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First time driving a Fiero!

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Roadfury View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Roadfury Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: First time driving a Fiero!
    Posted: 06 February 2010 at 11:42pm
So today I deemed my car road worthy. After 6+ years of sitting around being a drain on resources i finally get to drive it!!

I Like:
When i get out of the car people are like, what is that??? cool car man, is that a fiero?? those things still run? :P

The handling, it corners like a dream and even with 15 year old all season tires that are cracking it still out corners my mustang that has performance summer tires, lowered, koni shocks/struts, and chassis stiffening hardware

That your sitting 8" off the ground :P

I Do Not Like:
No power steering, call me a wuss, whatever, it was invented for a reason

Shifter, sloppy and in-exact, plus the fact that the shifter handle is about the length of one off a Mac truck

POWER!! a very big disappointment , I know i've been spoiled driving my mustang but still i was expecting some kind of performance, around 4-5 thousand RPM it starts getting happier but still, my moms saturn is easier to get up to speed.

Questions
After driving it for about 20-30 mins how hot should the deck vents be? Mine were pretty freaking warm and im a bit concerned, there is coolant pressure and the radiator gets hot too, if I put my hand on the back carpeted side of the firewall, its warm to the touch. BTW temperature gauge isn't working at the moment

The front brakes seem to be sticking... suggestions?

The power, really so little of it?


My Toys

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Patrick View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Patrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 February 2010 at 12:10am

Congrats on getting your Fiero on the road!

Originally posted by Roadfury Roadfury wrote:

I Do Not Like:
No power steering, call me a wuss, whatever, it was invented for a reason

It was invented for women... Wuss.  

Originally posted by Roadfury Roadfury wrote:

POWER!! a very big disappointment , I know i've been spoiled driving my mustang but still i was expecting some kind of performance, around 4-5 thousand RPM it starts getting happier but still, my moms saturn is easier to get up to speed.

After driving it for about 20-30 mins how hot should the deck vents be? Mine were pretty freaking warm and im a bit concerned, there is coolant pressure and the radiator gets hot too, if I put my hand on the back carpeted side of the firewall, its warm to the touch. BTW temperature gauge isn't working at the moment

The power, really so little of it?

Except for the fact that you stated, "around 4-5 thousand RPM it starts getting happier", I would've suggested you possibly had a plugged cat.

I don't know how hot your vents actually get, but there's supposed to be hot air coming up out of them. 

Originally posted by Roadfury Roadfury wrote:

The front brakes seem to be sticking... suggestions?

My suggestion is to read This thread 

If your brakes are sticking, that would certainly cut down the car's performance and cause the engine to get hotter than it should.

 

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D_sensitized View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote D_sensitized Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 February 2010 at 11:28am
Originally posted by Roadfury Roadfury wrote:


POWER!! a very big disappointment , I know i've been spoiled
driving my mustang but still i was expecting some kind of
performance, around 4-5 thousand RPM it starts getting happier but
still, my moms saturn is easier to get up to speed.

I know what you mean. I've only driven my fiero for an hour or so and
as fun as it was it's not quite what I was expecting. My dd is a
northstar eldorado so I'm used to a bit more then the fiero. But I know
I can't wait to be able to drive around in my fiero. I've grown tired of
driving such a big car.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Capt Fiero Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 February 2010 at 12:35pm

 

        Your Fiero should not be that far off from your Mustang, I use to be an avid street racer and with the 2.8 the most competitive cars were always the fox body Mustangs.   I would always get them out of the hole, and usually it was not until the 1/8th mile that they would catch me.  Then it was a cat and mouse game to the finish.   At Mission, I was pulling faster 60 foot times than most mustangs on street tires.

So if your Fiero is as slow as you say it is, there is something wrong.  Either tuning, or simply a worn out motor.     I have seen Fiero's loose 40% yes Forty Percent of there power because the engine was not setup right.   These motors were a hodge podge at best when they were built, and as any Fiero mechanic will tell ya, there can be as little as one ground wire missing and have the entire car run like a bag of poo.

       I am sure we can eek out a few more ponies from your car.  If you can wait for my leg to heal, or get in touch with one of the other tech heads on here, (Dr. Fiero) someone with a real in depth knowledge of what these motors should be doing I am sure we can wake it up.

Capt Fiero
88 Fiero GT 5spd V6
Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd.
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Dr.Fiero View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Dr.Fiero Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 February 2010 at 3:02pm
You REALLY need to drive another one (or better yet, have someone with the same setup drive yours!) to say that it's right - or underpowered.

Seeing as you've never until now driven your own car - you have nothing to compare to right!

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Post Options Post Options   Quote Roadfury Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 February 2010 at 5:53pm
Well I'll pull apart the front brakes in the next few days and see what the problem up there, also my brake reservoir seems to be leaking at the moment so I'll probably need to replace that too, anything that would bolt on as a better unit than stock?

I'm going to order a new coolant temperature sensor fan switch sensor, cause so far i haven't seen it come on, and a ECM temperature sensor. Found a good info link on this here http://www.fierofocus.com/articles/tt-clt_sens.html that ill use to check everything other than the sensor before spending money on it

O2 sensor could be a culprit to my horsepower woes as well? i have another used one kicking around here that I'll swap in and see how it goes.

If anyone with a V6 would be willing to drive me around in that would be pretty sweet, as would if anyone's willing to spend a afternoon trouble shooting, there's beer, food and a buddy to be made. I'd offer money but, well come on i drive a Fiero :P

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Post Options Post Options   Quote bill Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 February 2010 at 8:00am

Funny, one of my complainst about the Sosltice is that it has power steering.

Won't matter to many people, but for anyone that is sued to competition (slalom/solo is a great test) hlosing the feel that PS takes away is not welcome.

I guess the Fiero would have received the PS in 1989, but I am pretty darn sure it would not have been an improvement.

 

1988 3.2 turbo Fiero

1957 3.4 in Jamaican MG

2009 2.0 Pontiac GXP coupe
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Romeo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Romeo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 February 2010 at 9:34am
I just dislike the fact it absorbs road feel.
Never shift into reverse without a back-up plan.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Dr.Fiero Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 February 2010 at 12:21pm
10 minutes on a scan tool will tell you what's up with what in that area.  And save you from needlessly replacing sensors that are fine.

Then it all comes down to how everything is set up, and what state things are in.

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beken View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote beken Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 February 2010 at 12:40pm
As a totally stock Fiero goes, I've been eaten pretty good by modified 5.0 mustangs in a straight line before. I remember some immature guy in a rumbling Cobra came up beside me, called over at me and laughed at me. I guess he had something to compensate for. At least I didn't spend 40K in 1985 dollars for my car.

But I would say my Fiero as stock was pretty competitive or faster than Toyota MR2s, Porsche 944's, Honda Prelude's, Nissan 240SX and 300Z's and other cars of that level of performance. Those with mechanical skills and appropriate budgets could easily move their cars up a few levels of performance class.

Yah....okay...I'll call you a wuss. Power steering was still an option on most cars back in 1985. The only car with power steering my family ever had when I bought my Fiero was my dad's Nova.



Beken (aka Ken) - bekentech@westcoastfieros.com   Original and still the owner of an 85SE 2M6 4spd
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Romeo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Romeo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 February 2010 at 4:21pm
Hehe. My '66 Stang doesn't have power steering (And a 289 iron block), believe me, that is a fun thing to park.
Never shift into reverse without a back-up plan.
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Patrick View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Patrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 February 2010 at 6:42pm

Originally posted by beken beken wrote:

I remember some immature guy in a rumbling Cobra came up beside me, called over at me and laughed at me. I guess he had something to compensate for.

There was a car commercial a few years ago where a bunch of prepubescent boys were playing street hockey and they had to move their nets when some thirty-something guy came by in his new car (might've been a Mustang). It showed him driving by in slow motion with the young boys salivating at the car and the thirty-something guy looking awfully pleased with himself. Gawd, that commercial creeped me out!

 

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