For you brake experts...

yikes remind me not to let you do my brakes lol jk:)

yeah im sure whoever did them ..made a mistake ??? lol

imagine what went through is head .." damn lost the parts ...um these will work ..yeah ..they will work .."

That car should not have been on the road with brakes like that.  f**king idiots.  Patrick I would start going through everything that is "safety" related and also carry a fire extinguisher in the car at all times.  Its an 84 after all, so wiring is hard to get replacement parts, who knows what the hell the previous owner did to the car.  I'd be very careful if I was you.  

        Sounds like you are making that a really nice car.  So I would be extra careful to make sure nothing happens to it, or worse to you, while driving it.

Today I was taking the driver's side caliper off. It didn't take long to see that a replacement hose was going to be required as this one is split. It wasn't leaking, but I guess it's just a matter of time before the inner layer lets go.

And now, yet another bonehead move by whomever worked on this car prior to me buying it. I noticed the mounting bolt on the bottom of the driver side front shock was "different". It also didn't have a self-locking nut like it's supposed to. I thought I better investigate. I removed the bolt and pulled the shock away from where it mounts, and again, I couldn't believe it. The inner metal sleeve is gone, and the rubber is all chewed up from riding directly against the sharp threads of the bolt. 
 

What kind of retard does these things? 

A couple of questions for those of you who know more than me about brakes - I was a little puzzled when I looked at the backside of this inner shoe. It looks like a shim has gone way off center. What's supposed to hold it in place? I can't swear there even was one on the passenger side. If there is one on the passenger side, it must've been centered properly as I never noticed it. If it wasn't there, is it necessary?

 

Dr.Fiero wrote: They're usually glued in place.

Oh, this one is glued in place all right. However, it's somehow shifted position.

 

 

           Patrick, I just keep shaking my head, I would go find the previous owner, then find his/her mechanic, and whack him upside his head several times.  Those type of people are the ones endangering all our lives putting cars on the road like that. 

    Next up, I would race to your local auto place and buy several cans of Black Tremclad and just start spraying, spray everything around the shock towers, the spring perches and everything you can get your can at.  Hopefully you can slow the rust progression down and keep the car in one piece.   

P.S. Sorry to hear about the loss of a long time girlfriend.  I know the kind of empty you can feel, and like you, I buried myself in things that I enjoyed and made me think hard about what I was doing.  Working on cars is great therapy and frankly much cheaper too.

Capt Fiero wrote: Sorry to hear about the loss of a long time girlfriend.

Thanks Dave, but it really hasn't been all that bad. Without going into details, the relationship had been kind of winding down for the last couple of years. I actually feel kind of relieved.

I miss the dog though.  

 

Capt Fiero wrote: Well if we can convince duke to not try rip your arm off again, you can always come play with him.  I might have some heavy leather shop gloves you can borrow if need be, LOL.  I think after the camping trip he has relaxed around you enough that everything should be fine.

Dave, that's interesting as I didn't go on the camping trip!  Must've been someone else there that Duke had earlier tried to rip their arm off.  (Duke did snap at me once at your place, but no harm done.)

Capt Fiero wrote: Next up, I would race to your local auto place and buy several cans of Black Tremclad and just start spraying, spray everything around the shock towers, the spring perches and everything you can get your can at.  Hopefully you can slow the rust progression down and keep the car in one piece.

I've been thinking about what you said about the rust because it's actually not all that bad. Honest! I realize in retrospect that in the image above of the split brake hose, the metal in the picture looks awfully corroded. However, the big reason for that is that I always "enhance" my posted images with a boost in color saturation. This has made the appearance of the minor surface rust in the picture look much worse than it really is, plus the fact that I was zoomed in pretty tight and the flash shows off every little detail.

This '84 Fiero is far from "mint", but it's not a rust-bucket either as that image above may lead people to believe.

 

Romeo wrote: Dukey's like a brother to me.

That might be, but you'd still be well advised to count your fingers if you, ummm... startle him. 

 

I feel like such a home-wrecker. I pulled off the driver's side rotor today and found a resident.

 

I finally got the front end all back together and gravity bled all four wheels. While I was at it, I also gravity bled the clutch slave (did it with the slave piston pushed all the way in).

Went for a quick buzz around the neighborhood and it felt great.  I've really missed driving a manual Fiero.

Now to see if it passes AirCare, and perhaps buy some insurance.