World's slowest Fiero/Quad 4 Swap (Page 41/51)
Quadfather OCT 16, 08:28 PM
Here’s the throttle cable bracket on the Quad.



Not only is the hole shaped differently, it’s too close to the throttle body. To do this right, I’ll have to wait until the engine is back in the car.
Quadfather OCT 16, 08:40 PM
Still can’t decide how to mount the sway bar on the cradle. I’ve looked at a lot of pictures on the forum but the bar I have doesn’t fit well, whether it’s pointed backwards or forward.



The rubber bushings that were on this one when I pulled it at the salvage yard were shot, so I ordered polyurethane replacements with new brackets. I’ll wait until they arrive before making the final decision on where to mount the bar. O’Reilly had poly end link bushings in stock, so once I get the bar mounted I’ll just buy bolts to fit.

One of the links that came with the bar sacrificed its spacer for the project.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 10-20-2022).]

Quadfather OCT 20, 07:46 PM
Here’s what I came up with to mount a front sway bar on the engine cradle. Decided to mount the bar with the ends pointing to the back.

I couldn’t mount the bushing brackets directly to the cradle because of the curves in the bar. I couldn’t use flat spacers because of the plate I used for the primary engine mount. I used some heavy-walled square tubing to cut out a couple of plates with an offset to align the bushing mount so it’s perpendicular to the bar.







I thought about welding the plates to the cradle but figured I should make them removable in case there’s a problem I haven’t anticipated.











I’m very happy with how they came out, which makes me worry that I’ve missed some obvious reason for NOT doing it this way. Oh well. We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it, as my brother used to say.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 10-20-2022).]

Quadfather OCT 20, 08:08 PM
While I was waiting for the sway bar bushings to arrive, I disassembled one of the rear knuckle/hub/caliper assemblies. First time I’ve had one of these apart since I bought the car in 2011.



Wouldn’t be surprised if these are the factory hubs. Everything is worn.



The hub has an 1/8th-inch of slop in it. Might be hard to tell in the photos, but look at the left edge.





Rock Auto has replacements for about $65 a pop, but the budget is tapped out at the moment.

Are the brake pads on the rear of an ‘87 supposed to be different sizes and shapes?



I’d like to paint the rear calipers and if I’m going to do that I should probably rebuild them, too, but I haven’t researched that process yet.

Quadfather NOV 02, 06:53 PM
Got some time to fiddle with the fuel injectors this week. These were working when I pulled the engine 10 years ago but what little gas still in them smelled awful.



I found some videos on YouTube that show how to use brake cleaner and a tire stem to clean and test fuel injectors. I didn’t have a tire stem that was the right size, so I used a plastic air compressor tip and rubber hose. Really needed a third hand to do it but it worked.





Still need to find steel tubing to plumb from the fuel rail to the Fiero fuel lines. Maybe this weekend.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 11-13-2022).]

zkhennings NOV 08, 01:30 PM
For cleaning I like to attach a longer tube to the injector and hose clamp a compressor fitting on the other side, then I fill the tube with carb cleaner and hook it up to compressor at 45 psi, then just need to tap leads from 12v source to injector. Just another way to do it. I use a clear vinyl tubing so I can see how much carb cleaner is in there.

Looking good! Nice sway bar mounting solution, I think you picked a fine spot to put them, will maybe slightly complicate getting to the starter and possibly oil filter but not sure where quad 4 filter is located.
Quadfather NOV 13, 08:56 AM
The starter on the Quad is up underneath the intake manifold. It’s kind of a pain to deal with, even when the engine is out of the car. The oil filter is on the front of the engine and is easy to reach on the Fiero.

The sway bar mounted where I have it practically disappears when viewed from above.







About the only concern is how much lower the bar and mounts are than the rest of the suspension and cradle.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 11-13-2022).]

Quadfather NOV 13, 09:13 AM
I couldn’t find new fuel line to fit all the way from the fuel rail to the Fiero fuel lines so I bought a set of universal straight 12-inch lines with the correct shoulder on the ends, which I’ll bend to fit. I’ll use regular straight line with compression fittings to run from there to the Fiero lines. The 12-inch lines will be here on Thursday.

Since I have the rear suspension disassembled I’d like to replace all the bushings and ball joints, but haven’t bitten the bullet and ordered them yet.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 11-19-2022).]

zkhennings NOV 15, 06:07 PM
FWIW poly rear control arm bushings make a significant difference in the handling of the pre-88s. Both the ball joints and bushings are very easy to replace also.
Quadfather DEC 02, 05:01 PM
Here’s some progress on the fuel lines. I noticed a couple of things about the fuel pressure regulator. One, my spray can painting skills are lacking and two, this one is bent.



I pulled the fuel rail off one of my spare Quads and noticed the fuel rails are a little different. At the top of this photo is the rail from the spare, a ‘93 Grand Am Quad. Bottom is the one from my ‘92 GTZ. The GTZ is a Rochester, don’t know what the other one is.



Does RPD mean Rochester Parts Division?





Since the Grand Am rail is physically smaller and doesn’t have the ridges that run along the spline, the injector clips are different. Other than that they look the same.

[This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 01-02-2023).]