Looking at a Fiero today... advice?

[htchbck]

Has anyone here messed with Fieros much? I'm going to look at an '85 today. According to the guy its been sitting for about a year, and the alternator bearings are shot. It had been squeeling some then one day the bearings locked up on it and the belt started smoking so he had it towed home and its been sitting. So I know it will at least need a new alt and alt/wp belt. Its a 4cyl auto, which is the only reason we're looking at it is my girl wants something auto since her Malibu is starting to die and she won't drive a stick lol. Anything in particular I should watch out for on this car? I'm going to bring a spare battery with me and ask politely if I can remove the belt just to verify that the car WILL crank and run normally without the belt on it, then tow it home. I know the alt will be a pain to put in, but what else is a known problem with these little cars? I told her she'd better be glad its an automatic, since otherwise someone would have already bought it, or I'd buy it myself lol.



CL pic, its small but hopefully we'll get better pics today

[TominMO]

I can't help but wonder if that's all that's wrong with it. Why would someone let a car sit for a year just for a bad alternator? And if he won't let you start it with a different battery, definitely walk away.

[bravekozak]

four or six?

Is it a four cylinder or a six? I drove the four banger around Chicago for a month and found it to be very, very slow.

[walth]

I don't remember who I had talked to...but I have a feeling Neanderpaul may know some stuff for ya? give it a try anyway

edit>> Kozak, 4cyl auto (up there in his post)

[batstiva]

I believe Festyboy is who you would want to talk to about Fieros. I think they are part of his addiction.
Don't remember Paul saying he's messed with them, but I wouldn't put anything past him.:happy3:

[Dustin]

I dated a girl in high school that had a four cylinder, about an '85 or '86. It was a dog, always ran hot, eventually nuked itself and she got rid of it. On the flip side, I had a buddy who owned one with the v-6, and it was a blast. He'd loan me the car and borrow my cycle. Not all bad really.... Get the car for the daughter, if it melts down put a V-6 in it, or a V-8. There used to be a kit available to put a Northstar V-8 in them... You may not find the kit, but if it can be done once........ Just my $.02. Good luck!

[walth]

I believe Festyboy is who you would want to talk to about Fieros. I think they are part of his addiction.
Don't remember Paul saying he's messed with them, but I wouldn't put anything past him.:happy3:

you know what I think you're right. cuz he has it in his signature, yeah? lol. whatever.

good luck with everything htchbck

[htchbck]

Thanks, we bought it. Oh the reason he let it sit for a bad alternator is because the alternator is very labor intensive on the '84/'85 4 cyl. Only two bolts to get it loose but you have to remove a bunch of stuff to actually get it out lol. There's some surface rust on some of the suspension parts, but I found out that the whole rear suspension is straight from the mid/late '80s GM 4cyl small cars... tie rods just are hooked to the frame instead of a steering rack. So other than body parts and cooling system the whole car mechanically is made out of parts from other GM cars. Anyway, here's a couple of pics from the trailer ride home. With the alternator belt off the car cranked and ran fine once we put in the old battery out of the saturn (which BTW is the exact battery that the Fiero is supposed to have). Couldn't drive it much tho because the alt belt also goes to the water pump and its 100 degrees in ATL today. A bit cooler up here in the mountains though









HaHa can't wait to freak out my old roomie by showing him this angle and telling him its a DeLorean (sp?) because he is a big-time Back to the Future fan lol... and HE won't be able to tell the difference till he realizes its not gull wing doors!

[gestiva]

Looks nice^

I had a white 84 just like that, but mine was a 4 speed.
There is a place in Huntsville ALA called "The Fiero Factory"
went there alot when I had mine, its a pretty cool place.
The best looking ones's are the 88 GT's. Would love to own one of them.

[deathegg]

https://www.fierostore.com

My sister-in-law has one, I think it's an '88, V6 GT, with T-tops. Nice car. She says the battery tends to go dead, but not sure why. It may be for sale later this year if anyone may be interested.

[Britstiva]

I read an article once that said the manual says to add 4 qts of oil but it really only needed 3 qts. I don't know if it was for this year or not.. so don't take this as fiero gospel. LOL

Also, I've heard to make sure to keep the coolant topped off b/c an air bubble will cause it to overheat.. making something on top of the motor melt and that lets oil leak all over a hot motor.. thus causing a fire.

I think this was on the same article....

[muscle_Car1]

The front suspension is off a chevette the rear is citation. V8archie.com for when it pukes the duke I4. Real nice shop there, went there with my friend who had a fiero

[iceracerdude]

I had a 84 2M4 and I've still got this 87 V6 GT:



There's a couple of things you'll have to remember, nobody want's to work on them for starters. A lot of mechanics are young enough now, that they don't even know what they are! That's where the trouble starts, there are two steel coolant lines that run from the front of the car to the back, basicly under both seats. They're easy to crush with a floor jack or a hoist, because nobody knows about them. You have to treat them like the fuel and brake lines that run next to them, but more importantly, you have to make the unaware, aware...especially if you leave the car with say an oil change place using a hoist!
You do have a procedure of bleeding the coolant lines, the clamps that hold the fuel and brake lines up will rust out and take out a line with it, or you can address it now. You can remove the sunroof and actually stow it under the front hood in these clever built in brackets, and Hopefully the snap in wind deflector is in there right now waiting for you! A guy goes by the name "Mr. Mikes" makes excellent replacement leather seat covers, easy to do, any color you can stand. So I asked him as I was buying my set "how long does it take"? He's like "you mean me, or you"? lol. He's says "me, a 1/2 hr a side" "you, the 1st one an hour and a half, the second one is faster lol". Nice guy. Guy named Rodney Dickman had a great fiero accessories operation, google him too. He used to sell a headlight rebuild kit which was pretty inexpensive and easy to do. This is a lot cheaper than replacing with someone else's suspect used units. If you live in a snow and ice state, tell your driver to scape off the headlights and not to try and lift up ice and snow with them. V-8 Archie is the V-8 conversion king if you want to get crazy.
You'll want to check out this site because it will be invaluable to you:

http://www.fierosails.com/fierosecrets.html

You'll see there's still quite a following so Good luck. She looks pretty clean

[htchbck]

Thanks, it is a pretty clean car, and the PO already showed us the sunroof removal and the wind deflector. We rarely get any snow/ice here, so when we do everything shuts down anyway so she won't be driving in it much. Don't have to worry about a shop messing up things like coolant lines since I do all my own work. Alternator should be in today, already did air filter, plugs and oil change, can't wait to get this thing on the road! Oh and BOTH headlights work on it, which I've read is pretty rare lol

[ballin]

i know alot of them caught fire and the body is plastic