Next I'll have to get a gauge to check the fuel pressure. maybe my pump is on the way out after 30 years. Not sure what the failure modes are for a fuel pump. Could it work ok and then give out when it warms up a bit??
That's exactly what my Fiero did when the original fuel pump started going bad. That SD4 needs a better fuel pump anyway.
Today, I took the Fiero out for a short drive. The new clutch and new tires need to break in. Also, the new fuel pump has improved throttle response noticeably. The old fuel pump was a stock replacement... good for about 160HP. And the 3.4 V6 is rated for 160HP stock. Mine is definitely not stock. So uhh, yeah...
Edit to add: PAGE OWNAGE!!! Let's toss in a random photo.
[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 07-10-2016).]
Hey Raydar, those SensaTracs will be a nice upgrade from the OEM Fiero shocks / struts.... been there done that. It'll feel like a completely different car.
That said, I hope you kept the rubber bushings in the trailing arms. The trailing arms need some cushion. The struts dampen movement in the vertical direction, and the trailing arm bushings dampen movement in the horizontal. If you put hard bushings in the trailing arms, the ride will get harsher.
I'm with ya'. On all counts. I put sensatracs on my fastback a couple of years ago. Even with stiffer springs, it still rides and handles better than it did.
And yeah... I still have poly in my trailing arms on the fastback. (Not my idea. The Fiero Factory "insisted" that the rear be reworked with poly when they did the engine swap.) I recently bought Rodney's rubber bushings for the trailing arms only. Just have to swap them out.)
The coupe is getting poly everywhere except the trailing arms and sway bars. The remaining rubber looks fine. Going to leave it alone. (I suspect that the "steamship" handling I was experiencing was due to the shot shocks and struts. No compression damping whatsoever, and very little rebound damping. The soft 70 series tires didn't help, either.)
I let a friend co-drive my '88 Formula on the weekend. This is his video. If he seems comfortable driving my Formula, he should be... he has one as well.
It was the first time I've ever been outside the car while someone else drove it. It was fun... and scary... all at the same time. I heard what I thought was the rev limiter kicking in (at 0:26, as I was standing at the nearest track station), but I've since discovered that '88 Fieros don't have a rev limiter. I've got to assume that he was floating my valves!
The reason for dissecting it the way I did, the bolts that the exhaust used to connect to the Y pipe are square & welded in place. One came out without issue, the other broke the weld & spins. It's seized in place, so I pulled it out using a die-grinder. The exhaust already had a hole in it anyhow. Free to a good home, if anyone were in the market.
I let a friend co-drive my '88 Formula on the weekend. This is his video. If he seems comfortable driving my Formula, he should be... he has one as well.
It was the first time I've ever been outside the car while someone else drove it. It was fun... and scary... all at the same time. I heard what I thought was the rev limiter kicking in (at 0:26, as I was standing at the nearest track station), but I've since discovered that '88 Fieros don't have a rev limiter. I've got to assume that he was floating my valves!
Did he tap that cone on the right, about 0:23? Not bad. A bit of wheel hop, and a few times he over-corrected.
Not a fan of autocross. They should mark the course better.
No, but I wish he did! That was his final, and best run of the day... and he beat me by .072 seconds! However, in my own defense... he was in the second group of drivers, and they had a huge advantage as the day started off cold and wet but got much better as the day progressed. By the end of the day, the pavement (and tires) were finally getting hot and sticky. I know that sounds like sour grapes... but it's the truth!
quote
Originally posted by tshark:
Not a fan of autocross. They should mark the course better.
I agree that this particular course looked rather confusing. That's because there's a driving school that uses half the tarmac, and they have a set configuration of cones for their driving course. The car club that was putting on this event didn't want to remove and then replace all those cones... so they sort of wound their course through the other set of cones on half the tarmac. Not the best way to do it, I agree, but it actually wasn't as confusing as the video may be portraying it.
I saw the standing water. They ran me [elsewhere] when it was so bad that condensation was forming while you waited. The course was so narrow in one place that I hit cones on both sides. They claimed I was slideways. I didn't worry too much about the comparitive times. I was sorting out the suspension and trying to beat my own time. I did discover that, if I backed off my entrances a bit, kept my foot out of it in the turns, and landed my exits straight, my times were greatly improved. Initially, I'd come off the straightaways wide open, make a late entrance, almost back into the turn without lifting my foot, manhandle through the center, and then make a shaky exit. I knocked so many cones flying that they put different colored cones at the turns.
I didn't worry too much about the comparitive times. I was sorting out the suspension and trying to beat my own time.
Oh sure, we're basically just trying to improve our own technique... but if our silly little plastic cars from the 80's manage to beat a few modern machines, all the better!
Raw times below. The ol' Fiero didn't do bad against the rest of the field.
A couple of hi-res images of the Formula in action posted Here.
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 07-13-2016).]
Replaced the fuel pump with a new Bosch unit. Now my fuel pressure went from 8 to an off the chart 18. Not sure why its so high, but the new pump resolved my problem Getting the tank out was pretty easy. However getting back in was a real pain. I couldn't get the rubber hose for the fill line connected. Fought with it for an hour before it went on. Now I get to retune my ECU since I've got so much fuel, my previous tune is now super rich.
Also, while under the car, found out that the drivers side aluminum coolant pipe was leaking right at the jack point. I think I'll see if a little JBWeld can fix that up.
Put my wheels on. I wasn't sure they would not look to big for the car, turns out I like it. I wanted more rubber on the rear maybe should have picked 245/45/18 but went with 245/40/18 rear, 235/40/18 front. After car is painted I may black them out.
[This message has been edited by LornesGT (edited 07-24-2016).]
Turned car in for a front end alignment and a hopeful fix to the front end geometry with FIERO Store adjustable ball joint kit a week ago Tuesday just in time to have the front end machine break down. Hunter representative was called didn't get to the shop unit Thursday. Defective part was found and of course the replacement part required a special order with a no less than 10 day for availability So I've done nothing.
I pulled over 200 pounds of dead weight out of one of my Formulas....I wouldn't be surprised if the total tally is closer to 300 pounds! One of the two Formulas I picked up a few months ago had a huge (and antiquated) stereo system. I believe it was a show car back in the day and was built by a stereo shop to showcase the latest and greatest, but I'm not 100% certain on that. What I do know is it had 4 fairly large (and heavy) amps where the spare tire goes and two 8" woofers boxed in behind the seats....all told it had 10 speakers and a CD changer sitting on the rear parcel shelf ledge right above the glove box.
It also had a Clifford alarm system that had a ton of wires clogging up the center tunnel around the shifter.....it was a mess. I am in the process of converting everything back to bone stock because I could not get the system to work properly and I had no idea how to fix it (I wasn't going to spend money paying someone to fix it either). The end result is a lot less clutter under the hood and under the dash and inside the center tunnel. Surprisingly there were only a few cut wires from the factory harness....all easily spliced back together.
The bad news is the two subs behind the seats won't come out. I discovered that the firewall has been cutout and the entire thing is literally glued to the chassis. It would take too much to remove them so they will stay put, I guess. The other crappy thing is the front firewall between the radiator and spare tire cavity has been hacked up. I need to see how hard it would be to graft a good section back into it.
Anyway....here are a few pictures of the "during"....like an idiot, I forgot to take "before shots". In no particular order:
[This message has been edited by mrfiero (edited 07-30-2016).]
I spent the day installing new shocks & struts on one of my Formulas. Generally not a terribly difficult job, but this car spent some of it's life in Ohio and the 2 big strut bolts did not want to budge. It took some persuasion (BFH and a lot of penetrating oil), but they eventually came out.
I also installed a new distributor cap & rotor, colder fan switch and re-wired the temp gauge so it doesn't spike when you start the car. I started replacing the catalytic converter with one from Rodney, but I couldn't get the cheater pipe someone clamped in off, so I'll have to cut it out (I didn't have my sawzall with me)....that'll have to wait until next weekend.
[This message has been edited by mrfiero (edited 08-06-2016).]
Spent a small amount of time in the garage today removing brake calipers, shocks, sway bar, popping the ball joints/tie rod ends and dropping the control arms. I might actually get the poly bits and new ball joints/tie rod ends in there by winter. Might.
Went to a car show/cruise at a nearby small town. Actually a huge turn out. There were so many cars they ran out of room parking off main street and had to start putting cars in the middle of the road. Of course, the only Fiero there. Got a lot of comments and questions, including the usual, "what is it?" and "Is that the Back to the Future car?" Not a single "they catch on fire." comment. I did come across a very unique car at the show but the owner wasn't near the car. Anyone ever here of a LUDRA? Some kind of kid or one off? Whatever it was it was awesome.
Went autocrossing a few weeks ago. This is by far not my fastest or smoothest run. This was my first time autocrossing and only my second run. I starter out with a 55 second run and ended up with a 49 second run by the end of the day. The fastest runs that day were around 43-44 seconds by much faster cars with much better drivers.
[This message has been edited by gwg1995 (edited 08-08-2016).]
I installed new rear calipers on one of the Formulas as well as a catalytic converter I got from Rodney. I'm about to bleed the brakes and all that's left is an alignment and a good wash/detail and this one will be ready for a new home.
I installed new rear calipers on one of the Formulas as well as a catalytic converter I got from Rodney. I'm about to bleed the brakes and all that's left is an alignment and a good wash/detail and this one will be ready for a new home.
Originally posted by rpro: Which one is going up for sale?
Eventually both Formulas will have to go....along with 2 or 3 other cars I have, but I'll be selling the 79K mile stock one first. I've been working on getting most of the issues it has ironed out. It's not perfect, but will make someone a nice driver that they can still tinker with. I'll be taking this one up to Gunnison next weekend for the big car show and after that I will list it for sale....probably here first then up on eBay if it doesn't sell.
I originally wanted to keep this one, but I just have way too many cars. Since my work keeps me out of town most of the time, they've become more of a burden to me than anything else. I plan on selling both Formulas, the Datsun roadster and '78 Civic over the next year.....maybe even my '88 GT.
After spending a year looking for a good TAN seat I gave up. I picked up a gray Sunfire/Cavalier seat. I couldn't find a TAN seat that wasn't stained or smelled of cigarette smoke so I purchased only the drivers seat to see if I could live with the color clash.
What do you guys think? Should I go ahead and buy the gray passenger seat OR wait for a set of Tan Sunfire seats?
After spending a year looking for a good TAN seat I gave up. I picked up a gray Sunfire/Cavalier seat. I couldn't find a TAN seat that wasn't stained or smelled of cigarette smoke so I purchased only the drivers seat to see if I could live with the color clash.
What do you guys think? Should I go ahead and buy the gray passenger seat OR wait for a set of Tan Sunfire seats?
I've got to assume that he was floating my valves!
However, in my own defense... he was in the second group of drivers, and they had a huge advantage as the day started off cold and wet but got much better as the day progressed. By the end of the day, the pavement (and tires) were finally getting hot and sticky. I know that sounds like sour grapes... but it's the truth!
