Bought this one as a parts car. Owner said it wouldn't run. Put a starter in it, cleaned the throttle body, and fixed a fuel leak and it runs fine. It idles very high. Starts out okay, then quickly climbs to almost 3 grand. I quickly realized this car was way to nice to part out. Paint is decent. Chips here and there, but shiny. Interior is pretty good. No rips in the seat. Good headliner. Dash is pretty good. Has a Series II 3800 & 4 speed auto from a 2000 Century. The swap was done by a shop in Manchester, NH. I have the $3,500 receipt the PO paid for the swap, over the cost of the car and donor Buick which he provided. KYB shocks and struts all around. New inner and outer tie rods, sway bar end links, ball joints. Looks like it was pretty well gone though. Fiero was a low mileage 4 cylinder auto. Crank windows, sunroof. AC. The car was setup to keep the ac, though It doesn't currently work.











The car is not currently inspected. I wouldn't drive it given the high idle, but it fires right up, and could be test driven a little. Open to offers on the car. Not looking to make a killing. Just can't justify tearing a nice car up for parts. Car is located in southwestern New Hampshire.

Are you sure the engine is from a Buick Century?? there were never any 3.8's in any 6th gen 97-05 Buick century's..
GL on sale though..

Being a NH car, how is the underside, cradle and trunk areas as far as rust goes?

Pretty sure the paperwork said 2000 Century, but I could be mistaken. Definitely a 3800.

Rust wise its very good for a New England car. The galvanized plates in the floor that typically rot out are perfect. A little surface rust on the space frame at the front cradle mounting point, passengers side only, strangely concentrated, definitely not a structural concern. Couple of typical patches in the trunk corners that were repaired. The repair work is a little dubious, but they're small spots. What I can see of the rear rails look good. I'll snag some pics and post them up.

Hello! Do you have any pics of the rust? I live in northern NH, and work in Lebanon. I'm interested in the car depending on the rust situation.

Bump.

I own a 2000 Century, and I have a 3.1. If there was a 3800SC Century, I don't know about it, but would drop the cash on it in a heartbeat. It would be one mad sleeper, especially with that cloud like suspension setup and a front bench seat.

If you do decide to part it out, I may be interested in the seats. Maybe other parts too.

Bump. Would like to see this gone before the snow flies. Looking for $1,500 or so. Considering the PO paid over 3 grand for the swap, not including the donor car or the Fiero, I think that's a hell of a deal. Someone who knows these engines better than I do can straighten it out and have a nice 3800 '88 cheap.


Also, to clarify this is a n/a motor, not supercharged. If folks are saying 3800's didn't come in Century's, then I can't say for sure what type of Buick the engine came from. I though I remember seeing Century in the paperwork for some reason. I'll dig it up again and double check. Regardless, it is definitely a 3800 Series II n/a.

[This message has been edited by onesexyfiero (edited 10-17-2013).]

I used to own this car several years ago when it was a 4 cylinder and can give pretty good history on it.

Was misrepresented when I bought it back then, the PO before me lied through his teeth. Spent a ton sorting out things that were supposedly "done" but such was life.

It rotted out at the battery tray and had a plate welded in on the lower space frame on that corner behind the quarter panel. Not entirely sure the odometer is accurate, I think the cluster had been swapped.

Front bumper at one point was blue, had been hit on the driver's front. Spaceframe mildly bent, pulled partway out but noticeable if you look there at the gap between the headlight assembly and spaceframe.

Rear cradle IIRC was welded from a blown out hydraulic engine mount that led to a small amount of cracking as the engine thumped up and down on the cradle.

I'm sure that the engine swap guys would've dropped the tank and changed the fuel pump and addressed this issue but if they didn't it would leak out the top when filling due to a loose sending unit lock ring. Should also have a decent viper alarm in it.


All that said, it isn't a terrible car and should be fixed/sorted out rather than parted, but wanted to add my 2 cents on its past...

Thanks for the info. Was the car down in GA? Would explain why its pretty clean for a New England car. I don't have anything I'm hiding on the car. I'm open about what I do know, but admittedly, I haven't put it on the road. and the PO didn't know much of anything about cars, let alone this one.

Battery tray is gone, as it was relocated up to the front with the swap.

I'm willing to bet the odometer isn't accurate. It says something like 50k, but looking at the pedals and the door hinges, I'd say its likely more. Less of an issue given the swap.

Don't know anything about frame damage, other than to say that I haven't seen it personally, but I haven't pulled the body off and really checked. Nothing that I can see from the outside, everything seems to bolt up fine, and the little I drove it, it tracked straight. Front bumper was blue when I got it. I painted it red. Not the best finish, but certainly presentable, and a very good color match.

Fuel pump was replaced with a higher output unit. I can confirm that personally, since I had it out, because a line had split and the car wouldn't run. Replaced that line and fuel pressure is great now.

Yes, it does have a Viper alarm.

I'm really just looking to get out of the car what I have in it. Like I said before and Kenny is echoing, its too good a car to part. It runs and drives, has a lot of new parts, and looks pretty good. I just want to sell it and find a rougher '88 to scavenge for the spare '88 specific mechanical parts I want to have on hand.

A couple other things I recalled about the car that hopefully encourages someone to give it new life:

The KYBs were on pre 2004 but if the odometer is still in or near the 50s then they wouldn't have a ton of miles on them... I think the car was in the 40s or 50s when I had it, but, that was around 2005/2006 if I remember right.

It wasn't a GA car, but was a coastal RI car where there was little snow and not much salt... lots of winter rain washed the roads clean.

Paint was a repaint before I bought it so dont worry about crappy GM quality issues.

Interior was nice, but, its was my first fiero so I did not understand well enough that it was kind of a hodgepodge of different year parts used in some areas, including having the wrong guages as I later learned... seats were recovered, carpets unworn, etc. Hopefully still close to the same.

Used to have a rear sway bar installed, not sure if it still is there after the swap efforts.

I think I recall having been told it had 1" drop springs when I bought it about a decade ago, but, I hadn't verified the suspension work beyond the rear sway bar/KYBs and the fact some of the bushings were poly.

The viper alarm was a 5900SST that I had a shop put in to undo a hackjob unit the PO before me had done. (in case anyone needed extra fobs or parts for it - had a really long range with lots of sensors... was higher end in its day)

Again, sounds like not too many miles were put onto it in the last decade, so theres a bunch of lower-mileage parts in it. Beyond what was covered above, one of the headlight motors was a fully rebuilt unit with better bushings added in, cannot remember the side. The battery relocate was done by the PO before me when the car was 4 cylinder, probably due to the rust there. just before I parted ways it had new rear ebrake cables, but between the swap and sitting who knows how good they remained depending on its storage method.

Car used to be wired under the console for an amp behind the driver's seat and a small sub in the console instead of the hinged door, I believe the speaker wire is still there but the sub/mounting plate/amp were removed before I sold it...Power feeds may still be there. The radio in it was from an 85 Firebird swapped in when the headunit with the amp was pulled, speakers were replaced with upgraded ones before I originally got it in the dash and b-pillars... if I can remember the brand I will post it up, somehow I think it might have been boston acoustics but honestly cannot remember.

As I said, its only the front drivers corner of the space frame with a little bend that I knew of, the flat bottom under the headlight assembly and motor on that side are bulged a little up. The driver's finder had also been changed with a red one from Kick Hill Farm and the color might be a little off depending how you look at it, but, changed out fine without need for heavy shimming, the impact doesnt appear to have been too hard. I will say that when it was changed we couldnt find the riveter, so the rivets at the bottom of the dog leg that help hold the rocker cover snug were not replaced and probably never have been.

Again, thanks for the info.

As far as I know, the PO bought the car to do the swap, so I don't believe he drove it any as a 4 cyl. Once he got the car swapped, he drove it home, then he decided he didn't like it, and parked it in an airplane hanger in Swanzey, NH. I would guess it doesn't have more than a few hundred miles on it since you owned it.

I doubt it had drop springs. It sits like a typical stock Fiero. Lots of wheel gap.

I sent a pm about this.