I went to the Fiero show and shine here in Minneapolis. It was the first drive of any length. The car would cut out once in a while which was scary. We did get there and back. I found I had pinched off the vent line to the tank and had a lot of vacuum in the tank. Put on a vented cap as a bandaid fix and thought I had solved the problem. Went to Home Depot to pick up some supplies. I had insurance on the Fiero so I thought why not enjoy the ride. I got my stuff and left the store. I admired my car as I walked up to it. It's a good looker from 20 feet! Got in, hit the start and it fired right up..............and then quite. It would only turn over. I could tell the injectors weren't squirting. The hand held (FAST) said the engine wasn't talking to the cpu anymore. What to do, what to do. I finally remember my wife (bless her heart) made me sign up for triple A. An hour and a half later a nice young man with a flat bed hauler showed up. He was a Fiero fan and knew just how to hook my car up without hurting it. He said he had hauled several Fiero's in the past but this was the first one that wasn't rusty underneath. He drove us home and set the Fiero down just perfect in the garage. He asked if he could look it over. He really liked the car and drooled at the non-running 427. So I called FAST and told them what the self diagnostics said. The fellow said "oh my, it shouldn't be saying that. You'll have to send the computer in for us to repair or replace". I missed Frazee and the Fiero Store calendar. Not a bad days work!
Hey Woody, my first "FAST" unit had to be replaced when FAST found it had a cracked circuit board. Luckily for me it was just out of warranty, but the gave me a new unit at no charge. Not taking any chances we rubber isolated (donuts between body - FAST base @ mounting screws), just as a precaution. It's a little scarey that you'd be on the hook for total cost for a short life after warranty expires. I still have concerns about what the actual failure mode was on mine, bad material, issues with the way the board is mounted inside the FAST case, thermal, etc.
What exactly is the "Hand held FAST" you mentioned when checking the FAST unit ???
The 427 is in the car. At best a nice decoration at the moment. The hand held I mentioned is the computer screen you get with the 2.0. It is linked to the computer and lets you program and monitor the system. It has diagnostic functions but mine went dead except for telling me the cpu had no idea what the engine was doing. I had trouble with the carb I had on it but it always got me home.
The FAST is a fuel injection unit that replaces the carb. It can support up to 1200 hp. I definitely don't have to worry about getting anywhere near using all that capacity. The Throttle body looks a lot like a Holly carb but has 8 injectors putting in fuel below the throttle blades. It can control the ignition and is self learning for the fuel requirements. Even on my 427 the injectors don't all flow fuel at idle. The staggered fuel flow is what makes the system work on smaller motors. The car ran very strong until it didn't run at all! LOL
Ok thanks. Your car must be scary fast when that motors working right. I used to manage a bank and I financed a Cobra replica for a customer. When he let me drive it I didn't need to use any more than a quarter throttle to get all the speed I wanted.
I guess I am not up to date but what the heck is a FAST?
quote
Originally posted by woodyhere:
The FAST is a fuel injection unit that replaces the carb. It can support up to 1200 hp.
I put a FAST EZ-EFI (2-injector version for 4.0L Jeep engine) on my Indy's SD4 last June 2013. Then wasted the whole summer trying to figure out why it was flooding my engine. The conclusion was I had a case of "there's nothing wrong - but it just won't work right".
Hopefully it's just a simple part-replacement before you're back on the road. Any word on how long until you get the new EFI unit?
As for the "cleanest Fiero towed" - Mine wasn't always clean, but it was never rusty either (but it did spend a bit of excess time on flatbeds over the years)! FWIW - I was actually impressed with this driver's wheel dolly system (shot last summer on the way back from the big show in Indy ...about 450 miles from home).
You have to remember the tow truck driver was the one that said that. If you give him the opportunity to tow yours he might say yours is the cleanest. LOL It sounded like he had towed some rough Fieros. Remember I was the one saying I was admiring my car and proud of how good it looked - from 20 feet. Some day I might get it looking good from 10 feet. There is always something to shoot for.
You have to remember the tow truck driver was the one that said that. If you give him the opportunity to tow yours he might say yours is the cleanest. LOL It sounded like he had towed some rough Fieros. Remember I was the one saying I was admiring my car and proud of how good it looked - from 20 feet. Some day I might get it looking good from 10 feet. There is always something to shoot for.
LOL - I've seen your car. Up close. And it looks great. Especially with my head stuck in the engine compartment!
Sorry to hear you had to have the car towed home! ...
FWIW - I was actually impressed with this driver's wheel dolly system (shot last summer on the way back from the big show in Indy ...about 450 miles from home).
Crap I didn't know that you needed a 450 mile tow! Even though as recent as 2012 I've taken my stock 2.8 on a 1,000 mile trip I am getting less and less to where I want to do that.
Yeah... at the time of the photo, I had the car towed less than 10 miles to a shop in the next small town north (El Paso, IL), where they agreed to let me leave the car at no cost for awhile. Then on July 4th I enlisted the help of Marty (Yelllow88T) and Mark (Firefox): Mark left from Milwaukee in the morning to pick the car up in El Paso - at the same time Marty & I left from southeast Minnesota. Mark picked the GreenGT up from the shop, and headed back north to meet us in Madison, WI - where we moved the car from one trailer to another, before Mark headed back to Milwaukee and Marty & I back to Minnesota. Not exactly how one wanted to spend the 4th of July, but I WAS home in time to see fireworks with my family!
