and OMFG, this thing is turning out to be a basket case!
That's going to be my first post...bitching about how people "take care of" their cars.
Ok, ok, ok...so it was their property at the time. They should darned well know they're going to sell it to me one day and take good care of it for me until then!
Sellers own words: "Everything works." Well...
One headlight didn't pop up. A/C doesn't even have the belt hooked up, and all the refrigerant has leaked out. The driver's window barely goes up and down. The passengers doesn't. The power lock have to be pressed half a dozen times to lock it. The parking brake does nothing...because there's no parking brake cables going to each caliper. Third brake light was burnt out.
Will probably discover more things that distinctly call on "Everything works".
The clutch hydraulic system is getting air in it. Knew this when I bought it. He thinks they'll still have master and slave cylinders one in stock from when he ordered them in. The did not. I wait two days to get a slave cylinder that turns out to be for a 4-speed, which doesn't fit. Parts place doesn't show any other listings available. Currently waiting on a slave cylinder from the US. Master turned out not to be the issue, after way too much bleeding to confirm it.
Seller's ad: "Exterior 9 out of 10, interior 8 out of 10". Ok, exterior is decent, other than a few paint chips and the broken GT tail light lenses. Not 9 out of 10, but decent.
Interior? HA! Carpet looks worn. Arm rests and such was painted black at some point, paint wearing off. Center armrest cracked. No smoking piece of plastic glued over lighter socket. Drivers seat cover worn through. Speaker covers missing. Stereo is pretty cool, but half of the speakers cut in and out. I give it a 4 out of 10.
He also said "Those tires are worn, but will probably last you a couple of months". Guess that's where I should have clued in!
Found some replacement tires. Got a good deal on them. Yay? Took off wheels. Found one tire was worn through to the cords. Yup, a couple of months. Really... Discovered one wheel stud was stripped. Half of the bolts weren't tight enough. One or two were waaay too tight. Found an old front hub/disc to borrow a stud from. Discovered the stud I'm trying to replace is NOT stock...knurl is 14mm+, not ~12.7mm. Had to figure out what vehicle they came from and go pick one up. Took wheels to get tires mounted, only to find that two of the wheels were cracked.
That's how my day ended yesterday.
I just spent a couple of hours servicing the **** out of the brakes. Right rear caliper is new. Left rear caliper sliders were all but seized in there. Every slider/pin was dry. Rear brake hoses weren't bolted down to the strut. Took 2 hours to do a 1 hour job.
Ok, so she's a real good looking car...paperweight. I don't yet feel ripped off, but it's getting close. I don't care that it has tons of issues, but I do care that it was misrepresented. And that a Fiero wasn't well taken care of.
Its unfortunate that the po misrepresented it, hopefully it was just due to a lack of knowledge and not ill will. The good news is, either way, once you get it fixed up you will have a nice Fiero! Post pics when you get a chance so we can see the progress!
I do like the paint color, at least the seems legit right!? lol
Those rims look nice but the offset does not look right at all. Almost looks like they are to narrow for the car.
Good luck getting everyting back in working order, I am sure you will make it happen.
Yup. I expected plenty of little things to tinker on with it. Just not ones that contradicted most of his selling points. Good thing for both of us that I really want a metallic blue GT!
I think the offset is ok, but they're fairly wide rims with 205's on them; the tire/tread looks narrower than the wheel. The 225s I bought intending to put on it looked much fatter and would probably have fixed the appearance. Oh well, isn't happening.
I've got the major things addressed already, while waiting for parts. She is road worthy and legal now, unless I missed something. I'll continue on fixing her up when she's back on the road or when I get the itch to again, whichever comes first.
It is a nice looking car! Was it for sale in Washington somewhere? I feel like I remember seeing it on Craigslist
Not as far as I am aware, but if you were looking on Seattle's CL, it would have shown up in the "nearby areas". Seattle is just a ferry ride away from here.
Is that the seller, behind the tree? I'm curious what was on the windshield.
In all fairness, other than the missing decklid vent, the exterior looks nice. You should've noticed the interior, the tires, the tail lights, and the mechanicals before you bought the car. A seller's rating is not objective.
[This message has been edited by tshark (edited 09-30-2017).]
Is that the seller, behind the tree? I'm curious what was on the windshield.
In all fairness, other than the missing decklid vent, the exterior looks nice. You should've noticed the interior, the tires, the tail lights, and the mechanicals before you bought the car. A seller's rating is not objective.
Yeah, I knew he was blowing smoke up my ass. I didn't really care at the time. It's just silly to flat out state things that are contradictory, though. I fully expected to have to fix a lot of little things. Hard not to notice the interior being poor or the windows not opening. I didn't much care at the time. I did at the time of my first post about it, because all this BS was getting to me. She's a pretty little thing, runs, and a 5 speed. That's why I bought it. The rest I can fix, even if it gets annoying as all hell at times. Cracked wheels was the moment, mind you.
Decklid was off so that it could be jump started, as it came with no battery. And because the deck lock was busted, so the power release was needed.
She's rust-free, other than the battery tray. She fires and revs up just fine, especially for sitting for a few months.
I will have this little beaut on the road again ASAP, and all the flaws dealt with in reasonable order. She surely deserves that much.
Originally showing on headlight, but in this instance showing the wiring "job" going to the LED driving lights, right over top of everything:
Front indicators drilled through to hold zap straps for LED driving lights:
Driver's rear wheel studs are brand new...I should have clued in about then. Discs are rusty as all heck from sitting for months(but that was expected).
Driver's rear caliper is also new...
Was it because the caliper was leaking? (As evident from the bubbling paint on the brake pad)
Or were broken studs, needing a new caliper and having cracked wheels all related?
Bet the other damaged wheel was the front left, with it's stripped stud:
Found an interior shot. More complimentary, looking in from the passenger side, but you can see one of the tears in the driver's seat, and the worn paint on the armrests:
A 12si alternator with a metal fan and an extra rib on the pulley?
And the first Fiero I've owned with manual mirrors. Didn't realize that was possible on a GT until I checked the RPO codes.
Not as far as I am aware, but if you were looking on Seattle's CL, it would have shown up in the "nearby areas". Seattle is just a ferry ride away from here.
Yep, that must have been it. I wonder with the damage to the wheels and brake and lug if the car hit a curb? It seems like it was kinda fixed after whatever happened, but not totally repaired.
Intake hose was in place (though it's wrapped with duct tape)
And the knuckle appears to have been sprayed down at the same time as the calipers. They were painted on the car without removing anything beyond the wheel. There's even some on the rotors where rust and heat haven't made it flake off.
Recently, I was reading 30+mpg's thread, where every so often he'd comment that the PO could've done a better job with the wiring. On this Fiero, I think that would apply to anything they did.
[This message has been edited by tshark (edited 10-01-2017).]
Lets see. You bought a 30 yr old fiero. Damn, it's a pretty thing, but that's turning out to be only skin deep. Like many of us here, you probably paid way too much for it. Damn if it ain't pretty though. Hopefully you didn't have to convince any significant other that it was a steal-just a hell of a deal. Yep,, I don't have that kind of luck either. Got a whole back yard full of pretty basket cases to prove it. But one thing for sure, I do agree w/many posts, it is pretty. Best of luck with your rebuild.
Note that I've not been complaining about the car. I got what I wanted/expected: a pretty metallic blue 5-speed GT. Anything else good about it has been a bonus! (And everything not good about it was half expected)
My main complaint is about people being straight about things. He could have pointed out everything that was wrong with it, and countered by saying it was an expensive paint job...but he didn't.
The "restore" is well under way already. And the clutch slave is due in tomorrow. I hope to be driving it in a day or so!
Thanks for not cutting my head off for my "tongue-in-cheek" or better said, buyer beware comments. I agree completely about folks not wanting to be straight up when dealing. I guess we want to think people are honest and have integrity, not always the case.
Glad the rebuild is going well. It really is a pretty fiero & should be a great ride. My 86 SE needs another motor, 2.8 for now, just to get a fiero on the road. Best of luck.
Slave cylinder finally arrived. Hydraulics held pressure. Clutch fork arm moved about an inch instead of half of that...but I still couldn't shift. Assumed at this point that the pressure plate is done. Confirmed it by manually making the shift arm push out even farther; still could not get it in to gear. Also blew the clutch line while I was screwing around. Now I'm in for a clutch and a clutch line.
Time to decide how I'll go about it. Depends how long replacing the clutch will take. If I have to drop the cradle to do it, I'll take this another direction.
Ordered: Clutch Kit Clutch Fork Clutch Line Repair Kit
(Glad to have done a bit of searching and found Rodney DIckman's repair line. ~$200 for a TFS complete clutch line would have been a bitter pill to swallow. )
I'll update again in a couple of weeks when the parts arrive, or sooner if I have anything else to say. Gives me time to play some classing SNES games. (And if I take my alternate route, well, I still need these parts to do it)
Yes, I walked away from it for several months. But hey...she's running, she goes in to gear, she's now insured and she survived her maiden voyage. Good 'nuff.
Excellent and kudos for sticking with it. I get great satisfaction from proper repair and maintenance. When she gets back on the road and what was wrong is now right, is when that feeling hits.
Beautiful color and it looks pretty good inside and out....But those "Rim-protector" tires are crap......Taller sidewalls would look better, fill in the wheel wells, and actually protect the rims from damage......You haven't said what wheels you replaced the cracked ones with; I have 16 x 7s with 205 and 225/55s..... they fit really well, you have a lot of options for tires(They were used on several popular cars) and yet you can keep your unsprung weight down.......
I've "borrowed" the wheels & tires off my old Fiero. They're 5-spokes wheels off of a cavalier (Z24?), 215/55R16s up front and 225/50R16s in back, IIRC. Nice and light. I'm keeping an eye out for 17" wheels, but so far no dice.
on "Everything works".
