G.T. Fieros

Not much building but some disassembly here. I yanked the driveline out.I removed the fuel tank and filler neck.I removed all the offending area's on the firewall too! I've decided to add checkerplate to cover the firewall. In addition, I'll relocate the hinges to the underside of the rear window ledge as well. Since my car was a no option, plane Jane, it was just easier to install both doors that had all the power windows, mirrors, locks and the GT skirting.

I really like the idea of decklid hinges welded to the underside of the rear window ledge, looks so much cleaner.

This weekend I met a fellow member, cam-a-lot. Very nice guy. He gave me some 88 specific parts that I'm sure I'll make use of. It was nice meeting you, your family and your Fiero. I hope we meet again my friend and thank you for the parts.

Not too much happened with my build as I spent some time cleaning the carb's and installing a jet kit on my ageing GSXR-1100. But I did find time to share with you some small things. Since I'm going to relocate the trunk hinges to the underside of the window, I wanted a little extra support in that area. The thinner metal that GM used under the window may (or may not) be strong enough to support the deck lid. So, here's a 16 gauge metal strip that I'll attach either by 1/4" rivets or small plug-type welds. The damn camera makes the rust look real bad on my car. It's not as bad as it looks and I'll take care of that before I install this reinforcement.









I also want a little bling in the engine compartment. So what better way than with some aluminum checker plate. (Loosely installed for the pictures).











Oh, I was at a salvage yard not to far from me and I found a Fiero in the yard. I ended up with a few little parts and here's one piece I installed.

Today i learned that not all Areo rocker trim is created equal.
Apparently at some point after (or maybe even during) 1985, GM made an engineering change to the trim above the rockers on GT`s or SE`s with the areo pkg.

I had a cracked trim pc....


So probably a few years ago now...I got a replacement pc off of a car that x-Thumper-x was parting out. (i think it was an 87)
Finally got around to trying to put it on today, i found that only 3 of the 5 pins on top actually line up...great!!
See the 2 on the left...they are off by about a quarter inch...

_________________
Dougie Murder
1985 Fiero GT...work in progress

I thought all aero rocker panels were the same too. Those came from an 86 SE, guess I better be checking my back up spares I have for my GT.

That's kinda funny. I noticed the same this week when changing the quarter on the sbc for the new owner. Although its really a simple matter of drilling holes to install.

On a side note installed my dads grant steering wheel and billet adapter yesterday and today finally installed my Fierostore GM repro wheel in the 88.

Might install my new dew wipes next.

2 parts installed....dozens to go...lol

Well, we finally got the old 2.8L out of a friends fiero today, things didn't go as planned yesterday. Be back Tuesday after work to get the engine off the cradle so we can transfer the parts needed from the old 2.8L to the new motor. Then hopefully have things ready to re install it Saturday

where did you source the al checker plate material?

Took mine for a spin today to record the OBD2 data so I could figure out why my idle is hunting. Looks like a bad MAF sensor. I certainly miss the XP Hot cam that was in it, the thing just sounds tame by comparison at idle, not much different than my Grand Prix (which I've had a couple of people ask me if the exhaust was stock, and it is). The one thing I really did notice is how amazing the shifting is. Since Dan modified the shifter cable bracket and I now have the shift cable I got from California Push-Pull the car is shifting better than it ever has before, even better than when the car was stock and had brand new rodney shift and select cables on.


Also tried to figure out what's up with my backup camera but no luck there

Basically the lines at the top where it says "CAUTION" should be an image of what's behind my car, and covering my whole screen. Hoping it's just the cable....

My work makes truck accessories and we go through "a lot" of material. All the material for the components on my car were destined for the scrap bin. On average, our sheets come in at 5' x 10' sizes. I can only fit so many large parts on that size of sheet. The rest gets recycled. Even my garage has a little bling to it. I have the edges of the counter and the base perimeter of garage in checker plate as well.

nice! I've always thought of doin that...where/how can I get some 'scrap' pieces?

I got new plugs put in today. Now when I say plugs, I use the term loosely. I got 5 in. And contrary to what you're probably thinking right now, the one I didn't get in isn't on the firewall side. The right plug on the front side is so close to the alternator I can't get a wrench on it to save my life! I can get the socket on, but can't get an extension on as the head of the socket is right up against the alternator casing. Actually had a heck of a time getting the socket back off, I even tried taking the coil packs off to give me more room to work, and I ended up getting at it from the bottom. While I had the car in the air I thought I'd try the front plugs, and although it did work, I'm not sure if it's any easier or harder that way...

Old plugs weren't awful, seen plenty worse, but they had seen better days...... I took the car for a spin and the really bad hesitation and backfiring is gone

curious, why wasn't the plugs changed while the motor was out?
If you can get a plug socket on it, you can use a open end wrench on the end of the socket. Have to do this to get one socket out of my old blazer with 4.3L Steering column prevented using any extensions or ratchets.

That's a good question... the engine was going in and all the stores were closed or they would have gone in beforehand. I thought of the open end wrench, I used one to snug up a couple of the ones I did on the front. I don't think there's enough room to get one in there, my 19mm combo wrench is pretty big and I don't have any stubby ones. I'll probably end up loosening up the alternator and swinging it out of the way, which I have to do to tighten up the belt anyway.

Netcam, don't take this the wrong way but I think you need a better alternator bracket made up. Good swaps have everything accessable for tune up, maintenance, etc. Just my .02 cents. I'm glad that your car is up and running again though!