My latest purchase. (Page 1/7)
bjc 350 JUL 01, 10:46 AM
I have a base 84 Fiero purchased yesterday. No pictures yet, hopefully tonight. The car has few options except for the N78 Turbo wheels. less than 84,000 miles. I had been following it on Craigslist for sometime. Had text some questions to the owner early on. He let me know late Wednesday night that I could have it for $250, original asking was $550. The car is all stock except for a Sony Cd/radio with a 300 w amplifier. I dont think the amp is hooked up completely, however. The bad, engine runs but appears to have bad head gasket. Looks like front rotors may need replaced. Guess what, the headliner needs redone! Paint has some clearcoat failure. Seats are well used, especially at the drivers bolster. And unfortunately , the dash has two cracks, so may need a new dash pad. The worst for me, is it is equiped with the M19 transmission, which has 4:10 dif. gears. Not my style in this day and age. Luckily, I have a motor with a fresh rebuild that I purchased about 3/4 years ago. Attached to it is an Isuzu 5 speed. I think that is the combination to go with. Anyone know if I will need to change the shifter if I go to the 5 speed? I do have a shifter and cables that came with my 3.8 car when I purchased it. Anyway, that is the info on my 8th Fiero. Wife was real happy, since I haven't finished my "mini wide body" project. I will add some pictures later today, hopefully.
bjc 350 JUL 01, 06:12 PM
Some pictures taken of my new find. After a few hours of scrubbing the grime so I can see what I bought.



Perfect tail lights, cant say the same about the paint on the bumper and decklid.



Dirty engine compartment, no rust in the battery box area.


No rust on passenger side trunk corner, one spot, not a perforation on drivers side.



Interior fairly sad, but fixable. I have many of the needed parts, but may need to find some items. Headliner held up, sort of, by push pins.




Short build label, had a base radio, and turbo wheels.


Picture of the front compartment while we are in here, needs cleanup as well.
notwohorns JUL 01, 07:32 PM
Doesn't look too bad. Nice price. Do you have 8 Fieros or you have had 8?
bjc 350 JUL 01, 07:59 PM
I only have four Fiero's right now, including this 84. When I was up to 11 cars about three years ago, my wife calmly suggested it was time to sell some. At that time I sold a 76 Corvette ,84 Fiero, 88 Fiero GT and an 85 GT. It seems as the years slide by, it takes more and more time to get these projects finished up. I just couldn't pass this 84 up since it is so close to the original concept. There will be few mods to this one, just a refurbishment to as near original as I can get.
bjc 350 JUL 02, 01:28 AM
Update. I thought i'd take a look at the engine this evening. I pulled the thermostat cap and there was no water showing. I pulled the radiator cap, no water. No water in the expansion tank. I was told the engine had a blown head gasket, thus no water. I cleaned up some oil spill in the engine compartment and put a new air filter in the housing which had just sort of been sitting there, not properly fastened down. My friend suggested I stop by his place and get his cooling system pressure tester. I figured the thing needed water in the system anyway so I filled it up. Started the car, let it run, took it for a drive, and no steam or milky oil. No major coolant loss either. There was a drip from the thermostat cap however. When I first removed it, it looked pretty bad but I gave it a try. And it was bad. My guess is that the PO let the car run out of water and the water had leaked from the stat cap. All else is good. Sometimes one gets lucky, but even though there were signs of a major overheat, the engine seems fine. The oil pressure light does not iluminate, so I will put a gauge on it tomorrow to see how that looks. And, buy a new stat cap. Then I'll pressure test the system. The throttle cable is really sticky, any way to lube them? Gas gauge doesn't work either.
bjc 350 JUL 02, 10:16 PM
Spent most of the day repairing the cig lighter since it was stuffed with "Ike and Mike's". Then attacked the instrument cluster. The only light working was the ajar light. So I took everything apart and cleaned the clear lense and everything as I went. Checked all the bulbs, they were good. Replaced the gas gauge with a known good one to no avail. I decided to put things back together without having much success, when I discovered the right side dash harness was barely in the connection. Pushed it together and reasembled everything, and now everything works including the gas gauge. Next time, I';ll check the connectors FIRST. Glad things are fixed. Fixed the leaky thermostat cap and took it for a drive. No leak, no steam out the exhaust, and it drove pretty well except for the sticky throttle and an occasional miss under heavy load. It will need a valve cover gasket, noticed oil pooling above the exhaust header. Not a good place for combustibles. Happy with the progress so far, what more can I ask for $250. Hope to find an original set of 84 upholstery. The only good one is the passenger seat back. I could do Mr. Mikes, but would like to keep it original.
bjc 350 JUL 04, 12:21 PM
Pulled the seats yesterday so I could vac under them. Loose change up to $4 plus! Cleaned much of the light gray trim, PO must have been a smoker. Cleaned the engine and front compartment, polished the tail lights, pulled the shifter plate to glue some delam. Ordered a new 'stat cap as well as front brake pads and new front rotors, windshield wipers and some misc. stuff.. Brakes work fine, but passenger rotor has big , deep grooves in it. It may , after all, have a blown head gasket. Engine runs fine, but on about half of the startups, it steams some and will spit water, but stops after it warms up a while. It appears the steam/spitting is more than just condensation, although no antifreeze smell, no milky oil! I'll continue to fix thinks and keep an eye on coolant in the meantime. Coolant level in expansion tank has dropped about 1/2". I suppose I can hope for an air pocket in the system, but things are not looking up. It's raining this morning( typical July 4 event here), or I would post a current picture.
1MohrFiero JUL 04, 07:23 PM
That seems like pretty nice find. If it is a head gasket the Iron Duke is not that difficult to do. You already found $4 of the funds you need to do it.

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olejoedad JUL 05, 09:25 AM
If you end up replacing the drivetrain, you will need to use a five speed shifter with the Isuzu. You will also need to modify the wiring for the backup lights.
bjc 350 JUL 06, 09:10 PM
Olejoedad, thanks for letting me know about requiring a 5 speed shifter. I have a shifter that was in my 3.8 car before it became an auto.It had a 5 speed, so hopefully it will be the right one. I'll try to search for info on how the shifters differ. It would be a lot nicer with a 5 speed instead of 4:10 geared 4 speed! I will try to post some pictures tomorrow showing the progress. Mostly cleaning and fixing delam. Thanks, everyone, for your interest.

[This message has been edited by bjc 350 (edited 07-08-2016).]