Junkyard Update:

The car is a nearly rustless 88. Some of the parts were insanely clean (embarrassing when the junkyard car has a lot of better parts than yours?).

This was my first junkyard visit in 25 years.

What I grabbed:

- Center skeleton: I've never seen a more perfect skeleton even when I had opened one of my own up when it was just 10 years old. This skeleton was absolutely mint. Not a single bolt hole or bulb hole was cracked, brittle or anything. i was in shock! Literally perfect condition. And no one had torn into it before I got to it.

- Center console: Non warped gray: glove box was warped though. There was another Fiero that I grabbed a second console from that I'm going to paint beechwood. Anyone know if the 88 beechwood paint formula listed on the forums here is for the darker or light shade in the 88 beechwood?

- Driver's door hinges: I've never had any luck with finding good driver's hinges. This junkyard door was as smooth as butter. I could literally gently push the door and release it a few inches away and it closed smoothly and quietly with an index finger. It was smoother than two of my Fieros. Should have grabbed the latch bolt but forgot. Can always get one from the passenger door on another Fiero.

- Decklid hinges and torsion rods (I just replaced a torsion rod so it reminded me they do fail occasionally...my first failed rod ever, but now I have two sets of spare white rods). Interestingly it was a coupe with spoiler. I believe it was factory unless the owner added the wing and changed the torsion rods as well. The sticker was unreadable.

- All 4 brake rotors

- Rear brake calipers (did not take the front brakes since I have like 8 calipersonline new calipers). The brakes were in amazing shape. Both rears retracted easily to the stops. Looked factory new as well (not rebuilt). Original brake lines I at first thought were an upgrade kit because they were so clean.

- Entire front suspension and steering rack (rack had some passenger side play...assuming it was the side bushing). I believe the consensus is that all 88's used the same rack? Hopefully it will be the same as my GT racks. (Left the front sway bar...they wanted $30 for it)

- 4 cyl (Fiero Store?) Dog Bone with poly

- Rear marker lights. The fronts were intact in the original picture at the yard but someone apparently wanted a few 10 cent bulbs and broke them both and left them on the ground. Unfortunate because I really need a LF.

- E-Brake handle. Was thinking I should have grabbed the cables. The e-brake was sooo smooth.

- Drivers door glass. Unfortunately it was tinted (really well I might add). I've managed to get about half of the tint off so far but it's really on there good. Has a few scratches from the felt wipes but it's better than one of my Fieros.

- Headlight control module

- Decklid / rear window recall weather seal and clips


The car had some bad undercarriage damage toward the rear. The front was unaffected but the rear had both rear-most suspension trailing arms bent. The adjustable arms on one side looked slightly bent and the long ones looked ok but I didn't want to risk taking any of those esp. given the prices.

I believe this Fiero had to have been garage kept until its untimely crash. I just can't see it having had such clean parts like the skeleton with it being out in the CA sun. Mileage had to have been low as well but it didn't have an instrument cluster left when I got there on its second day in the yard so I don't know the mileage.

So I ended up just removing everything piecemeal. I ended making 4 trips to that yard. There was one wheel with locks I had to forcibly remove. Both upper shock bolts stripped out (per usual). Both had to be cut off which was quite a pain doing in the yard. At home it would have been gone in 5 min with a cut off wheel.

For those that are wondering: Yes a bare 88 Crossmember will fit inside some Fieros.

And to the person that said the crossmember was about 20 pounds...LOL it was super heavy. Weighed when I got home and it was 52 pounds (bare no sway bar or anything). Fully loaded the front end would have been 180 pounds easy. I used those tie down straps that I had bought for a torsion rod change a few weeks ago. They were invaluable in the junkyard. I used them probably 6 times.

The coolant pipes weren't a problem. I was able to easily twist them 45 degrees inward so the middle rotated nearly touching the ground. I didn't remove the rear hoses just the front and they turned rather easy. I would have taken them (I think I could have slid them out from under the rims the yard placed the car on) but the front sections were slightly dented (not the normal rear jack bends).

The steering rack to column bolt was in a bad angle and I stripped it out really good two visits ago. Harbor Freight has a stripped bolt socket set that was amazing. It turned out so easy. The kit is $30 for like 10 sockets bu well worth it. It's only missing a few Fiero sizes (15mm I think or maybe it was 17mm?).

Everything was super expensive for a pick your part. The only thing I caught a break on was I convinced the cashier that the crossmember was a "transmission crossmember" as opposed to a K-frame/Crossmember ($50 vs $150). I ended up shelling out about $600 for everything so obviously I could have bought a parts car for that much but I have nowhere to store it.

Again thanks for all the tips. So I didn't have to rent a truck or a cherry picker but had to break everything down to make it manageable.

[This message has been edited by reinhart (edited 05-07-2021).]