So glad to be part of this great community finally. Loved the Fiero since I first seen one in the 80s.
I take delivery of my 1st Fiero in 2 weeks - 1985 SE 2M6 !! I’m pumped can’t wait!
So, while I wait I’m making a list of things I should do first when she arrives.
I’ve been told the car runs, there’s some age / paint blemishes and weather stripping needs to be replaced. The car has never been driven in winter on salty roads, one owner since new.
Where should I start with it? Any tips would be much appreciated!
Welcome! Welcome my New Found (Land) Friend! Soon you will be able to "Screech" your tires!! I am currently also on the Fiero learning curve with a recently acquired '88GT that I am slowly building for your island's great race in the near future. Sincerely hope that your new acquisition is in excellent shape and you can rock the rock with Fiero talk! And driving of course, lot's of driving!
Welcome to another Canadian victim of the Fiero disease. Where did the car come from? How many kilometers or miles are on it? Auto or manual? Stock or customized? Certified or as/is? If you read every relevant thread in PFF, you'll be well versed to handle any issues. That should take you through the long east coast winter while you wait for driving weather, lol! If you've been lurking on PFF, you're aware that pics are required. Like we don't know what the cars look like already... You must have had pics to look at; maybe they can be posted. Depending on your confidence in the maintenance history and the condition the car is in, fluids might need changing and leaks attended to. Some will suggest replacing a lot of items due to age; I generally look after issues on an as-needed basis. How are your mechanical skills? Look for deterioration in flexible parts, corrosion around the battery tray and in the trunk corners and make sure the suspension steering and brake components are in good shape. Do you have a shop or garage for storage and maintenance/repair? The factory service manuals are great to have & there's lots of help available on this forum.
My experience/ownership bias - original notch style and stock condition: I bought an '84 SE 2.5L 4 speed new and am still driving it with 380,000+ km. I bought an '88 Formula 2.8L 5 speed in 2008 with 5,200 km on it; now with 38,000. I bought an '86 coupe 2.5L 5 speed in 2011 with 119,000 on it; now 139,000.
Hey Fieroeffect, so she's a V6 eh? Can't wait to see some pics! Should be pretty soon I'm thinkin' bye! V6 with manual will be nice and fun too. Looking forward to the Screeching in. After the event though as they breathalyze daily! You will always have the title of 1st Newfoundlander! And they told us it was the Vikings!! Nah. Now we know the truth. Vikings wouldn't know what to do with a Fiero and they didn't even have a fishing license!!
Not sure if we've had a member here previously from The Rock. Welcome from the other side of the country!
Check the rear upper frame rails for rust. Here's a video just to give an example of how bad it can get. Of course, this is something that should be done before a purchase is made. Hopefully you find no hidden surprises.
Rust is a big one on those upper frame rails and rear wheel wells...... here is an image of how mine looked I ended up fixing it by cutting out most of the bottom of the frame rail and bending 1.5" 1/4 thick square tubing https://imgur.com/a/EBvl021https://imgur.com/a/ttaqPVW
My first Fiero was purchased in Squamish, British Columbia with the help of another Fiero owner and friend Erwin back in 1992. I've had a number of them and just recently purchased a white 1985 GT V6 4 speed. I'm planning another N* engine conversion.
Items you may want to consider as a starting base:
1) Find a local Fiero Club 2) Upgrade your headlight motors/wiring with the later 87 or 88's. Way more reliable. 3) Upgrade your brakes as the stock form can be significantly improved for safety. You can get into a Cavalier setup fairly economically 4) Port your exhaust manifolds and you will gain fuel mileage and about 6 HP. GM left restrictions in them and its pretty easy to do or have someone do it. Not required though. 5) Check your EGR tube for cracks and replace if necessary so you have a good idle speed. 6) Buy a new ICM and coil pickup and install them in your distributor to save you from getting stranded. They probably haven't been replaced in a while.
There's a ton more stuff you can do with lots of aftermarket support. These are fairly easy to get into without breaking the bank, and you get decent results.
Glad you are here!
[This message has been edited by IXSLR8 (edited 11-17-2018).]
So glad to be part of this great community finally. Loved the Fiero since I first seen one in the 80s.
I take delivery of my 1st Fiero in 2 weeks - 1985 SE 2M6 !! I’m pumped can’t wait!
So, while I wait I’m making a list of things I should do first when she arrives.
I’ve been told the car runs, there’s some age / paint blemishes and weather stripping needs to be replaced. The car has never been driven in winter on salty roads, one owner since new.
Where should I start with it? Any tips would be much appreciated!
Thank you!
Super cool! You will love it!
The V6 is a bit more involved than the simple L4, but certainly lots of fun. Is it a stick shift?
As Patrick said, check for rust, beyond that... it's just like anything.
In my past, I would start tearing a car down to pieces in order to start fixing it, but if the car isn't too bad, just age... then maybe work on the car as you would in terms of replacing "systems." So... suspension, then brakes, cooling, fuel system etc... not in any particular order, but at least that'll limit the outlay of cash that's required, keep the car relatively intact and drivable, and not lead you to immediate discouragement as you start working on it.
But, you'll love the car, they're so much fun, and honestly... I love the "2m" body style. I have an 87 SE / V6 which has the aero package, minus the "GT" fastback style. Even though I love the car, I still prefer the bumper-pad style body. It's just very "classic" looking in my opinion.
1ST - THANKS TO THIS GROUP for helping, supporting and providing guidance the last few months as I sourced and took delivery of my 80s dream sports car - 1985 Fiero SE Manual 2M6.
2ND - So, it’s been a couple weeks of owning my 1st ever Fiero! HERE’S AN UPDATE
As soon as it arrived, haven’t not seen a Fiero in well over a decade, I wasted no time turning the key. She started first try, idle was solid, sounds great and Billy Idol was blasting “Dancing with Myself” out of the stock speakers and headrests.
Off loading her into my driveway was much like how I felt watching the Time Machine back out of Doc. Brown’s truck for the first time in the Twin Pines (Lone Pine) parking lot in 1985 .
After the initial test drive (wow!), a few nights looking her over making a long check list it was straight into a (good) local garage for full service and inspection, followed by ordering needed restoration parts.
In a combination of local garage ramp time and my garage time the following has already restored: * New brake pads, rotors, parking brake cables, hubs, plugs, plug wires, distributor, all new fluids, filters and fuel pump, and a few smaller items.
The drive after this was AWESOME - What a difference! This being my first 80s car / restoration I'm really starting to see how breathing new life into a car can improve everything about it and return us back to the time of 80s Awesomeness .
Hours of cleaning, exterior, interior and undercarriage, the restoration has started and is on-going, looking real good so far. In my heated garage now for the winter here in Newfoundland the restoration continues…
Have you tried the Pennocks Image Poster at the bottom middle of the screen? Image resizing is typically req'd, but if you use PIP the pics are embedded in the thread & don't disappear like has happened with some other hosting sites.
Hey Fieroeffect, well that is great news and so glad you are getting so much enjoyment out of the restoration and drive! Looking forward to some pics and keep on effecting Fieros!!
Welcome to the forum!!! That's the same car I started with and it really exceeded my expectations. You'll love it and we are here to help you with any question you have on your project. Here we have very knowledgeable people in this forum.
Hey!! The Latest in my Fiero restoration: I’ve been busy.
I have a Mac and that Windows image app doesn’t work for me to post photos. I will get a Dropbox link of photos when I get some time away from the garage haha.
Lights (interior): ———————— Wow I can’t believe the difference in illumination and heat from incandescent vs. direct replacement LEDs!
While replacing old and burnt out dash lights I switched several out with LED equivalent bulbs to reduce heat and provide a little more illumination. Working on the dash for the first time seemed pretty straight forward given we can access the bulbs after removing just 5 screws! It was neat to see the stamps and stickers from 1985 on the dash cluster version Color and type. Also changed out floor, frunk and dome lighting with direct replacements.
Blower and HVAC: ———————— One of the first thing I’ve leaned from this forum and the great Fiero community - check and clean out the blower system, around resister and heatercore of all debris. I did just that - all easy to access with a little time and the right tools. Found a lot of leaves trapped under the windshield cover and some in the intake but not a lot of debris inside by heatercore - but enough to clean out to be safe. A vacuum did the trick here with panels removed.
I went a couple steps further and cleaned the vents by removing the air vent grills from the interior and vacuumed them also. Then I tested the entire system and ran a half can or air cleaner / freshener through entire blower system and all vents in all modes, allowing any laying air and debris to come out and leave a fresh scent. Anti bacteria air cleaner was used to rid any smells or laying bacteria in the system.
Interior: ———————— I’ve spent a lot of time restoring (on-going) the center stack, shifter cover and center rear vinyl cover. A lot of this is fixing the bulged sections of vinyl from worn and degraded form and glues from initial assembly at factory. This means cleaning and regluing essentially all the edges and lips around all three center sections of vinyl. I will be replacing shifter boot cover and panels soon, along with several worn switches like both window, trunk, defogger switches etc.
I started in on the seats and carpets etc. Baking soda is we night in seats carpets and mats worked well and vacuum ruled this area too. A shampoo is coming soon but I may just replace seat upholstery with Mr. Mikes leather anyways over winter.
The headline has to be replaced - waiting for it to arrive but will be a month. Going black with new matching visors.
Engine Bay: ———————— The part I know least about, I’ve been spending time cleaning the engine and engine bay slowly and by hand.
Air Intake: ———————— The only non-stock component or part on this car is the air intake - stock was replaced with a K & N pipe and reuseable intake filter. I removed it cleaned it and reinstalled and runs up solid.
Exterior: ———————— I’ve removed both sail panels and started restoring them by removing the 33 year old stock cracked plastic sections.
Replacing rubber stoppers for door, frunk and headline doors etc. Restoring the rear light panels to remove aged look and to have better clarify and light illumination and Color.
I pulled the rear vent covers and screens and the SE Optioned rear cover rack, cleaned them and preparing for professional painting stock original Color.
All these components will be professionally painted original colors.
Also installed a small side scoop - by replacing the stock intake grill - not an entire panel.
Exhaust System: ———————— I spent some time removing the stock 2M6 SE pipes, replacing them with new GT style pipes and tips from FieroStore. Very pleased with the results. Had to get a pipe rounder/expander to slightly round and open the stock pipe to fit new ones in. I replaced an exhaust hanger on the passenger side and no exhaust leaks! Sounds and runs up great (tests via garage run ups, revs and idling with door open - there’s lots of snow and salt on roads here now!).
Cooling System: ———————— Coolant replaced during full service but I just found a coolant leak tracked back to a crack in the plastic of the original coolant overflow tank. I have one ordered and will replace this soon. From what I’ve gathered replacing the overflow tank does not require a flush of the system - just drain the plastic overflow tank, keep hoses up, replace tank connect up refill and should be good (engine cold of course).
Throughout all of this I’ve not found any rust anywhere aside from minor surface only rust on the underside and in some brackets or screws I’ve been replacing I needed under the car.
I’m sure I’m missing a few other things like shocks and other even smaller items too...
Wow when I look back at this post it’s interesting to see how much work and progress I’ve made in just a month or two with dedicated effort thus far. I’m pleased... Fiero restoration continues.... 🤙 Cheers From Newfoundland All!!
Hey Fieroeffect, thank you for the updates! Sounds like all is going well so far. Come spring you'll be rockin' the Rock with the little beauty! Kudos to you man. Looking forward to some pics.
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