Hey y'all! I've lurked here for probably 7 years but just made the plunge and bought my first Fiero - naming him Felix. He's a 1985 GT with 138k, full service records. White, with an almost entirely reupholstered interior done a few year back by a local amish company. I paid 2k.
The previous owner was the original purchaser, and has loved the car his whole life. I promised I'd do the same - it was part of the sale. There's some areas (outside and in) that need some love, and I wanted to start documenting the process of bringing him up to snuff. Pictures of the good stuff in this post, but the problem areas will come shortly. He's in really nice shape all things considered, and will be my daily driver as I work on him. That said, things I know he needs:
1) AC Compressor (soonish) 2) Alternator (probably soon - voltages and loads are off) 3) Driver door lock cylinder (and honestly a rebuild of the entire locking system they're jammed up good) 4) Radio (shuts off when cruise button pressed, loses stations when revved over 4k, volume buttons stuck) 5) Driver side headlight motor assembly (apparently replaced last year, but nothing working now - motor doesn't spin, possibly the fusible linkage?) 6) Hazards diagnosis (turn signals work great, but hazards don't flash, just light up) 7) Factory sunroof love (new seals 2 years ago, but not a tight fit. Leaks under hose for washing, load as heck on the highway). 8) A real nice clean of the engine bay - theres some oil and junk, but nothing symptomatic, need to figure out if anythings up) 9) A bunch of interior trim pieces - including power window switches, and possible custom fabricated wood trim to match the new interior 10) New side sails - the old ones look pretty patched, and were taped at some point and repainted 11) New steering wheel (or a rewrap) 12) Got to get the LeBra off and fix the serious yellowing - one of these has been on since the day the guy bought it.
I'm so excited to get underway with this project, and look forwards to everyones input and love!! This is 100% a dream car for me, and hopefully I can get him into ship shape quickly!
[This message has been edited by cle_fiero (edited 04-20-2019).]
HEY !!! Congrats on such a nice find, and finally taking the plunge and joining us and the fun world of owning a Pontiac Fiero ! That's a good lookin 'car you have there, a real nice platform to start with. I love that interior. So, just like Felix the cat would say and do....."whenever you get in a fix, reach into your bag of tricks".
Best of luck with your Fiero. I'm sure you're gonna get a lot of compliments.
From the pictures that looks to be a very clean Fiero. The interior is great looking! I wouldn't touch that at all. The only thing I would change right away personally would be the rims. Welcome to the forum and the Fiero madness!
Yes, nice interior. Be thankful for that! You got a head start over other Fiero owners/buyers who have to replace a worn out Fiero interior. Personally, the first thing I would do is forgot the cosmetic stuff and get it running reliably first. Alternator? Why not switch to the later CS series since you already have an alternator issue? Just ask for an 88 Fiero V6 alternator for your 85 GT. A small Help/Motormite connector pigtail is the only other item you need for the swap. That and I would swap over your headlight system for the 87-88 headlight system and wiring harness. Trust me, you will thank me later. Kit
Thanks y'all! Yeah, the interior leatherwork is truly great - @spadesluck, just curious why you'd change out the rims? I've always liked the originals, unless theres something i dont know?
And @kitskaboodle, yeah im super thankful for the interior, but im definitely putting off cosmetics until later - the repair list is in "order of priority" ish, so i wanna hit the reliability stuff first. I was already planning a headlight system swap, but what do you mean by the wiring harness? Good call on the 86 alternator though, I'd forgotten about that upgrade.
Nice interior!!! They did a great job on the seats!
Check the fuses first before going crazy with troubleshooting... Pro tip, BAT fuse controls a lot of things, when it blows, crazy stuff tends to happen. Hopefully the hazards is just a flasher needing replacing!!
The Gen 2 headlights are completely different than gen 1. You will need a completely different harness and headlight module for the upgrade. Keep an eye out for anyone parting out an 87 or 88 to do the upgrade... ------------------ "Discord" Red 1988 GT under restoration!
Let's Go Mets!
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
[This message has been edited by Shho13 (edited 04-22-2019).]
In addition you need to snag the bolts from the donor car headlight motors as one of the three bolts is longer than the other two. Speaking of upgrades, adding the aux guage pkg and wiring connector from an 86/88 GT would be a nice and easy interior upgrade for your 85. Kit
[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 04-22-2019).]
Check the fuses first before going crazy with troubleshooting... Pro tip, BAT fuse controls a lot of things, when it blows, crazy stuff tends to happen. Hopefully the hazards is just a flasher needing replacing!!
The Gen 2 headlights are completely different than gen 1. You will need a completely different harness and headlight module for the upgrade. Keep an eye out for anyone parting out an 87 or 88 to do the upgrade...
Thanks for the heads up - I'm going through the fusebox tomorrow morning for some spelunking. And good to know on the harness!
quote
Originally posted by Marko:
Don't think I have ever seen an 85 GT with a luggage rack and no rear wing/spoiler.
Kind of odd?
Nice car to start with, and good to see you are now officially a Fiero-holic.
I've been thinking the same thing! I actually prefer the little spoiler and luggage rack (especially on the notchbacks) so it worked out well, but it was a weird spec-out in the first place.
Side note: I've officially got a goal for my first long trip in this car: I'll be driving to Montreal from Cleveland for a conference around May 10th, so everything needs to be mechanically sound-ish before then. Any advice on getting him ready for a long trip (other than carrying some bonus oil and checking fluids at fillups?)
With a used car that's new to you, there's no telling what might go wrong. But first thing that comes to mind is to be really sure the cooling system works well. Heat it up and look for leaks, and generally get enough driving time before your trip that you can have some confidence in it. Also check the condition of all your electrical connectors. Especially check the ones on the side of the distributor, because if those are broken, they will not reliably stay connected and they are critical for the engine to stay running. Since that part of the car is on my mind: Some cars have trouble with failing ignition control modules (which is the part on the distributor that those connectors plug in to). But some don't. Some people like to carry a spare and the tools to replace it, but in your case, you don't know if you have that problem yet. I guess I'd remove it and see if it's a GM part. If it is, there's probably no history of trouble there. If it's a 3rd party/knockoff, then there's at least some cause to be worried about it and maybe get a spare. But this is not strong evidence because in 34 years it would be surprising if it wasn't replaced at some point. When reinstalling the module, clean the mating surface and apply some thermal compound (the same stuff people use for CPU heatsinks on PCs). This helps it transfer heat.
Does the 85GT have 2 cooling tubes coming from the trunk area to the engine bay? If it does, check if they blow air when the radiator fan is on (you can force it on with the AC switch).
If pulling and replacing the spark plugs doesn't intimidate you (IMO it shouldn't, but some hate doing this), check compression just in case there's any sign of trouble there.
Fusible links can fail, including one in a wire that feeds power to the ignition coil. That's probably more likely on a long drive when everything keeps getting hotter. But I don't know how you can predict such a thing before it happens. If this car has been consistently driven, and not just on short trips, then you should have less to worry about. But it might have been stored during the winter and not seen much action this season yet.
[This message has been edited by armos (edited 04-23-2019).]
I've put about 2k on him so far, and started doing basic service to get things up to snuff. I've cycled the coolant system, haven't found any leaks. Did a coolant flush and replace (bunch of crud in the overflow tank, but otherwise pretty clean coolant).
Both cooling tubes blow air, and the ICM is GM, but looks to have been replaced recently. I got the service records, and now know the engine is a rebuilt from 2005. Its probably from that service.
One concern: did an oil change yesterday with a swap to synthetic - old oil was pitch black, but no metallic flakes. Also cleaned the engine bay out so I could see if there's any leaks. Starting this morning I've got a bit of a stutter under acceleration - possibly I've knocked a sensor or vaccum hose loose - will be investigating today. Any advice?
I'm going to be pulling and replacing plugs tonight as well, so ill take the chance to check all those wires too.
Yay! I just bought my '85 GT (the Scarlet Hobo) a couple weeks ago and after making a few minor fixes, it's finally roadworthy. Second Fiero, first 4-speed. It's great to be back on Pennock's. Congrats.
Just an update re: the road trip. The fiero and I made it to Montreal, with only minor issues. During the week prior to the trip, I went through and replaced most of the aging ignition system (most was original and in rough shape). I did the ICM, ignition coil, distributor cap/rotor, plug wires, and plugs (all but one because I couldn't get out #2). I didn't get around to the ignition pickup (don't have a timing light and wouldn't take the risk of messing it up).
I also did the fuel filter (was rusted out) and air filter (also rusted out), and the O2 sensor (broken connector).
My gas mileage improved a ton (9mpg to about 28mpg) thanks to the work, and nothing broke on the road! I did get a code 32 about an hour in that has stuck around, so I'll be doing some EGR debugging starting once I'm back in the States.
On another note, my factory radio was pretty much shot (buttons for volume and tune were dead, and so was the tape deck) so I did some wiring direct into the amp so I could have an AUX input for the trip, and ordered a less trashed one off eBay to work on next week. I'm considering building a custom Bluetooth module, radio, and amp into an OEM housing / knobset so that it looks original but works better - that might become a build log post.
