The New Life of the 3800 "Formula"

[TopNotch]

Would the car shake, if under load?

It might.

[GTRS Fiero]

 

[TopNotch]

All the underside connections and removed items have been replaced. My QuickJack made that job a bit easier.

[GTRS Fiero]

Will you be taking this Fiero on RFTH 26?

[TopNotch]

Will you be taking this Fiero on RFTH 26?

If it works ok.

[GTRS Fiero]

Not rushing you, but all back together?

[TopNotch]

Not done yet. I keep running into little snags that slow things down. Today's snag requires an explanation. On a stock Fiero, when you drop the cradle, you have to disconnect the ECM and other things, and feed the wires through the little hole in the firewall. My car has a connector on the firewall that passes all those signals through, so you just disconnect that connector when you drop the cradle. The connector has a LOT of pins, and uses a screw on the connector into a threaded part on the firewall connector.
Well, I couldn't get that connector to go onto the firewall connector to save my life, and struggled with it all afternoon. first, the threaded part on the firewall connector came loose, and would spin with the screw on the other connector. I wound up super-gluing it. And the firewall connector was not mounted very well, and would move when I pressed the other connector onto it and tried to start the screw. I wound up using JBQuick to secure it.
It's back together now, so maybe I will finish tomorrow.

[GTRS Fiero]

Well, at least youxll know of this quirk, if you ever have to drop that cradle again, and these snags should be solved.

[TopNotch]

It runs! But only briefly, because I haven't put coolant in it yet. I re-assembled the back bumper, and put the tail lights in. I seem to have misplaced my air cleaner can and mount, but they have got to be around here somewhere. They are custom modified for this car, so I can't just look for replacements in the barn.

[GTRS Fiero]

Excellent!  Driving, soon.

[TopNotch]

I found my air cleaner parts and put them on. The SES light comes on after a few seconds of running, but no codes are set. I'll find out tomorrow if putting coolant in fixes that
So far, I have put 2 gallons (8 quarts) of ATF in the transmission. I doubt that's enough for a completely empty transmission, but it does pull if I put it in gear.
I forgot to mention that I discovered that all of the rear suspension bushings have been replaced with poly. It's black poly, so not immediately obvious. They say poly makes for a harsher ride, but I never noticed anything harsh about it.

[GTRS Fiero]

Mine is all polly.  The ride is fine.  Not as nice as the CTS-V, or the A8, or the Avalanche, but better than the Silverado.

[TopNotch]

Well, I found the problem causing the SES light. One of the connectors to the transmission was not connected. My scanner gave me a clue when it reported that my transmission fluid temperature was -37 degrees. Now that's fixed, and there's no SES light.
But the scanner indicated another problem. There is a switch mounted on the transmission selector lever called the PRNDL (Park Reverse Neutral Drive Low) switch. For an electronically controlled transmission, it tells the Powertrain Control Module (PCM) what gear the transmission is in. My scanner shows the proper gear if you are in drive or neutral (drive shows up as 4th on the scanner), but if you are in park or reverse, the display alternates between ? and 4th. Autozone, Advance Auto, and Napa don't have the switch, but Rock Auto does, so I ordered one.
I'm still checking out the car, and haven't actually driven it yet.

[GTRS Fiero]

Mine shows Park and Neutral, but not the other gears, IIRC.

[TopNotch]

Hmm... The forum turned my string of question marks into an emoji in my last message.
Well, tonight I finished modifying my torque strut, so I'll try driving it tomorrow, after giving it a bath. There's so much pollen on the windows that you can't see out of them (and on the rest of the car, too).