What was it on the fieros that would catch on fire? Was it just certain years?

Mostly the 84's I believe...

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According to Pontiac the major cause for engine fires was a result of "owner failure to remove combustible debris from engine compartment", however, that was only a small portion of the fires. Another major cause was the fact that the '84 models received numerous engines from parent company GM that were shipped with bad rods that resulted in a rod through the motor. Typically when the rod was thrown it went through the block on the catalytic converter side and hot oil was thrown onto the converter that resulted in an oil fire.

There was a recall announced sometime in '87 to correct the engine fire problem which resulted in a few "bandaids" here and there as well as in some of the more extreme cases, new motors. Begining in the '85 MY GM had performed slight changes as well as different rods (I believe) that reduced the chance of rod failure. According to Pontiac the recall was performed on all remaining units so at this point you can no longer purchace a "pre-recall" unit, however with that said, we all know how reliable Pontiac can be when it comes to their recall records.

I just found out that my '84 has not had recall 88-C-23 done to it despite the local GM dealer telling me it had no open recalls on it.

The above recall states, "Dealers are to service all vehicles subject to this campaign at no charge to owners, regardless of mileage, age of vehicle, or ownership, from this time forward."

Looks like fun ahead getting Pontiac to honor this recall.

For recall info the Michigan Fiero Club had listings for most if not all on their site at; www.michiganfieroclub.org/index.html#recalls