I've wanted one of these cars for 20+ years.

Found one on ebay for a fair price last summer and snagged it up.


(missing oats or hall? not sure.)

Very clean looking '86 GT.

Congrats, looks nice!

Last summer? What took you so long?

Had to do a handful of things before I could drive it.

1. new rear calipers and bleed all 4.
2. all new tires. the ones on it are LUMPY!
3. left (closest to cabin) exhaust manifold. original had a large hole in it. looks like someone attempted to repair it with booger welds.

Farted around for a month trying to get a used manifold from an online junkyard network. Finally got one! Bought a belt sander and cleaned it up myself. No-one in town does this anymore?

After sanding mating surface flat, I noticed it was the wrong manifold.. They sent me the right manifold instead. Apparently, they can't get a left one. Ever. Oh well. Sent the thing back for a refund.

Ordered a stainless manifold set from West Coast Fiero. Took awhile, but they sent me the left one first (after some pleading, haha) so i could take this thing out on the road! Still working on the right one.

[This message has been edited by yourfriendethan (edited 06-25-2021).]

The car has an alarming amount of body roll..

Thought about buying a suspension kit from The Fiero Store. I wish they would post better pictures and give more details on what is in some of the kits..

Anyhoo, found an Eibach spring kit on amazon and a KYB shocks and strut kit on RockAuto all for just under $400. If the weather cooperates, I'll be working on this after work this week.




Installed the fronts afterwork on Monday. Super quick install. The old ones pretty quickly shriveled up once removed. These are OE for sure. Took it for a drive after. Man, what a difference! Body roll is less noticeable and stopping/steering has improved a ton!

The rear end still shakes harder than Miley Cyrus (twerks?) when I turn sharp from side to side, but much less than before.


Got most of this cleaned up. Thick flakey rust all over this part on the drivers rear strut. Took a break from working on it. Standing for a couple of hours blasting parts gets tiring..

[This message has been edited by yourfriendethan (edited 06-25-2021).]

quote Originally posted by yourfriendethan: rear exhaust manifold. original had a large hole in it. looks like someone attempted to repair it with booger welds. Farted around for a month trying to get a used manifold from an online junkyard network. Finally got one! Bought a belt sander and cleaned it up myself. No-one in town does this anymore? After sanding mating surface flat, I noticed it was the wrong manifold.. They sent me the front manifold instead. Apparently, they can't get one. Ever. Oh well. Sent the thing back for a refund. Ordered a stainless manifold set from West Coast Fiero. Took awhile, but they sent me the rear. Still working on the front. CLICK FOR FULL SIZE

I suspect the possible reason for the mix-up is that you may be referring to the exhaust manifolds incorrectly. The rear manifold is the one closest to the trunk, closest to the rear of the car. The front manifold, the one that normally requires replacement (and why they're rarer), is the one closest to the front of the car.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 06-25-2021).]

Nice looking Fiero.

When I got my 88 it would wag its tail on quick lane changes. It's the only Fiero and mid engine car I have driven and at first I thought that's just what they do. It turned out to be a loose rear hub, replaced it and got a good 4 wheel alignment and now it's solid.

quote Originally posted by Patrick: I suspect the possible reason for the mix-up is that you may be referring to the exhaust manifolds incorrectly. The rear manifold is the one closest to the trunk, closest to the rear of the car. The front manifold, the one that normally requires replacement (and why they're rarer), is the one closest to the front of the car.

Thanks for this clarification info. I'm relaying months old information from my memory (bad idea haha). I went over it with the sales guy when I ordered it over the phone, "I want the manifold closest to the cabin." He seemed to know a lot about Fieros. We settled on "left manifold" as the term. Which makes sense, the trans points to the drivers side. Im assuming the end junk yard had it mislabeled as "left" in their system.

Ordering, receiving, cleaning, and returning the wrong part from the junkyard network took like a month. Got tired of waiting and just ordered the stainless set from WCF. Other than the huge turnaround, I'm pretty happy with the product.

Made the terminology corrections in previous posts.

quote Originally posted by yourfriendethan: I went over it with the sales guy when I ordered it over the phone, "I want the manifold closest to the cabin." He seemed to know a lot about Fieros. We settled on "left manifold" as the term. Which makes sense, the trans points to the drivers side. Im assuming the end junk yard had it mislabeled as "left" in their system.

I do understand why the front exhaust manifold for a 2.8 Fiero might be referred to (by some) as the "left" one (ie longitudinal 2.8 Camaro installation)... but man oh man, referring to parts on a transverse mounted engine as "left" or "right" will only lead to screw-ups at some point... and it did!

lol, agreed. the whole thing was a cluster f*** to say the least. i still have nightmares.

quote Originally posted by Patrick: I do understand why the front exhaust manifold for a 2.8 Fiero might be referred to (by some) as the "left" one (ie longitudinal 2.8 Camaro installation)... but man oh man, referring to parts on a transverse mounted engine as "left" or "right" will only lead to screw-ups at some point... and it did!

LOL I get so used to working on my Fiero, it sometimes takes a minute to re-orient myself when I work on a "normal" car. "Oh, yeah, the water pump / serpentine belt / thermostat / or whatever is over on THIS end of the engine!"

1985 Pontiac Fiero GT
My mud life crisis car I bought for my 50th birthday

quote Originally posted by tammy71: My mud life crisis car I bought for my 50th birthday

Youngster

quote Originally posted by tammy71: 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT My mud life crisis car I bought for my 50th birthday

Most people would normally just get a jeep.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 07-31-2021).]

Ummm, I don't really know what to say. Very very sad news Here.

quote Originally posted by Patrick: Ummm, I don't really know what to say. Very very sad news Here.

That's terrible. Out of respect & for education purpose, is there any more details on how his Fiero was jacked up?

Even though, there is a picture in those manual books on how to set it up, it's still confusing for a lot of people, including me.

And I see people still setting it up wrong from pics or on youtube all the time.

To honor his memory, we should have a thread to educate all of us on safety & how to set up jack stands properly.

I see there are few threads, but it weren't very clear. So, I'll go ahead & set up a thread.

Here's a link to honor his memory.

[This message has been edited by Fiero Vice (edited 08-01-2021).]

Terrible news, this one really stings, just posted a thread on this 10 weeks ago...

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/145122.html

Thoughts and prayers.

That's incredibly sad.. I remember smiling when I first saw his thread, he was so happy to have his Fiero. My heart goes out to his wife, family and friends.

Rest in Peace Ethan.

Incredibly sad. RIP Ethan.

RIP friend! Im really bummed reading this. Anybody know of a go fund me or anything? Id like to send something to his family.

shem