I've been wanting a Fiero for about 6 years now, and I'm 19.
My dad had heard a little about them growing up; one of his girlfriends even drove one. So one day he showed me an article that talked about the Fiero, and said how unique and classic it was. On the top of the article was a picture that I fell in love with; it was the side view of a cherry red '88 Formula. I imagined it just slicing through the air, with the spoiler on the back end, and I had that picture as my wallpaper for a few months... but after a while I moved on and got preoccupied with other things, as any freshly teenage boy would.
A little over a month ago, on my 19th birthday, my dad and I took a 4-hour trip to pick up a cherry red '88 Formula that was listed on Craigslist. Between the initial sale and the repairs, it has cost around $3,600. I couldn't be happier, and I'm very lucky and honored to share in the tradition and excitement of the Fiero. So, hello! I look forward to being a part of this community as much as my time permits, and I hope to share my experience as well as to be a part of a few others.
I wanted to take a few pictures of my freshly pampered Fiero, and I thought I'd share them on here:
[This message has been edited by Alblindi (edited 03-09-2014).]
Excellent first Fiero. I love Formula's also. Looks like a nice one. I noticed you have a small tear in your drivers side seat. I have a tear in virtually the same spot on my 86 GT . Oh, and it looks like that dogbone is s little tired. Might be a good idea to replace that. Kit
[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 03-10-2014).]
Looks nice! Need more specifics on the car....where is it from? Any rust? How many miles on the clock? Paint looks good...original?
I have an 88 CJB (factory T-Top code) yellow formula 5 speed. Only 56K on the clock and I am in the middle of a complete overhaul including the suspension, cooling, fuel system, heads, oil pan, vacuum lines, complete exhaust, etc. Just about done. It is definitely a labor of love, but these cars are worth it!
Excellent first Fiero. I love Formula's also. Looks like a nice one. I noticed you have a small tear in your drivers side seat. I have a tear in virtually the same spot on my 86 GT . Oh, and it looks like that dogbone is s little tired. Might be a good idea to replace that. Kit
@Kitskaboodle - I hope to get seat covers in the near future, and maybe I'll invest in some replacement GT "skins" off of The Fiero Store. I'll see what I can do about that dogbone, thanks for the keen observation!
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Welcome!
...........and smack down those speaker covers.....
@Gall757 - I actually like the way they look popped up.. the dashboard the car has is actually a replacement cover from The Fiero Store, hence why it looks a little dark. That, and the covers don't fit down all the way anyways.
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Looks nice! Need more specifics on the car....where is it from? Any rust? How many miles on the clock? Paint looks good...original?
I have an 88 CJB (factory T-Top code) yellow formula 5 speed. Only 56K on the clock and I am in the middle of a complete overhaul including the suspension, cooling, fuel system, heads, oil pan, vacuum lines, complete exhaust, etc. Just about done. It is definitely a labor of love, but these cars are worth it!
Welcome to the absolute Madness!
@Zefferk - I don't know where it's from originally, but I got it from a guy who used to collect Fieros in Knoxville, TN. As far as I can tell, the only noticeable rust is in the interior center console (I went to replace the radio and the inside looked a little rusty, but nothing too bad). As for the mileage, it's got almost 105K miles. And in terms of the paint, most of it seems original, but there are a few "textured" spots where it seems someone superimposed some red paint where it could have faded, ex. between the sunroof and the front windshield. Oh, and it has new tires, a new fuel pump/filter/injectors, a new GM oil filter, and a few other tune-ups.
@Everyone else - Thanks for the welcome!
[This message has been edited by Alblindi (edited 03-10-2014).]
1. When I've been driving it for a while, particularly at speed (~60 mph) for half an hour or more, if I stop it too suddenly, it stalls. I have a hard time putting it into gear again without it continuing to stall out. This poses a problem when I'm at a stop light at a busy intersection, which has happened to me about twice so far. O.o I ended up having to push down on the gas pedal while shifting it into gear, which jerked the car very hard. I hope I didn't damage the transmission any... Also, it seems to idle roughly. I don't know if the fuel line pressure is low, or maybe it doesn't have an effective ground, or if it's not cooling down efficiently enough. The brand new fuel pump also tends to make a whirring noise, which has died down over the past few days. I put some fuel additive into the fuel hoping it would increase the flow of fuel from the tank to the engine one way or another. I don't know if this has helped the fuel pump any, because I mentioned the symptoms to my dad and he said it sounded like cavitation. I know that was a lot of information to fit into one paragraph, but any help would be appreciated.
2. The tachometer tends to read too high; when the car is off, it sits at 500 RPMs. Is this normal..?
3. How difficult would it be to install a cruise control system? I would love to have that feature, especially to keep me from speeding (teehee), but I don't know how much effort it would take to put one in there from another car.
4. I've heard that replacing ECM's can greatly increase performance and efficiency. Do they really, and is it enough to justify their price and effort to install?
1. When I've been driving it for a while, particularly at speed (~60 mph) for half an hour or more, if I stop it too suddenly, it stalls. I have a hard time putting it into gear again without it continuing to stall out. This poses a problem when I'm at a stop light at a busy intersection, which has happened to me about twice so far. O.o I ended up having to push down on the gas pedal while shifting it into gear, which jerked the car very hard. I hope I didn't damage the transmission any... Also, it seems to idle roughly. I don't know if the fuel line pressure is low, or maybe it doesn't have an effective ground, or if it's not cooling down efficiently enough. The brand new fuel pump also tends to make a whirring noise, which has died down over the past few days. I put some fuel additive into the fuel hoping it would increase the flow of fuel from the tank to the engine one way or another. I don't know if this has helped the fuel pump any, because I mentioned the symptoms to my dad and he said it sounded like cavitation. I know that was a lot of information to fit into one paragraph, but any help would be appreciated.
There is a Vehicle Speed Sensor on your transmission that seems to be malfunctioning. check for a bad wire or connection.
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2. The tachometer tends to read too high; when the car is off, it sits at 500 RPMs. Is this normal..?
no....
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3. How difficult would it be to install a cruise control system? I would love to have that feature, especially to keep me from speeding (teehee), but I don't know how much effort it would take to put one in there from another car.
My Forumla has cruise control, and it works fine... you could find one in a junk Fiero, or you could put in a more modern aftermarket one...but it's not a simple install.
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4. I've heard that replacing ECM's can greatly increase performance and efficiency. Do they really, and is it enough to justify their price and effort to install?
You have heard that only from people wanting to sell you one. There is a chip that is the part that would be replaced, and most agree they do nothing, or worse.
You can swap the back sections of the seat covers. That will give you the nice one on the driver's side and put the tear on the inside edge of the passenger seat. Put some duct tape over it and let it ride. You'll forget about it soon and it won't be noticed by others very often.
So you got it in Knoxville. Where did it end up? There are several of us up here in the Tri-Cities.
1. When I've been driving it for a while, particularly at speed (~60 mph) for half an hour or more, if I stop it too suddenly, it stalls. I have a hard time putting it into gear again without it continuing to stall out. This poses a problem when I'm at a stop light at a busy intersection, which has happened to me about twice so far. O.o I ended up having to push down on the gas pedal while shifting it into gear, which jerked the car very hard. I hope I didn't damage the transmission any... Also, it seems to idle roughly. I don't know if the fuel line pressure is low, or maybe it doesn't have an effective ground, or if it's not cooling down efficiently enough. The brand new fuel pump also tends to make a whirring noise, which has died down over the past few days. I put some fuel additive into the fuel hoping it would increase the flow of fuel from the tank to the engine one way or another. I don't know if this has helped the fuel pump any, because I mentioned the symptoms to my dad and he said it sounded like cavitation. I know that was a lot of information to fit into one paragraph, but any help would be appreciated.
2. The tachometer tends to read too high; when the car is off, it sits at 500 RPMs. Is this normal..?
3. How difficult would it be to install a cruise control system? I would love to have that feature, especially to keep me from speeding (teehee), but I don't know how much effort it would take to put one in there from another car.
4. I've heard that replacing ECM's can greatly increase performance and efficiency. Do they really, and is it enough to justify their price and effort to install?
1) Probably TCC solenoid (Torque Converter Clutch). There is a 4 pin electrical connection on the front of the trans that you can disconnect which defeats this clutch to test the theory. If you unplug it and the problem goes away then you need to replace the solenoid. The only side effects of driving with it unplugged are a slightly higher cruise RPM which results in a slight decrease in MPG.
2) Can you check it against a known accurate source like a timing light? The needle might just be off 500 RPM but I wouldn't go pulling it off and resetting it unless you had something to reset it to.
3) A digital cruise unit would probably be your best bet. DarthFiero has a good writeup on that subject. I'm not sure if you'd have to run the wires up through your steering column but the turn signal stalk could be changed to one with cruise easily enough.
4) Fiero's were actually tuned really well from the factory. You have to do some significant amount of upgrades to the engine hardware before there are any gains to be had in the tuning department.
1) Probably TCC solenoid (Torque Converter Clutch). There is a 4 pin electrical connection on the front of the trans that you can disconnect which defeats this clutch to test the theory. If you unplug it and the problem goes away then you need to replace the solenoid. The only side effects of driving with it unplugged are a slightly higher cruise RPM which results in a slight decrease in MPG.
2) Can you check it against a known accurate source like a timing light? The needle might just be off 500 RPM but I wouldn't go pulling it off and resetting it unless you had something to reset it to.
3) A digital cruise unit would probably be your best bet. DarthFiero has a good writeup on that subject. I'm not sure if you'd have to run the wires up through your steering column but the turn signal stalk could be changed to one with cruise easily enough.
4) Fiero's were actually tuned really well from the factory. You have to do some significant amount of upgrades to the engine hardware before there are any gains to be had in the tuning department.
1. I'll try that, assuming the only ill-effect it has is the MPG. The reason I'd believe that it's the fuel supply though is because the shop said they had to put a more powerful pump on the car than was originally designed. Apparently it wasn't moving enough gas to the engine; it used to not idle at all. They cleaned out the whole fuel injection system except for the injectors themselves; I reckon the next step would be to replace those. I heard there's a mesh on the fuel tank that could clog up if it sits for too long and gunk gets in there. Something tells me they re-used the original one, so I'll mention that to them as well.
2. I'll have to dig that out, it's been a while since I've used that sucker.
3. Sounds interesting; I've seen the cuise control stalks on ebay before. I am aware that the speedometer is digital, so I was actually wondering if there were a digitally controlled cuise module. I'll have to look into that more.
4. I'll take your word for it, then. I'd imagine Pontiac would've wanted their little masterpiece to run the best they could get it, so that makes sense.
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You can swap the back sections of the seat covers. That will give you the nice one on the driver's side and put the tear on the inside edge of the passenger seat. Put some duct tape over it and let it ride. You'll forget about it soon and it won't be noticed by others very often.
So you got it in Knoxville. Where did it end up? There are several of us up here in the Tri-Cities.
Hey, that's not a bad idea! I'll have to do that then. And I live a little less than two hours southwest of Nashville.
Bad idea pulling old seat covers off. You will probably rip the good one. You can get cheap covers that aren't too bad or you can do it right and pony up for a set of leathers lkke Mr. Mikes. Play with the old ones and you will not like the out come. You might be able to find seats in better condition to replace them. Should be plenty of guys up here that would have an extra set hanging around.
Great looking car for the price and it iss the coveted year according to most. Welcome
Bad idea pulling old seat covers off. You will probably rip the good one. You can get cheap covers that aren't too bad or you can do it right and pony up for a set of leathers lkke Mr. Mikes. Play with the old ones and you will not like the out come. You might be able to find seats in better condition to replace them. Should be plenty of guys up here that would have an extra set hanging around.
Great looking car for the price and it iss the coveted year according to most. Welcome
I've done it twice without any problems. If you feel like the material won't stand up to the swap, don't do it unless you have money set aside to replace them in the event of problems.
I bought a Formula last year and these are wonderful cars. For the most part, GM finally got it right and then stopped production. My advice would be to keep the car as original as possible. Rodney Dickman is a good source for parts to improve on some of the issues. This forum is your best friend for information on how to maintain it.
