Ok, so i finally decided to get off my a$$ and start doing some things on my to do list (and its a long one...)

I have a stock 2.8 in an 85 GT, and I'll be doing this all with the engine in the car...unfortunately.

Here's what the plan is in no particular order...
- Replace the plenum and valve covers with the awesome powder coated stuff i got from a member on here a while ago (electrathon?)
- Take off, clean and paint various other parts that need TLC (TB, heat shields, batt tray etc...)
- Remove the filthy insulation and paint
- Replace ignition parts (nothing wrong with them but a good tune up never hurts)
- Port exhaust manifolds
- Try to get my cruise ctrl working

Is there anything else i should get into while i have my hands dirty?

Ill start with a couple questions (i bet there will be quite a few)



1. Should i replace my distributor? It is pretty rusty, can i just clean it up with some steel wool?

2. How important is the engine bay insulation?(Edit: i mean the stuff on the firewall)
I have seen threads on here where ppl replaced it with heat resistant stuff. Has anyone ever just taken it off and left it like that? Will i cook? Is it risky?

Your help is appreciated!

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85 Fiero GT - Work In Progress
http://www.myspace.com/romeoliquorstore

[This message has been edited by Dougie Murder (edited 06-17-2010).]

You should not need to replace the distributor so long as the fingers do not touch each other. Change the cap and rotor if you don't know when it was changed last at least though.

For the insulation, you can take off the sides and underneath, once cleaned up, will probly be some fairly good looking paint. Just clean it up as best you can. The insulation on the firewall should not be taken off unless you are going to replace it or all you will hear in the cabin is the sound of the engine. Not only is it for some heat but for sound deadening as well.

About the exhaust manifolds, I would not attempt to take them off while the engine is in the car unless they have been taken off recently. You will be very angry if a bolt breaks and you have a killer exhaust leak until you can pull the engine. I have always, ALWAYS, heated manifold bolts with a torch to get them out. Getting broken bolts out of the head are not fun.

You will be surprised what a day of cleaning and a can of paint can do to the engine bay. World of difference. Good luck

I tore out all the insulation in mine and sprayed in rubberized undercoating and painted that. I haven't had any problems with it, and it looks good.

Good idea! The 2.8 can be a very good-looking engine when cleaned up. I keep mine clean since I rebuilt it 4 years ago and I did many things (and more) of what you are planning to do. Here's a pic of my trusty V6 from a few days ago:

quote 1. Should i replace my distributor? It is pretty rusty, can i just clean it up with some steel wool?

I would remove it (mark the position before you do!) and take a wire wheel to it. Install a new pickup coil while you're at it. And a new ignition module or at least remove the old one, clean underneath and apply new heat-sink grease (or whatever the stuff is called).

quote 2. How important is the engine bay insulation?(Edit: i mean the stuff on the firewall) I have seen threads on here where ppl replaced it with heat resistant stuff. Has anyone ever just taken it off and left it like that? Will i cook? Is it risky?

I left the stuff on the firewall and removed everything else. I think it may be hard to replace the firewall stuff with the engine in the car.

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll just try to clean the distributor up as best i can. I dont wanna mess with taking it out if i dont have to.
I'll be replacing everything else anyway.

I know the manifolds are going to be the biggest pain in the a**, but from what i've seen on here, people have had success by soaking them in PB blaster for weeks...maybe i'll change my mind...

I think you guys are right about the insulation. It's tough to get at it with the engine in the car. I'm just going to remove the stuff from the strut towers and clean the crap out of the firewall stuff.

hey, where did you get those nice stainless decklid panels?

Look here: http://www.yellowfiero.com/mods/index.php

quote Originally posted by IXSLR8: hey, where did you get those nice stainless decklid panels?

Did a few more things...
took off the valve covers, engine hooks, heat shield stuff

Forgot I found this earlier...
Can anyone i.d this bracket? It was wedged in between the firewall side spark plugs.

[This message has been edited by Dougie Murder (edited 06-21-2010).]

Goes like this...

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Thanks Tony!
So i guess that holds one of the larger vac lines under the plenum?

My Y-pipe heat shield was clamped onto the pipe and wrapped in some fiber stuff...pretty sure it didnt come like that.
Does someone have a pic of how its supposed to look? Where did it attach to originally?


Everything is pretty much apart now and the next step is to scrub the hell out of all the dirt and grease...25 years worth!

I am pretty sure that is what it does. I am not near my car right now. I will take a gander at her later for you, but basically it goes there. The heat shield on yours looks to be in pretty rough shape.

In this pic, you can see how the heatshield bolts to the shield for the coil. On the front of the heat shield, there is a U shaped area that bolts to the engine block. There will look like a bolt snugged against a bolt on the drivers side front of the head.

quote Originally posted by Dougie Murder: Can anyone i.d this bracket? It was wedged in between the firewall side spark plugs.

Holds plastic thingie for spark plug wires.

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My World of Wheels Winners (Click on links below)

3.4L Supercharged 87 GT and Super Duty 4 Indy #163

Thanks again Tony!

The heat shield i am talking about is different tho...Im not talking about the one that sits near the distributor. The heat shield in my pic is located above the O2 sensor, near the slave cyl.
Did the Fiero come with a shield there? The PO might have put this one there...i'ts pretty ghetto.

quote Originally posted by fierosound: Holds plastic thingie for spark plug wires.

Thanks Fierosound.
So this sits in front of the TB cable bracket, and holds the spark plug holder thing, because the spk plug wires are supposed to be routed under the plenum? Is this the way they came from the factory?
My wires were routed like tony's around the top of the plenum.

[This message has been edited by Dougie Murder (edited 06-23-2010).]

I have a complete set of heat shields that I don't need (engines swap). They are in way better shape than yours, if your interested drop me a PM.

Joe Sokol

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85 SE Daily driver with a 3.4 DOHC OBD II
88 Formula/GT 4.9 Allante Intake (My Baby)

I have witnessed said shields, and can attest to Fieroking's honesty.

Dougie... don't forget to post up some pics of the after. While I love my car, I really enjoy seeing others take so much pride in their own.

quote Originally posted by Dougie Murder: Thanks Fierosound. So this sits in front of the TB cable bracket, and holds the spark plug holder thing, because the spk plug wires are supposed to be routed under the plenum? Is this the way they came from the factory?

The plug wires drop through the gap to that wire clip and go under the throttle cable bracket.

[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 06-24-2010).]

Doug, that heat shield you pictured looks like it came off a catalytic converter. It is definitely not a stock Fiero item.

Just out of curiosity, do you plan on re-routing wires, hoses, etc to try to reduce clutter? If so, you might want to visit this thread:

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/081032.html

Thanks for all the help guys!!

So that shield i have in the picture is not a stock part...is there one there usually? I assume there should be one there to keep heat off the slave cyl.

Heres some more stuff ive done...cleaning is taking forever.

Cleaned up the heat shields with a wire wheel and painted with "aluminum" dupli-color high heat engine enamel.


Started to tackle the trans cleaning...it looked the same as the area to the right of the exh. pipe before.
Dish soap, scotchbrite pads and elbow grease...


Here's my bucket after round 1

[This message has been edited by Dougie Murder (edited 06-26-2010).]

Hey Doug, in those heat shields you pictured above, the two in the middle cover the exhaust Y-pipe. There are no other heat shields on the Y-pipe. Also, the slave cylinder has a separate heat shield, that mounts to the slave cylinder.

Lookin' good so far!

quote Originally posted by Blacktree: Hey Doug, in those heat shields you pictured above, the two in the middle cover the exhaust Y-pipe. There are no other heat shields on the Y-pipe. Also, the slave cylinder has a separate heat shield, that mounts to the slave cylinder. Lookin' good so far!

Oh ok thanks!

I dont have that shield for the slave....anyone have a pic of it on? I did a search but turned up nothing.

It's coming along....

Before...


After....I now have a transmission...instead of a lump of crap.

i would advise since you are that far along with the engine cleaning on replaceing or rebuilding the distributor. If you need a rebuilt one i sell them for $50 pluce core and shipping. Just an FYI and easier to fix now than later. Also change out that o-ring on the distributor shaft.

Slow progress...new home,reno stuff...working like crazy....

Here is a few things ive done.

Here is the old egr tube thing that got altered as part of the recall effort...great job GM.


Cut it down so it doesnt stick out as much and painted it.


Managed to paint the strut towers and surrounding area...




Parts are on order. Engine gets put back together soon!!

[This message has been edited by Dougie Murder (edited 07-11-2010).]

You did exactly what I did to my car last year. It is worth the effort. I also deleted the throttle body tubes permanently.

To the guys with the super clean engines, How do you continue to upkeep the engine appearence? Mine was shiny, now dust and stuff is getting on all the surfaces, plus I want kind of a shine to appear. Some kind of wash and wax soap with hot water?

Edit: I also cut down and/ or eliminated the hoist points on the engine. The oil dipstick attaches to the one, so i cut it down to only do that.

[This message has been edited by 02greens10 (edited 07-11-2010).]

quote Originally posted by 02greens10: You did exactly what I did to my car last year. It is worth the effort. I also deleted the throttle body tubes permanently.

Quite a few ppl have suggested this. How did you close up the connections on the t-stat housing?

quote To the guys with the super clean engines, How do you continue to upkeep the engine appearence? Mine was shiny, now dust and stuff is getting on all the surfaces, plus I want kind of a shine to appear. Some kind of wash and wax soap with hot water?

I think guys will just tell you that you have to stay on top of the cleaning. I have friends that just take their cars to detailing places once or twice a year and get the engine shampoo'd.

[This message has been edited by Dougie Murder (edited 07-11-2010).]

quote Originally posted by Dougie Murder: Quite a few ppl have suggested this. How did you close up the connections on the t-stat housing?

When I did mine, I painted the thermostat housing and put plugs over the holes with clamps. It would have been nice to weld them closed but didn't want to screw with it. On the throttle body side I got some brass plugs from AdvanceAuto. You don't have to plug them though.

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-Brian

My 87 GT Poly Suspension Upgrade (all pics) thread
Removing the roof panel

Got all the parts I ordered from Rockauto.com (I shipped them to my buddies PO box in buffalo and had him bring them back when he went down there recently..I saved a ton of coin on shipping/duty/parts)

But it's not all good...the Distributor cap I got is BLUE!!!!! It was BLACK in the picture!!
Just my luck!

Coming along... i pulled the distributor like you guys said...the O ring looks good...


But the rest looks lke crap and the fingers do in fact rub together. I'll have to contact one of the fine folks on here who rebuild these and sell them.


This looks like a good product
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum4/HTML/050031.html

No matter what the O-ring looks like, if it has been in the car over a month replace it. It's dirt cheap and when it leaks it just plain old sucks.

$0.51 from Rock Auto..

$1.09 at Advance Auto - and if there is a store in your town, they most likely have it in stock.

http://shop.advanceautopart...ILTAMS_1422299258___

[This message has been edited by phonedawgz (edited 07-22-2010).]

quote Originally posted by phonedawgz: No matter what the O-ring looks like, if it has been in the car over a month replace it. It's dirt cheap and when it leaks it just plain old sucks. $0.51 from Rock Auto..

Thx. I ordered that part from Rockauto along with all my other stuff.

quote Originally posted by Tony Kania:

Does anybody know the specific source for that chromed oil filler cap on the rearmost valve cover?

I ask because that chrome oil filler cap looks great in my opinion, but I've not been able to find one, and it also doesn't appear to be a chromed version of the stock Fiero one, because I think the stock one on a Fiero usually is flat or recessed rather than domed like the one pictured above apparently is.

Well...Ive had my plate full recently...I'll spare you the boring details...but i managed to do a few more things today and I hope to use the long weekend to finally but this to bed.

Did the spark plugs. man these things were super tight. I snapped 5 out of 6 trying ti get them out.
Below is a pic of one of the firewall side plugs, its a decroded piece of crap, probably from rain water collecting.Would the decklid drip guard (taken off during the recall) prevent this??



Also i cleaned the old gasket material off the lower intake and wrapped most of my exhaust with heat wrap...I ran out tho...need another roll to finish off the firewall manifold and little bit of the Y-pipe.

quote Originally posted by project34: Does anybody know the specific source for that chromed oil filler cap on the rearmost valve cover? I ask because that chrome oil filler cap looks great in my opinion, but I've not been able to find one, and it also doesn't appear to be a chromed version of the stock Fiero one, because I think the stock one on a Fiero usually is flat or recessed rather than domed like the one pictured above apparently is.

I believe that I had bought that about 6 years ago @ Pep Boys? Best that I can remember, sorry.

On those plugs, don't forget a bit of dieelectric grease on the boots, and some anti sieze on the plug threads. Just makes life much easier down the road. Also insulates the plug from water.

[This message has been edited by Tony Kania (edited 08-01-2010).]

If you want to make it quicker let me know. I have every part you could need, sandblasted and ready for paint. I get your old parts and 5 bucks.

I wanted to comment on the slave cylinder for the clutch. I couldn't find a heat shield for it either so I made one that mounts to the slave's bolts. I think the bolt was long enough to just slip the shield on and add an extra nut. Anyway it's basically a rectagle the length of the body with tabs. one for the mount bolt and a tab for the relieve valve. In looking at your heat shields, I noticed your missing some. There is one that goes under the coil that the side attaches to. There's one that comes around header at the alterator and a major one for the firewall side header. it gets really hot in there. Have fun on your build. it's worth it in the end. There is one thing that you'll hate when it's all done and it is keeping it looking that way. Cleaning sucks. Makes you want to just pull the engine out and start over. You didn't here from me though but you'll see.

[This message has been edited by unboundmo (edited 08-01-2010).]

quote Originally posted by Tony Kania: I believe that I had bought that about 6 years ago @ Pep Boys? Best that I can remember, sorry. On those plugs, don't forget a bit of dieelectric grease on the boots, and some anti sieze on the plug threads. Just makes life much easier down the road. Also insulates the plug from water.

Ive looked at all the auto parts places around here and i have had no luck finding an oil cap like that, that will fit.
Thx for the tip!!

quote Originally posted by 87antuzzi: If you want to make it quicker let me know. I have every part you could need, sandblasted and ready for paint. I get your old parts and 5 bucks.

Thx but I already have everything I need...just need to find the time to get it done!!

[This message has been edited by Dougie Murder (edited 08-01-2010).]

quote Originally posted by Dougie Murder: Thx but I already have everything I need...just need to find the time to get it done!!

YOU SEND ME DIRTY PARTS. I SEND YOU CLEAN PARTS SAME DAY. I now have dirty parts that neeed to be cleaned. You now have clean parts ready to install. I make 10 bucks and you save time.

quote Originally posted by unboundmo: I wanted to comment on the slave cylinder for the clutch. I couldn't find a heat shield for it either so I made one that mounts to the slave's bolts. I think the bolt was long enough to just slip the shield on and add an extra nut. Anyway it's basically a rectagle the length of the body with tabs. one for the mount bolt and a tab for the relieve valve.

Cool! Got pics??

quote Originally posted by phonedawgz: No matter what the O-ring looks like, if it has been in the car over a month replace it. It's dirt cheap and when it leaks it just plain old sucks. $0.51 from Rock Auto.. $1.09 at Advance Auto - and if there is a store in your town, they most likely have it in stock. http://shop.advanceautopart...ILTAMS_1422299258___ Ditto!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's what the clutch shield looks like if you can make it out. It was a rectangle but then I bent it with a vice to make a half an octagon. Notice the cut out? That ends up being the tab for mounting. On the left, there's the other tab for the relief valve.



Here's some of the other shields that your missing in that picture of yours. This next one shows the shield under the coil.



Sorry for the blurriness. Alternator heat shield followed by the firewall shield.






I sprayed all of them with the VHT paint 2000°. The firewall one is an extra that is powder coated chrome.


------ That oil cap is available at PepBoys in the Spectre section. I have one also

[This message has been edited by unboundmo (edited 08-02-2010).]