For those of you who don't know about 2 years ago i posted the topic "13 years old looking for fiero project" I spent quite some time looking and waiting turning down many tempting offers and finally... my patience payed off. I got a red 1988 Fiero formula! Exactly what i wanted! Very very little rust and a solid running 100 thousand mile v6. Not bad for a 26 year old car. Interior is in good condition as well as the paint (which has a few flakes and some cracking on the front bumper). The best part about the car is the price. 1300 for a running 88 formula is the best price ive ever seen in my area. What im thinking of doing is restoring the car and then taking the stock engine doing a rebuild and them make it the fastest 2.8 fiero there is!(cam?turbo?ect) This way i can tear it up and learn how to work on engines and have a LOT of fun doing it. Ill be sure to post some pictures of the fiero... as soon as i can sort out how to post them...lol the PIP manual looks like gibberish to me
Congrats on finally finding the right car! This will be a great learning experience for you. Don't waste time trying to build "the fastest 2.8 ever"...you'd spend a lot of money and likely never achieve that goal. Once you start to learn more about mechanics, you can investigate some interesting swaps that'll give you some great power at a decent price. Have fun with it!
Edit....use PIP...just resize the images in Paint or similar program.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 05-19-2014).]
Haha. I feel like an idiot because it took me all night long to figure out how to post a link and I'm still not 100% sure. Anyway I accidentally posted the picture of the 88 pullin up to the house on the back of my uncles trailer early Saturday morning. More to follow
You're only about an hour away from me. PM me if you ever need any help. I am not a fiero master, but I have done a fair amount of work on my 88 myself.
Hmmm... looks like speaker holes in the passenger headrest...
YUP... definitely been replaced
Hey guy welcome to the club... I also own an all original red Formula with a little over 100K miles on it. At the moment its sitting on jackstands with the motor out, rebuilt waiting for an exhaust and rear suspension work. I wonder if we have a club yet for Formula guys! Good luck with yours!
Thanks everybody! And yeah the passenger seat isn't bolted in in the front. It was definitely replaced. And btw "the fastest 2.8 fiero ever" was kind of a joke. I know I want to keep the stock engine though and do some mods to that.
2 - Was/Is the previous owner a member of this forum?
3 - I don't know if young hippies have any respect for old hippies, but we have a lot of 'em here, so you're in good company. Just don't do anything we wouldn't do.
Cheever3000 I'm not sure if he was a forum member or not but I can ask. And I'll be sure to do that btw. Also I've been on the forum a while. I love the community! Mostly because they share my same obsession with fieros haha. And darkhorizon, you guys don't know me well yet but I'm a very weird eccentric dude. The average person with half a brain would go for an engine swap. It's the logical thing to do right? Well I wanna be different. I don't need a rocket ship. I just want something fun to mess around with so I can learn about engines. Also i LOVE the sound of the 2.8
Pretty car! I'm 17; I grabbed a white Formula last August for $600 (the auto transmission was dying, and finally just gave up the ghost last week) and drove it all school year (be jealous!) after some minor work. Just parked it for the summer to start the swap work. Look forward to watching the project!
Nice looking formula. Watch out for rust as you take the panels off particularly in the trunk and rear frame rails...you might be learning some welding if you haven't learned that skill yet
My advice is to simply take it one step at a time. Don't worry if it doesn't come together as fast as you would like. Just keep putting one step in front of the other and you will get there.
I almost had a heart attack when i tried to start it up about 10 mins ago... I usually run it every day to make sure everything is in check so i was trying to start it up and it sounded rough (like usual) so i got out and glanced over at the car and noticed there was fluid dripping out of it! Seeing that it was not oil (it was clear) i assumed it was gas. Suddenly i remembered what all my friends had told me "Dont buy a fiero! They blow up!"... I then proceeded to GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE... 5 mins later i summoned the courage to go back and check it out. I got on the ground and put my finger in the puddle and smelled it... didnt smell like anything... i opened the trunk lid and tried to see if anything looked outa whack. looked normal as far as i could tell... then i noticed something... rain water on the intake... it rained earlier today and water was dripping down the engine... *facepalm*... anyway all is well no gas leaks or explosions so far
Have any of you seen your exhaust manifold glow orange before? The egr tube is cracked. it idles around 2500. could that have something to do with it? ps the "leak" was just moisture. i feel like the headaches are about to begin
The cracked tube could cause a lean burn and high rpm. Definitely can cause a glowing exhaust with a lean burn. Coolant leaks usually occur at a clamps. Use some child's sidewalk chalk, mark the position of the wheels on the driveway. It can help you with a general area any leaks might be coming from.
Don't be afraid to ask your Dad or Brother or even Mom, Sister or Girlfriend to give you a hand working on the car. Sometimes just a hand to hold something can make a very rewarding relationship. I know! 15 year olds can do anything. I felt the same way at 15, but I found out at 50 that I was still asking my Father for advice. Wish I'd done that at 15.
I second jediperk's comment that it's good to see younger generations discovering the Fiero. Welcome to Fiero Mania.
Thanks for the info. Believe me I ask my dad for help A LOT... That's mostly because I try to do it myself first and then something goes horribly wrong and we have to fix it together haha it's fun though