84 body and engine work (Page 1/2)
cartercarbaficionado APR 26, 03:10 AM
started work on this thing by repairing some smashed areas on the decklid and doing filler on the smc panels will post pics later of minimum effort bodywork that's really just to look better than the holes, anyways I was taking a break and cleaning up when I noticed my iron duke block has a big T and 4 stamped near the dist hole and I'm not honestly sure what year the shortblock is even out of and I'm curious on if I don't have to do a cam break in
82-T/A [At Work] APR 26, 08:30 AM

quote
Originally posted by cartercarbaficionado:

started work on this thing by repairing some smashed areas on the decklid and doing filler on the smc panels will post pics later of minimum effort bodywork that's really just to look better than the holes, anyways I was taking a break and cleaning up when I noticed my iron duke block has a big T and 4 stamped near the dist hole and I'm not honestly sure what year the shortblock is even out of and I'm curious on if I don't have to do a cam break in




Hi, the big "T" is normal... my daughter's 85 has that too.

Super easy-way to tell if you have a roller cam and lifters is to remove the lifter galley plate (directly under the intake manifold). If you see roller lifters (which would be denoted by the brackets that hold them at a 90 degree angle), then you have a roller cam, and a "cam break-in" is not necessary. You can just get in and drive. I'd take it easy for the first few hundred miles though (if this is a rebuilt motor), as you want the bearings and everything else to seat properly.

This is a video my daughter tool when she was removing her intake manifold, and wanted to check to see if she had roller lifters (which you see at the end):




Near the very end of the video, she removes the plate, and you can see the little brackets that hold two lifters together at a time. This denotes (easily) that you have a roller cam. If the lifters don't have this, then they're just flat-tappet, and you will need a cam breakin.
cartercarbaficionado APR 26, 02:22 PM

quote
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:
Hi, the big "T" is normal... my daughter's 85 has that too.

Super easy-way to tell if you have a roller cam and lifters is to remove the lifter galley plate (directly under the intake manifold). If you see roller lifters (which would be denoted by the brackets that hold them at a 90 degree angle), then you have a roller cam, and a "cam break-in" is not necessary. You can just get in and drive. I'd take it easy for the first few hundred miles though (if this is a rebuilt motor), as you want the bearings and everything else to seat properly.

This is a video my daughter tool when she was removing her intake manifold, and wanted to check to see if she had roller lifters (which you see at the end):




Near the very end of the video, she removes the plate, and you can see the little brackets that hold two lifters together at a time. This denotes (easily) that you have a roller cam. If the lifters don't have this, then they're just flat-tappet, and you will need a cam breakin.


then it is a early 85 block with no roller lifters and I'll need to do a cam break in and 5 oil changes before 300 miles are up
appreciate the help provided
82-T/A [At Work] APR 26, 03:11 PM

quote
Originally posted by cartercarbaficionado:

then it is a early 85 block with no roller lifters and I'll need to do a cam break in and 5 oil changes before 300 miles are up
appreciate the help provided




If you're really concerned, they also sell "cam saver" lifters now which either have a small hole drilled in the bottom, or a little groove notched in the side (below the oil relief) so that it shoots oil directly onto the cam lobe, rather than it just splashing up. I think it was Sleek Fiero that turned me on to these, and you can order them in all sizes and configurations.

[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 04-26-2024).]

cartercarbaficionado APR 27, 08:44 AM
low effort body work as promised, looks better than when I got it at least


82-T/A [At Work] APR 27, 09:39 AM
Man, that is a super cool little Fiero. What's the story behind it again? Was this the barn-find one?


I love the 13" PMD turbo-fin wheels. They are actually quite rare, but really cool in my opinion.
cartercarbaficionado APR 27, 11:14 AM

quote
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:

Man, that is a super cool little Fiero. What's the story behind it again? Was this the barn-find one?


I love the 13" PMD turbo-fin wheels. They are actually quite rare, but really cool in my opinion.


its a 84 fiero with and iron duke and a 3 speed auto. it's anything but cool tbh. I like my friends 88 formula much more and hopefully I get to save a 88 gt soon for myself

story is I bought it off a guy in Oregon for a buddy and it had a title and completely seized engine that had sat without a head since the 90s,so we set to work smashing the pistons to bits to remove the converter bolts to pull the motor and we got it out started assembling the new motor and it stalled for close to a year so while we wait on parts might as well make it look nice since it was very very close to burning to the ground in the 90s when the engine blew the number 4 rod out of the block and caught on fire slightly but no damage done permanently at least,later it might get a 3.1l because it's easy to put in and definitely a 6 speed swap with some 88 suspension to dial in the handling
cartercarbaficionado APR 27, 11:21 AM

quote
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:

Man, that is a super cool little Fiero. What's the story behind it again? Was this the barn-find one?


I love the 13" PMD turbo-fin wheels. They are actually quite rare, but really cool in my opinion.


I have quite a few gms as they are the cheapest in ok condition In my area and they drive nice. have had a few ford's (including a 72 econoline with a v8 out of a gt350 swapped into the i6 chassis that I legit could not drive due to the race clutch needing my 13 year old self to bend the pedal arm with the amount of force needed to make it move) also a 70 Westfallia I learned (and loved) to drive a stick in
also I specifically sought out these rims because they are extremely lightweight and look coolThis images is larger than 153600 bytes. Click to view.[img]https://images.fiero.nl/userimages/cartercarbaficionado/20230809_192017.jpg [/img]
82-T/A [At Work] APR 28, 09:22 AM
Oh man, I have never seen anything like that before...

This images is larger than 153600 bytes. Click to view.


So you had to bust out the pistons because the pistons were seized to the wall? Damn...
cartercarbaficionado APR 28, 09:05 PM

quote
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:

Oh man, I have never seen anything like that before...

This images is larger than 153600 bytes. Click to view.


So you had to bust out the pistons because the pistons were seized to the wall? Damn...


oh yeah it took hours of drilling and 2 different air hammers before i asked my neighbor for his husky long bore that shredded it,had to pull the engine from the top since the subframe bolts were trying to bust off and I didn't have quite enough space to use fire or lift it out