November 2015 Edit: Project is now an 88 Formula. I apologize about some of the picture sizes, hopefully I can get around to resizing them once the car is on the road
Little background: June 12th of 2013, I purchased a 1986 Fiero SE, 2m6 with the 4 speed and 68k miles Did not have the motor installed, just the transmission in the cradle and the motor on a stand, along with boxes of motor parts. PO said the motor developed a knock, he drove it till it died, and he pulled it out with the intention of rebuilding it. Things were so bad on the block he decided to sell it, eventually to me, for $750.
Passenger side taillight was shot out by a kid with a BB gun a few years ago, it has since been replaced.
I'd say I got lucky, came with the Haynes Manual, Service manual ($125), and the original owner's and DIY Manuals
One of the first mods I did was to get rid of that 85 mph speedo and add white face gauges
Although I did not take any pictures, I spent weeks removing any spots of rust with a wire-wheel on the underside of the then 27 year old car and painting everything to ensure it wouldn't rust again, although it will never see a winter and probably very little rain. Next I removed the alternator and coil cooling fans, and found a little rust in the trunk corners (frame rails are fine, just surface rust which I am taking care of)
As I was still attending school, and will be until July 29th of this year, the process has been slow. But now we are at today, when I purchased my 2001 Pontiac Bonneville SSEi. The car has 77,013 miles, engine sounds great but the transmission is gone, the only gears that work are Park and Neutral, all the rest act like neutral...
All the car has are headers and a muffler, so I burnt a little grass today
Found all this stuff in the car, plus $.62 to help offset the cost of the car! haha
Had a spare instrument panel in the trunk
along with a spare PCM
And whatever these two black boxes are for. (I haven't researched them yet)
It also came with what I am assuming is a Fake Rolex
This is where I am at so far. I'm 22 and almost done with school, so hopefully the pace quickens soon. Jason, aka Fierofreak00 on this forum will be assisting me, or I will be assisting him, with this swap coming up soon, so I have plenty more to add to this thread coming up Little Teaser
[This message has been edited by DKcustoms (edited 01-13-2018).]
Hope you got you wallet out your gonna be into that deep, theres alot more to it than just an engine and swaping it over into the Fiero Good Luck
I already have Purple Reign's mounts, new flywheel, wiring harness, ECM, Stage 3+ Clutch on order from SPEC, and many other parts all ready for this swap. Thanks for the concern though.
No worries Rob! He's got a lot of stuff and we've gone over a bunch of things. This should be a reasonably quick swap due to having the wiring harness pre made. The only thing that concerns me is that he wants to use the Isuzu trans.... We'll be getting to work on it right after ricks car which I'm hoping shouldn't be too much longer. -Jason
I had a 3800 SC Series II mated to the Isuzzu transmission and ran it at road speeds for about 1000 miles before I sold it to a friend. There were no transmission issues while I had it but I did not beat on it or drop the clutch. BTW, look at the "Rolex" and see if it has a serial number on the band (near the band attachment point) and on the watch case. If it does you might actually have a Rolex. I do not think it is likely based on the photo, but stranger things have happened.
I also got some 5x100 hub to 5x115 wheel adapters to let me put my bonneville rims on the car. Haven't tested the rims yet, but it looks like I may need to take off a thread or two off the car's studs to fit flush with the adapter. I have a few ideas, but any tips on how to do this?
Also got an exhaust that I was told was made by Dan, FieroFlyer. I plan to have a true dual exhaust built by a machine shop anyway, so the crossover isn't necessary.
Bought a new LIM and Supercharger with only 10k miles courtesy of IanT720
Tip for the wheel stud issue... Make sure you have a lug nut on the stud before you grind or cut on it. Makes is easier getting nuts back on. Looks like ur in good hands.
Got around to putting the adapters and Bonneville rims on the car.
The threads up front seem to stick out a touch further than on the back, but I put the rims on anyway.
I didnt think to grab a picture, but it appeared that the rims bolted up and mated with the adapter without issue, it is possible that the bonneville rims have concave sections between the lug holes making the threads not an issue (another things I didn't think to check)...
The wheels and tires fit fine, lock to lock, without the wheel wells in. Once I get the wheel wells back in I will have to go down at least one tire size, probably two. They are 235/45s, I will probably have to go 235/35s.
Been busy lately with Fiero stuff, mostly the front suspension issues, but that will come soon.
Bought new Koni adjustable shocks, as well as 1.5" lowering springs and coilovers from a member here, thanks!
And with the expertise of Jason, Fierofreak00, he removed the motor out of my '01 Bonneville donor car. Hopefully this winter will be spent cleaning, prepping, and painting the motor to be put into my silver 86. Haven't completely decided on a paint scheme yet, so any ideas are welcome.
[This message has been edited by DKcustoms (edited 10-10-2014).]
The only progress to report so far this winter is some minor suspension stuff.
I acquired a new front cross member from a member here (name is eluding me at the moment), a new GT rack from Grabber Green and other great items that will be revealed in the spring.
I bought new passenger control arms and got new poly bushings in them, and I also got the stock sway bar cleaned and painted with new bushings.
Looking for some good condition driver side front control arms to finish the front before I put it all back together.
Nice! Thanks for posting the pictures of the fuel tank and lines. Going to come in handy very soon.
Not a problem! Glad it can help
quote
Originally posted by 1MohrFiero:
Great pictures and thread. Keep it going please.
Thank you! Lets to come for this car and me! Once spring comes and this thing is running and on the road, the updates will pile on
Kind of a gag-gift from my father, half serious, is this collection of Fiero Hot Wheels They are all 84 2m4s. He's expecting them to all be worth some money some day, we shall see. One thing that surprised me is that on the underside they are fairly correct, with the motor/exhaust/transmission in the back and the cooling tubes running up front, although they are not quite right. The steering rack isn't correct, but whatevs.
One of my favorite gifts this year, shows my dad is finally completely on board with me doing this project and the future. Can't wait to get it running to take him for a ride, or 10
[This message has been edited by DKcustoms (edited 12-25-2014).]
Any words of advice here? 3 washers on the inside on both sides of the control arm, still have 2 more left if needed but they won't fit. Both of the large washers have the cupped side facing in, like the originals.
Obviously I will have an alignment done once the motor swap is done.
Been a while since I posted, with work and weather getting in the way.
But to keep this thread from getting archived, I have been gathering parts and made some progress on the rest of the front suspension.
It has been below 0* here for a few days now, really can't wait for spring at this point. Once everything starts melting, the Fiero will be moved out of the shed into the garage so I can disassemble the rest of the front suspension and finish what I have here.
need to grab the spindle/caliper/caliper bracket off the car so I can get the driver's side assembled here. Then take out the old frame crossmember, clean up and paint the area a bit, and then install this one.
DK, looks like your doing a great job on it, hope to see your car this summer out on Thompson Rd. or maybe 7th North St. during the street nationals
Thanks man, that's the plan. There aren't many(any) Fieros in this area, and I plan to have a pretty modified one that I want to take around and break some necks with.
The plan is to purchase an 88 Formula tomorrow, March 25th. The car has both running motor and a 5 speed, I plan to remove the 2.8 and put my 3.8 in it, and swap the body panels over from my 86.
Stay tuned, things should progress quickly from here!
EDIT: My 86 will be for sale, either wholesale or for parts, as well as the body panels from the 88.
[This message has been edited by DKcustoms (edited 03-24-2015).]
Got the 88 home. She's in decent shape, but the body panels will be switched from my 86. Lots of work ahead of me, but it should all be worth it in the end About half way home she threw a rod, as well as oil all over the engine bay, so she got a lift home.
I've spent the last two weeks removing body panels and cleaning everything. All body panels behind the rear window have been removed and the frame cleaned and painted.
All the mechanical bits, bushings, suspension parts, brake lines, clutch line, and fuel lines and their respective brackets will be cleaned up or replaced when the motor swap is done, don't worry
[This message has been edited by DKcustoms (edited 04-14-2015).]
Then I moved onto the front bumper/fenders. Got the frame all cleaned up and painted, this picture shows before any paint.
Looking a lot better with all the silver aero body panels instead of the white, dirty, moldy Formula ones that had no clear coat left.
As the car sits right now, only the hood and decklid need to be put on, but the decklid will stay off until the motor swap is done, and the hood will stay off until I clean up the front compartment. Will be swapping over the best of the interior parts Monday or Tuesday when I get home (the benefits of having 2 cars with the same color interiors!!).
Need to glue the suede I bought to the headliner (toughened the weak spots with fiberglass resin) then put the pillar trim back together.
The front sits about 2 inches higher than the rear. I have new koni coilovers for the rear, as well as kyb shocks and 1.5inch lowering springs for the front that will need to be put on soon.
Current project is dropping the tank to put in the fuel pump for the 3800 and new SS fuel lines, as well as cleaning and painting the tank and bottom of the car.
Unfortunately I had to scrap the 86 on Saturday. I did save everything worth saving beforehand and that I could remove at the scrap yard.
The car only had 3 wheels, as the front passenger assembly was removed and put on a different crossmember when I thought I would have this car forever. So for that reason I thought I would be at the scrapyard forever trying to get the car off of my trailer. As you can see in the video, it came off quite a bit easier than I expected. If I had known that that was an option for removing the car beforehand, I would have brought the tools with me to save the rear cradle, as it looked like a reproduction piece and was in immaculate shape with polybushings.... Supposedly these cars are 2740 pounds stock, this one was less than 1600 when I scrapped it, just to give you an idea of how much stuff I saved from this car.
Took out the spare tire tub in order to put in the Fiero Store's new Stainless steel brake lines.
But due to that annoying bracket on top of the crossmember, as well as quite a bit more rust on the crossmember than I was expecting, I dropped the entire front suspension
Gonna be cleaning and painting this entire section
Frame rails looking pretty
The old crossmember:
I'll put up the new one once I bolt in the new upper control arm
Seeing how I've switched to an 88, it was necessary to find the torque specs for the 88, obviously. Front suspension (only torqued once the suspension was fully compressed, will check after a few hundred miles)
I neglected to take a picture before installation, but we've got all new: TFS powdercoated crossmember sway bar end links- RD zero lash poly bushings TFS ball joints KYB shocks lowering springs TFS inner and outer tie rods
Might be forgetting something, but its all new In the process of installing new SS brake lines now, just the rears left.
Been working, slowly but surely on the car, but here is a small update
First, I rebuilt, cleaned, painted, and everything else you can imagine to the rear calipers, they are essentially brand new with the exception of the parking brake springs
After
Then I moved on to the fronts, but with a 3800 going out back and track time in the future, the stock Fiero brakes wouldn't cut it...
