ok folks, i want to start a thread on things that were done to your car before you got it, that make no sense. i'll start... i just got done fixing the fresh air intake for the pcv system on the valve cover. the previous owner(p/o) disconnected the tube, left the elbow in the valve cover sucking dirt, and plugged the port on the air filter snorkel. before that, i had to fix the heating system. i can only guess that to fix a leaking heater core, he cut and plugged the water pump supply hose behind taillight and then used a plug to fill the opening in the water pump. i am sure i will find much more as i get deeper into this car and learn more from your help. whats your p/o story?
My car (which started life as a sun-baked black Formula) had been slathered in Armor All, to make it sort of shine. Took two years for all the Armor All to evaporate / wash off.
Can't really blame the previous owner, as he only had it for a few days before I traded with him, for it. Don't think he would have done that, anyway.
------------------ Raydar 88 Formula IMSA Fastback. 4.9, NVG T550 Praise the Lowered!
Kept stalling, ignition module was the cause but instead of replacing that, PO inserted a switch into the transmission wiring so that you could start it in drive instead of having to shift to neutral/park.
Transmission cooler hard line broke so repaired with rubber hose and clamps. That's fine except PO did not flare the ends of the hard lines so eventually the hose came off (even though clamped), dropped all the trans fluid and killed the trans.
Upper frail rail on drivers side and trunk corner rotted out. 'Fixed' by covering with aluminum roofing flashing and loads of black mastic, enough that I missed it when buying the car and had to rebuild that frame rail and the trunk corners later on.
Fog lights installed. No fuse in the wiring! DUH! (I'll fix that one day, for now they are disconnected).
Battery tray rotted out. Battery 'held' in place with a bungy cord!
------------------ Anything I might say is probably worth what you paid for it, so treat it accordingly!
lets see... blocked off the Heater core.... seat only down with 2 bolts. things like that....
Now ill admit When I sent my IMSA to Jason I had put a 3/8ths socket extension in the clutch push rod area to lengthen the throw of the rod.... F^&$& you it worked lol
- L/F lower ball joint held in with aluminum Pepsi can [used as shimming material] then wrapped with duct tape. (That was a classic!!) - Instead of using the correct or even close to it fasteners for interior trim. The PO used black mastic, as used to seal the windshield and back glass. - Super cheap, self paint job that wasn't prepped right. That was fun. Thank you D/A. - God awful ugly stick on air vents. - Painted the stock alum 5 slot wheels black. That was fun also. - Siliconed the thermostat/radiator cap on
- And the list goes on.
I've had this Fiero for nearly 2 years. I think pretty much everything has either been gone over or corrected, but I just never know. It's the gift that keeps on giving.
1988 Mera left uncovered in a driveway in Orlando Florida for about six years and that was the good part. The owner paid thousands of dollars to remove all of the Beechwood trim and cover everything in red/black vinyl (including dash, all pillars, headliner, consoles, etc.). I have pictures of the interior but do not want to ruin anyone's day. Needless to say, the interior was stripped and will once again be Beechwood at some point (since I have a spare Beechwood interior).
The previous owner of my '87 Coupe was the original owner and she did some very interesting things in the 2+ decades she had it. When she wore out the upholstery she would just install new seat covers over the old ones. There were three sets on the seats. She spilled a whole bottle of red air freshener on the passenger seat, so now the whole shop smells wonderful.
The car quit running two months before I bought it on January 1, 2011 (which was the reason it was for sale). She had some friends tow it home and they weren't careful with the tow strap. It ripped the chin spoiler off and damaged the big plastic piece that holds the front fascia to the frame and channels air to the radiator.
When the headliner fabric started to sag, she used 2" pins to try to hold it up. I pulled about 20 of them out of the backer board.
One of the headlights was locked in the up position with a piece of firewood. Wish I would have taken a photo of it.
85 GT......someone was too cheap and lazy to buy a new inner grease seal for the left front rotor. Black ooze had run down the backing plate into a gooey mess.
And on several 87-88 headlight motor rebuilds I have found pencil erasers, bic pen pieces and even ball bearings for bumper material. Kit
No clips on the brake pads so they clicked loudly when rolling through town (I could hear them echoing off buildings...)
Non-sealed 20A inline fuse holder spliced into ignition coil +12V wire with a wire running down to the P/N switch to power tail lights. (No power on the correct supply wire for some reason...)
Trunk light hard-wired to alternator output (remove bulb to turn it off...)
Enough liquid tire sealant in the front tires to make them bounce at 55 and 57 MPH (different amounts in each tire...)
JB welded-over hole around O2 sensor bung from twisting it off (blew off the first time I revved it over 4000RPM...)
The technician who performed the recall work never capped the hole in the air cleaner housing allowing the car to suck dirty air for 100k+ miles (Lots of blow-by...)
on my 88 when i first got it not so much as a big deal but the previous owner said it had a oil leak at the valve pan that it needed a new gasket so i went to buy a new gasket and went to replace it but to my surprise i was able to take every bolt out with my fingers
Over tightening the one lower balljoint, causing it to spin.. Had to sawzall it off. Over tightening both front spindle nuts, stripping the threads of the drop spindles. Over tightening just about everything.
Pros; When he sold it to me, he said not to trust any of the work he'd done. I didn't drive it before the spindles got replaced... Thank Goodness.
Coffee can (label was still readable after all the years) over the exhaust by the cat and tightened with hose clamps to attempt to fix rusted out cat, Broken exhaust studs that were very poorly attempted to be fixed, badly adjusted lash and timing way off. In the end though the fixes were cheap and I got an incredible car for what I paid, and then later did a 3800 engine swap and even after that I didn't pay as much as some people pay for a good condition Fiero.
Of course I got a couple of my own rigged up parts that were suppose to be temporary, but have become permanent
------------------ 86 Fiero GT 4spd - L67 swap: VS cam, GenV 98 GTP - Some mods
ok folks, , i had to fix the heating system. i can only guess that to fix a leaking heater core, he cut and plugged the water pump supply hose behind taillight and then used a plug to fill the opening in the water pump.
Sounds like he spent more time "fixing" it than it would have taken to change the core,
PO of mine bought a Grant steering wheel, but not the mounting adapter. He cut the center hub off the old wheel and TRIED to weld it to the back of the new one. The weld was so bad that when I cut it off the stamped part #'s were still there under the weld. Would have been fun driving on the highway and having the wheel come off in your hands.
PO of mine bought a Grant steering wheel, but not the mounting adapter. He cut the center hub off the old wheel and TRIED to weld it to the back of the new one. The weld was so bad that when I cut it off the stamped part #'s were still there under the weld. Would have been fun driving on the highway and having the wheel come off in your hands.
I read in another thread that someone was actually driving their Fiero and the steering wheel actually did come off while they were driving. Talk about scary.
Sounds like he spent more time "fixing" it than it would have taken to change the core,
Joe
your telling me. i gotta say though it was done so it wouldnt leak,but everything else was left exposed-pcv intake,throttle body heater nipples, nipple on air filter, and air intake on egr solenoid, and i'm sure i'll find more
4-spd shift cable ball socket tie-wrapped over to hold it on the ball stud! I made up one of those bronze bushing setups to hold it now and it's been working for a few years now. Someday I'll do a cable replacement
Heater core bypass (this must be a typical Fiero thing from what I see in these posts)
Clutch safety switch bypassed (still haven't fixed that yet, was taught to always start a stick car out of gear so has not been an issue)
Battery bungee corded in (new battery tray waiting engine removal for proper repair)
Washer fluid filter duct-taped together (good ole gorilla glue to the rescue for that one)
I'm sure I've forgotten a few other things . . . . nothing some TLC doesn't take care of ------------------ "There is no more formidable adversary than one who perceives he has nothing to lose." - Gen. George S. Patton http://www.flowbenchtech.com
[This message has been edited by Brucepts (edited 11-28-2013).]
Mine had new automatic transmission cooler lines fabbed up using parts-store tubing; unfortunately they used the swaybar as a bending jig. They were both super tight against the swaybar where they made the turn to up towards the radiator. A leak waiting to happen.
Found out the hard way one of the '88 brake calipers had one of its slider pins installed backwards. Installed backward, it places the countersunk end on the wrong side (against the knuckle) and the mounting bolt won't thread in more than a couple turns. Eventually it loosened itself and came out, the the other bolt started to become loose just from using the brakes. I knew something was wrong when I heard a clunk every time I hit the brakes.
I've seen lots of stupid stuff in junkyards. Cars with plug wires that are much too long is very common. They're always draped way down low by the exhaust manifold. Or one car I saw had real long coil wire. Someone had tied a knot in it to take up some of the slack.
On one car I saw, someone had cut all the wires in that little "bundle" that fits in the space between the valve cover and the lower plenum. Probably got frustrated with it when they were replacing valve cover gaskets, or something. Anyway, they cut out the bundle and then just spliced all the wires together using wire nuts. And the whole mess was now hanging down below the valve cover, by the spark plugs.
Lol you guys make me feel REALLY lucky. Gent that I bought my car off of did everything right. Only issue it had was paint was -starting- to fade, and is now full blown baked. I had neglected the poor girl for a while due to being poor as hell but now I've caught up.
Now my Cutlass.. Guy that owned that before me was not a car guy.. And it shows in his work..
First my '86 SE. The previous owner "went through" the engine. He didn't set the rockers he cranked all the rocker nuts down all the way. When the starter turned the engine it bent all the push rods, ruined the cam bearings (lots of pressure no lube), and eventually ruined the starter. Needless to say he couldn't figure out why it wouldn't start.
Second is my '84. It has a rebuilt engine. Water pump failed right away, it looked used. At this point I was worried that it wasn't a rebuilt engine. Previous owner also put in a new clutch. After about 30 miles the tranny was making ginding noises. The tranny had no oil in it. But thing got worse. Started going through antifreeze and lots of white smoke. Blown head gasket. removed head. The head bolts were improperly torqued. I needed a huge breaker bar to bust loose the middle bolts and had 2 bolt that could have been removed with a 1/4" ratchet. when apart I was able to see the hone marks on the cylinder walls. Whew fresh engine. Reinstalled the head, however I did not remove the intake. After start up still a lot of white smoke. Thought I had a cracked head. Ran compression test. All cylinders 150. Pressurized the coolant system. Could not maintain pressure. No puddles or drips. I looked in the throttle body and lo and behold antifreeze. Should have replaced the intake gasket when I replaced the head gasket. Turns out that 5 of the bolts were finger tight and they happen to be the bolts around the coolant passage.
On the upside the '86 SE has the 4 speed automatic installed, and is fully equipped with every option, including '87 GT body panels and steering wheel being installed sometime in it's life, and it only cost me $400.00. And, the '84 is an SE with zero rust. And to think I had an '86 2.8 liter with 82000 miles in my garage, and an extra 4 speed manual tranny. Sometimes luck just goes the right way.
Checking to see if my name is in here. 
