I think you would make a mint doing this on TV.

any way, great write-up as usual. your grasp of mechanical workings is admirable. as your "hottie" figures out that you have the upper hand you will find it behaving more and breaking less...

--cont--

Here are the finishing touches:

the last 2 screws......

and after reconnecting the battery, and adding the engine oil and new filter and filling the cooling system with water....

She fired right up!

There was a little bit of smoke coming from the exhaust, but that was from the water that still had to burn off. We were going to change the oil a couple of times, anyway, so I wasn't worried about that.

I had to tighten the bolts around the thermostat housing because I'd forgotten to do it the first time (I had to stop and go get the spark plugs and forgot to do it when I got back), and there was water leaking from there at first. But once I tightened everything, it was fine.

The engine was running soooo smoothly! There was no sputtering, backfiring and the longer I let her run, the smoother it got and the less smoke there was. I checked the gaskets for leaks and everything was smooth sailing!

We let her run for awhile as we cleaned everything up and put it all away. It was late--about 10pm--so we didn't go anywhere. Besides, I wanted to change the oil a couple of times and flush out the system before we tried to drive it.

I went to bed exhausted, happy and excited. Thursday morning I planned to be up bright and early to check things out during the day; change the oil and get "The Hottie" on the road!

--Tress

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

Congratulations! It makes me miss my little white coupe. I know you are going to enjoy the Hottie, and the Hottie -2, and the Hottie-3...

------------------

1988 GT (Firebird Interior),1988 Fastback (4.9 Chop-top #1 of 1), 1984 Indy...Firebird Interior Installation Website

Drive it very careful and don't go too far from home. It still needs some time to break-in and for you to know some the quirks of the car. Oh yeah, have your cell phone and credit card handy. I'm glad you got it going.

Check the brakes and change the brake fluids too.

(wo)man now you make me REALLY want to put my car back together..... i work so freakin much....
you are an inspiration to all. (not just cause you are a female, because you have that personality.)
-Jerry

Wow, I'm glad to see you finally got it running right again. This truely is one of the best right-ups i've seen in my short life here at pennock's, that's for sure. Give her some time to break in and i'm sure she'll treat you well for years to come (apart from anything else you haven't replaced so far, lol). Keep up the good work, you're an inspiration to all us lazy people out here (and there's alot of us).

------------------

Great job! Once you drive it you're gonna be beaming you did the work. Keep it up and keep up the pics too!

quote Originally posted by Miss-Tress007: The funniest thing about the whole process was that the entire time I was working on the engine, I ended up bending over while kneeling in the trunk with my butt in the air.

You're gonna get alot of people asking where are these pics...

------------------
black 85 GT on the road soon... REAL soon....

So, did you drive her yet? I'm sure it will drive like a totally different car.

Good job.

quote Originally posted by jscott1: Congratulations! It makes me miss my little white coupe. I know you are going to enjoy the Hottie, and the Hottie -2, and the Hottie-3...

Tell you what jscott, send me over that chopper and i will find you a little white coupe in exchange,..OK ??

Sounds like a fair swap to me hehehehe.

it's a general practice to retorque the headbolts after 500 miles, it definately won't hurt and will give some peace of mind.

Tell me, MissTress...would you trade that feeling of accomplishment for ANYTHING?? Congratulations, and WELL done...

------------------
'88 Formula - 4.9 conversion by The Fiero Factory
Famous last words...
"Nonsense, they couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." — John Sedgwick (1813-64), US general. In response to a suggestion that he should not show himself over the parapet during the Battle of the Wilderness. No sooner were the words out of his mouth, than he fell back with a mortal head wound.

"Yea, verily, I say unto you, there is no substitute for Cubic Inches. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of rice, I shall fear no evil, for V-8 is with me..."
---- from the Cubist bible

Thursday morning (April 28th)--DAY 2 of the engine reassembly process:

After waking up bright and early and feeling very, very, very sore from all the work the day before, I realized that working on a car takes a toll on your body physically. I kind of thought that I'd feel it a little bit after bending over for so long, having to screw so many bolts back in and twisting my arms and hands into impossible positions to reach these darned little screws....but I wasn't prepared for feeling as if I'd just pumped iron for a couple of hours! LOL Not to mention the fact that I was very tanned and close to a little sunburned, especially on my shoulders.

Ah, well--the trials of a Fiero owner, right? LOL

Here's my first view of my baby all put back together:

The very next thing that I'm going to do is work on painting some of those engine parts and getting everything back to new-looking condition---project #2. lol

The next step in the process was to change the oil. We pulled out the "mini-mechanic shop" (chucks, creeper, jack, jack stands, etc.) ; jacked up the car and proceeded to start changing the oil. I'd put in a heavier oil the first time--Castrol 20W 30 (or something like that, I forget the numbers exactly), since I knew I was pulling it right back out. We got the cap off and the oil looked like this:

You can see the water at the top of the container:

I smeared some on a newspaper and you could see how streaky it was:

And it just dripped off of a shop towel that I dipped in the container:

Bad oil out, new oil in. This time I used a lighter oil--10W 30, I think it was--put in a new filter, and fired her up again.
She started right up. No smoke from the exhaust this time--we were home free! Yippee!

We let her run for awhile--about an hour or so--then shut her off to let the engine cool down a bit before we changed the oil again. We decided to do it this way after being advised that we should change the oil multiple times to get all of the extra water out of the system. I'd already checked for leaks and the water pump was working great, so I wanted to be extra careful with this step to make sure I didn't overlook something and end up with the same problem as before.

--cont--

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

wait , i'll wait till your done posting hehe i just noticed you wernt finished yet "shhh"

[This message has been edited by Weponhead (edited 05-05-2005).]

--cont--
I'd managed to loosen the ones from the middle outward, and since most of the other body panel screws that I'd encountered were short, I assumed (yeah, I know what happens when you assume ) that these were as well. I was so frustrated with trying to take the back panel off that I tried to pry it open before what turned out to be very loooonnnngggg screws were removed and ended up breaking off a piece of the back....gggrrrrr....damn screws!

So after I'd broken what was a previously-perfect back panel, I noticed that the screwdriver that I was using was too pointed to fit in the threads of the screw heads and that's why it was stripping. **sigh** After changing the tip in the screwdriver, I was finally able to remove the panel and take out the old bulb. Now of course the stupid bulb wouldn't come out simply by twisting like usual, so I had to break it off, then use needle-nosed pliers to pull the bottom part out.

Here's the old bulb....it looked kind of milky white and there was alot of green mushy stuff in the casing. I guess it hadn't been changed in awhile either (that's another trend I'd noticed with this car).

After replacing the bulb and testing it (at least that worked), I refocused my attention on the overheating problem that I was still faced with. Did I jinx the car by naming it "The Hottie"? Was I doomed to have a Fiero that wouldn't run? These thoughts crossed my mind, but I did what had gotten me through this whole ordeal to this point--I went to the forum for answers.

Madcurl and a few others had mentioned early on when I first got the car and was describing the overheating problem that I should try burping the cooling system to get any air bubbles out---'cause otherwise they would cause an engine to overheat. The lightbulb went on and I checked out the Ogre's Cave for instructions on how to properly burp and fill the cooling system.

I checked out the instructions, copied and printed them and decided that was going to be my next course of action. I'd just added water to the system once we put the engine back together---I hadn't bothered to check for air bubbles or follow any particular system for filling the radiator with water. So now I have hope--again.

--cont--

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

as your car was heating up did the fan ever come on? i assume it did or you probably would have said other wise. to help diagnose the problem please do a couple of checks. 1) leave the front radiator cap on for now but check the water level in the overflow bottle. if it is empty then your probably loosing water somewhere. it could be out the front overflow or radiator cap. if it has water then that is a good sign. 2) after it cools enough so you can hold your hand on the engine without burning yourself you should remove the rear thermostat cap and see if the water level is still full. if not that could be why your engine is starting to get hotter than normal. and then we would have to figure out where the water is going. if it is still full that is a good thing but then maybe your radiator is partially clogged? 3) if it appears that you are not loosing water then you should visually inspect the coolant tubes that run from the rear of the car to the front to be sure that they are not kinked or crushed. if they look good then try removing the thermostat and running the car with the thermostat and the thermostat cap removed. the front radiator cap should still be on and tight. with the engine running without the thermostat watch the temp to see if it goes up and whether or not the fan comes on when the temp gauge indicates around 220*. if you want the fan to come on earlier you can select the a/c on even if the a/c is not working. (that is if you have a/c installed). also watch for coolant flow as the engine warms up. if it is not flowing well at idle that can contribute to the problem. check the radiator tube and hoses on the drivers side of the car after the engine warms up to be sure that it is warm/hot all the way to the radiator. check the radiator from the front to see if it is warm/hot. then check the hoses and tubes on the pax side of the car to see if they are warm/hot. if the tubes and hoses on the pax side of the car are not warm/hot then the radiator may be plugged. if you have done all of that and everyting seems ok, you can try leaving the thermostat out and after topping the water off in the back putting on the thermostat cap. then drive the car around. if the car is able to stay at running temp and not overheat at slower speeds, say 30 to 45mph but it starts creeping up at highway speeds that would indicate a clogged radiator. (it happend that way to me) if the car stays cool while driving it around without stopping much but starts to over heat when you are in stop and go traffic or parked then maybe the pump is not flowing enough water to keep it cool. overall the best thing you can do is to just get the radiator replaced or have it rodded out by a competent radiator shop so you don't have to guess about it. (disregard that last if you have already done that.) being from AZ I have to be extra thorough because overheating out here can turn into an emergency...

ps: anyone in the know correct me or add to this....

EDIT: in the time it took to type all of this you had been busy taking care of it... lol

[This message has been edited by cptsnoopy (edited 05-05-2005).]

---cont---

During this process, we'd examined the thermostat and I noticed that it looked a bit "cooked". I'd replaced it with a new one when I first bought the car, but it was in the engine when the car kept running hot before we blew the head gasket and I completely forgot to get a new one. So when I got to the part about installing the thermostat in the instructions, I left it out instead. I'd been told that you really didn't need a thermostat to drive a car as long as the fan worked and water pumped through the system okay, so I figured I could leave this one out (especially since it appeared to be bad anyway) and use the opportunity to test drive the car and go to AutoZone to pick up a new one.

The one I had was a 195 degree tstat, so I figured I go pick up a 180 degree one just to be safe.

With "The Hottie" now keeping her cool, we decide to take our first test drive and go to AutoZone in search of a new thermostat. (Gotta have a mission your first time out. LOL)

We drive through the neighborhood and get on the bridge:

I'm thinking, "Aaahhh! Not a hill so soon out of the gate!" and the whole time I kept checking the temperature gauge and feeling out the car's responsiveness. We get down the bridge and turn onto the next stretch of road:

Traffic was pretty light, so we seemed to be fine. "The Hottie" weathered her first challenge like a champ:

smooth sailing on the temperature....not even a hiccup. LOL

The acceleration was good and the car handled great. There was some squeaking I definitely needed to replace the shocks, 'cause the ride wasn't the smoothest when we hit potholes, but the engine purred like a kitten. hehe I was sooo proud! I could hardly believe that I'd repaired a blown head gasket and fixed my own car!

Of course I was grinning ear to ear already and my grin only got wider and more "goober-like" the closer we got to AutoZone and still no problems! Then, we arrived:

My first road trip since the engine repair! We got there safe and sound and the car was perfect! No overheating, no sputtering, no squealing belt; the fan was running and I was so happy!

I proudly parked my baby in the parking lot and went inside to locate my new thermostat. When I got inside, none of my usual crew was working, so I'd have to wait to share my proud moment. The guy at the parts counter asked me what kind of car for the thermostat and when I told him it was an '88 Fiero Coupe, he was like, "Really? You mean the little cars that are about this long (putting his hands from one end of the parts counter to about mid-way)?"

"Yup", I proudly beamed, "I'm restoring it."

"My cousins and I used to take turns riding in it as we pushed it around my grandfather's yard," he said. Apparently they had about 2 acres of land and there were 2 fieros on the property that the kids used as push go-karts. LOL

Turns out they didn't have my thermostat in stock and he said that I didn't need it anyway. If the car worked fine without it, I could wait. So I bought some lemonade instead and went back to my ride to prepare for the ride home.

The car started right up with no problems and we cruised out into traffic. I started letting her out a bit on the way back to start testing the limits.
Here's a shot of my "cupholder":

--cont--

EDIT: you've already fixed it haha... good work. no need for my advice.

[This message has been edited by Saber49 (edited 05-05-2005).]

---cont--
The longer we drove, the more excited I became. I got a bit bolder and started testing her out a bit. Part of our route had us going under the interstate...I noticed that everything seemed alot taller when you're driving a fiero. hehe

I couldn't wait to take her up there and really let her loose!

We took the long way around to try and have her on the road for an extended period of time:

When we finally pulled up to the house, we held our breath and checked the temperature gauge again:

NORMAL TEMP!!!!!

Let the celebration begin!!! Yippeee!

I'd figured out earlier that the fan works (and stays on) if I unplugged the temperature sensor attached to the thermostat housing. If I left the sensor plugged in the fan never came on, even though I'd bought a new sensor already. So I left the sensor unplugged, the fan worked and the check engine light came on when the fan started up. Other than the light and fan being on all the time, the car ran great and I didn't have any problems. There was no smoke from the exhaust and the engine was sooo smooth sounding!

I wanted to do cartwheels I was so happy!

So we're grinning shamelessly, admiring the handiwork and one of my neighbors comes by to check out the car. We tell him about all of the engine adventures to date and proudly announce that we've just solved the overheating problem. He checks out the car and offers his appreciation of the handiwork on the engine repairs. He'd noticed that I was usually sitting in the trunk when he drove by, but he didn't realize that I was actually doing the work.

We start talking and he asked how the brakes were and I told him that I needed to have them replaced 'cause there really wasn't alot of stopping power left in the ones that were on the car. He asked me if I'd ever replaced the brakes before, and I said no, but I have about 10,000 Fiero buddies on the forum and my trusty Haynes and Chilton manuals, so I figured I'd be okay. LOL

Well, he volunteers to take the rear wheel off and show me what to do so that when I go back to AutoZone and pick up the brakes I'll be prepared. So we jack up the car and remove the tire, and find this:

From this angle it's not looking pretty at all. The rotor has really, really deep grooves in it and there's basically not much left at all:

By this time, there's a little crowd of my neighbors gathering--Big Mike, his brother and Brick (one of the neighborhood mechanics from the other end of the block who'd given me a few pointers along the way). They all check out the rotor and it gets passed around 'cause they can't believe I was able to even drive on it in that condition.

There's also a bolt missing, and the whole thing looks like it's barely hanging on.

He removes the brake assembly and there's no pad to speak of and everything is so rusted, it's ridiculous:

To top it off, the round-disk-looking thing behind the arm where the brake pads are installed (I think it was called a caliper?) was pushed all the way out and locked in place, so Brick had to use some C-clamps and screw it back in.

We put the tire back on, and put everything back together but the problem facing us now was how to get the car back into the yard without using the brakes? Since Brick had screwed that round thing back in, we couldn't depress the brakes to try to stop the car because all of the pieces weren't on the wheel and we were afraid it would lock up again. So I got to sit in the car and steer while they pushed and guided the car back into the yard---but I couldn't stop because I couldn't use the brakes! LOL

Talk about funny! Watching guys scurry out of the way of a rolling fiero was a sight to behold! LOL

Needless to say, that meant that there would be no joy-riding on this night. LOL No problem, I'd just plan to go pick up the new brakes and a new rotor, install them and we'd be ready to go---and I could finally declare my independence from having to bum rides and borrow other people's cars because I'd have my own Fiero on the road as a daily driver!

But, of course, nothing ever goes according to plan.....

Stay tuned for the next installment of "The Hottie" Diaries: Declaration of Independence

--Tress

[This message has been edited by Miss-Tress007 (edited 05-06-2005).]

Holy crap, I can't believe you were on the road with those brakes and rotors in the shape they are in. Good thing you took it easy. Definately get that done next. Make sure you get zinc plated rotors so they don't get all rusty when they get wet.

Are you sure you were having overheating problems? The pic shows the needle straight down at 220 degrees, that is about the temp that the fan should kick in at. If it goes above that point and stays above it, then you have a problem.

Your temp gage looked normall to me, you can install a different switch to turn the fan on earlier.

Get NEW 88 calipers fronts at www.calipersonline for about $100, These are fully loaded and ready to install. They don't have rears, but can rebuild yours for a good price. They are the best deal you will find anywhere.

Good job!

[This message has been edited by RossT (edited 05-06-2005).]

Now go print out Ogre's cave info on the brakes. The brake rotor should be worn the same on both sides, so you have a serious issue there, looks like the caliper was frozen. It will probably need replacement.

Tress, Compared to this that disk is in fair shape.

I found this on a parts car that had hit a tree, I'm guessing it was a contributing factor in the accident.
I can't believe no one noticed it when it fragged.

Also, I believe Caviler rotors are a less expensive replacement for the 88 rotors. Someone else will have to give you the details, but I have hear of several people using them.

quote Originally posted by Miss-Tress007:

Were these spring pins sticking out like that on the car?? If so that's why the rear pads are not working. They were just free floating without the pins to hold them in place.

Try not to damage those pins. The only place I have found to buy them is the Fiero Store. When they run out, then I don't know where you would get them. Also, I would suggest getting new or rebuilt calipers. Those are in pretty bad shape. I second the zinc plating. Not just for looks but it will prevent them from rusting and last longer.

If you need 88 brake help let me know. It's a whole different animal than the 84 to 87, (better in most respects though).

This is what you want your calipers to look like:

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 05-06-2005).]

You should get new or rebuilt calipers. I highly recommend the NOS fronts from calipersonline mentioned earlier in this thread. On the rear calipers, if the pistons were pushed in with the arm still bolted to the back of the caliper then likely the caliper's damaged internally. I've seen good prices on the rears at http://www.rockauto.com .

The outer half of the caliper is just a passive iron bridge, so getting a rebuilt inner half w/slider pins and new pads from AutoZone (around $14 last time I bought some) gives you a good value.

You'll also need new rotors, the one you showed is definitely junk. Normally they are designed to not wear down more than the equivalent of a couple of pieces of posterboard. You're lucky you didn't suffer catastrophic brake failure. Here's a question for you: Does your parking brake lever pull up very easily, or does it have some tension?

JazzMan

quote Originally posted by JazzMan: On the rear calipers, if the pistons were pushed in with the arm still bolted to the back of the caliper then likely the caliper's damaged internally. You'll also need new rotors, the one you showed is definitely junk. Normally they are designed to not wear down more than the equivalent of a couple of pieces of posterboard. You're lucky you didn't suffer catastrophic brake failure. Here's a question for you: Does your parking brake lever pull up very easily, or does it have some tension? JazzMan

The point above is correct, the 88 caliper piston should be turned in and a 'C' clamp should stay in the box.
Another thing I notice is the position of the pad guide pins (as pointed out in an above post). It leads me to believe that if they were installed correctly the should still be in place as they complete a wedge type fit in the caliper body. Since they have worked out that far that fit is no longer adequate to retain them.
The throwaway spec for 88 rotors (all around) is .75 inches and that one is beyond that. Are the caliper body slide pins free to float in their sleeves? It would seem now that all wheels should be inspected as well (that's a given at this point, I know) and proper operation checked.
I think also that your on the home strech making this car roadworthy.
Keep us posted!