OK, the saga of me buying the Fiero continues...

All I want to do (for right now) is get this thing to where it will pass inspection so I can get it licensed.

The hurdle I'm dealing with now (and hurdle it is)... is the emergency brake.

I purchased all new e-brake cables from the Fiero Store... all well and good.

OK, now to go put them on...

Tonight I find that the crusty old falling apart e-brake cables that are on the car are connected to NOTHING at the caliper. Rather, they are just conveniently tucked in there somewhere... Upon closer inspection I discover that the whole e-brake bracket and assembly is completely missing from the passenger side... So, I go look at the driver's side... you guessed it... gone too. OK, so I'm gonna have to come up with these parts somewhere... fine...

So, I go about trying to get these calipers off. The caliper pins are STUCK! It's like they are welded in there. I finally got one of them on the passenger side to crack and started unscrewing it. Having gotten that one loose I was inspired to keep trying to get the other three off. Trying again with the remaining pin on the passenger side... no luck... move over to the driver's side.

Trying to get the top one off with my 1/4" allen wrench, the inside of the top of the pin strips out!!!!!!

I'm thinking, "Oh great, now what do I do!?!?!?"

So now what do I do??? Am I ever gonna get this caliper off?

Thanks,
DMitch

First off they are not allen head bolts they are torx head, that may be part of your troubles. Second if it's a pre 88 car the previous owner may have done the Grand Am brake swap in the rear which loses the e brake setup.

Those torx heads are very shallow. I stripped one out totally when changing my brake pads last time. I used a die grinder (Air, you won't do **** with a dremel).

Grind a good flat on it and take it out with locking pliers. You may need to do 2 flats, I got mine out with one. The rubber boot that is in your way just pulls right off. I didn't have much option, so I used the same die grinder to very slowly make the head of the bolt into a 1/2 for reinstalling the caliper. It was hell.

A carbide cone burr at full throttle will work nicely. Usee a double cut burr. Single cut will dance all over the place.

The proper tool is a T50 Torx bit. ( Yes, I am sure, I have the tool in my hand atm. ) Try that before you get silly with the die grinder. Be VERY careful The torx socket on that bolt is not even 1/4" deep.

If you rear rotors are vented and you car is not an 88, those are not fiero calipers. They aren't even rear calipers. A popular mod is to put Grand Am from brakes on the rear of fieros. It would explain your lack of a parking brake. If this is the case, Luckily, no modification to the car is required to put those on, and none will be required to put the right brakes back on. You would only need fiero rotors and calipers.

[This message has been edited by HellYes (edited 05-24-2005).]

Sounds like you're going to need to do the grinder method as detailed above. Also use PB Blaster to soak the threads and (hopefully) loosen them up. You're probably going to want to get new (rebuilt) rear calipers and pads, as the new calipers should have the E-brake hardware you are missing. Good luck. BTW, PB Blaster may be flammable, so be careful with that grinder!

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Huh?

They inspect for the e-brake operation in St Louis?
It is not part of the inspection here in the middle of the state.

Kevin

Thanks for all the input. Looks like I'm going to have to go tool shopping.

Also, FYI, I am dealing with the stock 1985 Fiero brakes. They are very small and the rotors match the diagrams in both my factory and Chilton's manuals.

And yes, Lambo Nut, they do check for a working emergency brake here in St. Louis. I wonder why they don't out in Centralia. Now I'm curious. Perhaps I'll try to find the criteria for the safety inspection online somewhere...

I'll keep you all posted, and I'm sure I'll have a follow up question or two!

Thanks,
DMitch

Are the front and rear calipers the same, if so someone may have put front calipers on the rear to solve non working e brake calipers?

You did not say which tranny you have. The recall to fix the e-brake was for manual tranny only. they said the auto tranny was not affected because it has a parking gear. So if you have a auto tranny I would think you could cause some problems for them because the factory refused to fix the Fiero's with auto tranny. just my thoughts.
Don

1985
Coupe
4 Cylinder
5 Speed Manual Trans

I am definitely dealing with stock rear calipers. Thanks to everyone helping with the identification.

Well, today on lunch I went out and bought the torx sockets and I also got some PB Blaster. So now I'm stoked to go get out the two of the remaining three that aren't stripped. I'm still working on getting the right tools for the one that is stripped.

Thanks again.
DMitch

some of the slider bolts you get with rebuilt calipers use hex wrenches. very confusing when you get both types on your car.