If you have frequent floods to this level, you should be buying a boat...not a Fiero!
That's the thing, you would be surprised at how high water can get on a city street when it rains hard. Two weeks after I got my first Fiero I saw it get flooded in the parking lot. SUV's didn't get wet inside, but the poor Fiero still had water in the exhaust days later. We sit very low to the ground, yes water does come up that far with some regularity, and carpets don't dry out well in the car unless you spend time in Arizona, Nevada, Texas...
Any suggestions for preventing chunks of ice from killing my radiator? They already destroyed the front lip (this is an 85 base model with bumper pads) so I will have to do something about that. I want to put a grate on the front where the plastic one is now because it is going to get ruined, but I am worried a grate will pack up and I will over heat. Could I put the grate mounted on the radiator bracket but off around 1" spacers so that it wont let Ice hit it but it will be close enough that the heat from the radiator will melt anything that packs up? Or should I just fully block the bottom third or so of the opening so crap just goes under the car?
An abandoned parking lot nearby (huge lot) well somebody plowed a track into it, so me and my friends spent a couple hours today ripping around that sliding all around. Man I really need some snow tires and weight up front, I had to kick the gas before every turn to get the car sideways or I would understeer like crazy!
Any suggestions for preventing chunks of ice from killing my radiator? They already destroyed the front lip (this is an 85 base model with bumper pads) so I will have to do something about that. I want to put a grate on the front where the plastic one is now because it is going to get ruined, but I am worried a grate will pack up and I will over heat. Could I put the grate mounted on the radiator bracket but off around 1" spacers so that it wont let Ice hit it but it will be close enough that the heat from the radiator will melt anything that packs up? Or should I just fully block the bottom third or so of the opening so crap just goes under the car?
First rule... avoid the snow/ice piles.
Check the car for snow build up and clean it out if it happens. Take the car to a power washer and remove the snow/ice. If you don't, it will overheat and trying to prevent ice/snow buildup with grating is only going to cause more problems. I drove a bumperpad for multiple winters without much of an issue.
And the plastic gears probably got stripped from being frozen shut occasionally for all these years..... I also spend a lot of time fixing plastic window tracks when people try to open frozen shut windows.
[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 12-16-2013).]
Could not avoid these piles unfortunately, they went across the whole road, thanks to the plows pushing snow from perpendicular roads.
Headlight gears are fine, the actual motors are reaching the end of their life. If they had a stripped gear they would not go up when hand cranked/ I have taken both of them apart for rebuilding and re-lubricating in the past.
I have decided to make a new "skid plate" that goes from bottom of radiator to the bumper/lip that is now gone. I will make it from 16 gauge steel sheet, and I am going to make it cover maybe the bottom quarter of the opening. then I will have the regular grate in place above/behind it.
[This message has been edited by zkhennings (edited 12-16-2013).]
page 44 has a diagram of the front fascia and associated hardware.
quote
Originally posted by zkhennings:
Could not avoid these piles unfortunately, they went across the whole road, thanks to the plows pushing snow from perpendicular roads.
Headlight gears are fine, the actual motors are reaching the end of their life. If they had a stripped gear they would not go up when hand cranked/ I have taken both of them apart for rebuilding and re-lubricating in the past.
I have decided to make a new "skid plate" that goes from bottom of radiator to the bumper/lip that is now gone. I will make it from 16 gauge steel sheet, and I am going to make it cover maybe the bottom quarter of the opening. then I will have the regular grate in place above/behind it.
BTW, I wouldn't use anything to block the opening in the fascia. Give it a season to see how the car does without modifications to the opening (where you want to put a grate).
My son drove an 88 coupe year around and we get a ton of snow. I only had to clean out the fascia opening a few times over the years. That is a different style fascia, but still, the issue is minor.
[This message has been edited by jaskispyder (edited 12-17-2013).]
You dont want to block off anywhere under the radiator...air comes from underneath to go thru the radiator for cooling. It shouldnt be a problem of snow building up on the radiator...it gets hot. Snow will melt as soon as you have operating temp. I drove all my Fieros all winter in the snow, including some blizzards and never had any issues.
You dont want to block off anywhere under the radiator...air comes from underneath to go thru the radiator for cooling. It shouldnt be a problem of snow building up on the radiator...it gets hot. Snow will melt as soon as you have operating temp. I drove all my Fieros all winter in the snow, including some blizzards and never had any issues.
It is blocked off under the radiator stock, but my plastic piece broke. This style bumper offers little to no protection to the radiator compared to the later models, I think it is necessary.
I decided what I am going to use for the front spacers, I bought a 3/4" thick cutting board made from High Density Poly Ethylene which is tough stuff, and I am going to cut it into spacers to go underneath the rubber piece on top of the front springs. Much cheaper than buying HDPE stock from McMaster for around 80 bucks as the board was only 19 dollars. I will put a piece of rubber sheet (cut into the same shape as the spacer) on top of the HDPE Spacers so the spacers are only in contact with nice soft rubber to prevent fracture with the colder temps.
I also ordered some CorrosionX from amazon, and some aluminum plate from McMaster to do the Dawg mod to my manifold
I bought snow tires yesterday mounted on Cavalier Rims... so 5x100 bolt pattern, 57.1mm hub bore and an offset slightly higher than stock but I have grand am brake upgrade which reduces the offset up front, and in the rear I have coilovers so there should be no clearance issues. The tires are studded and were used for a few seasons but there is tons of tread left and almost all the studs. They are 195s so nice and narrow for good bite. I picked up all 4 for only 150 bucks!
I have some sand bags at home to weight the front with and I will get that thick shower liner from Home depot to make the splash guards as I currently have none, bringing my total costs to do all this around 250 bucks including wheels and tires
My Ferrari kit had nothing under the front ahead of the steering rack except the radiator, and it was wide open in the grill except for a couple of thin chrome bars. Nothing is going to hurt the radiator as it is unless you routinely tailgate uncovered gravel trucks... I drove it as a daily driver in Ohio winters when there was 6"+ of snow and ice on the roads. Ive had so much ice on it the doors wouldnt open and the headlites didnt shine thru. I had to drive one night over 100 miles at 20 mph using only the driving lights because of ice. They got hot enough to melt the ice so I could see while the headlites didnt.
I just think your wasting your time doing useless mods you dont need is the reason I press it. I dont know anyone else in here that tried to block snow from getting on the radiator.
Originally posted by rogergarrison: I just think your wasting your time doing useless mods you dont need is the reason I press it. I dont know anyone else in here that tried to block snow from getting on the radiator.
^What he said.
You also have to remember that in their day, a lot more of these cars were driven through winter. If this were a real issue, we would have seen this pop up quite often, but it's not.
I don't care I am doing the radiator "mod" (which is nearly identical to stock but metal) because I had a cone bust through the grill and put a hole in my radiator over the summer at low speed. I can see a chunk of ice doing just that. Worcester gets tons of snow and there are icy piles all over the road, it snowed again today, we have now gotten over a foot and a half of snow in 3 days. And it is only going to get snowier. Idk if you guys are familiar with the original front bumper but my radiator IS the bumper right now for anything under 1.5 feet since the plastic piece which protects it is destroyed. So it is very necessary to do something, and what I am going to do is replace the plastic broken piece with some metal, and the only thing I am doing differently is letting it extend a little and then I will bend it up, just enough so that it pushes snow and ice under the car. The opening in the front bumper for the radiator is currently the size of the radiator... I will try and snap a picture tomorrow, but I am going to be safe rather than sorry. The formula style bumper and gt style bumper both have tiny openings (like 30% of the size of the original bumper), even with my "mod" I will give the radiator more than enough airflow, and way more than formula or gt bumper style gets stock.
Remember, the first time I drove it in the snow and had to go through unavoidable snow/ice piles in the middle of the road it DESTROYED and ripped off the front lip and under radiator plastic piece. If those were hitting my radiator I am sure it would damage it. Worcester is not a nice place!
Been driving the car in the snow with snow tires. They do... Ok, not as great as I thought but definitely better than the all seasons... I definitely need some sand bags up front, how much weight do you guys recommend? It is obvious that the rears bite to the asphalt but the front does not.
Also I made the thing I was trying to describe.... it is made from some half inch wide, quarter inch thick steel that is bolted under the radiator, and then through the front crash bar, and there is aluminum sheet riveted to it on the bottom half to stop crap on the road hitting the radiator (which it does on the highway when big trucks drop slushy ice chunks in the road and they are pretty unavoidable)
I think narrow snow tires are a myth. I think it would be better to ride on top of the snow than to carve through it. The purpose is snow tires is not to cut thru the snow and grip the pavement. They are supposed to allow snow to pack onto them and that packed snow is what grips the snow on the road. When the snow is more than a few inches deep your belly pan will get stuck if you can't get on top.
You should also do the front caster mod. I will be making my snow car to be max positive castor. It has the side effect of making the front feel heavier. I'm curious if it will eliminate the need for forward ballast.
I think narrow snow tires are a myth. I think it would be better to ride on top of the snow than to carve through it. The purpose is snow tires is not to cut thru the snow and grip the pavement. They are supposed to allow snow to pack onto them and that packed snow is what grips the snow on the road. When the snow is more than a few inches deep your belly pan will get stuck if you can't get on top.
Jonathan
IMO your theory on staying on top of the snow might be more relevant with a 4x4 that is off road trailing in deep snow, they deflate their tires to help them grab as well. This also depends on the type of snow and temps, packy snow, or powder, and depth. The thing about a car that sees all types of road during winter is a wide tire will be worst in slippery icy conditions and slushy conditions. They also required the most power to push snow down and out of the way. You dont want the snow to build up in the tread either, that would render the tread useless. The small sipes are what is supposed to grab anything it can, snow, ice, dirt, road, if it is full of snow it cant grab. Alot of ones luck in snow has to do with driving technique.
I live in a snow belt. I can tell you 100lbs of something in the front storage compartment is a must.
Arn
Arn recommends 100. Id look for 50 lb bags of sand see how one does, you can always add more. Better yet if theres room use a bags of kitty litter, you can use it to help get unstuck if you need to
IMO your theory on staying on top of the snow might be more relevant with a 4x4 that is off road trailing in deep snow, they deflate their tires to help them grab as well. This also depends on the type of snow and temps, packy snow, or powder, and depth. The thing about a car that sees all types of road during winter is a wide tire will be worst in slippery icy conditions and slushy conditions. They also required the most power to push snow down and out of the way. You dont want the snow to build up in the tread either, that would render the tread useless. The small sipes are what is supposed to grab anything it can, snow, ice, dirt, road, if it is full of snow it cant grab. Alot of ones luck in snow has to do with driving technique.
I agree. On snow and ice, and in the rain, narrow tires beat wide ones hands down. For one thing theres far less rolling resistance. Another thing is with a narrower tire there is more weight on the tire patch for more traction . My 66 Dodge with 6" wide rubber goes thru a foot of snow with no problems at all, where the Corvette with 10" wide tires set and spin even at idle. Old VW bugs with 4-5 inch wide tires would go like tanks in deep snow. Theres no argument over whether narrow tires on slick surfaces are superior to wide ones...its already a fact. Spreading the weight out on snow, is for snow shoes and snowmobiles because you dont want to sink in it. Having wide tires on a 2 ton car is not going to stop it from sinking in snow. You might as well put wheel chocks in front of the tires.
I think it must depend on the kind of snow and how deep it is. If it is a wet snow and is great for snowballs, you will want the wider ones. The snow IS supposed to stick to the tires and that is how you get traction.
If the snow is deep, you will also be better off with the wider ones. Any possibility of getting on top of the snow will be the difference in moving and having the floor pans stuck to the snow. If that happens, no tires or 3800 is going to break you free.
If you have a light dusting to a few inches of dry snow, I can understand how the narrow ones would be better.
I don't even have a spare tire in the front of the 85 GT. It's really kind of fun to drive in the snow. I have Michelin Defender 14's less than a year old. The fun part is that if feels very easy to control when it starts to slide, which seems to be right up there with modern AWD vehicles. Changing lanes in heavy snow is not so much fun because it tends to get squirrely crossing the "curbs" that build up between the established ruts.
Glad I got the Koni's this fall! I'm also very happy to have the new heater fan which finally got installed last weekend.
I also spend a lot of time fixing plastic window tracks when people try to open frozen shut windows.
I drove it as a daily driver in Ohio winters when there was 6"+ of snow and ice on the roads. Ive had so much ice on it the doors wouldnt open and the headlites didnt shine thru. I had to drive one night over 100 miles at 20 mph using only the driving lights because of ice. They got hot enough to melt the ice so I could see while the headlites didnt.
