The new life of the formula fastback

[GTRS Fiero]

Yes, pictures sure help me, and makes the thread more interesting.  These rod end seals are not making sense to me.  Maybe I'm thinking the wrong thing.

[Raydar]

I am most interested. Especially since I have a Formula fastback. And also have an LQ1 to install. Some day.

[NoMad]

Yes, pictures sure help me, and makes the thread more interesting.  These rod end seals are not making sense to me.  Maybe I'm thinking the wrong thing.

The rear lateral control arms and bushings are being replaced with a rod and rod ends to help tighten up the rear even more. I purchased seals for the rod end bearings to try and prolong them.

As for pictures, I do 90%+ by phone and need to go to my computer to hyperlink in the photos.

[Fierofool]

Email the pictures to your computer and save them in a file.  Then you can resize a d post them with PIP..  That way they are visible to everyone and will stay on the forum.

[MikeMac]

Yes, pictures sure help me, and makes the thread more interesting.  These rod end seals are not making sense to me.  Maybe I'm thinking the wrong thing.

The rear lateral control arms and bushings are being replaced with a rod and rod ends to help tighten up the rear even more. I purchased seals for the rod end bearings to try and prolong them.

As for pictures, I do 90%+ by phone and need to go to my computer to hyperlink in the photos.

Throw some pics up on the Facebook Fiero group too or maybe I already saw some there?

[mweldon]

Would it be possible to install tapatalk onto the forum?  it gives a seemless mobile interface for your phone for a forum such as this but with an interface much like facebook etc...

[Fierofool]

I know some of the mobile apps will post here, or they will post a link.  Problem with them has been that someone must be a registered user, and be logged in to see the pictures.  That doesn't allow the casual visitor to see the pictures. 

[Raydar]

Zach... I posted in Scott's thread, and thought about you, too. You need this, if your cradle has not already been reinforced.
88 cradles are infamous for cracking at the trans mount on the front cradle rail.
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum4/HTML/078290.html

[Fierofool]

If those brackets aren't readily available, the machine shop in Dacula can fab them very quickly and at a much more reasonable price than Eagle Automotive Machine that I previously recommended for other work.  The one in Dacula is the one that was making our EGR adapters. 

[scottb]

I might know of a fab shop...........

[NoMad]

I already reinforced mine. I used flatbar and welded it in on all three sides. Tied in a lot more material than that bracket would. It is SUPER beefy now. 7/16" at the top portion where the mount is bolted down.

[NoMad]

So I had been focusing on the LQ1 for a bit and just driving the truck due to the idle and surging issues with thr fiero. My little snafu with the truck brakes meant I had to drive the car fod the last three days despite the issues. Well the idle was still not happening but no surging on Saturday. Sunday was agin no idle when cold and stalling at stops signs as well as a return of the surging/cutting out when driving home from work. Today, I took the car for my parts run and finally opted to just grab an IAC while I was at advance. Swapped it in the lot and then had no idle at all. If I let off it just died. Limped her home with my truck parts and set about fixing stuff.

Truck brakes were fun.... But I did get the rear fixed and new pads installed. I will do thw fronts tomorrow. That then gave me time to try and see what the car was doing. I did a VE learn drive and the stalling was still making it all but undrivable. Got it home and opted to try and solve it by adjusting the throttle plate stop. (This was suggested by the manufacturer of my ecu) I took some fiddling in the dark and it is far from perfect but it now runs without stalling again! I wasn't able tp get thw perfect 25 steps on the IAC at warm idle but it at least lives again. Did an extended drive and the feeling of the car wanting to cut out happened a few times but didn't actually cut out this time. Sort of hiccups then right back to normal.

With so many component changes it is hard to be certain, but the cutting out/surging might have been rooted in a bad IAC valve I had been tunning around.

[GTRS Fiero]

Glad you're getting it sorted.  There is a re-learn procedure for the IAC with the stock ECU.  I don't remember what you're running.

[NoMad]

Well I spoke too soon.... That said I can now mostly drive through the stutter and it is much more of a surging now so that is plus of sorts. But it isn't fixed so back to driving the truck I guess.

[NoMad]

Finally on my laptop rather than my phone so I figured I would drop a few photos.



This is the cradle as I received it. The photo makes it look much better than it was. It was a krylon industrial red spray can job and the cradle wasn't even clean first so the whole thing was just ugly once you got up close.



This is the start of the cradle reinforcement at the transmission mounts.



All three sides tacked in place and ready for final welding. The bottom/top piece has already been welded all around before this was taken.



All welded up. Ugly but it will be more than strong enough now, even at the 400whp range I am expecting after the turbo.



Starting the rear transmission mount reinforcement. You can see the size of the flat bar I am working with.



Both plates welded in.



Fabrication finished on the rear mount point.



The underside of the front mount point.



And the top side giving an idea of how beefy it is now.



The cradle back from powder coating.

Now on to the other stuff.



The steering rack I am rebuilding getting sprayed.



All new parts for this baby.



And the rack 90% done.



Let the porting begin. Layout starting for the upper intake manifold.



Here is the exterior polishing of the intake.  The photos aren't here but trust me that the manifold was port matched and polished out to 400 grit.



And they all went off to powder like this.  High points are all polished up.



And starting to port and polish the lower intake.



The first passage shaped and smoothed to 80 grit. I started with burrs to remove the bulk material.



Not the best photo but you can see the manifold done out through 120 grit cross-buff. Will take to 180, 320, and possibly 400 grit buffs as soon as I find a minute.

The heads should be coming off on Sunday or Monday so i can start those as well as prepping the block by camfering the oil return passages, improving the distributor block off with an improved o-ring as well as a gasket, welding the oil pump pickup arm so it can't move, and swapping the dipstick to the trunk side of the motor.

Started cleaning the F23 to get it ready to paint.

Hope to order the new clutch next week if I can find what I am looking for.  Will probably call Bully Clutches as they seem the least horror storied of the improved clutch manufacturers.