Hi. I have an 85 SE 2m4 that I have owned for 20 years. I recently sent the car to my mechanic to get it road ready after if had been in storage for about five years. When he put the car on the lift to install a new exhaust manifold, he discovered that the frame that the suspension mounts to and that apparantly holds the engine in the car is rotted through. I love this car, but don't have tons of money to spend on it. Is it worth fixing? If so, where could I find a new frame? If not, where's the best place to try to sell the car? Is the Mall my next stop?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Well if your talking about the engine cradle and not the chassis frame rails then it's a pretty easy fix, out with the old, in with the new. Takes a bit of work to pull/install the engine but it's a pretty easy job overall. Look for someone parting a car in the mall or craigslist, even ebay sometimes. You might want to consider new suspension bushings or installing polly.

Before you go doing all that though you might want to get your man to give the car a good going over to see what else needs doing on it. No point in spending money replacing the cradle then finding it needs ton more spending on it to fix other stuff.

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Dave

www.ltlfrari.com

Pictures of the rusted areas would help us help you.

Just about anything CAN be fixed. Whether it's worth it, is something only you can answer. It's much easier to just walk into a dealership and buy a new car...but if you like Fieros, they don't make them anymore so it's up to us to keep them running.

Now having said all that, rust free frames are a dime a dozen in the south. I've parted out cars with perfect frames, and if your car is really rusted you can just swap all the good stuff over to the new frame. Time consuming, but not really all that expensive. If you can find someone near you with a Fiero with a blown motor, preferably the same year, you can just unbolt all your stuff and reinstall. Should only take a couple of weeks if you work hard at it.

Any severe rust in a Fiero space age frame is a PITA and pricey to repair. Photos of the damage would be helpful to access the amout of repair needed. If is only the cradle, a good replacement cradle can be used, but if the frame rails are rusted through, the car becomes a parts car.

Thanks guys.

I'll try to get some pictures today and then figure out how to post them.

quote Originally posted by plumbchris2002: Thanks guys. I'll try to get some pictures today and then figure out how to post them.

Click on Pennock's Image Poster icon on the bottom of each page. The forum will upload and host your pics for you. It couldn't be easier.

Here are some pictures...the rotten part seems to be the outermost support member under the car. I'm assuming it's the frame and not the cradle. The mechanic mentioned that the rotting may be due to a leaking battery. The battery pan and the A/C clutch are also rotted away. Thanks again for your input.

That looks like the cradle to me.

You can get another cradle easy enough and if your frame rails are rotten, you can get new ones of those too from Rubyredfiero

Arn

That may be from it setting on flat tires in grass but if not then the frame rails are shot also. The rails in the rear above the wheel normally go along with the trunk then lastly is the cradle. Your cradle is gone, so if the car never sat on grass the upper rails and inside trunk are probably wasted. Good luck. Rick

Any recommendations to halt or control this kind of corrosion?

That's the cradle, the frame rails are higher up. It 'could' have been caused by a leaky battery if just or mostly in the front right area. If the inslution is still in there around the battery area you might want to pull it out and check the frame in that area. Both my 85 and 88 had minor panel rust around there because of battery acid but no frame rail damage. Nothing a little sheet metal work and a welder could not fix but if the rails are going then the job takes on a different order of magnitude.


Any of the rust prevention products from Eastwood's will work well http://www.eastwoodco.com/

I used their rust converter product on mine, followed by rust encapsulator then their chassis paint. I've used Por 15 in the past but I think the eastwood stuff is slightly better but that's just my opinion.

[This message has been edited by ltlfrari (edited 04-21-2008).]

quote Originally posted by SuperchargedV6: That may be from it setting on flat tires in grass but if not then the frame rails are shot also. The rails in the rear above the wheel normally go along with the trunk then lastly is the cradle. Your cradle is gone, so if the car never sat on grass the upper rails and inside trunk are probably wasted. Good luck. Rick

The car did sit in the grass for about two years. The front tires went flat, but not the rear. My mechanic is telling me that if I could find a cradle for it, I would be looking at about $1,000 in labor. Unfortunately, I don't have the garage, time, or patience to do it myself. I'm also concerned that spending over a thousand bucks on this car would be more than it is actually worth. It also needs a new exhaust manifold, alternator, tires and brake lines. Any suggestions?

quote Originally posted by plumbchris2002: Any suggestions?

It sounds to me like you need a new Fiero. For $1000 you can buy one already in better condition that won't need so much work.

I asked if it was parked on grass with flat tires as this would put it done on vegetation or worse flat on the ground if the tires sink. Moisture is drawn to the metal along with organic material causing corrosion like he has. Having it to close to a concrete garage floor will do the same with temperature changes. I was told to use a large tarp in a garage before storage to keep the dampness away.
His cradle just told me this was what happened as it is rotted pretty good at the lowest point which would have set on the ground. When the upper frame rails and inside small ones going to the trunk rot on a Fiero the cradle will rot in the corners where the crosses meet. I have seen this 100 times and found in Ohio that 7 out of 10 will have this rot pattern or the cradle like this one from laying in a field. Rick

quote Originally posted by SuperchargedV6: ...Unlike Texas we don't stay warm most of the year and we see allot of snow and salt that gets in the moisture in the air just drifting onto our poor Fieros. Rick

That's the part I was missing...I wish my parts cars would rust away, but they look exactly the same as when I put them in their final resting place.

quote Originally posted by jscott1: That's the part I was missing...I wish my parts cars would rust away, but they look exactly the same as when I put them in their final resting place.

The grass is always greener on the other side hahahahahaha. Rick

I was thinking the same thing about a new car. When I bought the car 20 years ago, the guy was selling it because he had a wife and kid and not everybody would fit. Now, I'm in the same situation. Searching around on ebay, I can find a lot of nice convertibles that are selling for close to what I would pay to have my Fiero fixed. As much as I hate to sell the car, now may be the time to do it. If you guys were looking to buy, where would you go looking? And any ideas how much my car would be worth?

quote Originally posted by plumbchris2002: I was thinking the same thing about a new car.

You will find that most of us on this forum drive Fieros because we like driving Fieros. Most if not all of us have new cars that we can drive when the Fieros need work, (which is often).

If the Fiero is your only mode of transportation, you either need to be very handy with tools, or pay someone a lot of money to work on it.

If you are wanting to sell it, most Fiero owners are cheap and here is probably not the best place as we already know what's wrong with it. eBay can usually get you a better audience and more buyers, but don't expect much. Even Fieros in really nice condition are not worth a lot of money, unless they are pristine, rare, or highly modified.

Finding another car to drive is not a problem...I have three other cars besides the Fiero, plus I own a plumbing company with three vans and a truck. I too loved to drive this car, unfortunately auto mechanics is nut my cup of soup. I guess my next stop is ebay. I was thinking of trying to get between $500 and $1,000 for it...do you think that's realistic?

Not running, sitting for 5 years, and rusty? No, $1,000 is very optimistic, imho.

I've been looking at clean, running 4cyl 4spds for about that.

Your best bet financially would be to part it out, but since you don't have space, you're likely going to take a loss here.
Someone else may know better, but I'd guess you've got a $1-200 car there.

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~Michael


"Your mileage may vary."
'85 GT 4sp white - SOLD | | '85 2M6 Auto red - SOLD | | '84 2M4 bare chassis - SOLD
Crap, I'm out of Fieros! Time to buy another!!

Even if you drop a few grand on a 'good' Fiero there's really no guarantee that something won't go wrong. One would hope there's less chance of that happening and that most of the issues have been addressed but there's really no guarantees with these babies. Your choices are "Buy a Fiero, become a mechanic" or give money to an mechanic every time anything goes wrong, and it will!
Although I grew up as a biker I hadn't turned a wrench for 30 some years until I got my first Fiero. The reality is that they are not really that hard to work on and this is about the best place in the world for help so you're never really alone. Hell, if I can do an engine swap anyone can so basic maintenance and maybe even some of the slightly more advanced stuff shouldn't be that hard.

As for the value of yours, I doubt your going to get much, a few hundred maybe if your lucky but it depends on the condition of the rest of the car. Either way, unless you are prepared to do the work yourself (sounds like you've got the space and equipment) I think this one is a loss from the outset.

Just my opinion, it's probably worth what you paid for it

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Dave

www.ltlfrari.com

If the car has great sentimental value then you might still want to fix it. After 20 years I'm sure you have a lot of good memories.

But more logically you would be better off getting a nice rust free Fiero and transferring all the good stuff over to it. Or just parting out the rusty one and paying a bit more, say $2,000 to $3,000 for a nicer Fiero that will need less work.

But as stated earlier, there are no guarantees. You could lose a transmission or throw a rod or blow a head gasket at any time. You never know.