FieroGURU,

Thanks! I thought they were left off, but wasn't for sure. Guess I should have asked before I cleaned and painted them. LOL Thanks for clarifying about the MC too.
And I am still planning to use your kit. Just waiting for my Tax Check.


Soooooo....What do I tackle next???? Anyone????

If you haven't replaced it yet, the passenger side rack bushing is probably shot and could use replacing (Rodney sells a brass version).

Wouldn't hurt to pull the blower fan motor and clean out any debris in there from critters.

Wouldn't hurt to seam seal the entire spaceframe while it's apart...
Not sure I'd buy the calipers yet. It's going to be a while before it's running & they could stick or even be bad/wrong part.
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

Custom Fiberglass Parts

Tha Driver & FieroGURU,

These are GREAT ideas. Thanks guys!

I'm making a list now.

Anymore ideas???

Just a heads up. WD40 does no good for getting rusted parts apart. Its a lubricant not a rust penetrate. Pick up some PB blaster or thrust for spraying on rusty stuff.

I was at a junk yard one day and I needed some leaf springs. I found the ones I needed but the bolts were very rusted and would not move. So I went back to ask the sale's man(very old man) if he had some pb plaster he said no I have somthing better. He handed me a spray bottle with dish soap and water in it. I said I did not want to wash the car I need to get the bolt out.LOL, He said give it a try you will be amazed. I though with nothing to loose, I would give it a try. I sprayed it a a couple time. waited a few min and to my surpise the bolts came loose. I keeped spraying as I loosened the bolts. I went back and paid for the parts and ask the guy what in the bottle and he said dawn dish soap mixed with 50/50 antifreeze. I still use it , alot cheaper than bp blaster. Thanks Lonnie

I've actually been through 2 cans of PB Blaster already. Had a third can that quit working when it was still half full. WTF! Although the guys at Autozone swear by it, I wasn't that impressed. It's expensive and stinks like hell. LOL I switched back to WD-40 mainly due to cost, but haven't needed it much since switching back. Brake & Parts cleaner seems to do a good job on rust too. I haven't tried the dish soap for loosening rusted parts, but I do have a bucket of dishwater in the garage that I clean all the parts with after I wire-wheel the rust off and before priming them. Thanks for the tips though. I might give PB Blaster and the dish soap thing a shot when I tear into the cradle.

Speaking...anymore ideas on what to tackle next.

Try this web site: http://www.por15.com/ They carry lots of great products for older rusty cars and restoration. Most of the products are a bit on the expensive side but they work great.
I have used a few of the products with really good results. Most recently I used the gas tank sealer for my Fiero as the tank had some rust in the fuel when I dropped it to put a new HO pump in.
I would guess your car would be the same as its almost 30 yrs old.. Good prevention before investing a bunch of money into an engine or changing it out.

I like the profile of your car sketch, nice and angular. I liked the first set of tale lights better, the thin horizontal ones look too 80's in my opinion.
Maybe try slanting them like this (if you are making them from scratch).

------------------
---------------------------------
John Fenton
1986 Fiero GT 5 speed

Lambo2013,

Thanks for the link. I'll check them out.


Fenton,

Thanks! I appreciate all the opinions I get from forum members. I definitely like your rendering. I do still like the vertical lens, just worried what some members would think of me putting Ford style lens on our beloved Pontiac. Since that part of the build is still a ways off, I'm sure the headlights and taillights will change numerous times before they are installed. Thanks for the feedback.

Speaking of, what are your opinions on headlights?

you don't plan to stretch the car do you? if not, I would sit down and start thinking long and ard about what you want to power it, and what it will take to get it in there, that way you don't mess up a modded body panel while fitting a engine and trans combo.

Just a quick suggestion...
When you reinstall the calipers to the knuckles, use blue Loctite or similar to secure the fasteners.
88s seem to be notorious for having the bolts back out. Some of the results have been expensive near-disasters.
(One former member had the rear rotor and wheel shattered. And he was only going about 20 MPH, creeping in traffic, when it happened. )

ericjon,

I don not plan to stretch the frame, that is correct. Body mods will probably be the last thing I attempt. Definitely after the engine swap.


Raydar,

Thanks for the tip. I have the more expensive Red Loctite, which came in a blue bottle (I thought I was buying the blue). Hopefully that will work. A small bottle was $28!


I finally installed the other hub and wheel studs, and am now officially on hold until I decide what to do next. It's still a little cold for the engine swap. I prefer to do that when I can open the garage up. Money might also be an temporary issue. Any ideas on whats next?

any updates?

Nothing new to report. Went from waiting on my tax check, to paying off bills and taking a family vacation. Now that the weather is breaking, I'll try to get out in the garage more. Honestly though, I was a little burnt out after finishing the front end and needed a fiero break. But I'm ready to get back on it.

Bump! Back to work mister!

Yea, yea...I hear ya. I have been dying to get back in the garage lately. Between coaching T-ball, work, Fire Dept stuff, and planning my return to the standup stage, I haven't had much free time.

Funds have been tight too.

But I promise I am not giving up on this project and will return to it shortly.

Me and the boys visited the 30th Anniversary show in Indy today. I took a bunch a pictures and posted them on one of the forum pages for people who didn't get to attend the show. Anyway, now the boys are really pushing me to do a chop-top. It does make the car look longer, but I like the original height.

Also, heard some guys talking about the gearings problems with the F40 tranny, so I might cross that off my list.

I managed to finally get my garage cleaned out and organized. SOOOooo much more room to work now. I even built a workbench.

As soon as I get so funds, I will be ready to roll on the build again.

After over a year of no funds, no motivation/desire, and tons of family drama, I am finally getting back to work on my car.

And planning so HUGE changes.

Stay tuned.

Bob

I'm excited to see where you go with this. I love watching custom ideas come to life.

Sweet!

Just sent Ryan at Sinister Performance an email about possibly doing my swap for me. I would love to do it myself, but don't really have the equipment or know-how to make sure it's done correctly. Not to mention the time.

Ryan @ Sinister Performance says 2 years before he can get to my swap. I went ahead and had him put me on the waiting list, but might try to go ahead with it myself.

Finished cleaning out the garage so I could get back to work on the car, and have been engine & tranny shopping. Still haven't found my 3800SC. Debating whether to stretch the frame to achieve the look I want, and whether to switch to a longitudinal engine setup if I do.

Plans & ideas, plans & ideas. Picking up a welder this week, to teach myself some welding.

Down the road:
- 3800 SC series 2 or 3
- 4t65hd (most likely)
-Big brake kit (including new break lines, caliper, pads, rotors, master cylinder, etc)
-Coilovers in back
-wheels & tires (staggered - 18" or 19" rears, 17" or 18" fronts)
-custom interior
-Norms frontend - with some mods
-Archies wide-body kit - with some mods (unless I do my own - still learning everything I can about expanding foam & fiberglass)
-cutting out truck for space & due to newly found rust
-custom exhaust exiting centerline of backend
-relocating all cooling to rear of vehicle (sides & back) for proximaty to where it's needed - Had an overheating issue with my last fiero, and GM mechanic told me that was a design flaw with those cars having Rad in front & engine in back, and that has stuck with me ever since. Plus, makes room for small trunk relocation to front area.
-Gullwing doors - I haven't given up on this idea. I know it's next to impossible, but there has got to be a way with minimal cutting. Plus, everybody has lambo doors, and it would really set my car apart from the rest.

My initial design really hasn't changed much otherwise. Maybe color choice has changed from flat black with yellow accents to Jetstream Metallic Blue with silver accents. That is mainly due to the limited availability of the wheels I want in the previous color.

Stay tuned for pics and more progress reports. Comments welcome.

FOUND my engine!!! It's a 3800 SC Series 2 with 120,000 for $400. Comes with the 4T65E-HD trans. Out of a running & driving 2001 Grand Prix.

If all goes well, I should have it next week, or the week after at the latest.

Here's my question for the forum:

Should I do anything to it? If it's a strong-running leak-free motor, should I mess with it? Should I still tear it apart and replace the gaskets? What upgrades besides the reduced SC pulley are a must?

Congrats on the motor purchase. Man, I wish I could get a series 2 3800sc for that price! I don't even want the tranny! I would use my 4 speed stock tranny. But everything around me is at least double the price you paid for your motor.
Keep posting progress and pics!

------------------
===Always trying to find time to work on cars===
Louis Duet
Baldwin, Long Island, NY
Where driving hard is SOP.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Blue" <= '85 Fiero GT
Stock V6---Stock everything. Trying to keep it 'mostly' that way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Boo" <= '81 Delorean DMC-12
The "DuetLorean"
VIN #5835
Stock PRV engine
Robertson Equipped
Neiland/Delman Engineered
Carbed and loving it! (Peugot 604 manifold) ---"Sorry purists"

Me & the 15 year old have the engine and cradle almost out of our car!!!

Turns out, when he is grounded from TV/Computers for poor grade performance, his willingness to turn a wrench increases exponentially.

Put a deposit on the new 3800SC Series 2 & 4t65e-hd and should be picking it up this weekend. The yard needed time to get it pulled from the 2001 GP that it's currently in, and we needed time to remove our 2.5 Iron Duke & 5-speed Isuzu for the core exchange.

I meant to take some pics for the forum, but was too busy turning wrenches. I'll try to get some tonight as we resume.

That bring me to a question...What all do I need to pull from the core before exchanging it? What all shound I pick up for the new engine/trans while at the yard?

Great work Ed! Im getting ready to do brake up grade and the info and pics will be of great help,thanks. On another note, I have 4 teenage boys who got tagged with the nickname crasher brothers, so yes they will be helping.

Been watching this thread for awhile, Waiting to see some Pictures of you actually doing the "BODY Alterations" that you made Pictures of ! what you've done so far looks excellent. I want to see HOW you do the bodywork

I'm not a fan of pulling apart a perfectly good running engine. If you chose this engine for lower miles and heard it run, just toss it in the car. I'm sure down the road you'll want to do a few performance upgrades, so if it needs new gaskets then, that would be the time I'd mess around with it. I had a look under the valve covers of my 4.9 seeing as how I needed to swap them anyhow, and all looked well. Checked under the oil pan as the gasket needed replacing and all looked well. It's been running strong ever since tossing it in the back of my fiero. I hope you have the same luck!

Finished unhooking everything tonight.





I should mention, I found this forum page EXTREMELY helpful:
Here

Got the wheels chocked


I don't have a hoist, so I'm using the jack & 4x4 method:


Here's the sweet cradle dolly I made:



Everything is unhooked, and ready to go. I would have gotten it pulled tonight, but for a single stubborn front cradle bolt on the passenger side. I tried EVERYTHING, and finally decided to let it soak overnight in a healthy dose of WD-40. I was getting tired also, and figured I'd have more wits & strength about me later this week. (Tomorrow, I'm taking pops to doctor & then fixing a friends plumbing, so no fiero work.)

I did run into a few problems.
Like to never got the coolant lines unhooked from the compressor. Then, my rear cradle bolts were free-spinning, so I had to cut "the flap" in the frame rails to access them. Ended up having to cut the retainers off with the sawzall. Looks like I'll be purchasing some of the Free Floating cradle bolts from Rodney.
Previously said stubborn front cradle bolt.

Also, my E-brake cable had rusted completely through. This car has the weirdest rust issues. Hardly any, but where it does, they are crazy.
The rear cradle bolts were free spinning due to rust, but none on the outside of the frame rail.
Then the E-brake cable. Most of the brake lines look pretty rusted, so I'll be getting all new lines for the entire car.
The bottom of the car and frame is completely rust free, but one of the coolant line supports is so badly rusted it's barely there.
It is a Midwestern car, so rust is expected.

The worst rust spots I've noticed so far are these:
Passenger side trunk bottom


Driver's side inside upper frame rail about 6 inches behind the firewall


davylong86,
Glad I could help. I plan to do a brake upgrade in the near future, so I'll be looking for your thread as well.

Lou6t4gto,
You and me both. LOL I am constantly thinking about the various body mods I want to do, and researching & thinking about how best to accomplish them. But I'm still quite a ways away from that. Body comes last, so stay tuned.

Reallybig,
Thanks for the helpful tip. Since I don't currently have an engine stand, I plan to wait and see what the engine looks like out of the car when I get it here, before I plan to change gaskets. I only planned to do gaskets and reduced SC pulley for engine mods anyway, so we will see.

Thanks everybody.

I don't know how many hours I fought that same bolt. It was rusted to the sleeve, hammered and turned and hammered and turned. It was so frozen in place that turning the bolt was impossible the rubber bushing just returned it to it original position. I cut at the rubber mount to get to the sleeve and spread it with a screw driver and injected over and over PB blaster. When the bolt final spun free of the sleeve I smacked it with a hammer to get as far out as possible then pryed it out and turning it with a socket at the same time. So far with all the parts I have removed mine seems to only have very minor surface rust. Just because of the those bolts I see how some get tired of it all and give up.

After fighting that stupid bolts for 3 days, including using breaker bar, punch and sledge, dremel and matabo cutoff wheels, and even trying to drill it out with a carbide bit. I finally resorted to breaking out the torches for the head side, and removed the battery tray with matabo to get sawzall in to cut back side bolt between the cradle and frame.

It's out!



Me and the 15 yr old spent the rest of the evening striping it for the trip to the yard this weekend. Pull the wiring harness, A/C compressor. Is there anything else I need to pull?

The new motor comes with the ALT and starter. Wiring harness and ECM were already sold. Plan to source one. Most likely from Ryan at Sinister Performance.

Last question. Axles. How the hell do I get those tricups out of the trans. Manual says prying with a large screwdriver should work, but it didn't for me.

Thanks to archive posts by FieroGuru and theOrgre, I managed to get the cups out. Not really sure I'll even need them though.

Motor is all unbolted and ready to exchange at the junk yard tomorrow.

Picked up my motor Saturday. It looked a lot better than I was expecting.



However, when the kid was loading it onto the trailer with the forklift, he dropped it off the side of the skid it was sitting on from about 3 feet onto the concrete floor.

GRRRRR!!!!!

The only noticeable damage was the dipstick and oil fill cap.



Also a small broken piece on the bottom of the thing the oil fill cap screws onto



I did manage to get most of the wiring harness with the engine. No ECM or coil packs though.

Also, can anybody tell me forsure whether I got the 4T65E or the 4T65E-HD?

[This message has been edited by Corpsmen Ed (edited 04-13-2014).]

I have a computer out of a 2000 Monte Carlo you can have.

Trans is the HD version...Any questions feel free to ask as I have all the answers. Dip stick would have been busted anyways as they r a common failing part.

Ran into a bit of an issue while tearing apart the cradle and rear suspension for powdercoating. We found a couple of places on the drivers side if the cradle that had rusted through the metal. After wire wheel and grinding, they didn't appear too big, so we took it to a welding shop before sending it to powder coat. The welding shop said that the metal was too thin in the area around the rust holes, to properly fix. They tried to patch one, but it just melted through and got worse. They suggested I either pick uo a used cradle from a junkyard or have a tubular one made by a fabricator. Geez.

If I go the tubular route, I may go ahead and have the whole back end done that way and include a stretch, since there is also a half-dollar sized rust hole in th e upper frame rail on the same side.

Thoughts?

quote Originally posted by turboguy327: Just a heads up. WD40 does no good for getting rusted parts apart. Its a lubricant not a rust penetrate. Pick up some PB blaster or thrust for spraying on rusty stuff.

There's also a great penetrating oil called AeroKroil sold by Kano labs. It has to be ordered from Kanolabs.com or google Kanolabs. You have to enter a business name to order it but just make up a business name. I used "West End Ales" as my buisness name, which was my nanobrewery's name. Orange can, purple liquid, works awesome. They call it "The oil that kreeps".
Great stuff!
Just another option, I never had much luck with PB Blaster myself.

------------------
===Always trying to find time to work on cars===
Louis Duet
Baldwin, Long Island, NY
Where driving hard is SOP.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Blue" <= '85 Fiero GT
Stock V6---Stock everything. Trying to keep it 'mostly' that way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Boo" <= '81 Delorean DMC-12
The "DuetLorean"
VIN #5835
Stock PRV engine
Robertson Equipped
Neiland/Delman Engineered
Carbed and loving it! (Peugot 604 manifold) ---"Sorry purists"