... but just for the next 10 weeks. It is now in the capable hands of Trident Technical College's Auto Repair Program. I dropped it off Friday with a new engine rebuild kit and new transmission rebuild kit from Northern Auto Parts. It's going to get both rebuild during the summer. I can't wait to see how it turns out; it should be a great improvement.

Until then, I will get to visit it during down time to take pictures of the rebuild and restoration for a photo album. I'll still be lurking around the forums during this time so that I can stay connected.

For now, this is its new home:

[This message has been edited by blainelocklair (edited 05-24-2014).]

Sounds good. So the students know the correct lifting points so as not to crush the coolant tubes?

Yea I don't see this ending well.

Wait..what?? You're going to have students work on your Fiero without you being there, and rebuild your motor for you?

Good luck... I think you're going to need it!

Fear not; they are always under the guidance of senior faculty with many years of experience. Things will go fine. The program has a long-standing history of great work at the college and a history of graduating quality ASE certified mechanics to the local workforce. The results will most certainly be better than one untrained, minimally experienced, shade-tree mechanic (me) working on the car here and there.

quote Originally posted by blainelocklair: Fear not; they are always under the guidance of senior faculty with many years of experience. Things will go fine. The program has a long-standing history of great work at the college and a history of graduating quality ASE certified mechanics to the local workforce. The results will most certainly be better than one untrained, minimally experienced, shade-tree mechanic (me) working on the car here and there.

I'm not at all happy with this, you may be but I have seen just how bad ASE certified mechanics are. Half of them I know never even heard of a carburetor or how to rebuild one, the other half don't even know what a Fiero is. And I have been around a lot of mechanics over my 59 years from everything to shade tree to factory ones. I worked at GM from 73 to 90 at CPC Framingham, MA as everything from a line worker to repair my last 5 years there.

We are here to help YOU, WE are not there to help them, please give them a link to the forum in case they have questions, PLEASE.

We have a lot more knowledge than some instructor because,
There are more of us,
many of us have had ours for decades,
most of us do our own work and know the little problems that can come up when working on a 25+ year old car,

Could you at least ask if you can put a webcam on your car so we can watch just what they are doing? For your own peace of mind as well as the rest of us.

I really hope one of those so called instructors has at least worked on a few Fieros or owned one.

Good Luck, You are going to need it.

Steve

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Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't



Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 05-25-2014).]

A local Tech college here does the same thing, but I wouldn't leave my Fiero without me being there when it's being worked on.
I'd at least talk to the instructor about jacking points, etc. Just because they're experienced doesn't mean they have any Fiero-specific knowledge.

quote Originally posted by Formula88: A local Tech college here does the same thing, but I wouldn't leave my Fiero without me being there when it's being worked on. I'd at least talk to the instructor about jacking points, etc. Just because they're experienced doesn't mean they have any Fiero-specific knowledge.

Agree, crap Hell just froze over again, many people go to those schools and think they know everything about anything and all they have is a basic knowledge of most cars, there is no way they can learn about all of them, no way. As I said before I know personally mechanics who have ASE certs and have never even seen a Fiero, never mind worked on one.

Good example here,

I took my 86 SE in for its yearly safety inspection and an older mechanic who said he had done a clutch on one, once did the inspection said I had a compression fitting on a brake line and that was a NO, NO. He even showed me the fitting I had personally put on. think is it was on the drivers side of the car, it was on the trans cooling line, not a brake line. He looked at me like I was nuts,

"What is a trans-cooling line doing running to the front of a car all the way to the back?"

I showed him on the lift that it was just a trans-cooling line and the brake lines went down the other side of the car, he still wondered WTF it was doing going all the way to the front of the car. WTF

Sometimes having a certification from some school can be a bad thing.

Steve

I use to work in the auto shop at a local community college years ago and the crap I saw going on was crazy! The worst was one dummy who removed springs from crank seals because he thought they were for shipping, thank God one engine was put on the dyno before going back into someone's car. They also had a school car roll off of a lift, how I will never know. I picked it up with the big fork lift and put it outside with all the other screwed up crap in the fenced storage lot. A lot of people didn't make it to the end of the degree!

[This message has been edited by BrittB (edited 05-26-2014).]

I just graduated high school, and for the last 3 years I've been an active participant in the auto program there. I did my whole engine swap at school. These tech schools get a really bad wrap, but if you can find a good one... there's no harm in using it. The trick is to keep the students happy, since they aren't getting paid to work on your car. Bring in some doughnuts in the morning for them to enjoy and maybe they'll take extra care when working on your car. Best of luck.

-Mitch

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My Car - 87' GT 3800sc
//www.fiero.nl/forum/F.../HTML/121571.html#p0

Engines being rebuilt at a tech school usually come out good as the students want a passing grade. Each step of the way the instructor inspects, grades and corrects each students work so it is done right. If the student gets stuck on a task the instructo\r steps in and follows it to completion. if the engine doesn't run correctly when it is done, it is disassembled and repaired. While tech schools may not be the ultimate repair places, Id say that you have an excellent chance of getting a good rebuild. Let us know how everything turns out.

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" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, custom ZZP /Frozen Boost Intercooler setup, 3.4" Pulley, Powerlog manifold, Northstar TB, LS1 MAF, 3" Flotech Afterburner Exhaust, Autolite 104's, MSD wires, Custom CAI, 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "