The Project begins here..... Picture Heavy 56k No way

[jwrape]

Well, I finally got the car from my old home back yard to my new to me shop. It took all we had for my Dad and I to push it off the trailer into the shop cause the front brakes were seized and I had to beat the calipers off the rotors. Wow, that was fun.
Here are the pics from it's original form.
No brake fluid in the rear section of the brake resivoir... Telling me there is a leak I should be looking for. The extra brake fluid bottles gave it away as well
The #1 spark plug was broken off. This might have been why it stopped running for the previous owner, who knows
http://img.photobucket.com/...iero/Brokenplug1.jpg
The center Console had some heat issues. Gonna have to fix this
http://img.photobucket.com/...nsolecompartment.jpg
Dash

Center Dash

Driverside door, pretty clean as the passenger side is as well

Drivers seat as it came to me

Engine from afar looks decent and complete

http://img.photobucket.com/...%20Fiero/Engine2.jpg
This is the headlight wire harness. This red wire was sticking out and chaulky for some reason. I haven't touched it, it looked like this. But the headlights work after helping them up.
http://img.photobucket.com/...ightFusableLink1.jpg
Headliner is trash

Interior looks decent

Original miles of 113k

The ol' girl sitting in the shop
http://img.photobucket.com/...c%20Fiero/OlGirl.jpg
Passenger seat

Center shifter



Sorry about some of these pics being HUGE. I have resized them down but can't seem to fix all of them,  Hopefully you can still see them. I will take smaller versions the rest of the way through the rebuild

[jwrape]

Then I started looking into the engine to see what might be the problem. Oh did I find problems. i already knew that #1 plug had rusted off, then after pulling the plug wires off I found that #4 was broken off as well.




http://img.photobucket.com/...iero/Brokenplug1.jpg
The spark plug area was covered in Acorn mess and grease etc.... Had to dig it all out with a small screw driver, then vacuum and then lubricate with some PB blaster.



I found these two plugs just sitting there with no where to plug into

You can barely make this one out in the pic. It is a single pin plug, looks like a temperature sensor plug or something, but no where for either to plug into

Then I removed the air filter and found this open hard vacuum line.


Then went up into the front trunk and found this disconnected from itself. Looks like a vacuum check valve or something


When removing the air filter, I found this blue sensor melted in the air cleaner

The plugs and around them were covered in acorn debre'

[jwrape]

Took the trunk off to get into the engine compartment better and then removed the luggage rack.
Then I moved onto the front brakes that were siezed up since we bought the car. They were bascially rusted together. The car would BARELY roll even under the force of a come along and then trying to get it off the trailer was rediculous and funny at the same time.
Here you can see after I removed the rotor, caliper, and sheild that both my Tie Rod ends are trashed. No wonder the alignment is SO off I can see it by eye.
http://img.photobucket.com/...20Fiero/Spindle3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/...20Fiero/Spindle2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/...20Fiero/Spindle1.jpg
Before the brakes were removed

After the brakes have been removed and also how it sits at the moment until I can get the Grand Am rotors to have them fitted up

[jwrape]

Then I moved onto the interior where there was a lot of heat exposure to the vinyl that needed to be addressed.
I removed the center console and the passenger seat so far. I have started and almost completed re-attaching the vinyl to the plastic around the console and it's pieces.
I duct taped up the hole in the seat to keep it from getting worse. I'm not a fan of Duct tape but it works in this case until I can get covers

Here is the door jam I cleaned up

Here is the what it looked like before I cleaned it up


The interior before I took it apart

As you can see here, the PO had super glued some crap speakers onto the top of the radio/AC controls that were rediculous


I took it all apart and started cleaning with Purple Magic and paper towels. It was a hot mess and NASTY under all that plastic

Did some skeliton repairs







Ended up cracking the center console door

This hidious speaker install

Center console cleaned up


I am starting to get to the end of the glueing and clamping of the interior. It is turning out a lot better than I thought it would.

I don't remember where I saw the idea to use Gorilla Glue and those Office Style paper clamps but whom ever thought of it was a genious and I don't wanna take their credit for that.
It's really doing well to bring all that vinyl back into place, with maybe the exception of the Console door that is giving me a head ache pulling that vinyl around again.


I also need to find out where to find the door glass seal. Both mine are trashed

[jwrape]

There is a ton of cleaning as you can see.

I also found out why it wouldn't turn over the engine at all with a battery in it. Come to find out, since the PO had stripped off the battery terminals I cound't tell that there was a main 12v+ connection as well as a secondary wire that should have been plugged up for the ignition. After messing around and looking around in the motor compartment I foun this loose wire from the power distribution box and connected it to 12v+ and everything came alive


After I connected it, I could turn it over.
After I used the EZ out to remove the broken spark plugs from the head, i scrounged up 4 plugs to see if I could get her to run.
Well with the ignition on the fuel pump wouldn't either pump fuel or there is no fuel in it. Either way i pour a little gas in the Throttle body and got it to run roughly for a New York minute. So I know if I can get fuel to her, she will fire.

I also found during all this, that the throttle body butterfly was stuck shut. I mean you could not move it at all, so I sprayed some PB Blaster on it and tapped it with a Screw driver and hammer and it broke loose and with the PB Blaster, worked itself back to normal function. Gas pedal will open and close the throttle body now.
I tell you, this car is in good shape to some aspects and BAD shape in others. But I love cleaning it up and gettin' it going.
My wife is being VERY cool about me working on the car. I think it has something to do with my recent surgery. She wants me to have my fun now. :-) Gotta love her for that one.

[jwrape]

Then finally, I started looking at the Front hood latch. It is broken but I can't seem to figure out how it's broken by looking at it. It looks to have two cables coming into it for both latches on the hood, BUT only one goes into the release latch and the other is just hanging down but they are only connected to each other by the cable sleave they travel through. I don't see where the secondary cable is supposed to connect to the release latch. I need help on this thing.



How it looked when i got it.

[jwrape]

Oh another cool thing I realized while hanging over the engine pulling rusty plugs out: The motor is a Goodwrench Remanufactured motor, meaning the engine must not have 113k on it after all. Who knows how much mileage on the motor, but I was happy with 113k miles, less is even better.

[Fierofool]

You're making some major progress.  Just a couple of comments on your items.

The looped red wire in the front compartment is common to all Fieros.  I don't know what it's for, but it's on my 87, 88, and my brother's 86.  I just checked.

The unknown 'vacuum check' valve is a one way in-line valve for the windshield washer.  It prevents the fluid from draining back from the spray nozzle so you get instant water when you use the washer.

The backup front hood release cable:  The large end of the spare cable snaps into the little clip on the release handle.  In your 3rd to last picture, the end of the cable is close to its clip.  It's just to keep it from hanging down. 

I believe the Fiero Store has the door glass seal that goes around the outside of the door frame.  If you're talking about the Dew Wipes located at the bottom of the window, they sell them, too, but DIY Stu on Pennocks actually produces a better product.  I've heard that TFS copied DIY Stu's design but the quality of the material isn't as good. 

[jwrape]

All good information. Thanks for answering those questions for me.
I'll check out the Fiero Store and see what they got that I need. Prolly a lot.

[Donster]

Wow, awesome thread you started here that other can benefit from also

Seems like we have another expert amongst us 

\D

[jwrape]

Wow, awesome thread you started here that other can benefit from also

Seems like we have another expert amongst us  

\D

Expert, i don't know bout that. But I enjoy it and take pride in my work. and love taking pic to share.

[jwrape]

I've made up my general parts list to get ol' girl up and running. After she's up and running I will replace sensors and hoses, just wanna get it running smooth and of course get is rolling down the neighborhood road.

Front inner and outer hub bearings
Front Bearing Seals
Distributor Cap and Rotor Button
Spark plug wires and Plugs
both tie rod ends for front end (they are thrashed)
Grand Am Brake Rotors and Calipers with pads (Original Rotors Milled down to fit inside New Rotors)
Fuel Filter
Fuel Pump
Fuel Pump strainer
Throttle Body rebuild kit
Fuel pump tank line (I've read I should replace this but haven't seen where to get one or what it looks like)
Battery

That should get me started.
Advance Autoparts is the cheapest I've found so far over all. About $462 total. BUT they don't stock it or can't order some of the stuff so I don't know why they list it for sale. Strange.

[jwrape]

Went ahead and got the fuel pump and strainer too.
Is there a hose I need to replace while I have the tank down? If so, where do I get it?

[oldone]

when buying from advance auto parts tell them you belong to GA FIERO CLUB and that you are supposed to get a discount, if they can't find it in their computer tell them to check with the dacula store or call fierofool. sounds like you really know what you are doing keep it up. 

[jwrape]

when buying from advance auto parts tell them you belong to GA FIERO CLUB and that you are supposed to get a discount, if they can't find it in their computer tell them to check with the dacula store or call fierofool. sounds like you really know what you are doing keep it up. 

Oh cool. Thanks for the info. That should be helpful. I grew up in Dacula. Class of 94'. :-)

I will be abusing that store soon for the rest of the parts locally.

Um.... yea, I guess i do know a good bit.  I am the guy all my friends lean on to work on their cars.  My dad taught me all the basics growing up and I took off with the fuel injection side of things instead of the carburated. My Dad can make anything run that has a motor. I can pretty much fix anything I can take apart. I enjoy taking old things apart and making them new or better than new again.

I was the kid that didn't play football or baseball, I road motor cycles and evenutally worked on my car all the time. You learn what you love. i should have been a mechanic. I would have loved it.