You had me really confused as well. But you figured it out before you wasted a bunch of time and money. The nuts on my Kazerra wheels are the shoulder type as well. I like them , no long studs needed and lots of thread engagement.
------------------ 86 GT built 2.2 ecotec turbo rear SLA suspension QA1 coilovers on tube arms
if you're ever concerned about thread engagement, you can put ARP wheel studs in, thats what I did on my car because I've fought that battle and lost, and won't lose again
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
You had me really confused as well. But you figured it out before you wasted a bunch of time and money. The nuts on my Kazerra wheels are the shoulder type as well. I like them , no long studs needed and lots of thread engagement.
Nice, do you have a pic of those wheels?
quote
Originally posted by ericjon262:
if you're ever concerned about thread engagement, you can put ARP wheel studs in, thats what I did on my car because I've fought that battle and lost, and won't lose again
Note taken. Hopefully I don't have any issues.. pretty sure these were designed for the 84 fiero's.. I don't know enough about the differences from 88 to know if there's any issues. I figure they'll stick out a bit in the front but I'm ok with that.
Car is up on the hoist now so hard to get a decent pic. I do not think these are made any more, I bought them around 2004 or so. They are 16" but only weigh 15 lbs. Lightest 16" I could find at a reasonable price.
[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 04-08-2020).]
I can't get it into 2nd or reverse though. Haven't tried the others. I thought maybe the cables need adjusting? Or maybe the clutch needs to be bled better?
I ordered a Rodney Dickman clutch master. I messed with the shifter linkage but couldn't find any issues with it. If it's not the clutch fluid (which could be original for all I know) I may have to pull out the transmission, not something I want to do.
The weather has been such crap I haven't had much chance to work on it. Need a garage.
After I test drove it I spent some more time bleeding the heat exchanger, and I picked up a smaller battery to fit in the tray up front. However I went to try and start it earlier in the week and all it did was this:
I suspected the ICM, and after some help on FB determined it was at least something to do with the spark. I pulled a plug out and had the wife crank the engine.. sure enough no spark. After I inspected the wires, some were exposed but didn't seem to be broken.
So I went to the junkyard. I pulled an ICM, 3 coils (plus the bracket), and the whole ICM harness. $25 bucks. The only bad news is one of the little bolts holding a coildpack on was rusted so bad I couldnt get my socket to grab. So I had to dremel it off.
I disconnected the ICM and plugged in the junkyard one, leaving everything else the way it was. It fired right up. The harness is kind of a ***** to get to so I figured I'd just band-aid it and throw on some electrical tape. But once I took a closer look I noticed the ground which should be on one of the studs coming from the bracket was broken off, and just hanging there. So I was missing a ground.. that couldn't be good.. even though it ran?? The wire on the left should have a big eye hole on it that slips over the stud and gets sandwiched by another nut.
After seeing that, I decided to swap the harness to the new junkyard one. I had to pull off the belts and a few pullies to get to the sensors, and after a lot of little cuts on my forearms I got the new one in.
After that though, fired right up!
and finally, picture of my daughter looking through the t-top.. because it makes me smile
[This message has been edited by ignorant prodigy (edited 04-19-2020).]
So i swapped in the new Master Cylinder. Bench bled it, and then gravity bled it until clear fluid was coming out the bleeder. pedal feels firm
Having issues with it though. with the clutch in, I can hit every gear with the shifter. Goes in an out nice. In first, operates just like how I'd expect. Car moved forward no problem. However If I put it in reverse, when I lift up the clutch pedal it grinds and pushes it right out of gear.
I tried starting it in 2nd and same thing happens.
However, I tried starting it in 3rd gear.. and it moved forward. I only tried that twice just as a test, but actually works in 1st and 3rd.
Anyone have any guesses? Are my synchros toast? I would have though 1st and 2nd were on the same one. Got me thinking maybe my shift lever needs some adjustment?
[This message has been edited by ignorant prodigy (edited 04-25-2020).]
to me that doesnt' sound like a clutch issue, it sounds like the linkage needs adjustment, like maybe the reverse throw of the shifter isn't far enough.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
Sounds like you have too much cable travel to 1, 3, 5 and not enough to 2, 4, R. Try adjusting the Shift cable to better center the range of motion to the needed movement to engage all the gears.
I put it in reverse and it looked fine, but when i popped off the cable the lever had maybe another half inch of travel. So I loosened the nut on the cable and threaded it in so that the end lined up with the little ball on the lever.
It shifts in all the gears now!!!
such an amazing feeling to be able to drive this car. I bought this car 7 years ago! I work slow but damn it feels good to take it for a ride around the block
So here's the new vs old MC. The old wasn't in the best shape to begin with so even though this wasnt my issue I'm happy with the replacement. I had a bit of trouble getting the new brass bushing on with the eyerod. I removed the clutch safety switch to get a pair of pliers in there and managed to eventually get it, difficult to reach. I wound up just fixing the little arm of the switch to 'bypass' the clutch..and just left it dangling there for now.
I have lowering springs for the front, and I should be able to adjust the coil overs in the rear to give it a better stance. Going to need to tires, these are old. I actually don't mind how the front tires stick out, gives it an aggressive stance IMO
I noticed at one point when I was under it the car the rear plug on the floor pan looked very rusty. I needed to clean the carpets because they were covered in mice crap. So I pulled them out.
. . My Tiburon seats that I got a few years ago (page 1) had been sitting outdoors for over a year. They got pretty moldy and nasty. So I washed them up using vinegar, power washer and carpet cleaner. This image shows them wet so they dont look this bad lol . . Met a nice guy in NH who has a ton of fieros. He sold me a section of floor pan to repair my car. . Both headlights pins were dust. I went to replace them but basically every screw on the motors caps and assembly snapped off. So I said **** it and bought new motors. The old headlamps worked, but were tired and dingy... So I ordered some expensive replacements. The headlight buckets from rock auto don't fit the old or new headlamps. So I had to keep the originals which sucked. But I got all new hardware from the fierostore and cleaned up all the plastic trim. The JW Speakers seem like very high quality.
. . I ordered a small shutoff valve for the IC heat exchanger to help me bleed the system. I hooked it up to the overflow tank and mounted that right to the sail panel. That way I can leave the valve open and bleed it, but when i open the trunk shut the valve so the coolant doesnt just flow into the overflow. Not sure how effective it'll be. I figure I'll leave the hose loose and test it out before I go drilling and mounting it. . . Also my tach and speedo don't seem to have the correct values. My scanner gauge looks more accurate. . .
I've scheduled time with a shop to weld in the replacement floor pan. Shocker the craigslist mobile welder I had stood me up. So i figure I should go with a professional. Once I get a legit garage built I swear I'll buy my own welding equipment and learn.
I also have them repairing one of the lateral link 'pockets' on the cradle. it was rotted in some areas and I wasnt comfortable with it. Also the stock lateral links were very rusty.. and I have a feeling adjusting them was going to be a nightmare. This is an old photo when I was installing them
So I copied fiero guru's rear lateral link setup. kudos to him for doing all the hardwork for us lazy guys. being the amateur I am the first attempt at cutting the tubing for the bolt sleeves I managed to get it stuck to my long bolt. To be fair this is the original long bolt which was bent.
Also, I couldn't get the tubes into the rod ends with my hands, and I only bought 1 rod so I didnt want to damage them, so I used my small vice.
The threads on the rod end seem very soft, and had a couple imperfections right out of the box. When I threaded the nuts and rods on i did my best to not force anything, and clean them the best I could.. but I wasn't really crazy about the quality of the threads.
the last time it's been driven was 98. it's basically been sitting outdoors since then with the exception of maybe 4-5 years of being in my garage. Yesterday I used the power washer to get the pollen off. It looks nice when wet. before after some water
Also did a cold start video the other day. just trying to keep the battery from dying on me honestly. Hopefully next week I will get the floor pan fixed and I can start thinking about registering and insuring it!
I got it back from the shop. They welded in a strut tower/dogbone mount. They also cross braced the rear of the frame. Mainly it was there for the front suspension and floorpan, which is all fixed now. Also installed the lateral links.
I drove it around the block, it feel strong. Shifts smooth and sounds great. Smells like ass. 3 year old gas probably.
My tach isn't right though, and I'm hitting the rev limiter I think. It bogs down when the tach says 6k ish rpms but i'm not near that.. something to do with the vss? Not sure yet.
After getting it back from the shop to have the seat pan welded I noticed some blow by coming out of the valve cover breather.
At first, I thought it may have just been water. I put the breather on the valve cover by the cabin, and while it was outside at the shop we had some severe rain storms.
But after letting it warm up, when i goose the throttle a puff of blue smoke comes out of the exhaust. womp womp. I plan on driving it for as long as possible and keeping an eye on the oil. I think I'll buy a spare engine and build it up some, maybe get a cam? I dunno.
So while it was at the shop I had more than just the floor pan welded in. I had them throw on the front suspension components: KYB shocks Lowering springs/new spring pads All new bolts Tie rods poly endlinks poly sway bar bushings new ball joints and caps
The also built some cradle bracing (not pictured) under the trunk And a removable brace between the strut towers to mount a dogbone to
Also a sheet metal cover for the exhaust/trunk
Lastly I had them fix some rust in the lateral link pockets on the passenger side and installed my fieroguru lateral links. (not pictured) I need an alignment and to lower the rear coilovers to match the front of the car now.
I bought a replacement tach to fix my rpm issue. Also figured I should take the dash off to check for mice nests and clean it up.. it was so dusty and dirty. Luckily, I found none! I tested the tach before putting it all back together, there's a little screw you can adjust, at idle it didn't quite line up with my gauge but on the gas it seemed to work. Of course... after putting the dash back in I screwed it up somehow.. and now it's all stupid and not working. I must've missing something or broke something... naturally.
I did get the new carpets in and cleaned up the interior dash parts with some carguys cleaners. came out nice I think. I just need a better shifter bezel/console thing. Mine is falling apart. I tried like hell to get the tiburon seats to fit using the tiburon seat tracks.. but it just wasn't going to work unless I had the seats sitting up too high.. so I gave up and bought seats from a local guy who has nice condition ones. Mine were covered in mice crap.
So.. it's getting close to being able to drive it longer than around the block. Just need an alignment really.. maybe button up some coolant hoses to make sure they don't hit the belts.. etc...
1. Still a little blow-by. I changed the oil and no chunks, looked decent, but had a strong gas smell for sure. So I'm going to let it ride and buy a spare engine. Put some goop in the oil and just have fun with it. 2. I damaged the cluster when i put it back in last fall. So my tach stopped working entirely. I found a replacement and swapped everything over, so now my tach works. 3. My speedo is wrong. My PCM is setup for the right signal - so I think I need a buffer. That'll get added soon.
I brought it to an alignment shop after getting new tires. But, there were issues. I won't rehash all my mount woes - but I think they're biting me in the ass again. When he did the alignment the driver's side axle came apart and the boot popped off. It's not sitting in the pocket anymore. The passenger side axle is completely jammed and there's no play.. so it seems the entire assembly needs to slide towards the drivers side. Originally it was way over on that side, but the problem with that is the EP shifter bracket hits the strut tower. That was the entire reason I went through mount hell.
So.. I think I need to address the shifter bracket. I also need to fix my mounts. There's not enough play to slide them as far as they need to go... so either I need to make a set, or notch them? not sure.. The west coast fiero approach to the shifter mechanism seems to have the right idea, they come from below instead of the side.
vs. this approach:
This is how it looked with my original mounts from Dan - which I wish I had kept.. but I threw those away years ago.
Both mounts look like they're in rough shape.. which is kind of crazy because i've barely driven the thing.
Two issues I'm going to have, the dogbone was welded to a reinforcing bar across the back.. but if I shift everything left that isn't going to align anymore. Also the exhaust was custom built.. so that will likely also not be aligned... not sure how much play that will have...
You should definitely get yourself a welder regardless of workshop space, I weld outside all the time, and modern day migs are compact, store away easily, and are easily transportable. They even run off 120v and can weld what my 10 year old welder can barely weld running on 240v.
Spent some time over the last couple days working on this pile of parts again.
The WCF mounts arrived, and they're now installed along with the shifter bracket. I still have a bunch of stuff to address before I can get it back on the road, but so far the mounts moved the powertrain away from the passenger side, and the axle seems to be good now?
If you're a passer-by and are curious about these mounts - I put this video together.
Well I was backing it up a slight incline in my driveway to put away for the winter... and the clutch let go.
The pedal feels the same, and there's no fluid leaking anywhere. The lines all look fine and so does the master cylinder/pedal The clutch is not engaged, which leads me to suspect the GM bolts sheared off at the engine. It's not rattling either.
Sucks.. but I am the only one to blame. This winter I'm just going to let it sit.
Does it roll freely while off but in gear? I would be shocked if the flywheel or clutch bolts sheared and it is making 0 noise. Could be something in the pressure plate or clutch puck broke and it is freewheeling on the transmission input shaft, input shaft could be broken too but that would be wild.
Whatever it is, hope it's not a big deal to fix come springtime.
It sat all winter. I stared it last week, fired right up and sounded good.
I started taking it back apart. Everything but the suspension and cradle bolts are unhooked but ran out of time last night.
I have a small list of things I'll probably try to address while it's out. I melted the electrical connection for the trunklid I want to put in heat insulation I want to flip the fuel rail put in new spark plugs wire in the speedo maybe put in a new oil pan gasket
Also found one of the tailights broke where the screws go - but I have LED taillights so I may grab one from a junk yard or something.
Does it roll freely while off but in gear? I would be shocked if the flywheel or clutch bolts sheared and it is making 0 noise. Could be something in the pressure plate or clutch puck broke and it is freewheeling on the transmission input shaft, input shaft could be broken too but that would be wild.
Whatever it is, hope it's not a big deal to fix come springtime.
I didn't test rolling it while in gear to be honest, although when it happened I had it in reverse and it was very clearly rolling forward. Hmm I think either way I'll drill/tap and put in bigger ARP bolts for the flywheel. even if they didn't break I'd rather have the peace of mind
[This message has been edited by ignorant prodigy (edited 06-06-2022).]
