Thank you Dennis but im just a fluffer lol. I like that some people dont like the car, I make so many new ones do! Bumblebee is getting love from everywhere, prolly put about 50 miles on it now. Still havent smogged it, theres a new guy at the place I usually go and didnt get a good vibe so drove back home. Speaking of fiero haters...... Doing an electrical job for one of my kid classmates parents(new customer), and hes got a new vette in the garage I keep having to squeeze by. Finally he address the elephant in the room, putting out his hands and saying what do you think. I smiled, nodded, and said, "nice, the new fiero." At which point he starts going oh oh oh and is about to say something im not gonna like lol, pauses, catches himself(gears churning), and asks, " Wait you dont own a fiero do you?" To which I reply with a semi disgusted look on my face and shaking my head, " no..................... I own 2!.................................................................and a kit car!" lol He pauses as hes think about what to say(havent discussed price yet for all these electrical jobs im doing), and the best thing he can say is, " You know those werent great cars right?" I immediately reply, well they never put an engine in it. And when they did , guess what it blew the doors completely off of. He argued a bit more but saw he definitely wasnt winning this one, tried to change it up to chatting about the vette. I hate vettes, the first 3 gens are cool.
Any who, I swapped the wheels over, got some gauges. The cars temp gauge works perfect but I want a second opinion so I made something to hold the temp sending unit of the new gauge and plumbed it in to those hoses that take coolant to the throttle body. Yeah those two lol. Everything working good and got a momo for the lolo. 3d printed some dashtrays for the car too, luv that thing!
Before that was the fan fun! The blower didnt work, found the connector mangled, put on a new one and it works, but sounds like im in the window seat of and airplane. Pulled it and Cleaned that then got as many screws as I could out the heater box cover thing and got my hand, tools and a shop vac to clear out the box until I couldnt feel anything in there. And im still not putting that hot thingie back in.
All my airbag parts are here now, did a mock up on the floor to make a final plumbing list. The mani is schweet! Its wireless and comes w a key fob too!
Then I made a support for the tank and compressors from osb and some diamond plate. Made it so I can store a coolant bottle and fluids underneaf, still leave room for the ttops, and make a small compartment for tools n parts
Made some aero, diggin it
Had a much better shift cable I installed, Kept popping outta first or was in but not engaged a few times while driving. Definitely have to fight all the gears, but 1st feels really bad. Checked the fluid and didnt register so I added 1.5qts of synchromesh. Definitely a lot better but I think this trans is on the way out, something inside like a shift fork is bent for sure. No grinding or rattling at all, but getting into the gears is hard. Going to pull a getrag this week.........
shem
[This message has been edited by shemdogg (edited 12-01-2024).]
The blower didnt work, found the connector mangled, put on a new one and it works, but sounds like im in the window seat of and airplane. Pulled it and...
Imsa- those are the wheels from the red car. Sage- that is the highly sought after mohair fan, this car is so well optioned I just found out it has the quick removal interior as well(no screws) lol. Kit- im going saturday morning to pull it w mike, was gonna try this week but work picked up. Patrick- still sending good energies your way!
Lotsa stuff in transit, some interior goodies, and the plumbing bits to get the air ride in. Got some rain, passenger seat was pretty wet. Ttop was leaking where the glass met the side cover. Sealed up both sides and all good now. Still working on shoehorning everything into the corner of the trunk space. Took the car to a smog guy I got some experience with by taking my toyota. Took him the fiero and he couldnt drive stick for chit, he ground it twice, I got hot really quick, he gave up. Nobody wants to smog old cars its a pain and a process. New cars its a 5 min plug in the tester and done. Found a guy in redwood city, much further than I like to go but beggars cant be choosers. The guy was cool, dug the car. Said he had a burgundy gt back in the day. Smogged about 12 other cars while I was waiting but drove it in no problem and it passed the emissions portions of the test. Then the gas cap failed, he had some so I bought one. Then the evap test failed, not holding pressure. Driving home took the el camino and filled up the car w gas. Gas gauge went past full so its empty at 1/4 tankish. Went to leave and smelled a really strong odor of gas and a small puddle by the tire. There must be a leak in the filler line and some dripped out while filling up. Got it on the freeway, no squeaks just the occasional sound of something moving in the doors over a bump. Everything is perfect except that 1st gear sticks sometimes and more when its cold. Only did it once on the way home, car just feels so good driving like it was never put away. Cupla weeks thisll be pretty much wrapped up. Then ill do the headliner lol
Smog guy in Redwood City? What does he charge? I go to MT Smog off Little Orchard in San Jose. Been taking my Fiero’s there for years. $60 bucks is what they charge. Since they know me now they don’t go full blown on my cars and check every last thing. That’s another point: switch to a new smog guy and you’re looking at 2 hours in his shop because he has to go by the book since he doesn’t know you, understand? 😀 On a different note, does the yellow car have all the original smog equipment and more importantly (for Evap) the charcoal canister? To help you confirm, there is an emissions sticker that shows smog components and hose routing on the right side of the decklid. Kit
[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 12-06-2024).]
Understand? Me? Shooting the moon buddy but I like your gumption! San jose is a different world than where im at, lotsa smog guys dont even have rollers to test old cars. I can qualify them in a few seconds over the phone. Price doesnt matter, its attitude and distance from me. I hate driving around here. Also riding dirty w no plates and dont want hassle from the fuzz. My car kinda stands out lol. Gonna drop the tank and check the oring, or make a smoke machine.
Poking at other stuffs, the air ride equipment is almost done plumbing. Hard to cram everything into such a tight spot but im using ptc on this so I dont need wrench space. The interiors getting some fluff in small waves. The seats are dirty and shot, especially the driver seat. Dont wanna drop 8hunert on mr mikes, the igees look cheese, so I looked elsewhere. I found some on ebay for a trans am that I really really liked. Closed mouf dont get fed, so I hit up the seller. After a few emails w small adjustments being made, he had what I wanted and I ordered 2 sets, 1 red and 1 yellow. I love it, makes the whole car pop not just the interior. Good material, not thin flimsy stuff, has all the stretchy cord thingies everywhere and came w tons of plastic hooks to keep the covers tight to the seat. I just stuffed em on for now, gotta pull the seats to get em on right and use the tie cords- thats later when I change the carpet. Got a serious hard on for these lol Check out designcovers on ebay or search fiero seat covers. He can make em in many colors, mine showed up in about a week.
Went to a buddies shop and pulled a getrag, some rotors, a set of rodney shift cables, and an evap can cuz I always break off the tips putting on the hoses. Going back for the carpet and some udder stuffs later.
It's impressive you managed all that in just a few months! Or did you start earlier and start putting up posts once you had some buffer?
Where do you do your fiberglassing work? From what we can see in the pictures, it looks like your garage is cramped? Or do you roll out the other Fiero and park it in the driveway while you work on fiberglass?
I like the side vents on the bumper. Are you going to put notches or holes in the wheel well "houses" (lol at the Fierostore name for those) so the air can help with brake cooling?
It's nice you got the car almost rattle free. even without any interior, my car rattles quite a bit, so almost all of it has to be coming from the doors. Awesome stuff!
You guys are funny, this is taking forever lol. Its moving slower than molasses in alaska! Still havent had time to take it for smog again, and the airbags are not in yet. Hoping to make it tomorrow after work. Still going thru the paces w the air ride equipment placement, routing, and getting fittings/connectors. Theres no instructions, and I dont know what im doing. This kit is waaaaay different than the garbage I threw in the kit car. I just had to pull the manifold again because I just found out the gauges are digital and the senders go into the manifold lol. Less plumbing but more electrical work lol. I think the bags themselves will go in quick, but I want everything else ready to go foist. Then im doing some things my way and swapping out some components for udder stuff. Like it came w this nice big ol gold plated 200a fuse and box. I got a 200a breaker instead, also got 70a breakers for each compressor. Set didnt come w a tank gauge, and I want one lol. I got a 3 gauge pillar pod but its friggin yuuuge and blocks the view bigtime. So the voices came up w something pretty slick, pics to come( got a ton o wires to run). Fixed the ttop rattles w some foam weatherstrip from home dizzle. Got smore interior goodies, more comin, more waiting to be installed. Almost there............
Trinten all work is done in the driveway, glass too lol. Garage is a bit more than cramped lol, my office is in the back corner behind the kit car. Its the man cave, if only there was a bathroom and sink-gold! The vents came out good, still hafta figure out a way other than screws to mount the rear grilles. Thought about vents, maybe when the brakes get bigger- if they get bigger. They do look small in them big ol wheels. And no, the first pic/post is the day I brought it home. It really didnt need much, dunno why it was left. Theres no major body damage, and its salvaged. That tells me it was towed and auctioned off, or got in a minor fender bender when prices were low and body work labor was high. The guy I got it from said he got it at an auction in 2010 w hopes of restoring it. Its been sitting since 2010, found a receipt for a new cat. $70 installed lmao What was weirs is there was no oil in the motor and no fuel in the tank, both bone dry. Tranny does leak, the dipstick plunger thingie doesnt make a good seal. Got another getrag anyway. Prolly be a lazy bum and just keep topping it off lol
Heres a pic at the first smog shop where homeboy almost got mauled
shem
[This message has been edited by shemdogg (edited 12-20-2024).]
Tranny does leak, the dipstick plunger thingie doesnt make a good seal.
Sounds like it needs a shim. You can buy one from Rodney for $3... or be a cheapskate like me and use an old plastic bread bag clip.
quote
Fits all Getrags and Isuzu's with the flip up lever dip stick. Is your Getrag or Isuzu flip up dip stick sloppy and loose? Install this stainless steel precision die stamped shim and it will be tighter than new! Easy to install. Precision die stamped so it grabs on and will not fall off. Very easy to install.
One shim should be sufficient. At least one customer had a dip stick that was so loose it took two shims to make it fit tight again.
Thank you Patrick, I just made an order. The bread clip is genius, I collect those . I did wrap the thing in tape and its not leaking, so its leaking elsewhere yay. Took it for evap testing again and it failed. Car drew a small crowd lol. Tanks gotta come out again but I get pretty sick pretty quick under cars now, and after the last time I searched and found its kinda common https://community.cartalk.c...ars/135883/80?page=2
I have to do it in quick 20ish second attacks, thought I messed up the tank oring when I did the fuel pump. Turns out the metal lines all came loose from the sending unit top. Showed it to my cuz next door, we stripped it and brazed it w silver. Beefy af now Gonna try n hit the smog place after work tomorrow, fingers crossed
A) You did drain the fuel before.....brazing...Right? (BOOM!!!)
B) I only get sick under other peoples cars....usually after they run me over!!
C) I can stop any leak....Oil leak- just don't pour ANY oil in the engine- or trans....Yes- I am a "(F)art (SM)eller"....(And Lexi-Dy....)
By the way- while doing all of this on his car, he also spent a number of days rebuilding the back porch on my 1902 house...so you think it is impressive how much he got done in such a short time...it is more amazing than you think!
Drain the fuel first?! Wheres the fun in that? Who needs eyebrows anyways? You sir have a beautiful victorian, and I love working on them! Changed/added studs, flashings, cleared all the old electrical and plumbing off the walls, redid a buncha siding, installed the disposal, repiped the drains, and caut the cord for my skill saw w the skill saw! Magic hands magic hands,its all in the wrist!
Took the car for another evap test and failed. Good thing these guys love me cuz of the schweet ride and dont charge me. Owner also gave me a lil work too lol. Drove to freakmont and borrowed a smoke macheen and found leak after leak. One was in the tubes again Then the electrical port started leaking so I redid that, then the tank oring had stretched, fixed that, then found a leak at the expansion tank and made like hudson and ran a bypass. Got it to hold 3psi for 10+ mins w minimal leakage. Wound up pulling the tank 3 times yesterday, didnt even get sick I was just pissed lol. Took it for the smog and it passed. Smog guy left it idling for a long long time and on the way home the trans went. I wasnt even back to the freeway and I had no 1st n 2nd for most of the time. By the time I was close to home the clutch wouldnt disengage and had to force it outta gear and rev match to shift. It was nasty and clunky, car does not like starting in 3rd gear. Checked it this morning and its the same, somethings bent bad inside.
Hit the new trans w some oven cleaner and a chitty brush and it cleaned up good. Gonna order some new seals Then I got to thinking, if the cradles coming out to swap the trans- why not throw this in too? Ill need mounts and to fab an exhaust. I got 90 days from the smog date to get my plates, and thats when the registration will start. So ill get my plates post swappage. Cool but means air bags aint going in until after the cars driving again.
I had a spare aux cluster form the kit car interior and used it to mount the tank and bag gauges and a switch for the compressors. Got a momo knob and it didnt fit so I drilled it out, dabbed some yellow paint in the lower logo, and added smore fluff lol
It has begun, killer bees under the knife! Id get things done much faster if I had all the parts. I had the fierorog flywheel but didnt get bolts or a clutch. 5 trips to get bolts, wound up getting my own at ace. Cleaned up the trans and painted it, cradles almost ready to come out.
Got everything together today and somethings wrong w the new clutch. The fingers are already in when bolted down. Put the trans on(about 8 times) and the lever doesnt touch the diaphram till way way into the throw. Went thru the parts pile and pulled that used clutch I gave myself crap for not tossing, and put it on and fingers in the middle. Foiled! So I went and ordered anudder clutch, not coming till wednesday. Well chit now what? I went and put the new clutch back on. The disc is prolly just too thick to release the plate. The spring plates are exposed so being outta options, and having to return this clutch why not. Started prying on the spring to get the fingers to move the way I wanted, measured w a straightedge and I got em to move, gave em some motivation(prolly just seated everything better), took it back off and cleaned everything and its fine when installed now. Threw the trans back on and ran outta daylight. Cradles coming out tomorrow, just coolant lines and cradle bolts now.
No Patrick no twins, no helpers, no extra room in this kitchen lol- plenty of extra voices in my head tho. Its a peanut gallery! No I dont eat, Im way too busy. Just had breakfast at 3pm today after coming back from crapa auto farts lol. Ran into a buncha 5 min jobs that took hours. Damn cradle car t busted lol. Started the day off on the first bolt came loose and my hand went flying into an exhaust clamp bolt and its pissin blood. yay! The trans seals I ordered friday, that were supposed to arrive friday, didnt show till today. Pulled the cradle and swapped over the trans mounts, got one motor mount welded up. Had to notch the front motor mount cradle attachment flange to clear the oil pan. Axles fought me, didnt wanna go back in. Had to pull suspension bolts to get clearance. Worked on one side, udder side bolt was crazy frozen. messed it up a bit pounding on it, had to retap, and pull other things. Other motor mount will hafta be modded to fit like my other swap. Should have it all in tomorrow and start on the fuel lines and reassembly. Made it till about 4pm when my lower back started yelling at me in chinese(fuk yoo fuk yoo fuk yoo fuk yoo!), so calling it a day. Fingers crossed ill be doing mad burnouts wednesday lol jk jk
I think I messed something up, cant get this motor to start. Had it in wednesday, had to order different fuel fittings and hose. Got the coolant lines together, had an extra v6 coolant pipe I cut down to work. Rigged up the ecm, and hooked up the rest of the wires that didnt go into the harnesses Shoulda been all ready yesterday morning, just needing to oil the motor and trans. Did it and no fire. No fire w starting fluid either. Uh oh. Started digging around, found I missed a power wire for the icm. Wired that in and got spark, but a weak orange looking one and some w none. Shoulda still fired, not even a hint of a puff. Fuel pressures good, I lucked out and got a high pressure pump by accident when I got the car. Maybe I assembled the engine wrong, I dunno. Threw the icm and coil pack from the working motor in the kit car this morning, nada. Now im sure I assembled the engine wrong, I go to get a compression tester from the store. Tested the back 3 w the front 3 plugs still in and tubing wedging the tb open. Got 140, 130, and 130. Not bad, guess I did assemble the engine right mostly lol. Frazzled, fried, outta options, my cuz comes over seeing im still struggling. I tell theres nothing, I dont even smell the starting fluid in the exhaust after cranking. He sprays a bunch in the tb directly while I hold the tb open and crank( got the solenoid on a wire), and the sumbish fires up for a quick sec. Happy face, happy happy happy face! Its alive and working, at least on starter fluid. Dug in smore and found the injectors are frozen. Fudge! Cant get a new set till wednesday, ordered em anyways. Not satisfied w the taste of defeat there, I got 4 of 6 working by zapping them w wires connected to my jump box and confirming them working by the click and the fuel pressure gauge dropping. Couldnt get to 2 of the front ones so I tapped on the fuel rail w a hammer a wee bit and tried starting it without fluid. Fires up instantly w a BLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOH cuz its open manis. Got good fuel and oil pressure, stock temp sender doesnt like my gauge, starts at 145 lol. Alternators charging, sounds great and revs smooth. Tubing kits here, muffs coming wednesday. More to come, motor looks titties and fits like a glove Sounds so crazy good w open mani lol shem
BIG SMILE!! Sure is nice to hear that first fire up. Still don't see how you get so much accomplished. Took me all afternoon to just get a headliner mostly installed.
Much appreciated! Id get more done if I could focus on one thing and the parts were all here. Way too long for my liking, mediocre at best. Always been like that, in ancient greece they called me mediocrates. Same shem just different day. Got a sinus ear infection and in bad shape, feels like I got a putty knife jammed in my ear and an earbud. Ordered an exhaust flex coupling that was too long, had to wait for the shorty. Got the exhaust together and installed. Didnt make much difference in sound, much quieter at idle but still very loud when revved. Put the car back down and tried to move forward it in the driveway a wee bit, CLUNK! UH oh! Head instantly went crazy w option from the to went, the trans went, the bolts went, either way- something went. Sounded like the axles werent in all the way, got under to check and theyre in as far as theyre gonna go. Flywheel was still attached(cover plates still off(hate that f#$%^&*& thing)), no metal bits anywhere, everything looked good. Thought the trans innards went, tried to spin the ds axle by hand, nada. Tried the ps axle and it spins, spins the trans but not the wheel. Look at the wheel side and the axles snapped. Chit but better than the other options lol. New axles coming thursday, local auto part stores either cant get em or till late next week. Next week it is...............
One week turns into another and its been a whole month and havent had much time to mess w the car. Got sick, got busy w work, hadta volunteer at my kids school, now its cold n rainy. Changed out the master and slave, got the new axle and seal in, chased a weak spark issue, and still wouldnt drive the car w the exhaust being that loud. I tapped the crossover pipe and ran 2.5" tubing in the factry routing with a resonator, and cut up the muffler and welded some baffles inside. Way way quieter, took it around the block today. Felt good w that motor in it and runs/shifts great. Installed a boost gauge and a tach too
Could not get that axle seated for the life of me. Mainly because I couldnt remove the hub because of the stuck bolt. So I cut the head off, fenagled the control arms off w a crowbar, and gave it to my cuz to hit it w the hydraulic press. He said it started budging around 60 tons and had to go back and forth to get it out. The I still couldnt get the axle seated, changed the circlip, nothing. Had to motivate it w the rubber mallet, scary because theres no good place to hit it except where the boot is. a solid whack and it went in. And still leaks fuk just a dribble tho
The nefarious getrag rattle shows up on occasion, spooked me good. Got some new shooz for the work mobile
Got the motor figured out, ran good but had a miss. After an exhausting troubleshooting process I found the #3 exhaust valve rocker bolt loose. Now its 110% perfect, wow that sumbish is fast. I dont think this new clutch will last, but its coming out in a year or two so thats fine lol.
Drilled some holes, installed grommets, ran the air ride tubing and went to put in the rear bags Ruh roh! These is for an 84-87, I dont think they know the 88 has a different suspension. Hope they dont leave me hangin but I need a set for the kit car anyways so either way it works out. Also made a lil progress on that and heading that direction for now. Still needs a few details, reset an exhaust tip, get sway bar links, install the ttop locks(whoever posted that that you!), and change the carpet. Changed out the hood latch cable finally lol.
So thats pretty much a wrap for this one.......................
. I did wrap the thing in tape and its not leaking, so its leaking elsewhere yay. Took it for evap testing again and it failed. Car drew a small crowd lol. 
