Small update while I'm here.

I forgot my camera last time I was down. To bad too. It was a very productive weekend.

I finally got the car out for some real test drives. Everything went pretty smooth. It drove better then I expected. The speedo is not working though. Actually I'm not sure if Aaron did the conversion to my chip to directly run the speedo or not. I'm going to try adding one of Rockcrawls conversion circuits (I bought it almost a year ago) and see if I can get that working. As a last resort I will go with VSS to PCM to Speedo connected in series. Hopefully the circuit will work.

The car drove so well on the test drives I decided to start puting it back together. I later installed most of the rest of the interior pieces. The new seats went in also... Damn, they look good! New locks were installed for the deck and doors, center skeleton was put back in the car, heater controls and rear view mirror were robbed from parts car, PCV vent was added, purge canister wired in and vaccume lines re-arranged back to factory specs per the service manual. I also discovered that it was not a belt chirp I was hearing. Come to find out the alternator has a bad bearing in it. Course that was after I had already re-made the tentioner bracket. The altenator/starter rebuilders up the street say they have a replacement bearing for me so I won't have to replace the whole alternator. I will give me a chance to rebuild it fully anyway. I know there are many other things I got done but I can't think of them right now.

After finishing up all this stuff it was time to pack up for the trip home. I got everything put away and decided to move the car outside. It now seems to idle better then it ever had before.

Of course, now the car has developed a new problem. I seems to be because the RPM's drop so fast when letting off the gas. The PCM can't compensate fast enough and the car dies. If I ease off the gas it in not a problem. I think I was just taking it easy on the first couple drives so it never got a chance to do it. I'm going to try grounding C10 and F7 now and see if that doesn't solve the problem as per MickeyMoose suggestion in the "building a 4.9 swap harness" thread (pg 4).

I will also be doing the tach modification and will dial it in with a scanner. I'll post a small write up on how to do this when I get it working. I broke down and bought the scanner since I need to pull the codes and check sensor readouts. Now I'm in kind of a hurry and have to get this car going. My daily driver is dying fast.

I will still be working to get the BCM, ECC, and FDC working in the car but things are not going very smooth for this right now. I can't get the displays to light. They need 16v and my understanding is that came from the BCM. Once I get it figured out we will have the ability to do an idle/tps learn to dial everything in further aswell as all the other things you can do with this system. I'll keep you all posted.

Oh, one more thing. My headlights do not come up. I believe the isolation relay is bad in this car. I think there is an extra on the parts car... hopefully. This car needs to be on the road by 6-2 so that I can take it up to Arlington on 6-7. I think I might just make it.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 03-13-2009).]

Ok. Its been a long time since I updated this thread. And for good reason.

I've spent the last two months working out the bugs to get this car running right. PCM is now getting the VSS signal it needs. Also fixed several other error codes. Tach has been modified, new tires, and so many other things done I can't begin to list them all. Everything is working perfect with one exception....

Aarons chip was garbage. #51 PROM error shows on the scanner anytime I use this chip. Car also only runs in limp mode with it. He said that he would do another chip for me to correct this problem. I now haven't heard from him since a few days before the second chip showed up to him. Its been a month and a half.

For this reason the car still sits parked and can't pass emmisions. Everything else is ready to go.

Since Aaron wont respond to e-mail or phone calls I have gone ahead and ordered a new chip from Rockcrawl (Jon of fieroaddiction.com). I should have done this from the beginning. I would recommend to anyone else needing a 4.9 chip... do the same. Jon responded to the order in less then 24 hours even though he is on the road for the 25th anniversary show.
There just is no replacement for reliability.

Dispite this annoying problem I put almost 1000 miles on the car. Its pretty quick, even in limp mode. I feel the clutch and motor are now full broken in and really fully ready. The isuzu tranny is already going and a the original 85 4speed is going in eventually.

EDIT: To add a couple pics I got on one of the little drives I got to take...


These were taken mid June. Long before most problems were fixed and new tires were added. I'll post updated pics shortly.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 03-13-2009).]

Long overdue for an update.

Unfortunately not much good to report. Aaron did finally come through with the chip. Rockcrawls chip also showed up a couple days later. Replacing the chip fixed almost all of the problems with this car. No more check engine light and it passed emmissions with no problems at all. In fact the emmissions guy was very suprised at just how clean this engine ran. I was very happy with the results. I had fun with the car for a very short period of time.

Now the bad:
First thing I need to replace the head gasket. Unfortunately the engine got over heated before I knew about the coolant system tabs. Long story short the gasket wont seal and leaks coolant into a cylinder. Its a slow leak but its deffanately there. But wait, there's more...

Having the chip fixed and the car no longer running in "limp mode" brought a whole heap of new problems. First up, the clutch could no longer handle the power the enging was producing. Anything above 4000 RPM and it would slip. The isuzu is also getting close to dying. The Synchros are going out. Then it gets worse. The clutch goes out. And yet another SPEC 3 loses a spring. At the moment the car is still driveable.. barely. Course I have to drive it 125 miles in its current condition to get it to the shop. Shouldn't be too much of a problem though. Its HWY the whole way. Once in 5th it will stay there til I reach my destination. I've done this once before when my stock 85SE V6 clutch lost a spring. I know I can make it again.

The original plan was to just install a new clutch (clutchnet), flywheel (LSC performance), switch to a V6 4spd (3.65 final), change the headgasket, and add a head to cradle brace to keep the engine more stable.

Still deciding on the trans for sure. Found a great deal and I am purchasing a F40 trans for 450 delivered in a couple weeks. I will start working on the swap shortly after that. We'll see where this path takes me. I'll do everything I can myself and go to Archie for anything I can't do. Shouldn't be much if anything. Maybe someday I will actually be able to take my car out for a real drive. Someday... Guess I can be patient for a little bit longer. Two years of planing and saving a little over a year actually building it. Later.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 09-08-2008).]

quote Originally posted by 3.6lvvt6spdgt: hey its nice to see im not the only one in oregon crazy enuf to put more money into my fiero then it will ever sell for sorry to hear about the problems your having. but thats an awsome build. come check my build i live in salem. http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/087040.html maybe when i get the chance to go to a fiero meet i can see your car in person.

Wow. Don't know how I missed this post. From all the way back in september.

I may not be able to sell it for what I put into it but honestly i don't care. I have relatively little in it considering what I get out of it. It my car and nobody else can have it. It'll have to be pryed from my dead fingers.

Good to see some other Oregon members doing some fun stuff. Going to check out your thread....

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 03-13-2009).]

Well I can now post pics again. Thats the good news. I'll get pics of the wheels up momentarily.

The bad news, and reason I didn't get the pics posted yesterday, is Tirerack screwed up. The wheels they sent me are indeed the wrong size. They are actually a 16x7 +38mm. They misrepresented the product and in fact ASA does not even make this wheel in a 7 1/2 wide. I'm actually pretty pissed about it as you can imagine. I'm still deciding if I want to keep them or not. They will fit but not like I was planing. In fact they will sit 6mm further in (~1/4in). I know I'm probably the only one that will even notice but I'm still annoyed. The only good thing is they are lighter (~1/2lb each wheel). Well here are the pics anyways. I still love the wheels...




While they are not exactly what I thought I was buying I still like them. They'll still fit and should look good. Actually I was suprised at the size of the lip on them. Pretty good for a 16" wheel and they remain lightweight. Lighter then the original fiero wheels at 18lbs each (actual weight). They are a ton lighter then the ugly white wheels my cars been sporting since I got it (first pic, original post).

I'd love to hear some opinions if anyone has one. Later.

EDIT: Pics fixed.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 03-17-2009).]