85 Fiero Build

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Didn't have much to do today, and since the fuel pump still hasn't arrived one of the projects that I wanted to get done when I got the car running was to clean up the interior a little bit.

The worst part of the interior hands down has been the headliner because of the leak so I took it out today.



I really am shocked at how there is almost no rust in the entire thing. With the leaks or how much rust was on the carpet and sunroof frame rails I thought it would have been pretty much rusted through so maybe I got lucky...

How it sits right now. It's only going to cost about $15 to reupholster it and it's going to look 100x better inside the car and it might remove the mildew smell with it.



My main focus is still making it run but since I heard it turn over for that split second I'm looking a lot more at the aesthetics.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Do what you c an. Beats waiting.

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Decided that since almost all of the interior was out I would go and just reupholster almost everything. It's all out, and it's cheap if I do it myself so why not? Spent about $110 on all of the materials, but I haven't finished everything yet.

Doing the headliner. Turned out to be the best piece out of the entire thing that I redid today.


I also bought some nice dark grey vinyl and I'm doing to be redoing the carpet on the bottom side of the doors along with the back firewall carpet piece.

Finally, I've never done anything with carpet before, but from what I read on the Fiero forum, many people have just bought a 12x3 bulk carpet piece and cut that to shape inside each of the car. I'll be honest and say my cuts really weren't great and there are some old splices of carpet sticking out, but it fits the purpose that it needs to right now. In the future I'd like to buy a molded carpet piece though.

As it sits right now:




Other good news: Since installing the new carpet and removing all of the backing the terrible smell got removed!

I installed the fuel pump and it actually turned on which is great, unfortunately because the car sat so long, the hard-line that goes from the tank to the fuel filter got a crack in it and is leaking gas everywhere. I think this is a Fiero special piece, so I'm probably gonna have to crank out some extra bucks and buy it.

 

[guspech750]

Looking good man.

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

With the Fiero Meet only 26 days away I really need to kick this project up a notch.



Redid the door carpet in the gray vinyl like I did the rest of the interior in. I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

I ordered the new fuel part line. Stainless steel and braided steel from the fuel filter. $100 but worth it when I don't have to worry about bending or rust again.

Finally the moment that I've been waiting 8 months for. First start!



I know it's pretty crappy quality with my cellphone but it gets the point across that it actually runs. I haven't fixed the exhaust so it's pretty loud but it's also idling between 2500 and 3000 so I have to find the problem but at least it isn't knocking or leaking so I must have done something right

As always I have my list of things I still need to do. I need new axles, need to find out why the clutch slave isn't moving, repair the broken line and do a brake job all the way around. At that point it should be okay to drive to Indianapolis.

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Got the idle down to 1200. Maybe if I mess with the timing it'll drop a little more too.

As I keep saying I don't have a lot of time so I've spent a lot of saved money in order to get this thing ready by the 27th.

Bought new axles, brake lines, rotors, pads, calipers, fluids, exhaust pieces. It should all arrive by Friday hopefully. This is everything I need except new tires to get it moving though.

 

[TonzKnock-G]

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

17 days left.

Stainless pre-bent lines. Going to be installed this week


Need to pick up my packages from the store, but this is pretty much everything for redoing the rear brakes.


Both new axles. A glass pack to replace the straight pipe I put in.



Installed both axles and the new clutch slave this week.


This week I plan on installing the new brake lines toward the rear and finish everything else. After bleeding the new system and the hydraulic clutch system it should be driving around - when I learn how to drive stick.

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

So much stuff going on. 6 Days left now until I join the Fiero caravan going down to Indianapolis so I'm cutting it close.

New proportioning valve and brake lines installed. Everything is bled and I have a nice stiff pedal!





Installed the new aluminum clutch slave and that's working great too.

Finished all of that stuff today, which only left actually trying to drive the car. Unfortunately, I have to find out what is wrong, but the transmission isn't going into reverse so it's stuck where it's at in the driveway. It seems like the transmission isn't going all of the way into reverse so it is registering as 1st gear. I'll adjust the cables soon and see how everything else goes.

 

[Sprayin]

Those prebent lines work well for you? Most of them were fine for me, but a few just wouldnt work and I had to replace them. The two that went from the master cylinder to the prop. Valve wouldnt seal, had to replace them. And the one from the prop. Valve to the driver side front didnt fit too well either. That one i just made work though.

 

[Jfrost]

For the reverse issue, try going in/out of first a few times then going into reverse. The 4 speed trans is known for having a hard reverse. Also, check the adjustment of the shift cables on the trans, you can move them around a bit to see if that helps. Also inspect the shifter assembly itself, the bushings wear out and can cause issues.

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Those prebent lines work well for you? Most of them were fine for me, but a few just wouldnt work and I had to replace them. The two that went from the master cylinder to the prop. Valve wouldnt seal, had to replace them. And the one from the prop. Valve to the driver side front didnt fit too well either. That one i just made work though.

It pretty much was the same thing for me. A couple of them really wouldn't fit right, lucky I had a few spare ones. Especially the ones from the master to the prop weren't bent right and I couldn't fix them. The rest of the lines that worked well made it worth it to buy the set though.

For the reverse issue, try going in/out of first a few times then going into reverse. The 4 speed trans is known for having a hard reverse. Also, check the adjustment of the shift cables on the trans, you can move them around a bit to see if that helps. Also inspect the shifter assembly itself, the bushings wear out and can cause issues.

I'll try all of those things out. Thanks!

 

[Gav'sPurpleZ]

i love new, fresh parts.
always nice to see new stuff

lookin good.

 

[Xfirez51]

Fix the idle?

 

[Spivitz]

Looking real good!

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Thanks guys! Hopefully gonna bring it to Lukes in 2 weeks. Fixed most of the idle. Its sitting at about 1200 idle right now. A little high but i think if i adjust the timing a little more it might fix it.

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Idle when warmed up is sitting at about 800-1000 so that's all good to go. Unfortunately, the water pump is leaking a lot of coolant, so it looks like the car isn't going to be making it to Indianapolis, which is probably for the best.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

That sucks, but it is better to get it shaken down early. I used to do stupid shit like that, luckily never got burned too bad.

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Went to the 30th Anniversary in Indy. Had a great time, and gave me a lot of needed motivation to clean my car up.

The picture is from the Indy Motor Speedway where everyone was allowed to take a couple laps around the track.


Back to my car that got left at home. I replaced the water pump and fixed all of the coolant leaks with it. Was a pretty easy job and it only took a couple hours. After driving it around a little more, I decided it was time to get the alignment done and get some new tires instead of the dry-rotted ones on it.

Brought it to a couple shops in my area because I didn't trust it going too far. Both of them that I went to said they couldn't do an alignment on it because they didn't have the equipment or the specs to set it at. Long story short, brought it back to the shop again, and it was referred to as a "death trap" numerous times so I got it towed back home and I am currently fixing the problems they specified before they would do work on it. I don't deny the car had some problems, but half of the things they were telling me were wrong with it were why I brought it there in the first place.

I tightened down the suspension again to torque specs, and I'm currently working on removing the exhaust again to fix the leaks. The one good thing about going to the shop was they determined that both of my front calipers were seized. Went out on another purchasing spree to fix a bunch of stuff, so I'm a lot farther away from being done that initially would have thought.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Meh find another shop. Sound like aholes who will look down on your project and take you to the cleaners. What is wrong exactly? Locked fronts are bad but still limpable if not doing the istate or going 200 miles. Shit I blew lines in the van a couple times

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Portions of the suspension were loose or close to falling off (had no idea on some of them), the exhaust was loose on the engine and one of the rear cradle mounts wasn't attached because I haven't been able to afford having new metal welded in yet. Ordered new fronts so we're just playing the waiting game currently. I've gotten some recommendations on a few places, just haven't looked into them too much yet.

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Was able to finish some of the stuff that needed to be fixed the past few days.


Got the shifter problem figured out. Pretty dumb that there are bolts that hold down the bracket part of the transmission. Installed those, and I'm not 100% positive, but I'm pretty sure that I fixed the reverse problem I had.


Re-installed the exhaust tightened everything down with new exhaust gaskets. Shouldn't have any problems with leaks anymore.

Installed the new rear calipers along with fixing the e-brake.




Dropped the gas tank to replace the broken strap bolts along with the new return fuel line.



All that I have left is putting the calipers and replacing the hub/rotors on the front.

 

[Sprayin]

I cant get reverse to work in mine for the life of me everytime I adjust the linkage and think I have it set, it works once then its off again. I HATE HATE HATE the shifter setup on the 4 speed.

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Didn't think it was this long since I updated this. Well for one thing, the car is currently driving around. Got the front hub/rotor assemblies fixed.




Installed new shocks all the way around. Accidentally installed the mounting plate upside down and this happened.




Installed some new poly sway bar links.



Alternator wiring accidentally got burned off on the manifold because I routed it wrong. Replaced the alternator and rewired the pigtail.


Took off my blower motor to clean out the tubing and found this. Didn't think it was this bad, but I'm going to have to fix this eventually.


Car started to overheat, or at least as the gauge read. Turns out my radiator fan wasn't kicking on. Replaced it with another sensor.


A while ago I bought the rally gauges, and I'm finally getting those installed.


Got the surround and it's mounted. Just need to finish wiring it up.


The car came with manual mirror adjustment only for the driver side. It broke through the paneling, so I bought a $9 repair kit. Looks much better!
Before:

After:


Finally, I removed the old cluster to put the newer version in that has better lighting and is a lot easier to wire to the center gauges.



About to put the car away for the winter, but I got it on the road at least. Next spring there's a bunch of body work I want to get done, along with getting the injectors rebuilt because two of them aren't working.

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Antique plates let me start driving this week so I pulled it out of the garage and cleaned it up. Washed and waxed it today.

Got the injectors rebuilt and it's running on all 6 now. Tests from the shop showed that only 3 of them were actually working so I'm surprised I had it running for as long as it did. Sounds a lot better, but the exhaust leak is a little bit more noticeable.

Just ordered a new GM battery tray because the last one rotted out. Going to install that this week.

Most of the things that I have left are just finishing the wiring for the gauges and some of the other things like the new oil pressure switch. Eventually I would like to get that trunk rust fixed this season along with maybe getting some painting done on it. I'm considering the idea of plastidip'ing the whole car until I can afford a decent paint job for it unless I find something I like a little bit better.

Had an opportunity to try the black plasti-dip on my hood and cover up some of the areas where the paint is gone. Turned out alright, but I'd do a different color than black.

Kind of sad that I'm running out of things that I wanted to do to this car, but there's not very much I can do in terms of performance with this engine so we'll see what the future holds.