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'86 GT Build: "Nameless" by Alibi
Started on: 03-14-2009 12:02 AM
Replies: 13
Last post by: Alibi on 03-31-2009 10:37 AM
Alibi
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Report this Post03-14-2009 12:02 AM Click Here to See the Profile for AlibiSend a Private Message to AlibiDirect Link to This Post
Edit: After all the trouble I've been through with this car I'm naming it "Cursezilla". I'm sure I'm not the first to do so, but damn its a good name for this car.

Hey guys. I've been trolling the forums and reading a ton of articles to prep myself to work on my first Fiero, a gold '86 GT that I'm getting from Todd of thefierofarm. The engine in it is blown but I'm getting a good block to swap in and at the same time I'm going to do a 4T60 swap.

Here are some of my other threads as I was buying parts:

general engine rebuild questions: //www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/098339.html
4T60 Swap Questions: //www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/098633.html

And some parts I've bought from folks here on the forums:

Intake: //www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum4/HTML/045927.html
Cradle bushings: //www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum4/HTML/046024.html
VSS/Governor cover: //www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum4/HTML/045955.html
Manual: //www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum4/HTML/046043.html

I've also bought various parts from online vendors and I just want to give them a shout out too:

Rodney Dickman
The Fiero Store
Rock Auto

As for the "nameless" part, I'm not big into naming my cars. It seems like most folks name their cars when they do their builds and its easier to keep track of a thread with a unique name. So... for now the '86 will just be referred to Nameless.

As for the build, I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. I have a little 5 MP camera I got off Craigslist a while back for $25 that I use for my various car-related write-ups on my other forums. I have some pictures of my parts pile to share

All my parts sprawled across the floor:



Stuffed into an easy-to-carry box:



And everything else stacked together. Thats at least a grand worth of parts Nedless to say, I haven't added up all the reciepts yet and I still need to buy tires, a battery, coolant, and oil....



And one last picture... this is a size comparison of the CS130 stock pulley and the underdrive pulley from RD's kit:



More pictures as I take them....

[This message has been edited by Alibi (edited 08-05-2009).]

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BabyVet
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Report this Post03-14-2009 12:25 AM Click Here to See the Profile for BabyVetSend a Private Message to BabyVetDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by Alibi:
\

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\\


Ok man what the HELL is up with the FORD bag??????????????

get rid of that damn thing!!!!
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Alibi
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Report this Post03-14-2009 12:31 AM Click Here to See the Profile for AlibiSend a Private Message to AlibiDirect Link to This Post
Oh, that... that actually came from a car show that my G/F went to. She dumped a bunch of freebie stuff in it and brought it back for me

Otherwise... meh, I'm not a huge F*rd fan mainly due to their wacky engineering but I will be hauling the car home with my brother's F-150
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Alibi
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Report this Post03-15-2009 11:48 PM Click Here to See the Profile for AlibiSend a Private Message to AlibiDirect Link to This Post
Time to update this. I'm posting from Thumper's (William's) place right now and he currently has dial-up so I won't be able to upload pictures right now. Maybe tuesday...

Anyway, I drove up here from Joplin on Saturday and then we went and picked up the car from Todd Saturday night after the tow vehicle was fixed (carb issues). The car is really in wonderful shape and Todd was really cool to meet. I got to see his Indy, his shop, and his various parts piles laying around. Too bad I wasn't able to see it a few years ago though when he was in full swing but its allright. Its weird to say, but the first time I've ever sat in a Fiero/moved in one was when I was guiding the car up the ramps onto Williams trailer... I've just always knew I'd like one without having to sit in one

The car itself is in really decent shape. The seats are amazing... I'll post pictures in a couple days but if anyone needs some original tan seats for a restoration then hit me up for a trade because I've never seen seats in this good of shape on any other Fiero. I haven't found any major rust other than the battery tray so thats a plus and I"ll know for sure just what kind of shape it is when I get it up on a lift for dropping the cradle on Tuesday. Todd happened to have a set of meaty BF 14 inch tires that I bought from him too. I know the stock GT rims are 15 but I know a certain someone that really wants them and has good tires on their 14" rims. Otherwise, the car has the standard issues like sun-faded paint, issues with warping in the center console, questionable headliner condition, cracks on the dash corners, cracked marker lights, etc.

Needless to say the car passed my inspections and so we towed it back to Thumper's place and went to bed.

Today the plan was to take the car to a shop at Whiteman to work on it but the shop was closed. We hauled the car back and decided to take the extra block and my transmission to swap in and clean them up and start building them to prep them for when we do drop the cradle. The motor and trans was power washed after being soaked in degreaser and then we started work.

First was the trans. We pulled all the old Bonneville mounts off, swapped in the new governor cover (with a bit of trouble from a broken bolt), screwed in my pressure sender (we will need an elbow BTW), and started hooking up the FieroAddiction mounts (super good quality and fit!). After that, we started work on the motor. We were going to try to change out the timing set but the lower gear wouldn't budge even with some creative rigging of a puller. We'll have to rent one to get it off tomorrow. Then we started work on the top end only to find out that we're short the lower intake so we called up Todd and he's going to try to find one for us.

We had to make a few more errands so thats about all we got done today. The plan for tomorrow is to pull the heads off the old motor and pull it out of the GT from the top so we can get the oil pan and front cover off. Then we'll get a puller for the gear, swap in the new timing set, and put the oil pan and front cover together. Also, we'll be replacing the oil pump, water pump, rear main seal, and main seal on the transmission. After that, the trans is ready to be bolted to the motor.

Then William needs to pick up a truck and (hopefully) pick up the last dab of parts we need from Todd so we can finish up the top side of the motor. The plan for now is to prep the motor and have it ready to drop in as soon as the shop opens on Tuesday and we get the cradle dropped. Hopefully the car will fire up and move under its own power Tuesday or maybe Wednesday if we run into issues.

I have been taking lots of pictures so I'll try to post some while we're in Whiteman and have access to faster internet. In the mean time I present you with my observations:

-Why did GM use weird E16 bolts for the upper intake??
-Why did GM use Torx bolts to hold the TB to the upper intake... they're a pain to get out! Hex head drivers don't break nearly as easy as Torx drivers do
-Gunk makes a great working (and smelling - citrus!) degreaser
-WD - 40 works well as a cutting fluid when drilling out broken bolts (only 1 so far!!)
-I never thought I'd need to pay attention to 56K warnings again
-So far everyone Fiero-related have been awesome people!!

More info and pictures as I have time/fast internet
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Alibi
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Report this Post03-17-2009 01:17 PM Click Here to See the Profile for AlibiSend a Private Message to AlibiDirect Link to This Post
Just a quick update... the wireless is still slow but we've got the cradle dropped. We had no issues with the cradle bolts and the underside of the car is pretty much rust-free. So far the only rusty spot is the battery tray.

We might have it running today, if not then tomorrow for sure. Pictures probably won't happen till Thursday though.
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Report this Post03-18-2009 11:45 AM Click Here to See the Profile for thefierofarm.comClick Here to visit thefierofarm.com's HomePageSend a Private Message to thefierofarm.comDirect Link to This Post
Congrats on the cradle bolts! They can put up a fight.

------------------
That Todd guy
President of the Kansas City Fiero Owners Group

The Fiero Farm is not officially open but if you need parts, Email me at todd@thefierofarm.com
www.thefierofarm.com
Bates City, MO

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Alibi
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Report this Post03-20-2009 01:07 AM Click Here to See the Profile for AlibiSend a Private Message to AlibiDirect Link to This Post
Heh, Thanks Todd. We'll be putting lots of antisieze on them before they go back in. Most of the bolts have come off the car without a fight and the rust in general is very minimal other than the battery tray.

Its time for another update. Still no pictures but that *may* change tomorrow. The bolt for the balancer broke so Matt/William/Thumper (either name is interchangeable in this thread at this point ) pulled the crank out and dropped it off at a shop to be drilled out and re-tapped. I ended up going to my brother's place in KC yesterday to pick up my brother's truck.

Today we picked up the crank and put the motor back together and bolted everything back to the cradle. As of now we only lack bolting on the exhaust and some random brackets and hoses before the drivetrain is ready (including the 4T60). The wire harness will need some patching too due to a mouse that seemed to live in the car before we got it...

Between having the wrong hours, missing some parts, and then having the balancer bolt break we've had a lot of setbacks to the project but such things happen when working on cars :P

Matt is dropping off a trailer tomorrow and my g/f was getting annoyed that I wasn't home yet so I went ahead and came back to Joplin. It will give me a chance to get my paperwork together for tags anyway though. I'll head up Saturday and meet Matt and hopefully finish the car then. We've been taking pictures all along so I'll be posting them when I have a chance to upload and caption them... as of now I'm super tired and its time to get some sleep.
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Alibi
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Report this Post03-23-2009 01:21 AM Click Here to See the Profile for AlibiSend a Private Message to AlibiDirect Link to This Post
Another quick update:

Just got in. Hauling a car on a dolly is a first for me and I don't think I'll be doing it again unless its for a short distance. I'm very sore and tired so I'll be unloading the truck tomorrow.

I took a TON of pictures and there is still work to be done so I'll be updating with a few pictures at a time starting hopefully tomorrow after I head back to KC to drop off my brother's pickup. I put 800-900 miles on the poor old thing over the last few days... amazing what it takes to hunt down parts up north

Things that I have learned:

-Todd is awesome. He sold me a practically rust-free car with lots of goodies for cheap, lent me advice, and lent me a come-along.
-Matt/Will/Thumper is also awesome. He helped me get the old block and trans swapped in and we were able to use the shop at Whiteman Air Force base because hes in the reserves. The shop really made things easy. I traded some parts (GT wing, GT rims) that I was impartial to for his help.
-Fiero's haul much, much, much better when loaded rear-end first.
-Rear hubs will separate without the axle shaft end to hold the parts together
-My brother's truck steered funky because he only had 25 PSI of air in his 50 PSI max tires...
-Mice like to chew on wires.
-It is very difficult to sleep in the cab of a pickup
-Antisieze is your friend
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Report this Post03-23-2009 07:20 AM Click Here to See the Profile for BlackGT CoddeSend a Private Message to BlackGT CoddeDirect Link to This Post
two of the things you learned... as have I......
-difficult to sleep in a p/u... especially a reg cab.
-mice like to chew on wires...its like honey for them
ps: good luck with that wiring... mice also like ventilation systems and shifter boxes....
bet your wondering how i knew that

[This message has been edited by BlackGT Codde (edited 03-23-2009).]

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Alibi
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Report this Post03-23-2009 08:01 AM Click Here to See the Profile for AlibiSend a Private Message to AlibiDirect Link to This Post
The wires aren't *too* bad but if I can't get the harness together then I'll just see if someone has an extra here. I've got some other things that I'm going to post wanted ads but I'll do that later.

I just woke up and I need to unload the bed of the truck of my tools and parts and then roll the car off the dolly and turn in the dolly all before heading to Pittsburg for class. This should be an interesting day as well since I need to run up to KC again to drop off my brother's truck and pick up the Buick.

I'm going to try to upload all my pictures today and start with the build updates too.
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Report this Post03-24-2009 03:06 PM Click Here to See the Profile for twofatguysSend a Private Message to twofatguysDirect Link to This Post
I'm back around, if you need anything just let me know man.

Brad

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Alibi
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Report this Post03-31-2009 12:30 AM Click Here to See the Profile for AlibiSend a Private Message to AlibiDirect Link to This Post
Ok, lets try this again.

I can't find my camera so I'm pretty sure I lost it somewhere. Knowing me, I probably set it on top of the car or on the bumper of the truck somewhere and forgot about it before driving off. I did get a handful of pictures off but I lost a lot :'(

So, I will start with what pictures I have and just go from there. I've got another camera now that I can use to show what I've been up to since I got the car home (not much since I'm waiting on some parts to come in now) so all is not lost I suppose.

I'm hosting all my pictures on Photobucket where I can resize them down to 640 x 480 but the file sizes still seem to be too big. Any suggestions on how to get the file sizes down too?

Anyway, on to pictures.

After Matt and I picked up the car from Todd's we hauled it to his place first. Then we hauled it to start work on it over at Whiteman Air Force base. Well... it turns out that the shop was closed so we instead just power washed all the parts.

Car on the trailer:



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Fiero on Matt's friends trailer, being hauled by Matt's dad's truck, with my Buick sitting in front.

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Parts and tools loaded up:

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Matt powerwashing the block and trans (dont worry about water, we just flipped the motor over after we got it on a stand)

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They cleaned up really well! There was a bunch of crap on the motor especially but after a couple cans of degreaser and liberal application of high pressure water it was acceptably clean.

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And after we got back to Matts place we laid all the parts down on a tarp to start building up the motor and trans while we waited for the shop at WAFB to open. Those two new meaty tires came from Todd too

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Matt and Matt's dad William looking over my parts pile. We put up the canopy to give us some shade while we worked outside. We put the engine and trans on a couple of pallets to work one. That little red wagon came in REAL handy when we were moving the larger parts around

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First we worked over the transmission. We bolted on the FieroAddiction mounts (very nice BTW) and swapped the governor caps. Unfortunately, the bolts for the old digital cover stripped the threads so we had to drill and re-tap for slightly larger bolts. We also installed the pressure switch but we later found that it would not clear the CV axle so we had to buy a brass elbow for it. IIRC, its just threaded 1/4 NPT so finding bits are easy.

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Next we worked on the motor. We decided to tackle the timing chain and gear first. The old one had a good deal of slop at about 100k miles (as was the original motor at also around 100k miles) so I recommend to anyone with a V6 to change their chains in 100k mile intervals at least. Too bad the 2.8 doesn't have a spring-loaded tensioner like the 3.8's do that I'm used to.

First we tried a spring compressor to act as a puller but no dice. We ended up renting a pulley puller to get the lower gear off. After that the new one went on without a hitch and the chain is now nice and tight.

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... and thats the last of the pictures I had uploaded before the camera went awol. I *really* wish I knew where it was but such is life. I'll describe what went on at the shop in my next post. Perhaps tomorrow.

[This message has been edited by Alibi (edited 03-31-2009).]

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Report this Post03-31-2009 03:19 AM Click Here to See the Profile for Austrian ImportSend a Private Message to Austrian ImportDirect Link to This Post
in the meantime, quick question: How do I know the chain has slop in it? (do I have to remove the cover for this?) My car has 190k miles on it, but I don't know what the previous owner did to it maintenance wise. (what's the downside of slow anyways?)
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Alibi
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Report this Post03-31-2009 10:37 AM Click Here to See the Profile for AlibiSend a Private Message to AlibiDirect Link to This Post
You could probably just pull the oil pan to check it. I *think* theres enough room to get your fingers up into the front cover to wiggle the chain by hand to see if its got excessive slop. It should be pretty obvous if its never been done at 190k...
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