I picked up an 88 coupe 4cyl/5 speed non-AC parts car this weekend. I never intended to make the car run again, mainly it was to get a few parts I was looking for. So when I saw all the rust during the initial inspection, it wasn't a deal breaker, and I factored it into the price. This car is certainly the rustiest 88 Fiero I have ever had... so I named it Rusty Red!

Not a bad looking coupe:


The passenger side truck would indicate this car doesn't deserve the name Rusty Red:


The drivers side is a little more telling:


There isn't much useful on the front suspension. Both bearings are dry and have slop, the cross member is swiss cheese, the steering rack has slop and is very rusty. Not sure how sound the a-arms are. The front uprights should be good, I took off the calipers, and the front formula wheels are good too.



The body has significant rot through the chassis and rear frame rails.
Bottom of driver side front:


Inside front of the passenger side:


Lower passenger side where rear lower frame rail used to attach:


Passenger side lower frame rail:



Upper driver side frame rail:


I started taking the car apart at 9 AM this morning and was pretty much done by 4 PM and that is taking a break to get a new hand held grinder. The purpose of buying the car was to get the body panels, and my nephew wanted everything 5 speed related so he can convert the 88 4cyl auto I gave him to a 5 speed.


Here are the stacks of removed parts. Tomorrow the chassis will go to my brothers for long term storage and so they will have close access to the parts they need. Once the car is gone, will have room to get all the parts storage tubs out and put the good parts away for storage.

Believe it or not, this isn't nearly as rusty as my first Fiero was.

I've seen worse but that is still pretty bad!

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88 Coupe: 2.0L Turbo 4 Cylinder, W2A, T25 Turbo, water/meth injection
84 Indy #64: Restoration Project
01 BMW 525i: The other summer car
03 BMW X5: bad weather car

Welp, that's worse than any I've seen with my own eyes. (I haven't seen many close up that I don't own)

My '88 2.5 5spd is rustier in the back and just in front of the rear wheels, (from bottoming out by a previous owner), buit stearing and suspension are solid in front, (aside from a worn inner tie rod end on passeger side). Bodypanels match this car. Intact side markers, smooth and quick headlights, slick working clutch and transaxle, lots of recently replaced parts. If someone is interested in this as a parts car, give me a holler! Victor

Heck... instead of unbolting all the body panels, you probably could have slammed the doors about 3 good times, and the frame would have crumbled from underneath them.

All kidding aside, I have seen worse, but only in pictures. I love living in the south.
At least you got what you were looking for.
Removing the cradle bolts ought to be a lot of fun. A sawzall will probably be quicker.

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 05-03-2017).]

quote Originally posted by VOS1319: If someone is interested in this as a parts car, give me a holler!

I need another 88 like I need a hole in the head... but PM me what you are looking to get for it.

quote Originally posted by Raydar: Heck... instead of unbolting all the body panels, you probably could have slammed the doors about 3 good times, and the frame would have crumbled from underneath them.

There is some truth to that. Every time I looked at the car, about 5 lbs of rust fell off it (I swept up the mess before I took the picture!)
Half the rivets holding the rockers on we no longer attached to the chassis - their attachment point rusted away. The coolant tubes were held in place by the center bracket under the front crossmember and 1/2 of a mounting tab per side... everything else rusted away.

quote Originally posted by Raydar: Removing the cradle bolts ought to be a lot of fun. A sawzall will probably be quicker.

The rear two are already out and replaced with new bolts. My brother will get the joy of removing the front ones when he wants to pull the transmission. If he asks me about it, I will suggest he just torch off the mounting ears to the chassis.

quote Originally posted by fieroguru: There is some truth to that. Every time I looked at the car, about 5 lbs of rust fell off it (I swept up the mess before I took the picture!) ...

I was wondering what happened to all the rust flakes that would have had to have been there. That explains it.
At least it will help other cars to live on.

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 05-03-2017).]

Did this car get into the database thread?

quote Originally posted by Gall757: Did this car get into the database thread?

I didn't check to see if it was already in there, but I added a post with its updated status.