Hi all,

Well some time ago i started having problems with my Fiero that turned out to be a bad fuel pump (not enough pressure).
On top of that the engine suddenly gave a metal bang noise each time i cranked it and because of that i didnt started it since.
When i rotate the crankshaft myself everything goes fine tho (inc rotation on the distributor).
Engine was fine before with good compression so that was pretty disapointing.
Old thread: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/130644.html

Was about to happen anyway so time to end her life as a daily driver and start restoring the Fiero a little!
My dad and i build a nice little home, time to start investigating whats the cause is and start on other issues aswell.
Like some trunk rust and more importantly the frame behind that. Theres also some rust on top of the RL strut tower, hope its not too bad.
From a quick look it didnt look too bad but rust is often worse then it seems at first glance
And then ofc the fuel pump and some stuff i never had time for with the car as a daily driver.
And after all that paint! Well if i have any money left by then that is...

For the engine i plan to look at the starter itself first since thats very new and i want to rule out something weird with that.
Then the valve train first i guess. Havent worked on the inside bits of an engine before so i look forward to start and learn as i go.

Tips or suggestions, please let me know!

Cleaned up a little to get started.


Oh and my new daily driver, a fun little go kart, a Twingo 133 renaultsport cup

quote Originally posted by Edwin: Oh and my new daily driver, a fun little go kart, a Twingo 133 renaultsport cup

WTF is that a one red shoe? Where's the other one?

Starter is a good place to start, if its a standard try roll starting it and see if you still have the Clunk, then you will know its not the starter, most likely. first and foremost if you don't have a repair manual get a good one, not just a Haynes they are fine for basics but not the best,

Did I see you are also from Holland? maybe Cliff can give you some local guys who know what they are doing around a Fiero. I don't think we have to many members in Holland but if anyone knows for sure it would be Cliff, give him a PM about members there that might be local to you.

good luck,

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't



Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 05-17-2014).]

I like your red shoe.....I bet it gets good mileage! ... that car is not available in the USA, so it does look different.

Tell us more about your Fiero!.. engine transmission....hole in the hood....

Haha yeah it does look like a red shoe! Believe Renault isnt available in the US at all?
The RS versions are a little rare here aswell, glad i was able to get one.
It has a 1.6l engine (no turbo) that loves to rev. The way it handles is the really best part tho, nimble.
Compared to the Fiero the milage is great!

Anyway the Fiero is an 88 formula, auto, with the v6.
Nothing really special on the engine except perhaps that it has an intake and exhaust headers from Truleo.
If i remember correct the intake is one of the protypes Francis had and looks a little different then most. Great guy and really helpfull.
The hood vent was a cut out from the hood itself (not using any prefab bits). I started it because the Fiero really got unstable at high speed and on the German autobahn I almost lost a complete headlight cover. The hood craked and it almost went flying off because of the airpressure on it.
I wanted it to line up with the standard hood lines, without an angle in it and still deep enough so i cut out a tiny bit of the front compartment to make it possible.
Its still sealed tho and can still hold the glass sunroof. Was a fun project and it helps to stable the front end at high speeds and the radiator heat helps removing snow and ice in the winter!




The paint got a little loose at some places and i need to finish the details, hope to get to that aswell now that the daily driver rush is gone.

And at a dutch meeting last year. I've been to a few meetings but i dont think i ever seen or met Cliff himself, too bad! Maybe he's actually just a robot?
Dont know what he looks like tho, so perhaps he was at a meeting and i didnt even know!

[This message has been edited by Edwin (edited 05-18-2014).]

Good job on the hood duct I like it! How fast were you going when the hood started to lift off?

quote Originally posted by Csjag: Good job on the hood duct I like it! How fast were you going when the hood started to lift off?

Thanks! Well the Fiero gets light in the front pretty quick as i remember (never fitted an aero bumper myself so dont know the difference).
The hood cracked going at somewhere between170-180 km or around 110mph (all on the Fiero tach).
I didnt go flat out but only little under it. Have been going a little faster a few times before, i think it was because of the wind that was there aswell.
Remember it was coming from the front/right side and actually a little too hard to be driving comfortably at that speed (thats probably why i remember it well).
Quite scary when it snapped. The headlight flew open and the hood was cracked, it didnt flew up against the windscreen or anything like that tho.

Cliff a robot...LOL!....ummmm wait...you may be on to something.

I have the same car (stock) with the Getrag 5-speed. You would like that better at 110 mph I would think....( I have not tried it..)

[This message has been edited by Gall757 (edited 05-18-2014).]

Yeah the 3speed auto isnt ideal but then i rarely drive at speeds like that. When you get to Germany and there is no speedlimit..
Isnt related luckily, that was a few years ago.
Anyway i decided to open the oil pan and see. Instead of looking here i thought it wouldnt be that hard to do and Haynes seemed to agree.
Well Haynes and i were wrong there, next to the starter i had to take out the engine mount and the whole bracket along with it!
What a pain and i still couldnt get the pan out, exhaust had to go aswell.

Found some debris at the bottom of the oil pan, guess that isnt good. Any idea where those bits could be from?

When you see pieces like that it's time to pull everything apart....not good. Doesn't look like bearing metal, looks like something let go. If you can't see anything that's broken (rods. pistons) then it could be something in the top end. The downside with a failure like that is that particles end up going through the oil system and cause damage throughout. Look at this as an opportunity to pull an engine apart, rebuild it and learn everything about it