As many of you remember, on September 11 of last year, my Fiero was hit by an uninsured driver. It took 9 months and 5 days to finally see money from the accident. After going to court and winning, and filing with the state to revoke the other people’s licenses, I finally saw the settlement. So I begin looking for a car.
I wanted to find another GT to replace mine with. But with so few around MN it was difficult. Here I was wasting away much of the summer without my toy. This all changed last Tuesday.
I saw a listing for a 87 GT for sale in the mall. I clicked on it and realized that it was local. So I called up the guy and left a message. He called me back later that afternoon and Eric (Racingman24) and myself went to go check it out.
From the ad it said it did not run, there was no spark in the #2 cylinder. At least, if it did run, it would run like dirt. This didn’t bother me, as I have a good motor to put into it from my white GT.
We looked over the car, and checked it out for rust and whatnot and this thing was clean. There was a tiny tiny spot of rust in the trunk. Other than that, it was clean. The odometer reads 142xxx but the previous owner says that it quit working so it has more like 160,000 on it. that fine, as I planed on rebuilding the suspension anyway. The body is fairly clean, and the paint in not oxidized. It has a small scuff in the rear bumper and the nose has a spot where a truck backed into it with a trailer hitch. Not bad at all though. the interior is near perfect as well. a great donor car for a motor to say the least
its a 5-speed car with a new transmission last year.
Shawn (PURPLE REIGN) gave me a hand getting it home with is flatbed that evening! Thanks a lot guys for looking at the car with me and getting it home.
And you don’t want to know what I got it for
the tear down of my white Gt has begun. I’m prepping the cradle to be dropped so I can swap it into the other one. So right now, before I go to Michigan in September, I plan on swapping motors, rebuilding the suspension, and completely remove all the good pieces left over on my white GT and getting rid of the bent frame. As much as I hate to see it go, it is beyond savable.
Time for the rebirth!
trust me, it is much much worse than what this picture looks like
the new one
[This message has been edited by justa6 (edited 08-01-2005).]
oh yeah, i figured out why there was no spark also, there is no compression in the #2 cylinder. not an ignition problem.
i'll keep this updated as i tear down the old car and transplant the motor.
------------------ The unfortunate history of my GT "Because you're so chocked full of preservatives, they're just preserving you now" - why you shoud eat healthy
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01:02 AM
Silicoan86 Member
Posts: 1614 From: Savage, MN, USA Registered: May 2004
Glad to hear you finally got a new car. What are those wheels off of? They look nice on the car. You plan on getting it running before the end of this season? Can't wait to see it. Makes me want mine back even more...
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01:27 AM
I wear pants Member
Posts: 579 From: Columbus, IN Registered: Jun 2005
Congrats on the new car. I hate to see fieros get wrecked cause its not like pontiac is pumping them out anymore. It's hard to believe they havent made them in 17yrs. Anyway what engine are you swapping in?
just the 2.8 out of the white one. bth are 5-speed cars so it should go pretty quick. it is a strong motor and i dont have time to do something else, like a DOHC motor (i like them )
the wheels came with the car. they are just 15's ARE's they dont look too bad, but i actually like the look of the stockers moreso than these. but thats just me. im keeping my eye open for some 17's (5-spoke)
[This message has been edited by justa6 (edited 08-01-2005).]
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01:38 AM
exoticse Member
Posts: 8654 From: Orlando, Fl Registered: Jun 2003
You should be able to drop both cradles and just swap them, should be driving it in a weekend if you wanted to. I am glad you finally get to replace your car. Soon you will feel right at home.
Excellent deal. The car looks great! Hope the swap out goes smoothly. Keep everything off of your old one.
Did you get a reasonable amount for the damage to the old one?
yeah, im planning on stripping the car completly of any good parts before getting rid of it. i got a fair amount for my white GT. nt as much as i wanted, but not as bad as i expected. i had to use some of the money to cover my deductable on the svt (stupid deer!) but i still have plenty left over. after all, the money was for my next fiero!
well, its been longer than i anticipated, but hey, things come up and things dot always go the wya they are suppose to with a motor swap.
tongiht though, it sure felt good when i turned the key and heard the fuel pump come on.
about 3 weeks ago i started taking the engie out of the white GT and getting it ready to put into the red one. i thought that it was going to be a fairly easy swap and go along fairly well. well, these are fieros, it doesnt always turn out the way you want it to.
dropping the engine out of th ewhite one was the first time i had ever dropped an engine. and it went smooth. except for forgeting to unhook a couple things, it went real well. as i unhooked things, i made a list of everything i unhooked. that way, i would know what to unhook on the red car, and what to hook up when puting the engine back in. that motor came out without a problem, besides some coolant on the floor.
i lowered it down onto a pallet with wheels on it and rolled it out from under the car and set it aside. i then ran out to menards and Northern Tool and got some lumber and wheels. i made a dolly similar to the pallet idea but this time it was for the whole car. i needed to be able to move the car out and pull the red one in.
i was able to take the car out of the garage without too much of a hassle. i would have used steel wheels instead of rubber (they are at their max for carrying capacity) but i had 2 big cracks to go ver getting it out of the garage and the driveway is not steep, but steep enough.
after i got the car out, i pulled the engine out to clean it off.
when i cleaned it off, i found this crack in the cradle causingme to NOT be able to just swap over the entire cradle. time for the motor to come off!
i brought the motor back into the garage and found an engine hoist to pull the motor. this swap is getting more involved than it was suppose to be! oh well.
i pulled the motor and set it aside to later changed the rear main seal and oil pan gasket.
time for the red car to come in. i pulled it in and started prepping it for the engine to come out. this one was being a little more stubborn. bolts didnt want to break loose, hoses didnt want to come undone. you know, the basics. i ended up cutting the coolant lines under the car since they didnt even want to budge. (and here i thought that it was going to come out easy also since the tranny was preplaced a year ago!)
but to top it all off, 1 stinkin cradle bolt didnt want to come out. i tryed everything i could think of to get it out. i finnaly said screw it, and went and spent 20 bucks on the cheapest grinder i could find. i also bought some cutting discs. WOW, that made the bolt come out real quick. back in business.
i got the motor out and began right away taking the motor off the cradle and tranny. i set that one aside now an dhad the cradle-tranny ready to be cleaned. so out it went to the driveway again and loads of degreaser went into it. i didnt get it all off, but i got alot of the greas and grime off. also, it was nice to NOT have a big crack in it!
now it came time to mount the engine to the tranny. what a PITA it was! i finally ened up takeing off the engine mount and that gave me enough room to push the engine and tranny together. i FINALLY got them together today.
Im on the home stetch now (at least for the motor part!) so after i got the combo together i installed the starter again, exhaust, and a few other things and slid the cradle under the car. i began lowering the car down and after a few attempts, was able to line up the poly cradle bushings get the bolts though.
now all was left was to hook up the 19 or so different cables, hoses, wires, bolts, and nuts. i went slow as i didnt want to miss anything. going downt he checklist making sure i got everything, and double checking, it was time.
i filled the coolant up and put oil back in the car. i hooked up the battery. when i turned the key, i heard that familiar fuel pump noise. so at least i knew i had power! i did this one more time just to make sure. so, with that, i pushed in the clutch and turned the key.....
and with that, it cranked over a little bit longer than it it use to and fired to life! i blipped the throttle a couple times and it was nice to hear that familair sound again. i let it idle and got out and did a walka around. i made sure it wasnt leaking any fluids out the bottom. there was a little smoke coming from the exhaust manifolds and where the Y-pipe joins with the rest of the exhaust. i just figered this is because i seperated them and it is just burning off the gunk around them.
it fired right up and ran fine. it is idling at about 1500-2000 RPM's though, so i have to take a look at it and see if i have a vacuum leak somewhere.
the back is stil up on jackstands with not tires on it so i decided i wanted to make sure that it ran though the gears and shifted fine. thank god it did becasue when trying to get the tranny/engine together, i accidently knocked off the throwout bearing. i cought it and put it back on, but that would have sucked if i had missed it!
next step, pull the suspension off, install the poly and lowering springs, and install the sway bar!
busy busy busy! but what a good feeling when it starts up right away!
Good job! Im glad you found a cheap replacement (real cheap!). I had always liked your white GT and when i found out it was slammed into, it was sad. Hey man keep up the good work and keep those pictures-a-commin! -Roy
------------------ Real Sports cars only have 2 seats.... Matching numbers GT #17889 of 26,402 made in 1988, 1of 241 yellow GT's
thanks, well, i pulled the springs out of my white one today, and thank god for a saw-zal. the front left was so badly bent from the hit that i couldnt push it down far enough to get it out. the saw-zal cut though it like butter
i got the rear struts in and was jacking up the front when i found that the drivers side coolant pipe (from the fron tot the back of the car) is leaking right at the place where the jack goes. so no wi have to switch that out as well. im hoping that the one in the white car didnt get bent from the accident
Sounds like it coming along just fine, for the most part. Too bad you couldn't fix the white one, but I think you made a good choice by getting a different car and 'starting over' so to speak.
------------------ FORMERLY KNOWN AS: sqoach (so, uh...yeah.........I'm not a noob) :p
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03:31 PM
DR650SE Member
Posts: 1793 From: Cleveland, Oh Registered: Oct 2001
its low now i got the springs in all around, along with some of the poly. i didnt put it all in since i am planning on taking it up north this weekend (granted it runs and drives fine before i go). its amazing how much faster the second time around lowering a car goes than the fist time.
i found that the drivers rear caliper was frozen on me while trying to install it, so i just replaced it with the same one on the white car. that caliper is fairly new still, so it went on liek it should. i may end up replacing all the calipers with the ones from the white one eventually since those i know have all been replaced. we'll see how it goes. so now i need to bleed the brakes first thing tommorrow.
i still got engergy (although when you keep dropping wrenches on your knee it tends to hurt!) so im goign to go see about the coolant leak. hopefuly i can patch it till tommorow and get it welded. i looked into swapping out the whole pipe, but i havent seen a way to do it that is less complicated then dropping the front crossmember. so for now i'll patch it, and then eventually replace it. its just a weekend car, not a daily driver, so thats a +.
well, after i grabbed the fire extingwisher i finally got to drove it today! it sure was nice to be back behind the wheel of a fiero. i had almost forgot how low and small they actually are! granted, it was only for a few miles to put air in the tires, but still, i got to drive it! it goes in tommorrow AM for an alignment. and thank god. i had to drive down a road covered in gravel (on top of the asphalt) and i honestly thought i was going to lose control above 35 it was so so on the regular roads, but the gravel sucked. the car semed to run and drive ok though. everything semed to be in working order. hopefully it desnt give me any problems, as of righ tnow i am planning on possibly puting about 400 miles on it!
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01:17 AM
PFF
System Bot
m0sh_man Member
Posts: 8460 From: south charleston WV 25309 Registered: Feb 2002
yeah, it just needed to warm up. after i drove it it idled fine.
on another note, when hooking up all your wires, be careful to NOT have any touching the exhaust! i had a close call. when i started it up in the garage i noticed a plastic burning smell. so i shut it off right immediately. when i looked down at the cross pipe the small wiring harness that goes to air filter houseing and bihind it was touching the exhaust. LUCKLY the wires didnt burn at all, and just the plasic case (around all the wires) melted a little. i rerouted the wires to take them away from the heat. not its fine
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10:43 AM
exoticse Member
Posts: 8654 From: Orlando, Fl Registered: Jun 2003
It's a good think i have not had breakfast otherwise i might puke !
That is awesome,..great work, and great writeup. Any old pictures of your White GT ? Any new pictures of your new GT now that it is lowered and running ?
here is the LAST pic i took of my white one before the accident. it was taken the weekend before it happened i have lots and lots of pictures of the white one
when i get it back (its at the alignment shop right now) if i get a chance, i'll take some pics of it lowered. i am running suspension technique springs all around. i have KYB's on the front and.....shoot, i dont remember what is on the rear for struts now! the white one is lowered in that pic. i kind of wish it wa a bit lower, but it is pretty good.
here is a pic with a set of 16's. it filled out the wheelwells nicer on it with these.
heres some pics of the car completed. dropped, and running. i took it on about a 600 mile trip last weekend, and it was nice to be getting 30 mpg and behind the wheel of a fiero again. i shot these tongiht, as i wont be driving the car now till thanksgiving .
[This message has been edited by justa6 (edited 09-06-2005).]
Joel- Glad to hear that you got back behind the wheel of a Fiero (I'm hoping to do so this weekend myself)! And I'm definitely sure that you made the right choice starting over with a new car! It looks great - have fun in MI!
IM in midland michigan. IM starting school at Northwood Universty on wensday (transfer student). ive just been moving in and whatnot. right now i am kind of on a neighbors connection (wireless internet ) so it comes and goes. when i get my cable and highspeed hooked up, then i'll be online some more. today we went over to Bay city and Saginaw and i saw a bunch of fieros. there was even a black 85 GT 4-speed for sale in aubourn for sale. no price though.
The car did turn otu well. im not done with the suspension completly. it needs to have the rest of the poly installed. and im going to change the exhaust on it still too. i kept the stock exhaust on it, and although it is quieter, there is something blocking in it or something, as it is slowing downt he car A LOT. so next summer i'll change that. hopefully nothing landed on it in the storms that just went though there last night.
so what are you planning on doing with it now since it wont be on the road again till thanksgiving, i mean thats alot of time for just the suspension....add in some extras if yah no what i am saying i wish i had the time andd money to take apart my fiero, but mine is also a daily driver with no back up vechicle. you have a very nice car though and good job on changing the motor and what not, how many hours in all if you could recall for all the work you did, just wondering?...
so what are you planning on doing with it now since it wont be on the road again till thanksgiving, i mean thats alot of time for just the suspension....add in some extras if yah no what i am saying i wish i had the time andd money to take apart my fiero, but mine is also a daily driver with no back up vechicle. you have a very nice car though and good job on changing the motor and what not, how many hours in all if you could recall for all the work you did, just wondering?...
wow, honestly, i have no idea how much time i have into the motorswap. not even a ball park figure since it was so spread out. (i do know it took me about 4 hours to take the motor out of the first car though, and the second second motor probably took about the smae, but that i had to cut a bolt out of the cradle) the car is in MN and i am in MI so........... i wont be doing anything with the car. which sucks since i just got it done, but is probably good so i can focus on my studies. changing degrees mid-game (well, actually post game) brings on enough of its own challenges. Ive got the SVT out here, and it is a fun car, so i'll miss the fiero, but i know it would just be a big distraction if it was here. hopefully i'll drive it a bit over the 2 week break at thanksgiving, but after that it will be in storage till next summer. (winter sux)
Joel- Glad to hear that you got back behind the wheel of a Fiero (I'm hoping to do so this weekend myself)! And I'm definitely sure that you made the right choice starting over with a new car! It looks great - have fun in MI!
shawn has the white one now, he took it tonight im not sure if he'll bring it to his place to take off a few more parts, but you can see the wrinkle in roof. i think i made the right choice starting over too. have fun in MN! MI should be fun i think
wahoo, i get to drive it this weekend. knowing my luck it will snow and i'll have to snowblow a path to where it is stored. cant wait till next spring!
Originally posted by justa6: knowing my luck it will snow and i'll have to snowblow a path to where it is stored.
Well... after having mid-60 degree days for much of November thus far - they are predicting snow tomorrow afternoon into Wednesday (3-6" possible). They're not sure how much of it will stick around, but if some of it melts the rest of the week, it might warm back up for your return this weekend!
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02:04 PM
Silicoan86 Member
Posts: 1614 From: Savage, MN, USA Registered: May 2004
wahoo, i get to drive it this weekend. knowing my luck it will snow and i'll have to snowblow a path to where it is stored. cant wait till next spring!
Were scheduled to get 5" tomorrow, and my winter beater isn't even road worthy yet!
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02:07 PM
KurtAKX Member
Posts: 4008 From: West Bloomfield, MI Registered: Feb 2002
Hey! There are a few M.E. down here in Flint at Kettering University are from Midland, and three of us are Fiero guys. We do it notchback style up in Midland though, so its probably a good thing that you left that inferior GT at home (J/K!)
quote
Originally posted by justa6:
IM in midland michigan. IM starting school at Northwood Universty on wensday (transfer student). ive just been moving in and whatnot. right now i am kind of on a neighbors connection (wireless internet ) so it comes and goes. when i get my cable and highspeed hooked up, then i'll be online some more. today we went over to Bay city and Saginaw and i saw a bunch of fieros. there was even a black 85 GT 4-speed for sale in aubourn for sale. no price though.
The car did turn otu well. im not done with the suspension completly. it needs to have the rest of the poly installed. and im going to change the exhaust on it still too. i kept the stock exhaust on it, and although it is quieter, there is something blocking in it or something, as it is slowing downt he car A LOT. so next summer i'll change that. hopefully nothing landed on it in the storms that just went though there last night.
Makes me want mine back even more...
i wish i had the time andd money to take apart my fiero, but mine is also a daily driver with no back up vechicle. 
Tyler, 1985 GT
