quote Originally posted by skywurz: I installed the flywheel. I will probably curse myself later for not resurfacing it. Tossed the new clutch on...

As frugal as I might be , that's not something I would've scrimped on. You'll be dropping that cradle again at lot sooner than you needed to!

That the front engine mount cracked?

And yes, should resurface the flywheel. What's $50 at this point?.

[This message has been edited by Spadesluck (edited 03-26-2021).]

quote Originally posted by Patrick: As frugal as I might be , that's not something I would've scrimped on. You'll be dropping that cradle again at lot sooner than you needed to!

Possibly. Like i said ill curse myself then if it lasts 20k it will be a win.

quote Originally posted by Spadesluck: That the front engine mount cracked? And yes, should resurface the flywheel. What's $50 at this point?.

Yep that mount is cracked. I had swapped from one cradle to the other without removing the mount and only removed it thinking it was getting in my way. Lucky i guess.

Its not about the money it about not having a shop that can do it in a timely fashion near by.

Went abd cleaned up the headers with a wire brush and sand blaster.




Opened up the outlets on the outlets thar are partially blocked from the factory.

Flattened/smoothed and cleaned the ports on the belt sander.

Sprayed them with some high heat paint.

While the paint dried I installed the studs. I used high temp red thread lock.


With the paint dried i put on the manifolds


I had purchased 2 doorman ford manifold kits as recommended elsewhere on the forum. I used the extra nuts for the heat shields.




Hooked the Ypipe back up with new stainless hardware.

Todo list before I can drag the cradle back over to the car and toss it in

Attach lower Moto mount nuts. (The underside ones)
Hook y pipe to down pipe
Reattach all exhaust springs.
Cut out CAT for inspection and weld in flanges (being able to unbolt the cat makes servicing the AC 100 times easier as it gives you a path to remove it. Also makes getting to other things easier. Also gives me the ability to swap in a test pipe for when I run seafoam through the car so it doesn't destroy the CAT.)
Fix loose exhaust tip hanger
Install wire harness
Reinstall AC compressor.
Clean up and install thermostat housing.
Swap underdrive pulley and auto tensioner from bad engine
Do spark plugs
Swap wire holders from bad engine.

I hope that's the full list as its the one im now working from.

quote Originally posted by skywurz:

This'll make for a good example in future forum discussions about CS alternator heat shields.

i may eat up all of Cliff's disk space but this is one of the reasons im trying to post pictures.... Well and if I am doing something wrong ill get called on it

quote Originally posted by skywurz: i may eat up all of Cliff's disk space...

Disk storage has come a long way since 1999. Today's multiple terabyte drives are dirt cheap. Go crazy with your image posting, it's encouraged here!

Boy is my back sore today and i didn't even do any lifting. It was all hunched over.

Good news is i got my shiny new pink slip in the mail today. Something that with the original GT wouldn't have happened until it was ready to drive.

I went and cleaned up the thermostat housing and got it mounted up. I found the part number and figured out what kind of auto tensioner was on the bad engine. They are readily available do i decided to swap it.



I got everything engine mount related torqued and everything else i have monkeyed with torqued too.

I discovered today that there are 2 different rear cooling pipes.

I was not sure what was what so tried the cleanest one and it fit right.




I then started on the wiring harness



I have some more bit of smurf tube to fix now. I also ran into some vacuum line issues i fixed.

quote Originally posted by skywurz: I found the part number and figured out what kind of auto tensioner was on the bad engine. They are readily available do i decided to swap it. CLICK FOR FULL SIZE

Ah, I see an automatic belt tensioner bracket made by Dodgerunner. I have one on my Formula. It's the best money I ever spent on a 2.8 Fiero. Period.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 04-01-2021).]

quote Originally posted by Patrick: Ah, I see an automatic best tensioner bracket made by Dodgerunner. I have one on my Formula. It's the best money I ever spent on a 2.8 Fiero. Period.

It really is a nice piece. Well thought out with holes in all the right spots and 2 parts in other spots that really help.

I was not sure if it was a one-off or not. Thx for pointing me in the direction of Dodgerunner

quote Originally posted by skywurz: Thx for pointing me in the direction of Dodgerunner

My pleasure. I'm a satisfied customer of his, and I'm happy to spread the word.

I've replaced the tensioner itself once in the dozen years I've owned mine, but the custom made bracket is bullet-proof.

I have the same tensioner on mine as well. 2019 when I drove to Carlisle I was probably one of the few fieros there not squealing on startup. Ha

Mid day update. I've been a bit under motivated as the weather has gotten hot. I managed to get outside today.

I cut off the CAT for inspection. The amount of smoke that this was puking lead me to think its probably toast even tho its only a couple years old.

Sure enough as one side comes free i see CAT guts.



These fell right out



Apparently CATs are in high demand especially CARBs approved ones. I noticed the Fiero store sells one from Walker. I went to Walker and found a CA part number. I found it on Amazon for a deal at $250. Hopefully its not counterfeit or if it is hopefully it has the right numbers stamped into it?

The dead CAT was for 2.5" they welded in a bunch of step up pioes. so i started repairing the section.

quote Originally posted by skywurz: I went out and did plugs and wires. I gapped the oem plugs to . 045 The plugs that were in it were some fancy made in germany numbers. CLICK FOR FULL SIZE

I'd hazard to guess that the gap in those old plugs was more than .045". Any chance you measure a couple, just out of curiosity?

I didn't bother. They looked like iridium and its typically recommend to people not to gap iridium due to the fragile core. Secondly people seem not to know that plugs should be gapped. Also they were obviously wide lol.

[This message has been edited by skywurz (edited 04-02-2021).]

quote Originally posted by skywurz: , ...they were obviously wide lol.

That's what I thought from the picture, which made me curious. They were probably at least .060"... which is what's specified for the duke.

I think that's giving too much credit. I imagine someone realized how big of a PITA swapping plugs were. Went to the auto parts store asked for the best plugs so they wouldn't have to do them again any time soon (for some reason people think spark plugs are a more regular maintenance part). Nobody at the auto parts stores know anything anymore so more $$$ = better. They rang up this person and even if they had the fortitude to ask about gap. The helpful person would have been like "listen here them tha I-Ree-Dee-Dumbs you don't gap them. That's why they are so expensive". I avoid auto parts stores like a plague anymore. I every time i go i swear they are giving out horrible advice.

Unless a vehicle has been going to a reputable shop; or I know the person who has been maintaining the vehicle; or have spent a bunch of time talking with them to gauge their aptitude in automotive repair. I just assume its been "maintained" by the absolute worst.

All I know about this engine and GT it was in a wreck. 64k on the odometer. The former owner worked at Safeway (found their name tag) really thought vaping was cool (found some vape stuff and there's a vape decal on the back window)

Edit: oh and the oil was changed 500 miles before the wreck at a shop. The sticker was on the windshield. The shop also signed dated and wrote miles on the oil filter.

[This message has been edited by skywurz (edited 04-03-2021).]

quote Originally posted by skywurz: The former owner worked at Safeway (found their name tag) really thought vaping was cool (found some vape stuff and there's a vape decal on the back window)

While dismantling an '88 base coupe several years ago, I discovered a small glass crack pipe which had fallen down inside of the center console. Maybe it's a Fiero thing. lol

quote Originally posted by Patrick: While dismantling an '88 base coupe several years ago, I discovered a small glass crack pipe which had fallen down inside of the center console. Maybe it's a Fiero thing. lol

Ha! In my 87 I found a hypodermic with some crystalized brown stuff drawn into it. Also found a spoon that was discolored on the bottom. Idk why but it took me 13 years after that to finally pull that seat... Oh yeah now i remember the seat track cable was messed up so the seat never slid. Last Aug i decided to pull both seats for the first time. Decided to figure out if anything else was hiding under there. Found a condom that expired in 1998.

Since this the first thing I do is pull the seats. They trap so much under there.

All I ever seem to find is loose change and cigarette lighters. You two seem to find some very unique treasures. 😆

Im not the best welder in the world. Throw some rusty old stainless into the mix and its not good. However I tend to get things mostly sealed.

I welded in this repair tube. I trapped the flanges in there so once the one side was welded I could weld the flanges and cut off what will eventually become my test pipe. I put the new cat in for measurement.





I pulled the Exhaust so that i could get better access to the spots i need to weld.


I also needed impact access to the hangers. So while the exhaust was out I fixed my bad hanger and my about to be bad hanger. I found these Exhaust Mate 36274 universal hangers. I could have gotten away with only using 1 and doing the bolt through method top and bottom on one side. Instead i got 2 and will have some extra in case i need to use them on a different Fiero.



Cut off the bottom bracket and ground and punched the rivet on the top bracket.


Bolted the rubber to the top mount.


Did this same thing for the other side and put the exhaust back.


Im actually 1 set of flanges short. I should get those in on Wednesday. Then i can weld up the test pipe and cat. I like to do these at the same time. In the meantime I could bolt the AC back on and the starter (for those of you playing along at home with the to do list. The starter was not on my to do list above because i forgot)
I think the current To-Do list before I can put the cradle back is:

• 
  
• Install Starter
  
• Swap Starter wire for cleaner one
  
• Install AC and make sure main harness is routed properly around it.
  
• Weld Flanges on CAT
  
• Weld Flanges on Test Pipe
  
• Install Test Pipe (Once i get the car running for the first time i will want to run all sorts of cleaners through it. These would not be good for the cat.)
  
• Fix some random smurf on engine harness
  
• Double check connectors on engine harness
  

i
After this i can toss the cradle in.

The drivers rear rubber brake line is cracked looks bad so I ordered replacements for all of the rubber lines. I will replace this as part of the tossing the cradle back in as well as the clutch slave. Once its in and running ill run some sea foam through the intake then ill run some flush through the oil and change the oil. The oil has been sitting in the engine since October 2015. It was recently changed before it was "parked" the oil is still clean looking. If not for this i would probably change the oil run sea foam then run flush and change it again.

Knocked out almost everything on my todo list today.



The next step is to get it back in the car. I will be super stoked to hear this run in the car.

I bought a Fiero from an elementary school teacher. Under the seat was a sign taped to a paint stirrer that said "GET OFF MY @XX!". On the reverse side it said, "BIT__" You can figure it out. I'm guessing he didn't like people getting too close.

I junkyard a lot. Found a high quality hearing aid for $1, air pods for $1, a 3000 watt PA amp for $17. Tools, jewelry, IDs, topless pics, roaches (both kinds), a silver dollar, wasps, etc..
Oh yeah, found some HUMMER H2 cologne. A woman who worked at that place offered, well, nevermind.

[This message has been edited by sourmash (edited 04-09-2021).]

I never find nice/interesting stuff like that at the junkyard. I guess I also don't get there when 'new arrivals' come in, so the ones I'm going to have already been picked over a few times. I did get some CDs once! One of them was actually pretty good.

Yesterday was not a good day. I started it out with a string of bad luck. First I killed the motherboard in my laptop. I had gotten a chinese Arduino Mega clone. I hooked the jack power to 12v and plugged in USB to my laptop and pop. My glass screen protector then decided to shatter. Some other bad things happen as well. Everything i touched just turned to garbage. Seeing this as an omen i steered far far away from the Fieros.

Today I had a thing to do so I didn't get outside until just after 3pm. The engine was on the same section of slab it has been.

By 6:05pm


Primed up the fuel system. The Engine came with this nice gauge.


So i ended today on a high note


The manifolds are burning my paint some.
Im going to have to run it in short cycles to be safe.

I think i bent the clutch pedal trying to press it. The system is locked up. I needed to push it to engage the starter.

I still need to get the struts fully bolted in and the brakes sorted.

[This message has been edited by skywurz (edited 04-10-2021).]

I bought a Magnaflow Cat back in 2012 for $135...But now it shows "Currently un-Available" now......Lots of work- you must have a lot of spare time (Like me)

As far as keeping people off my back bumper....I made one of those warning signs similar to "Baby on Board".......



For some reason, most tail-gaters back off when I hold this up......

[This message has been edited by cvxjet (edited 04-11-2021).]

quote Originally posted by skywurz: I think i bent the clutch pedal trying to press it. The system is locked up. I needed to push it to engage the starter.

Might've been better to have jumpered the clutch safety switch instead... but hey, congrats on getting it started!

quote Originally posted by Patrick: Might've been better to have jumpered the clutch safety switch instead... but hey, congrats on getting it started!

Well TBH i thought it was just stuck. It bent really easily. Its now on my list of some day.

Got a new laptop so i was able to put together this video of me moving the cradle and getting it bolted up.



Im thinking my next step is to clean up the yard a bit. I have that front suspension and rear cradle from the wife's 85 right there in the middle. I need to pull those down to basic parts. Then i can measure and see if i have enough room to do a Fiero shell game to get the "other GT" and the "original GT to swap places.
If i do have the room ill have to weigh if its worth the effort. If i can swap them i can get the other gt out on the road and registered. However im nowhere near done with it. I have a wishlist going.

End Goal Wish-List (in no particular order)
Relocate battery to front.
Swap AC components (i have the compressor and engine bay harness done. I need to swap the front climate control stuff, install AC lines and Condenser. Probably should be done when i am swapping the dash.)
Swap Dash
Swap power door locks
Swap power Mirrors
Really clean the interior up
New windshield
Poly suspension
Front brakes and rubber lines
Check/replace ball joints
Replace shocks/struts

This doesn't include the running flushes or changing oil i want to do.

However a lot of this requires parts out of the original GT if i don't just buckle down and work on this list ill have to store parts and hope they don't get ruined or parts lost or forget how it goes. I don't need it on the road immediately, what i do need is the original GT done with so i can have that spot back. After all this is 2GTs 1 spot. That original GT is in the spot of another vehicle that has caused my Fiero to get kicked elsewhere.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ First world problems.

So i finally got out and bled the clutch and rear brakes. I then put the wheels on and put it on the ground. I was able to start it and drive it forward about 4 ft under its own power.



I feel like mechanically i could drive it and it would be fairly sound. Right now its blocked in by the original GT so i must take care of that.

[This message has been edited by skywurz (edited 05-01-2021).]

I swapped wheels today. It was part of shuffling the yard. I really want the black basket wheels on the GT. I removed the wheels that came with it and put them on the wife's 85 SE.





The tires on the wifes SE were in poor shape. They stopped holding air so i wanted a good /better set of tires on it

With her car moved i was able to get my GT out and take it for a quick spin.
Unfortunately i forgot to hookup the dog bone. So the engine had a lot of movement.
Also forgot to tie down the battery it shifted in flight but lucky no damage.
I had not bolted the seat down.
Speedo is not working and temp guage has spun around.

This is the first time driving a GT except off the trailer so i was stoked!

[This message has been edited by skywurz (edited 06-12-2021).]

I knew the guy who owned the white no AC GT at one point. I actually gave him the American Racing wheels that were on it. Nice to see it up and running again.

quote Originally posted by liv4God: I knew the guy who owned the white no AC GT at one point. I actually gave him the American Racing wheels that were on it. Nice to see it up and running again.

Yeah I think his username on here was Crasian. Good guy I hope he is doing ok. I need to get him his license plate frame back. I'll be putting the American Racing wheels back on it soon to sell the car. My wife much rather have the staggered 88 wheels on her car. Ill have to check and see if there is any pulling on the front was told one of the fronts had a bad belt.

------------------
See my Fiero Proluge on my personal site: http://skywurz.com/node/114
See my GT Build https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/144556.html
See my Wife's 85SE Build https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/144704.html

Staying busy. Nice work.

So since its still my car and im still building it I guess ill keep posting build updates here.
I replaced the fan switch and added a thermostat and now the cooling system is working as expected. ]
Ive pulled the dash so I can get the windshield out easier.

I removed the windshield so I could replace it with a good spare I had on the shelf. Im pretty sure its been replaced before because the trim was more glued into the slot than the factory ones I have dealt with. The windshield reveal molding was totally trashed and i think my spare I used on the wifes car so Im delayed while i order some.


In the meantime I will get the opening nice and clean and work on cleaning up the inside and putting the inside back together as I do not need it apart to Install the new windshield.

Its been hot as heck the last week so my progress has not been good.

Got the windshield in and the front back together.




The interior is more or less back together minus seats. I can't put the cigarette lighter back together until after smog as they will have to check the timing.

After the windshield drys i can do the wheel swap and toss on the cat.

Alright im photobombing the hack out of this.

I got under the car and put in the cat and snapped a under car shot.

I got the interior back together so wanted to show it off a little

[This message has been edited by skywurz (edited 06-26-2022).]