...take 3!

Yep. The itch came back. Finally. Only took what? 3 years? More? Too long.

There I was, minding my own business, when it came on me rather suddenly. Ok, ok, ok...I wasn't particularly minding my own business. I have spent the past few months working on another vehicle/project, spending too many hours to count on it, and enjoying it in spite of the snail's pace. But the recent cold snap put a damper on the initial test phase, and, unable to really perform the next step, I found myself not wanting to continue until I could.

A few days in and I was starting to drive myself nuts, then I was looking for another project to bring home and work on. I managed to stop myself bringing home yet another dead vehicle. I have plenty of those laying about already. I have plenty of those laying about already...maybe I should do something about them. Get them ready to sell off? One thought lead to another and I found my attention drawn to my Fiero. Hmm. All that work it needs isn't any worse than what I've spent the last months doing...It seemed feasible, unlike every other time I've thought about it. Aha!

The seed took root...and the itch came back with it.

Now for a bit of history...

This was her, soon after buying her years ago for $800 off some kid who had been trying to drive it in to the ground:



'86 GT with the usual 2.8L and...and...an automatic transmission! Oh well. I did say I only paid $800 for it, didn't I?

I drove her for maybe a year before losing one of the pairs of megaphone exhaust tips to rust in the middle of the road while driving, soon followed by a dragging rear brake made me park her for "a while", until I got around to tending to the issues.

There she sat for months, until I opted to start installing the poly suspension bushings I had. I got one front wheel done. It was a pain in the ass, through and through, so did nothing to encourage me to get on with fixing her. In fact, it did the opposite, and she sat and sat and sat. The battery went belly up. I wasn't about to spend money for a new one, when it still wouldn't be drivable even if I did. Until I finished the poly bushings, there wasn't any point. And I had no interest in continuing that particular job. So there she sat.

A year or less ago, I had to make space, so it was time to get rid of my "parts" car Fiero. The one that I had started a 3400 engine swap in. I wasn't about to throw away all that work, or the manual transmission and related parts, so I dropped the 2.8/auto out of the GT and swapped in the cradle/3400/4-speed; the 2.8/auto went in to the parts car, and the parts car took a trip to the wreckers. Bye bye, my original Fiero that I never got to drive.

And there she sat, again. Shelved. Again.

Until today. (cue the dramatic music)

[This message has been edited by Stubby79 (edited 01-08-2017).]

quote Originally posted by Stubby79: ...so I dropped the 2.8/auto out of the GT and swapped in the cradle/3400/4-speed

Excellent. Glad to hear you'll now actually be driving the car!

To do:

1. Un-do the worst of the effects of sitting for a few years.
2. Plumb the engine.
3. Wire up the engine.
4. Start the engine.
5. Muffle the engine.
6. Install man-pedal & shifter.
7. Fix brakes.
8. Test drive.
9. Finish installing Poly.
10. Start driving it.
11. Continue to improve it there after(?).

(Subject to change without notice or giving a dang)

[This message has been edited by Stubby79 (edited 01-08-2017).]

quote Originally posted by Stubby79: 6. Install man-pedal & shifter.

Heh heh... I like that.

Started in on it this morning. No point starting a thread before I got going, right?

First thing...un-doing the effects of sitting for far too long.

She's been sitting for a few years in covered parking, but not covered...



It left her a bit dusty.

Under the deck lid, even!



Nothing a hose can't fix. (And some more air in the tires)



No, I didn't wash the engine. Safer that way.

Then to get out the old gas. Was going to drop the tank, but opted to do that only if the fuel pump was toast. It worked! (She'll get a new fuel filter soon, don't worry). Yay, something in my favor.



Oy. Over half a tank! Almost ran out of containers...

With the heat shield off, it seemed a good time to start pulling out the unused AC lines.





Pipes are still on, but on the outside of the heat shield now. Will finish that up next. Left it like this:



Notice something? No rust!! Had to really look around to find some:



Yup, there's some...on the battery tray. That's about it for rust on the chassis! As someone else said recently about something else, "it's got good bones". Glad I'm not pissing away effort on something that's going to fall apart in a few years.

Humble beginnings -- that's about all I got done this morning. I'm content with it; it didn't leave me worn out and disgruntled. I'll just keep puttering on her where and when I want to. As long as I keep taking a step forward, she'll get there eventually.

quote Originally posted by Stubby79: Then to get out the old gas. Was going to drop the tank, but opted to do that only if the fuel pump was toast. It worked! Oy. Over half a tank! Almost ran out of containers...

Ya know... I've seen these large red plastic things (I hear they used to be made of metal) that I suspect would be perfect for holding gas.

quote Originally posted by Patrick: Ya know... I've seen these large red plastic things (I hear they used to be made of metal) that I suspect would be perfect for holding gas.

You rich people and your tools! /jealous.

Starting a parts list...

[This message has been edited by Stubby79 (edited 01-09-2017).]

Crawled under her this morning to measure for fuel hoses and test some of my rad hoses to see if any fit.

One of what I believe is the engine donor's rad hoses fit almost perfectly on the water pump side, though it's actually the return hose:



The other side wasn't as easy, but there's potential if I combine two hoses:



I forgot to see if the return hose I put on the other side - which would normally be on this side - would reach. That sounds too easy though. I'll have to try it.

Haven't yet found the old engine wiring harness...



Not a lot of wires I need to run to the C500 connector anyway, thankfully. I've got one more place to check...if it's not there, it probably went bye bye with the parts car fiero.

I do have the donor car's harness, thankfully:



Looks like some kind of demented snake puzzle to me. Will turn it in to spaghetti in a day or two.

Welp, I'll go out and buy the fuel hose & a new filter in a bit and call it a day.

Spent more time clearing off my bench to make space for the wiring harness than I did actually working on it. Been figuring out which connector belongs to what.

Isn't it nice of GM to put a tiny vacuum hose in the wiring loom? I think they put it there just to confuse me!

That's dedication, so intent on working on your car that you don't waste time going inside to a bathroom

quote Originally posted by DotTC: That's dedication, so intent on working on your car that you don't waste time going inside to a bathroom

Smelled about right! (if you drank a bunch of turpentine anyway)