Hi, I'm newish to the world of Fieros. I have been watching from afar since about 2009ish, and almost had one back then. Well things happend and extremely long story short, I am now the owner of 2 84 Se's, both red, and 4 spd. Neither are driving or running, and i have alot to do with them, and to learn from this site.
Welcome!! The Fieros look to be in pretty good shape! You're going to have fun with those. Probably some difficulty and frustration along the way, but in the end it will be worth it.
One is decent, supposedly it runs. I have not had a chance to try and turn it over. The other one is kindve locked up, the valve cover was left off for idk how long. The valve all look rusted shut, and all the pushrod are gone. Both interiors are all there but dirty. Living near the water in Michigan hasnt done them alot of good.
I'll be honest I've wanted one so bad I just jumped into them blind. I moved both of them onto and off the trailer by myself with a cable winch. I was super shocked about how easy these things are to roll around(even with locked up brakes).
I plan to do some cleaning and and evicting the spiders, and getting more photos. I figure a budget friendly engine swap and maybe change the trans from a 4spd, to a 5 spd, but that'll be after some research.
My biggest concern would be possible rust on the frames. Depending on how and where the cars were stored/driven, they can be susceptible to rust on the frame. Pull back the rear trunk carpet and look underneath in the corners. Rust there could indicate more elsewhere. Also check the frame rail behind the wheel well liner as it is a common rust spot for Fieros.
If your frames are good, you'll have a solid platform to work on and restore or modify.
Three things; A) Check inside the trunk for rust (You can see posts on this with pics)....B) Check/clean the ventilation system (Especially the heater resistor pack)....And C) For the moment, disconnect the headlight motors- they can have problems, including running on in the middle of the night which leads to dead batteries and overheating/fires (Wait until the cars are running good and such, then you can work on the motors)(I actually swapped in the later system in my 85 (With NEW motors which are available (Same as F-birds)
Rust has been mentioned a couple of times, and for good reason. I have an '84 parts car here that looked great when I bought it years ago. I can reach up into where the rear frame rails are and crumble the metal with my fingers.
So before you invest any time or money on either one of these Fieros you've acquired (especially since you're from where salt on roads is an issue), check them for rust.
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 06-02-2020).]
Finally got one up in the air and got the wheels off head light motors do not work. Not sure if motor. I can twist the knob and they manually come up tho. Rear brakes are rusted. I think the motor might be seized, tries rolling it over by hand and it moves maybe a inch on the end of a breaker bar. The one with the valve cover off does not move at all. Could this just be rust in the cylinders? I wouldn't think this would be harder to turn over then a straight six or 350. Rust on the bottom seems to be surface rust.
[This message has been edited by Placebo42 (edited 06-04-2020).]
I think the motor might be seized, tries rolling it over by hand and it moves maybe a inch on the end of a breaker bar. The one with the valve cover off does not move at all. Could this just be rust in the cylinders?
Have you taken the spark plugs out? Water in the cylinders won't compress at all.
If you edit your last post and hit the Enter key a couple of times before and/or after each image link (and take the spaces out of the failed links), you can fix the current mess.
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 06-03-2020).]
Pulled the head and replaced head gasket and freed up the motor, acted like rust was stopping pistons from moving, but long story short, its running, will even run on it's own. Pops threw the throttle body once a great while, but every thing was rust and I dont have alot of funds for machining, so well see how it goes breaking every thing up on its own.
Please tell me you did more than just put new top end gaskets in the the engine. How did you clean the rust out of the cylinder? Steel wool & naval jelly? Flex-hone? Cylinder hone? Re-bore?
Judging from your pics, I'd guess you have / had water in the crankcase so the chances of rust in the main bearings would be pretty high. Also, I'd bet the piston rings are pretty rusty. There may be a good chance that one could break and scour the cylinder wall so bad that the block can't be re-bored.
Scotch brite, then flex honed, dont have the funds to really get it in a engine shop. Dropped oil pan and bottom end wasnt bad. Oil was black, no signs of water just sitting in the bottom end. I think most of the water came threw the intake I dont really care what happens they are projects forna reason lol. If the motor goes, itll have something else thrown in. Changed oil, plugs and coolant. The motor wasnt completly locked up, there was movement before i started working on it. I'm just happy that there is a possibility of life in at least one. I have a bunch of break issues to solve before I can even test if the motor will take a load on it. I'm beginning to think I started this thread in the wrong section
[This message has been edited by Placebo42 (edited 06-15-2020).]
