Rescuing my dads old Fiero GT 1987 (Page 12/23)
Erwin03 JUN 02, 03:10 AM
Don’t paint the wing black!
It won’t look nice.

In holland we have companies that can make any color if they have an example.
Just take the spoiler of, take it to a painter and let him test the underside of the spoiler to get the right ral-code

Regarding the licenceplate lights, check the C500 connector ( right side engine compartment) to see if it is tight enough.
That did the trick on mine.

[This message has been edited by Erwin03 (edited 06-02-2018).]

Repulsiv JUN 03, 04:18 PM
Yes, im not completly happy about black, but getting the correct color seep to be pretty expensive, and to get it I have to take a part of the car to a dealer that can find out exactly what color it is.. ..or the whole car ofcoure.


Today I fixed the license playe light, it was oxide, as usual..

I also put things togethler that I had taken apart, and removed tools and stuff fromt he car, since I have a time for inspection (bilprovning) tomorrow.

Then I started the car and took a very short testdrive, mainly back and forward on my drievyard many times, but a short one on the road too ..just to see that everything seem to work.

So, I really hope everything works tomorrow.. and if it does not, I know what I have to fix! ..My main fear is that the car would break down on the way there, its about 30km there, anything can happen with a car that have been standing still for ~10 years..
Repulsiv JUN 04, 12:13 PM
Today was Besiktning-day



First of all, the car worked when I drove there, this is really the first time I have driven the car except my short testdrive before winter, and the 50m drive yesterday.

On the way there I noticed the brakes where pretty bad, but after a few times hard braking it started to be ok, I also noted vibration is the steering wheel, not extremlyn much but it feels like unbalanced wheels.. however, they was baklanced when I bought the tyres.. ..I also noticed that the suspension is VERY hard, but I guess that is as it should be since the car have koni dampers and other springs.

Another thing i noteced was that the car didnt "roll out" as it should, you know when you are going to stop and push the clutch and the car stop faster than it should, usally because some brakes is on.. so when i got there I felt all wheels if they whrere hot, and they where not.

Anyway, the guy doing the inspection was a really nice guy (not all of them are) that liked the car and also had a lot of knowledge about american cars, for exemple he knew how both the belts and the parking brake worked ..Th steering wheel lock he didnt know, so I had to show him.

The first thing he did was checking the headlights.. and what happened ? the right one REFUSED to go up ?? I have troed it many times and never had any problems.. but NOW it didnt ocourse ..he measured the left one and it was ok.. but the right one got a "not in function" remark. He also checked every other light and electronics, but everything worked (I have spent so much time on that..) and then checked the frame, suspension, steering and everything under the car, no problems, he said the frame looked rusty, but was in very good condition. (he asked if the car had been in a garage)

Then it was time for the brakes.. first he lifted the car and rolled the rear wheels, no problem.. then the front.. not very good, he had a very hard time turning them by hand ..then away to the brakeforce-tester, rear was perfect, front was perfect too (even and enough brakeforce), however the fact that the brakes where on all the time made it a failure.

Then it was the exhaust test.. he laughed a little and said that this car dont have much regulations to pass, the only thing he maesured was CO, ant it was 0.8, the limit is 3.5 he said "Well, its the same limit as old american cars with V8 and carburettors have, and you have a small engine and fuel injection.."

So I got two points to fix, the front brakes, and right popup light, anyone know what it can be ? ..if I open the hood it actually lift it up, but I can stop it easy with my hand, I cannot stop the left one.. any friction clutch ?

Then I drove home, and when I was close to home I felt the smell of hot brakes.. when I stopped the car the front wheels where so hot I couldnt touch them

I know my dad had a similar problem when he bought the car, then two shops couldnt fix it, finelly he found some "expert on american cars" that found the problem, back then the problem was the brake hoses, he swapped them and then it worked.. not sure if that is the case now, I will disassemble and clean the brakes first anyway.. If that doesnt work I continue to look for problems.. maybe the hoses..
Repulsiv JUN 04, 02:06 PM
Hmm..

I removed one wheel (right) and the caliper, the piston was pretty stuck, i used a big clamp and still only could push it back very little.. little enough for the wheel to go free, but I had to use a lot of force.

If I pumped out the piston a bit (about 10mm) I could push it back a bit easier, but I still had to use more force than usual.

I tried to open up the bleeding nipple, but still har dto push it back.

Hmm, is it the piston that is the problem ? ..but it didnt look rusty at all under the rubber protction..

any ideas ?

..I also tried to get the headlights up withthe manual thingies, on the working one there is distict stops in the ends, both fully up and fully down, on the broken one its not, i can wind it forever.. really feel like it is some friction clutch that is broken.
Rexgirl JUN 04, 04:37 PM
The stiff caliper certainly could be an internally collapsed hose, and replacing them and the brake fluid after a long storage is a really good idea (I did it). One easy thing to try first is lubricating the two caliper slides with silicone brake grease. It might be that simple.
Repulsiv JUN 04, 06:29 PM
I was hoping for that it would just need a cleaning and lubrication, but everything moved fine, except the piston.. dunno if it is the piston or the hose right now.

About the headlights i GUESS this is what I need ?

http://rodneydickman.com/ca...h=32&products_id=231

The description is spot on, and it is about the 1987+ headlights, most info about fiero headlights repair seem to be the older version.
tshark JUN 04, 06:31 PM
Gonna have to rebuild that headlight motor.

Just my $.02, but my life may depend on the brakes. I don't skimp on them.
Rexgirl JUN 05, 02:19 AM
Loosening the brake hose's banjo bolt a little, will quickly tell you if the hose is blocked (if the piston moves in easier). As tshark noted, even if the hose is okay it may still be wise to replace those older hoses and renew the calipers. Our older cars just need maintenance, you know ?..
Repulsiv JUN 05, 07:30 AM
That was what I tried to do with the bleeding nipple, however it was so hard to turn that it was inpossibe with a normal open / ring spanner, I had to resort to a socket wrench, and then i couldn't use a hose (in the nipple), so it wasnt so nice to get braking fluid all over.. (same as I would get if I lose the banjo ofcourse).

If this was one of my SAAB's I would just go to a store, ask for a couple of hoses, get them in my hand and pay a little amount of money, and then go home with hoses and replace them just to rule out that problem and also that its always good with new parts, especially when its rubber (that is aging).
However the Fiero is a uncommon car in sweden, and it seem like the usual places to buy carparts dont have those hoses (not very surprising), so I probably have to order them, probably from US.. That means it would take some time to get them.

Another potential problem is breaking the nipple when removing the brakehose from the brakeline, but I hope I can remove those without braking them. (If I do I have to replace the brakeline too..)

But I suspect that I need to rebuild the caliper, I got the feeling it was the piston that gpt stuck, however it didnt look rusty, even if I noticed that the rubber pårotection was broken, so that should also be replaced,. have to check where I can find rebuild kits..
Repulsiv JUN 05, 10:23 AM
Ok, now the headlight works.

Removed it, and disassembled it.. then I made replacements of the round thingies that had been transformed into dust. I used some kind of soft plastic I had laying around, probably stiffer than the original material, but still softer than Delrin that the replacements usally si made off.. I'll see if it works, if not I buy some from rodney.

What gave me most troubles was that one of the motor screws was stuck and broke, so I had to drill it out and make new threads.. now it is a metric screw there ..also both springs to the motr brushes went away, I spent pretty much time on relocating those.. and it also took me some time to figure out how to get the motor togethler (holding back the brushes, not very much space there..), after that I just put everything back and first tried it manual with the know, everything worked, then I connected the power and everything worked fine, I tried it five times or so, now I wont touch it until I go back for the new inspection

..I was going to take a look at left front brake too, but it looked like it would start to rain so I didnt.