1985 SE 2.5l parked for 18 years + Auto to Manual (Page 1/3)
skywurz DEC 31, 09:54 PM
So this is my build thread for my Wifes 85 2.5l.
We picked this up back in early October as well as a parts car that was supposed to have the parts i needed to do an auto to manual swap minus a trans... Well that ended up not being true. (The morning after)

Honestly I was really ready to walk away from this "deal" but my Wife really liked this car. The reason I have delayed starting this was due to paperwork. Another untrue thing was that the seller had paperwork. So we had to go through the process of obtaining new paperwork and a chp inspection. This car has 215k on the odometer. The engine looks stock. I did a compression test and found it had about 90psi per cyl. It has the factory CAT on It as well. After doing a car fax and the compression test the "ran 2 years ago with no smoke" was another lie. There's no way this car has run in at least 18 years. Tags expired in 01.

The CHP inspection was not for a couple months and so a bunch of things came up and happened. Then the day of the inspection cam and they rescheduled us for a month out.. They called back a few days later and rescheduled for only a week out.

My wife's car on the trailer ready to go to CHP next to my daily driver.

I finally finished with one of the 2 GTs i had and decided i wanted to work on projects in order so I put my GT into cold storage and brought home my wifes car and a new parts car for the Auto to Manual swap.



I will add when we first brought it home my wife has done a lot of cleaning to the inside and outside of her car as well. When we got it the drivers window was down after hooking a battery and jumping out the window switch it rolled right up. Luckily a tarp had been kept on it for the most part however it didn't keep squirrels from hiding a horde of nuts in the seats.

So i plan to try to see how the new parts car runs and probably do a full cradle swap. The parts car ran 5-10 years ago. We will see how this goes.

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See my Fiero Proluge on my personal site: http://skywurz.com/node/114
See my GT Build http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/144556.html

skywurz JAN 01, 08:48 PM
Took some time today and looked over the parts car. I hooked up the electrical and with some minor patches i was able to get it to start and run. Sounded good no knocks. So i know i have a ok engine and now will work on doing a direct cradle swap.

I started pulling the stuff on the white car to get ready to drop the cradle. I need to figure out the heater lines as they always tripp me up and the throttle cable seems to be in an impossible location. Im really mostly used to working on my 4tech in my 87 so this is a bit different.

My wife worked on gutting the interior for the shifter removal also helped with pulling the wiring harness.

[This message has been edited by skywurz (edited 01-01-2021).]

cvxjet JAN 01, 10:37 PM
IMPORTANT!!! Check the ventilation system for rats nest- leaves-etc. Pull the fan motor out and also the fan resistor pack.

Where is CA are you?
skywurz JAN 01, 10:44 PM

quote
Originally posted by cvxjet:

IMPORTANT!!! Check the ventilation system for rats nest- leaves-etc. Pull the fan motor out and also the fan resistor pack.

Where is CA are you?



Yeah on the SE the fan squeaks bad so that will get pulled and replaced with the one from the parts car as it blows fine.

Im between SF and Sac
cvxjet JAN 02, 12:02 AM
I'm in San Leandro (East Bay) My buddy, my Stepmother and a couple of Fiero friends all live up in the Sacto area...I pass through your location often...have enough Fiero knowledge to be dangerous....I also have some spare parts.

I feel like I asked this before but my memory is kind of....What were we talkin' 'bout...?
skywurz JAN 02, 09:04 PM
Worked a bit out in the damp today.
I managed to get the rear cradle dropped.




It was too dark to do much else at this point.

The wife managed to swap the shifter assembly and pulled the auto shift lock cable. We already had a shifter so we had not pulled the one from the parts car yet. She then set to work pulling apart the interior of the parts car so we could get to the shift cables and ECU. I noticed the bend on the shifter is a bit unusual. Has a heavy kink down near the base.

She also found 2 mouse nests 1 under the hvac/raidio surrounded and the other in the insulation above the ecu in the glove box on the parts car.
Notorio JAN 02, 11:08 PM

quote
Originally posted by skywurz:

The wife managed to swap the shifter assembly and pulled the auto shift lock cable ...



Your wife can work on cars AND likes Fieros? I hope you know how lucky you are ...
Dennis LaGrua JAN 03, 12:53 AM
I've done it the other way but to covert from auto to manual you will need quite a few parts; the transmission, axles, shifter, cables, clutch pedal, clutch pedal bracket, the clutch itself, flywheel, clutch master/slave cylinders, feed lines, B.U. Light switch, manual brake pedal, clutch safety switch, shifter surround, shift ball and a bunch of small parts. Its quite a bit of work but its been done before. Its much easier to swap in the 4 speed 4T60 automatic.

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" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, custom ZZP /Frozen Boost Intercooler setup, 3.4" Pulley, Northstar TB, LS1 MAF, 3" Spintech/Hedman Exhaust, P-log Manifold, Autolite 104's, MSD wires, Custom CAI, 4T65eHD w. custom axles, Champion Radiator, S10 Brake Booster, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

skywurz JAN 03, 11:06 AM

quote
Originally posted by Dennis LaGrua:

I've done it the other way but to covert from auto to manual you will need quite a few parts; the transmission, axles, shifter, cables, clutch pedal, clutch pedal bracket, the clutch itself, flywheel, clutch master/slave cylinders, feed lines, B.U. Light switch, manual brake pedal, clutch safety switch, shifter surround, shift ball and a bunch of small parts. Its quite a bit of work but its been done before. Its much easier to swap in the 4 speed 4T60 automatic.




Since im swapping the full manual cradle assembly with engine from the parts car it makes it a lot easier. The hardest part i see is the transmission lines. I also need to swap the E2 pin to the A4 pin on the manual engine harness.
Dennis LaGrua JAN 03, 12:22 PM

quote
Originally posted by skywurz:


Since im swapping the full manual cradle assembly with engine from the parts car it makes it a lot easier. The hardest part i see is the transmission lines. I also need to swap the E2 pin to the A4 pin on the manual engine harness.


That will certainly help and it sounds as though you may have all the parts from the parts car. The work under the dash can be tedious but doable. You just disassemble the the auto brake bracket remove the larger brake pedal and attach the clutch pedal bracket to the auto bracket. Then attach the manual brake, clutch pedal, with springs and bushings. You will need the long bolt that holds both. Do not try to remove the entire auto brake pedal bracket. Its nearly impossible to remove it without removing the dash. That part of the pedal assembly is the same on both manual and auto cars. IMO its a lot of work but that is sometimes part of the fun.

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" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, custom ZZP /Frozen Boost Intercooler setup, 3.4" Pulley, Northstar TB, LS1 MAF, 3" Spintech/Hedman Exhaust, P-log Manifold, Autolite 104's, MSD wires, Custom CAI, 4T65eHD w. custom axles, Champion Radiator, S10 Brake Booster, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "