I was digging around on Search Tempest checking for Fieros on CL within 400 miles of Omaha. Ran across this one listed as an "Aldino" kit! I have never seen an Aldino that looks like the DGP Wide body kit. So the wife and I jumped in the truck and headed North then West into South Dakota. 260 miles later I was looking at this car and was very pleasantly surprised. I was expecting the worse and was prepared to spend the night and pick up a U Haul trailer in the AM to drag it home. after jawing with the owner for awhile and taking a test drive, I was dead set on bringing this car home. There were a few "issues" so I had some bargaining chips. The first thing I noticed was pretty decent exhaust leak. Cracked firewall side - exhaust log or a blown gasket I suspect.
We haggled a little, settled on a price, did the paperwork and exchanged cash for title. Headed out of town, it started bucking and sputtering. Just great I thought to myself as I pulled into a gas station. It was acting like the ignition was switching on and off. I opened the rear deck and messed with the wires to the coil and the dizzy. Reached in the car - she fired right off! Pulled over to the pumps and filled her up. What's that smell I thought? Looked under the car and it's leaking gas around the center of the tank. Looks like the vent tube is cracked, a hose is bad or the sender o ring is leaking - great! So, we siphoned a couple gallons out and went on our way. Now I should add that there is something wrong with the temp gauge / sender. The temp gauge jumps wildly all over the place and the PO has a hot wire rigged up to the fan. Also, an aftermarket mechanical gauge is installed but I do not believe that it is working - shows 210 degrees - all the time.
So about 60 miles down the road, spit sputter, dies! Pull over, open the deck lid, wiggle the ignition wires - fires right off. Drove it another 200 miles without issues other than the TCC locks up once in awhile when coming to a stop - killing the motor. It was difficult to accurately measure fuel economy but I did not put in more than 10 gallons to get it home - 3 gallons at a time to keep it from leaking. Overall it was a great trip - any time you can buy an unkown Fiero and drive it 260 miles with little problems is a good trip in my book. This thread will serve as a "build" thread for this car as I go through it with a fine comb and bring it back to a reliable everyday driver.
So first off - here's a list of immediate needs:
Fuel tank / lines leak repair - great - fuel tank drop - my least favorite thing to do. Exhaust leak - Hope the bolts don't and / or are not broken - that would mean a engine swap - because I'm looking for an excuse to swap the motor! Temp Gauge / Sending unit repair. Ignition wiring sorted out. Sort the TCC problem.
Will also need to:
Work on the headlight motors - will swap in a Gen 2 system. Windshield Wipers are goofy - the intermittent does not work and the blades need replaced - washer works though! AC work - seems like the compressor comes on - never blows cold air though - needs a retro fit I suppose. Replace the nasty wheels and tires and then a thorough suspension / brake check and repair. It will definitely need a master cylinder as it requires a couple pumps to get good brakes - could something else I suppose. For some reason, the seat belts are all unbolted? Most likely because the interior has been "customized" . Nothing drastic - A and B pillar trim painted black. The driver's seat will need a new skin (Mr Mikes will be ordered shortly). The carpet, door panels and dash are all in near perfect condition - will need a little cleaning but everything is there and in great shape. Will need a new headliner and the arm rests and trim panels have been painted red - those will be restored to factory. Even has a decent Pioneer Stereo that actually works.
If the 2.8 / trans works out, I'll run it till it dies. In the mean time I will start gathering the pieces and parts for a 3800 SC - without the SC and add a Turbo - never done a turbo Fiero before so now is the time.
Of course it needs the door hinges and rollers rebuilt along with a good service to the windows as they are "slow". Will need new dew wipes as well - they are not gone but are pretty hard and brittle. It has a fresh paint job that's a good 5 footer. It may clean up with some buffing and look a little better. There is some overspray in places that needs cleaned up and someone painted the intake and valve covers Chevy orange?
It's an 86 with 62k on the clock. Pwr Windows and Pwr locks, AC, etc. It drives pretty well on the interstate - had a few places that felt a little wobbly but overall a pretty good - one finger driver. The ride is good - stock rubber bushings and if they are not dry rotted, will stay. May need a new steering stabilizer shock and / or an alignment if the ball joints and tie rods check out. I'm not sure of who the body manufacturer is just yet but I will find out.
Here's a few pics in it's new home. It was storming when we got home - will get some more pics later.
Thanks for the replies. They look a lot like C4 wheels but I don't think they are. The rears are on spacers but the front are bolted to the spindle so they appear to be a "dual" pattern wheel. They don't work for me - already on the hunt for something better.
I did get it up on ramps this afternoon. Crawled underneath to get a better look. The down pipe and exhaust is all new all the way to the tips. There is zero rust on the undercarriage and very little oil residue - mostly around the drain plug and some around the converter cover. The Trans pan is completely clean and there are no other signs of a trans leak anywhere. The gas tank has been crushed at the back end. Looks like it got hung up on a curb as there are scrape marks on the bottom of the tank and floor pans - I suspect this is why there is a leak when the tank is full - probably has the vent tube cracked on the top? Definitely will require a tank drop. I'll get started on that this weekend.
While it's up on stands, I'll fix the exhaust leak - I'm certain its a cracked log and / or the gasket on the firewall side. Also checked out the temp sender - the original wires are there but the sender has been replaced by an aftermarket mechanical unit - I'll change that first - just picked up the sender at ORielly's.
Tinkered with the head light motors. Not sure what's up there. It's been awhile since I messed with gen 1 motors. With both motors unplugged - the single wire plug - I can still get them to go up and down? I was thinking that with them unplugged, they would not work at all? The right side has a stripped gear so it just spins in either direction.
Buddycraigg has some 'How To's " on YouTube. After watching them you will be an expert. I did mine after watching, on my Silver 86. Nice score Pat. -Joe
[This message has been edited by josef644 (edited 04-22-2014).]
So I got it up on jack stands and started messing with the car this afternoon. First on the list was adjusting the deck lid springs - that went well and now the deck lid won't hit me in the head. Next on the list was to fix the exhaust leak on the firewall side. My biggest fear was breaking bolts. I had a spark of encouragement when I found aftermarket bolts in the Y pipe flanges - usually a sign that the exhaust has been apart. Bolts came out pretty easy. So I started working at getting the log bolts out. Could not get the first one to break lose and was afraid it would break if I put the breaker bar on it. Then I got to looking at the trunk side and found 2 bolts already broke off.
So I quit in despair. But after thinking about it for a few hours, I've decided to drop the motor. Then I can take the bolts out and if they break, I can drill them out and re tap. Worse case, if it all goes bad, I'll just swap in a new 3.4 long block. If all goes well, I'll also take the upper intake off and the valve covers and repaint , install new gaskets and clean up some of the PO mess. Will also install the new temp sensors and can inspect the vacuum lines for leaks, etc. I'll also check / replace motor and trans mounts, replace the front seal that is weeping oil and clean up the engine bay. There is some rust starting in the battery tray and the insulation on the water pump end is coming apart and making a mess. I also found some funky non factory bolts in the dog bone (dog bone has poly).
As clean as this car is, it has a lot of typical shade tree mechanic repairs done to it. That drive me nuts and pulling the motor is the only way I can make sure I get everything back to 100%. My next fear - front cradle bolts! The car does not have much rust - but my 87 is rust free and I had to cut the bolts on both sides to get the cradle out. We'll see what happens.
Took the day off work - with the plan to start pulling the motor. With the In Laws in town, My wife made different plans for me. I did get a chance to crawl underneath and "test" the front cradle bolts - all is good as the nuts came loose really easy and the bolts are spinning in the bushing. I'll have it out tomorrow.
Well my 60k little jewel is not such a jewel! The previous owners were not real kind to her. Lots of shade tree mechanic stuff done. I was worried about the front cradle bolts - they came right out - I should have been worried about the rear cradle bolts. I found that the right side was just spinning inside the frame rail and had been run out about half way so it was now where near tight. The Driver side was loose but I was able to get it out. No wonder she was a little squirrely in the back end! When I went to take off the Dog Bone - found that the wrong nut was put on the chassis side bolt - they could not get it tightened down so they put a brass feral nut in there as a spacer!
I was able to get the remaining bolts out of the firewall exhaust log - unfortunately, the leak was caused by a broken bolt - the one behind the AC bracket! There was no way I was going to fix this in the car. Also have 2 broken bolts on the trunk side to fix. It's had a new water pump installed but it is leaking. The worse thing is that the bottom of the car looks like it was used in a Dukes of Hazard show. I have never seen an underside beat like this one. The gas tank is pretty much destroyed. It will take some work to get all that fixed. It was missing the Driver side e brake cable - along with the bracket and spring on the caliper. Anyhow, it looks like a major rehab - so much for driving it daily - anytime soon at least.
Spent some time today tearing the top end down so I can get to the broken bolts in the exhaust manifolds. Only broke one bolt so now I have 4 broken bolts to fix. I'm going to give Rodney's tool a shot first.
One of the rat bastard broken bolts.
The OP sender is leaking too
I just hate when someone is too lazy to the job correctly. Note the Chevy orange overspray on all the vac lines and hoses!
And a shot for my El Paso buddy - Frizlefrak - who constantly hounded me about bagging and tagging. Everytime I tear a Fireo apart, I can hear him in the background - "Where's the baggies and the Sharpie?"
Pat, If it is any relief to ya. My IMSA was a bastard case as well. mickey mouse repairs, a F'ed up turbo install, and a 2.8 motor(they said 3.4 hi-po)
same though as you, replaced this motor with 3800sc so I did! 1st IMSA with a 3800SC swap(that I know of ) Good luck with it and be sure to check the wiring under the dash, yeah there will be something to fix under there...
Pat, If it is any relief to ya. My IMSA was a bastard case as well. mickey mouse repairs, a F'ed up turbo install, and a 2.8 motor(they said 3.4 hi-po)
same though as you, replaced this motor with 3800sc so I did! 1st IMSA with a 3800SC swap(that I know of ) Good luck with it and be sure to check the wiring under the dash, yeah there will be something to fix under there...
Thanks for the tips Revin! Can you tell me about your wheels - just looking for rear size / offset and front size and offset - any spacers? I'm in the process of trying to figure out what wheel / tires I'm going to use. Any info is a big help.
Well mine are a one off custom for this car from Boyd Cottington, you can go ask him...oh wait a minute maybe not The story was told to me during my search for the history on this car. it used to race but that is as far as I got.
I "think" those are the sizes, I will confirm later for ya. I can tell ya that I had to buy a longer stud for them to fit. stock studs made the tire come off down the road....
there is a thread I posted a while back asking for imsa rims. I was wanting something else, but now I am in love with these and the look it gives the car.
I'd like to start this post with a shout out to Rodney Dickman!
I ordered one of his exhaust bolt drill jig and put it to use today. Worked great and I got all four broken bolts out and ready to go back together. Thanks Rodney for your continued support of the Fiero and the Fiero community.
Now I can pick up the rest of the parts and start putting it back together.
New Motor Mount New trans Mounts Valve Cover gaskets Front Seal New Water pump New belts New hoses Powder coat intake and valve covers Clean and degrease trans & motor. Clean and paint cradles & parts Grand Am Brakes - front and rear. Port exhaust logs & Y Pipe Wrap exhaust logs and crossover. Swap out gas tank.
Jig in place on the firewall head - only one bolt broken on this side. 10 minutes and it was done.
Jig in place on the trunk side head - had 3 bolts broken on this side. 2 of them gave me a little trouble. It was a little difficult to get the bolt "shell" out of the hole after drilling it. A little bit of persuasion with an ice pic and a smell chisel and all ended well.
More later!
Pat
[This message has been edited by katatak (edited 05-03-2014).]
Today was Exhaust log day. I used to have an old 2.8 head that I would bolt the log too to weld the flange and keep everything square. I had to make a jig today to do the same. It worked out great. Also ported the logs and managed to get one bolted back on the motor. The rest of my parts showed up at O'Reillys today so now I can finish the rest of the motor work this week - maybe will be ready to put the motor back in next weekend.
Tapping the holes in my exhaust welding jig Log mounted and ready to weld. Log welded I use a 1" hole saw in the press to cut out most of the obstruction in the log. Then it's time so grind and grind
Chased all the threads in the head and installed new studs
New gasket and log installed
Tomorrow night I will finish the other side - need to rework the welded nuts on the other log. Should also get the new trans and motor mounts installed plus pull the middle intake and valve covers to take to the powder coaters on Tuesday.
Very nice, Now to find out the make of the kit, Look in the Front fender wells (the sill that you drop the mounting bolts through under the hood) DGP's had metal tags in them I think for build numbers by I'm not sure, Also DGP's had stickers on the underside of the body panels for Diversified glass products. now all you need to do is a wraparound spoiler and a chin spoiler and your all set congrats its a very good lookin IMSA
Pat, If it is any relief to ya. My IMSA was a bastard case as well. mickey mouse repairs, a F'ed up turbo install, and a 2.8 motor(they said 3.4 hi-po)
same though as you, replaced this motor with 3800sc so I did! 1st IMSA with a 3800SC swap(that I know of ) Good luck with it and be sure to check the wiring under the dash, yeah there will be something to fix under there...
Lol You have problems. Try dealing with 2 of them let alone the mera... (pics for relevance
It must be tough to have a pair - I was "looking" at a white one - similar to the one you have - I think you stole that one........
I think I have settled on a set of wheels!
That one was in new jersey rotting away in some kids backyard (he did not know what he had at all) and someone on here also told me it used to be jim Suiters old car
BTW you have a PM. Might have a hookup for you
[This message has been edited by pontiackid86 (edited 05-04-2014).]
Can you give me any details on the wheels on both your wide bodies? Looking for dia X width and wether or not there are any spacers / adapters. The wheel above have a 20mm offset for the rears and a 25 mm offset for the fronts - the fronts will work - the rears being 17X10 may have to be "shimmed" out a little with a 275 tire?
The white one I was looking at was on CL I believe but I don't think it was in New Jersey..... It went pretty fast if I remember correctly.
Can you give me any details on the wheels on both your wide bodies? Looking for dia X width and wether or not there are any spacers / adapters. The wheel above have a 20mm offset for the rears and a 25 mm offset for the fronts - the fronts will work - the rears being 17X10 may have to be "shimmed" out a little with a 275 tire?
The white one I was looking at was on CL I believe but I don't think it was in New Jersey..... It went pretty fast if I remember correctly.
I can grab you the dimensions on the white one when I get home (Jason still has my DGP) what I know off hand is that my DGP has 15 inch wheels on it and the IRM has 16 inch on it, (im not to good with naming off sets on them and mine are not on spacers at all it is a pure staggard set of wheels (I have pics of both of them from the back so you can get an idea of what you can tuck under there these bodies can fit tires that put corvettes to shame, ill post them up
[This message has been edited by pontiackid86 (edited 05-04-2014).]
Here's my Stage III (which is also what you'rs and Revins IMSA's are referred to as in the series)
(also If I remember correctly I'll have to ask Jason this before I confirm it I recall the rears on my DGP being a 295 Tire which did scrape on something when it was lowered.
[This message has been edited by pontiackid86 (edited 05-04-2014).]
A little more progress this evening. Motor Mount and Trans Mounts installed. Pulled the middle intake and valve covers so I can get them powder coated. Good thing - I found that someone mickey mouse the cold start injector tube seal. Used a small "grommet" and then stuffed a god of silicone in the nut. Surely would have become a nasty leak. Also found that a few of the pintle caps on the injectors are cracked. I think I'll source a reconditioned set of injectors from Mr. Injector in Idaho. I'll need to hunt down the proper O ring for the cold start injector tube. The deeper I dig, the worse it gets!
Old wore out mounts - Out!
With the valve covers off, I was happy to see it is pretty clean in there - no caked on burned oil!
Congrats on finding an IMSA, Pat! I'm enjoying your build thread so far! I need to make a trip into Omaha one of these evenings, introduce myself, and see up close and personal all of this cool stuff you're working on!
Congrats on finding an IMSA, Pat! I'm enjoying your build thread so far! I need to make a trip into Omaha one of these evenings, introduce myself, and see up close and personal all of this cool stuff you're working on!
I think I have settled on the wheels - the pic of the one above is what I'm thinking. The rears are 17X10 with a 20mm offset. So if I am thinking correctly using the calculator on this site:
With the above wheels bolted directly to the stock hub, I should have enough clearance from the strut to the rim/ tire. If not, I can add a 10mm spacer and longer studs in the hub.
The fronts are 17X8 with a 25mm offset - I'm not 100% sure that I will have enough inner clearance but believe I will have enough clearance on the outside - so I can use a 10mm spacer there as well? Without getting some exact wheel sizes that fit other Wide Bodies, I'm going to have to take a little gamble.
I'm thinking I can get the wheels and mount them to the car see what I need to do for clearance on the inside then decide what size tire to use on the front and the rear.
I really hate this wheel sizing / offset, etc. stuff. It gives me a headache.
Dropped the tank out of the car today - it's hammered!
Also worked over the fuel level sender
Had erratic ohms through the entire range - after cleaning I have 0 ohms at empty and 107 at full Should be good to go. I'll have to replace the heater lines and the AC lines as well - they are hammered as bad as the gas tank. Looks like a Dukes of Hazard car underneath.
I am think you may need to check out the rear fenderwell for those tires.
Mine fits on the ground but once it is jacked up it rubs a little on the front part of the tire side. I don't know if it is just mine or if there is some sort of defect on the molds or how it was put on.( of course no offence to Sage )
I am think you may need to check out the rear fenderwell for those tires.
Mine fits on the ground but once it is jacked up it rubs a little on the front part of the tire side. I don't know if it is just mine or if there is some sort of defect on the molds or how it was put on.( of course no offence to Sage )
It must be tough to have a pair - I was "looking" at a white one - similar to the one you have - I think you stole that one........
I think I have settled on a set of wheels!
Pat,
The XXR's are a good choice. They offer many widths and offsets that should work well on the wide body. Are you going 17 or 18? If I did not have the Chromadoras I would put a set on the Mera.
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