filter off is because I'm not strong enough to turn the bolt (and I have no clue what I am doing), so he just bulldozes his way under the car and starts asking me to hand him wrenches. I hand him the tool and then go over to the other side of the car and get down on the ground so I can see what he's doing. I figure I'm not going to let him work on my car without me watching what he's doing.

So he's under the car and he grabs the wrench and starts trying to loosen the end of the filter on the driver's side. After wrestling with it for a bit, he finally gets it loose and disconnects it. Some gas comes out and he points to it and tells me that there's nothing wrong with my fuel filter because there's gas coming out of it. So I tell him that as long as we have it off, we might as well replace it.

Now, I'm not too keen on this guy screwing around with my car. I've gotten a bit overprotective of her after all of the work I've put into it, so I don't want anyone else touching anything unless I completely trust them. I don't even know this guy--I've only seen him once before--and we haven't exactly hit it off because of the "girly you can't do comments" he's made since pulling up in front of my house. I've tried giving hints and saying outright that I don't need his help, but he doesn't take the hint and well, here we are, underneath the car with me trying not to come across as rude and unappreciative by asking him to put the tools down and get out from under my car. Since he's gotten the first part loose, he then turns to the other side of the filter. <fingers crossed>

Mr. Helpful couldn't really see what he was doing from his angle, so he ended up grabbing the fuel line with the grips and TWISTING IT BACK AND FORTH!!! Nooooooooo! "STOP! You're twisting the fuel line!" I yelled at him. He'd turned it back and forth and put a kink in it in just a matter of seconds:

Once I said that, he said something about "Oh, this gas it burning me", jumped out from under the car and said, "You can take it from here, right?" then jumped in his car and left. That was the last straw! I was so frustrated!

At this point, it seemed as if the stupid fuel filter was actually working (according to Mr. Helpful)--so if that wasn't the problem, why wasn't the car starting?--my fuel line now had a kink in it; I couldn't get the stupid fuel filter off to put on a new one--and I still had to try and figure out what was wrong with the car.

I couldn't believe this! It was starting to get dark, so since I didn't have much daylight left, I decided to just put everything back together and try it again in the morning.

I managed to get everything reattached, underneath, and straightened out the fuel line as much as I could. I dried up all of the gas that had leaked out of the filter, then lowered the car and put the tools away.

Since I was still out, I figured I might as well change the PCV Valve:

The old one looked pretty gross:

so I figured that was a good thing and the day wasn't a total loss.

Here's the new one installed:

<sigh> I was so bummed, angry and frustrated. Big Mike and Brick had just come up and were sitting on the steps a few houses down and asked me if I'd gotten the filter replaced. I told them no and recounted my experience with the helpful guy. They were pretty angry that he'd bulldozed his way into trying to help, but obviously didn't know what he was doing. Everyone else on the block have pretty much been spectators (or in some cases, consultants) at some point or another in my quest to repair the car, so they've gotten to be kind of protective of me and my little car. They were upset at the way the guy treated me and pretty much told me that I should have been rude if need be and told him not to touch the car.

Part of the reason I wasn't just an outright b*tch and told him to shove off is because I'd gotten help from so many people who didn't know me and whom I didn't know during this process that I didn't want to seem ungrateful or rude. But this guy twisting my fuel line--combined with the fact that the car still wouldn't start and at this point I wasn't too sure that the fuel filter would even come off---really got me depressed.

For the first time since I started working on the car, I didn't spend alot of time on the forum or looking up information or checking the manual for instructions before doing some planned repair. I posted my "progress" (such as it was) on the tech section, then decided to drown my sorrows.

I ate way too much, and went to sleep early---exhausted, frustrated and hoping that Monday I'd be able to figure things out and finally get my "Hottie" on the road.

To be continued.......

--Tress

[This message has been edited by Miss-Tress007 (edited 05-11-2005).]