Well I tested the fuel pressure and its 0psi. I followed a tutorial on the fiero store and some things I read here and I tried jumping the connector in the console as well as jumping the plug without a relay and it buzzes but there is no pressure. So I'm guessing I have a bad pump or a hose off in the tank or something. I can't check the regulator at this point because I get no pressure so I'm going to hope that it is ok but I may have to replace it later. I also found a pump from a Camaro in my garage that I've been holding onto for no good reason and I am pretty sure it'll work on the Fiero so I may just get away with a much cheaper fix this time :-)

I got a new oil switch sender in the mail, it just needs a new plug and I'll have to get one of those from the junkyard as soon as I can make time to go there.
I also got some gas struts to use on the rear deck lid but I have yet to mount them. I really want to stop using a 2x4.

Jessica

Well last week I measure the fuel pressure and it was a whopping 0psi. So I proceeded to take the tank out to verify what all was going on down below the car and if the pump was in fact bad.

Once I had it out I checked to see if there was anything wrong with the pump or sender in the tank. Everything looked fine so I went ahead and hooked my gauge back up and tried it again. This time I got 60psi with the supply line dead ending at the gauge. I let it sit and it held that pressure for at least at least five hours. I ended up taking the gauge off and releasing the pressure. I think its all OK. My working theory is that the baffles pump was sucking air because of the incline the car is on and there isn't a ton of gas in the tank. So I'm going to put it back in the car and add more fuel. I also had to add a plug for the tank wiring because there wasn't one. Not sure if thats how these cars were stock but it seemed odd to not have a plug to get the wires off the tank.

The next order of business was the deck lid, I was getting really tired of the 2x4 prop rod. I picked up a couple little gas struts off of a car at the junkyard and decided to try and make something. I have one side finished and it holds the deck lid up but I'm going to get the other side on for added security.





Sometime this week I want to get the tank back in and try to get the car started, but I feel like I made a lot of progress this weekend (I did a ton of stuff on my S10 too; sadly nothing got done on the El Camino)

Jessica

[This message has been edited by 78_elky (edited 05-01-2017).]

Looking good. I'm getting worn out just reading through your work.

Yes, make sure that the decklid is held up securely. Not that great when it falls on your head--say when a torsion spring breaks. Tip: Put your head toward the rear window where the impact is less, rather than try to pull away from it.

quote Originally posted by tshark: Looking good. I'm getting worn out just reading through your work. Yes, make sure that the decklid is held up securely. Not that great when it falls on your head--say when a torsion spring breaks. Tip: Put your head toward the rear window where the impact is less, rather than try to pull away from it.

Thank you! I'm even tired from all I've been doing lately. My daily broke down and that was a bit of a fiasco to get it going again and wait for parts. The summer months are always busy with people wanting to do things so if I can get a part of a day to myself to work on these cars I try to accomplish everything I can until it gets dark outside (which cuts into the time I could be going to cars and coffee or other meets). I had the decklid fall on my head and it was lucky I was leaning into the bay to attach one of the struts. At least with just the one strut it slows its fall quite a bit.

I'll have to pull the brackets out and finish welding them and then paint them but at least its a proof of concept at this point. Sometimes I think not fully finishing a project but having it sort of working can be worse because you have to revisit it again.

Jessica

Well I got the tank back in last night but it was late and the battery is dead again Looks like it will be a few days till I know if it will start. Took me a little over two hours to put it all back together. I'm also going to just buy a new relay for the pump. The old one seems fine but for a few bucks I might as well be sure.

Jessica

Well after 9 hours today it runs!!!!

Let me repeat; the car that sat for over 4 years in a storage locker is running again!!!!!

I am so thrilled; I was about ready to tow it to the scrapper ;-)

I had to pull the gas tank back out because I blew two fuel pump fuses and traced my problem to the tank...I mixed up a very dirty grey wire and a black wire and once I cut and resoldered those I was back in business. I got the tank back in and it started up and idles! Its idling at 2800 or 2500 rpm but at least its running. It sounds amazing with a glasspack and a turn down, above 3000 rpm it kind of makes some funny noises and knocks but that could be the very old gas or it may need to be timed. I'm not sure why its idling so high though.

I put the car back up and we tried to bleed the brakes but I think they've got water in the lines, or at least very old (chocolate brown) fluid that needs to be fully bled out of the lines. I'll have to deal with that later. Once I had some brake pedal feel we put it in gear and it moves!!!


So the take away from all this is that the car runs, but not great, and it moves and stops but not great.

Any ideas about the fast idle? I'm going to look at the tps iac and check for loose missing or broken vacuum lines next.

Jessica

EGR? Can cause high idle.

Definately flush the brakes...and all other fluids.

Clean the throttle body & injectors, if you haven't. Did you replace the fuel filter? I would avoid running old fuel through it. Make sure you check the fuel hoses. They should probably be replaced to avoid leaks...and fires.

Is there a reason why your EGR tube is naked? It needs to have an insulating jacket on it. Otherwise it'll be releasing a lot of heat into the area of your ignition components. Not good.

[EDIT] Actually, upon closer inspection, it looks like all your heat shields are missing from the exhaust Y pipe. You need them on there!

A friendly tip... Your thread would be a HECK of a lot easier to read if your images were limited to no more than 1024 pixels in width (and less than 300 kb in file size).

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 05-26-2015).]

Thanks guys, I'll look at the EGR. It had some of the heat shielding when I got the car, but it was already more off then on (it was too far gone to save) and there is a crack in the pipe.
I JB welded it and kind of hoped that would fix it but it may still be leaking, or it may have another crack somewhere.
I have the heat shield for the Y pipe it is just off right now.
The exhaust was completely undone when I got the car and the heat shield was in the way of reassembling it so I took it off. I just haven't had a chance to put it back on yet.
I'm not sure if I have the exhaust shields for the manifolds but I have a pile of parts I am still trying to identify (some might not have been from the Fiero).
I'll grab some heat shield wrap for the EGR tube when I go to the store and I'll wrap it after I can inspect that it isn't the source of the leak.


Jessica

quote Originally posted by 78_elky: I'll look at the EGR. It had some of the heat shielding when I got the car, but it was already more off then on (it was too far gone to save) and there is a crack in the pipe. I JB welded it and kind of hoped that would fix it but it may still be leaking, or it may have another crack somewhere.

You might find some info in the following thread helpful...

Is there a trick to bending a Camaro EGR tube to fit the Fiero's 2.8?

quote Originally posted by Patrick: You might find some info in the following thread helpful... Is there a trick to bending a Camaro EGR tube to fit the Fiero's 2.8?

Thanks for the link. I'm going to try and get a better look at the EGR tube.
The previous owner had the distributor out and it may not be adjusted correctly; it was loose and I'm not 100% positive its on right.
I haven't had a chance to get the timing light on it yet.
Lastly I'll check the IAC if nothing else clears this up.

Jessica

Well the weekend got off to a great start, the car was running and I had the idle down to almost 2000 rpm.

I started to look at the egr and ended up pulling the tube off and I found its a mess and more corroded and broke than together. So I cut up a few block off plates, I may install a new tube in the future but for now this gets that issue out of the equation.


That made a pretty big difference to the idle, but it was still not staying under 1500 for more than a second or two. The MAT turned out to be bad as well so I got one of those, again it helped but not all the way better.

The previous owner gave me an intake gasket set when I bought the car so I decided to dig in and see what I could find.

I had some trouble with the middle intake manifold because my fuel rail and injectors were really stuck but I got that out and found not only blown out gaskets but missing O rings on the injectors.

I don't really want to pull the lower intake because of how involved it looks.

I decided to clean up all the parts because the powder coating is not attached anymore. It lifted up and has a bunch of white corrosion under it.





Also I'm changing things around a bit ;-)



I'm optimistic that if I get this all put back together with new gaskets it should idle lower; I ended up finding enough problems that I think I may have located where my issues are coming from. Also the fuel rail was leaking at the Schrader valve and the block the hard lines go into had a bad gasket.

All kinds of fun!
Jessica

[This message has been edited by 78_elky (edited 06-01-2015).]

I got the second valve cover done. I also made an order from the Fiero Store for a good deal of stuff I need but couldn't get anywhere else. I have to say it was a great experience to deal with them



I'm going to try and finish stripping the paint off the upper intake and clean up the middle intake. Its supposed to be nice weather again in a day or so and I think that means I'll be able to get some more painting done.

Jessica

Is the plan to put clearcoat on to protect the bare parts of the valve covers?

quote Originally posted by Patrick: Is the plan to put clearcoat on to protect the bare parts of the valve covers?

Thats the plan. Unfortunately all the factory red powder coat was beyond saving.
I also was trying to avoid getting too far into the engine but the vacuum leaks were pretty bad.
I'd like to do a 3.8L supercharged swap someday if I really fall in love with the car but for right now a good running 2.8L should do just fine.

Jess

Glad you're making progress--even though green is not my color of choice. For looks, you may want to smooth out those sanding marks in the valve covers. Perhaps use a random orbital sander. That paint is all high-temp paint, right?

At least you're not getting in over your head. I laughed when you said that the lower intake was too involved. I was beginning to think all this was just no big deal for you, but apparently not.

quote Originally posted by tshark: Glad you're making progress--even though green is not my color of choice. For looks, you may want to smooth out those sanding marks in the valve covers. Perhaps use a random orbital sander. That paint is all high-temp paint, right? At least you're not getting in over your head. I laughed when you said that the lower intake was too involved. I was beginning to think all this was just no big deal for you, but apparently not.

Yeah I like green a lot; the body of the Fiero will hopefully be green with black trim when I'm done. The sanding marks aren't sanding marks they are deep grooves left from the corrosion on the valve covers. The car is from Alaska and it has a lot of rust/corrosion. I sanded both valve covers with 100 grit paper and then up to 800 and it cleaned up the one cover pretty good but the one near the firewall is a mess. No one will see it so I quit after a few hours of sanding.

As for the lower intake I could do it; but I'm doing this in my driveway and I just burped and filled the cooling system. Its not a matter of making the project bigger (or more complex) as much as I'm getting lazy and just want the car on the road. I'm also cheap and the more I take apart the more things I find wrong or the higher the likelihood of breaking something that I'd have to buy to get the car back together. Like I said earlier I'm doing a frame off on an El Camino at the same time and this little gremlin of a car is taking a lot more time and money than I had wanted to spend on it right now

Besides all I'm trying to do is fix vacuum leaks so the idle will drop down to where it should be

Jessica

I've not had a ton of time to devote to the Fiero lately; but there has been some progress. I finished painting all the parts I took off the engine and the air filter housing and lid plus I got most of the engine back together. I'm trying to figure out what to do about the vacuum lines that run under the intake, mine are in sorry shape and the rubber ends are completely past their prime. I think thats where most of my vacuum leaks were coming from. That and the injector O rings that were cracked and split.



If I can find some local source for the 90* rubber pieces for the vacuum lines I might have it back together this week :-)

Jessica

Wow! That looks nice.

If you find those rubber elbows & ends, let me know. Mine are fine, but won't always be. When I take the engine out, I want to replace as much plastic & rubber as possible.

NAPA and O'reilly sell the rubber line ends. There is several packages the chose from. They are in the MotorMite and/or the Helps section

Thanks for the kind words, I got a picture with the intake on but it was only resting there so I could see how it looked and I'm holding off posting that till I get all the parts installed and get it running again.

Well I had some good luck at O'Reilly's today and found they sell the plastic hard lines, and some fittings. I'm not trying to go back 100% stock because that would be too much hassle to find every single thing and expense but I think what I've come up with will work. I'm also going to reroute the brake booster hose and get rid of the hard line. Mine is rusted pretty bad and pitted so I'm going to just run rubber line to the nipple on the firewall and see how that goes for now until I can find a new metal hose that isn't full of holes. As for the rubber ends, a lot of them were sold as singles and as universal (so might not even work right) so I got plastic 90* bends and I'll just use some rubber hose on either end to make the connection. I wasn't going to pay over $5 a bend for this stuff

Jessica

Getting started on the vacuum lines last night, I took inventory of all the parts I bought and found there are some things that I'll just end up returning and I think I'm going to find some aluminum tube to replace the plastic lines.

Its a big mess with the parts store (hard lines) they are still too flexible and it'll look like spaghetti if I change them around. I also think I've got 90% of the 90* elbows replaced so that is good and the few I couldn't find replacements for are in good enough shape I suppose.



Jessica

Picked up some hard lines from the local hobby shop. Its aluminium and I got three 36" sticks of 5/32" (I think I needed to by 4 if I was going to do the EGR line) and one 36" stick of 1/4"

Getting closer, I put Fast 7 on the TV and got to work.

And here it is 90% there (I need a longer PCV hose)


Unfortunately (like usually happens lately) I have not had time to install the intake.

Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow after work
Jessica

Jessica welcome to the insanity. Fieros are great project cars and fun to drive. It is inspiring to many of us guys to see a girl who is proficient in car repair. Just last year I was able to show my wife how to pop the hood- no joke she didn't know how.
Keep the questions coming for this is a friendly forum where we all help one another. Fieros are great little cars and the addiction is easy to get. Once you get it , you will not be able to leave the car alone as there are tons of improvements that can be easily made.

------------------
" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, custom ZZP /Frozen Boost Intercooler setup, 3.4" Pulley, Northstar TB, LS1 MAF, 3" Flotech Afterburner Exhaust, Autolite 104's, MSD wires, Custom CAI, 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

quote Originally posted by Dennis LaGrua: Jessica welcome to the insanity. Fieros are great project cars and fun to drive. It is inspiring to many of us guys to see a girl who is proficient in car repair. Just last year I was able to show my wife how to pop the hood- no joke she didn't know how. Keep the questions coming for this is a friendly forum where we all help one another. Fieros are great little cars and the addiction is easy to get. Once you get it , you will not be able to leave the car alone as there are tons of improvements that can be easily made.

Thanks, I've been playing with cars with my Dad since I was little and never lost interest. I'm a little annoyed with the Fiero right now but nothing a couple days ignoring it won't fix. I'm also waiting for a fuel pressure regulator to get delivered. I'm pretty sure I've got the problem narrowed down to injectors or the regulator. The regulator was cheaper and if I find out it is fine I'll return the new one (or still replace it because I'm finding on this car its especially good to replace the very old rubber pieces). I hope to have an update this week on whats going on. I really hope there is some driving in the near future!

Jessica

I am going to pull the upper intake and check out the injectors, vacuum lines, and the fuel pressure regulator but I'm still waiting for the FPR to get to the auto parts store so I've been keeping busy.
I got some fiberglass header wrap and stainless zip ties so I tried to install that. I've never done it before and I think I would really like to never do it on a set while they are in the car again.
I have not done the front one yet; it'll get done when I jack the car up to replace the power brake vacuum line.

I also cleaned and painted the only heat shield I have for the car, I'm not sure what the previous owner was thinking but this engine gets really hot in the back and it would have been nice if he hadn't lost so many parts.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for a set; maybe ones off of another similar car would work?
Its looking like we're in for some hot weather so it might be a while before I know whats wrong with the car or can get it going again.

Jessica

[This message has been edited by 78_elky (edited 06-23-2015).]

Well I took the intake off again and pulled the fuel pressure regulator and it looks OK, old but OK. I was hoping for a smoking gun but it just looks old there isn't a tear or any perforations that I can see.
What else could cause this no start issue? I mean I had it running for a good 2 or 3 minutes and it just died like it was running out of gas and never started up again.
I'll check the resistance of the injectors and try to verify they are working but I've never really played around with injectors.
Anyways any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Jessica

Make sure you have gas in the car Fiero fuel gauges suck usually run out about a 1/4 of a tank unless it has been fixed. Check the injector fuses and the fuel pump fuse.

Thank you!!

Yeah I think there is an issue with the fuel tank. I've had the tank out 2 times now and the pump works fine, I've checked with a pressure gauge. The car is sitting with the nose down and I think maybe its not picking up the fuel? I've added about 8 gallons from gas cans to what little bit was in the tank so I think I'm pretty safe to assume its got gas in the tank now. I'll check the fuses tonight; I hope its something easy like that!!

Jessica

Are you sure it's a fuel issue that's causing your current starting problems? Do you still have spark?

quote Originally posted by 78_elky: I also cleaned and painted the only heat shield I have for the car, I'm not sure what the previous owner was thinking but this engine gets really hot in the back and it would have been nice if he hadn't lost so many parts.

IMO, it's critical you get the heat shield installed that goes between the EGR valve and the coil before you run the engine much. Otherwise you're going to cook ignition components. (The coil and/or ICM might already be toast.)

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 06-24-2015).]

I have run the car a total of 20 minutes never for more than a few minutes at a time because it will not run well. I think its been up to operating temp once. I understand that the heat shielding is important and I have in fact installed it (shown in a picture a couple posts up even) now that I'm not working in that area of the engine bay. Like I said earlier there aren't any of these cars in a wrecking yard around here so I'll get the shields that go over the manifolds when I can find them. I wanted to wrap the exhaust and cross over pipes in header wrap before I put that shield back on so that maybe more of the heat would stay in the exhaust so I was waiting for that to arrive from amazon. The engine still has spark unless that failed while it was sitting in the last week. I'll check out the ignition components when I get a chance tonight or tomorrow as well as the injectors and fuses.

Jessica

Did you get the egr delete chip yet? It will never run right unless you replace the egr tube or swap out the chip in the computer. I've been down that road!

quote Originally posted by 78_elky: I understand that the heat shielding is important and I have in fact installed it (shown in a picture a couple posts up even)...

This thread is difficult to navigate as your images are oversized, but I've seen no evidence in your pictures of the heat shield I'm referring to. The following engine is an '88, but yours is supposed to have the same shield (indicated by the arrow).

quote Originally posted by Patrick: Do you still have spark? IMO, it's critical you get the heat shield installed that goes between the EGR valve and the coil before you run the engine much. Otherwise you're going to cook ignition components. (The coil and/or ICM might already be toast.)

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 06-24-2015).]

Yes, that one is a must have! Otherwise you will have to relocate your coil to a cooler area.

Well I ended up pulling a lot of things apart and found a few issues and its all running again.
1) The fuel pressure regulator was cracked and not looking in the best of shape so I replaced that.
2) The PO had installed new plugs and wires and they were very nice and new looking but they were wrong! The plugs were the wrong model and the wires could hardly clip onto the plugs because the boots were too long. They would shake off when I'd get the car running and that was why it was dying.

I wrapped the exhaust near the firewall and cleaned up some other things.

A little before and after shot of the engine


I also got the sunroof wrapped in vinyl; I'm digging the satin black.


Jessica

I tried to drive the car the other day and its like the rear brakes are locked up. I'm not sure whats up, but I'll investigate and hopefully have it moving again soon
Jessica

Could it be the E brake is adjusted too tight?

Or, perhaps the emergency brake is still on, even though the lever is in the down position. My son did that to my 3800 SC car. Really put some heat in those rear brakes! He did learn that the e brake can only be released with the button pushed in.