85 gt fixer upper

I found some of the engine shots as well, so here it goes:

Before the tune up (note the clean wire from the distributor to coil, ghetto anti-theft baby!)



The front three plugs looked ok, the back 3 were just ugly.  2 of the holes in the head were stripped, which was kind of a piss off, but the new ones are in and working now.





The next weekend I tossed it on our hoist to see why it brakes so poorly.



This was after sand blasting the front rotors..... they gotta go soon too.



Fronts after I was done cleaned the rotors and filing off some pad material to get something fresh contacting the rotor.



Rear grand am brakes



What's left of my e-brake cable



Like I said, if I find that the stock brakes are very bad, I'll change them, but this isn't gonna be a race car or anything, more just for cruising right now. 

Took a few pics when I actually did get it on the road for a while.  Looks a lot better after a wash.  Too bad it started to rain later :(







Well, that brings you guys up to date now, I hope to be doing the brakes a couple weekends from now depending on how long some parts take to arrive.  I forgot to take some shots of the hood and side scoops, hopefully I'll remember soon.  Thanks for viewing!

Check your front middle cylinder for compression. The
spark plug looks quite a bit different than the rest.
Looks like it might have been missing quite a bit.

 

             Maybe its just camera angle, but, if you have not garbaged the plugs, grab a feeler gauge and check the gap on the plug that Vlad mentioned.   It almost looks like the electrode is burnt off.  If the gap was MASSIVELY different than the rest, it can also be a sign that, that injector was partially clogged making that cylinder run really lean.   There is only 1 O2 sensor in a Fiero, yet there are 6 injectors, so if one injector goes bad, the ecm simply adds fuel to the entire system, which lets that one bad cylinder run dangerously lean, and at the least will result in one plug burning out, and in worst case, can burn a whole in the piston.        Also verify the EGR system is functioning.  If the computer thinks there is an EGR however it is mechanically disabled, it can cause lean out rather badly.  Just pull up on the underside of the EGR pod, and see if the motor stumbles, and check the codes for any code 32 errors in the ECM.   If the motor stumbles when you pull up on the EGR pod, then the pipe and pod are working, if you don't get any codes, then the electronics are working and you should be fine.   To verify all is well, hold your finger on the diaphragm of the EGR pod, and use your other hand to slowly rev the engine to about 3000 and hold it there.   You should feel the diaphragm pull up on its own.   If it doesn't you need to either get a chip to disable the computer from using the EGR or fix the EGR system, OR as a last resort retard the timing to 8' vs the stock 10' or 12' that most people run there car at.

Vlad I. wrote: PS. I just realized that this is the same set of spark plugs I put in the car last time I tuned it up. Don't ask me how I know. I am sure.

I just noticed that the spark plug with the different color electrodes also has a different color terminal at the top... and is the only one that "AC" (well, the "A" part anyway) can be seen clearly. Is there a connection?

 

Yep, you're bang on, there were 5 motomaster plugs and one really ugly ac delco one.  I have some injector cleaner gunk kicking around, figured I'd add that in when I chage the fuel filter coming up.  Not saying it'll cure an injector problem if that is it, but it couldn't hurt.  I want to drive this car as soon as I can and figure I can continue doing any repairs in the fall.  As long as it drives fairly decent, I'll be happy enough with it to drive it for a couple months this summer.  

Thanks for the pointers though, much appreciated.  I'm a bus mechanic apprentice, so I'm really not overly experienced with diagnosing gasoline engine problems.....well, ignition systems at least, the rest is all pretty much the same, and I've picked up enough from maintaining my own cars to usually get by. 

Knowing I that I did the cap, rotor, plugs, wires, air filter, oil change, and that I'm going to be doing the fuel filter soon, do you guys figure it should pass aircare ok with that cylinder running hot?  Assuming the EGR is actually working..... just trying to isolate the bad cylinder problem.  If I can get away with not fixing this until fall I'll be really happy, I want to enjoy this car in the sunshine while I can:).

DOH!  LOL, well at least we know what happened now.   As for Aircare. Few tips.

Fill er up with Mohawk 94oct.  If the EGR circuit works, leave it as is.  If it does not work, add 1 liter of Methyl hydrate to tbe gas tank before you fill with the Mohawk/Husky fuel.

Leave your timing at 10' bring a flat screwdriver with you to the air care place when you get to the line up, quickly jump out of the car, twist the "min idle set screw" in the throttle body to get the idle up to about 1400rpms.  This has to be done as close to the testing as possible as the computer will see the high idle and start lowering it via the IAC.

                Over inflate your rear tires.  I am talking 10psi over whatever the max is on the sidewall.  On 32psi tires I usually run 42-45, on 44psi tires I run about 50-52psi.  This reduces the rolling resistance on the dyno.  

              Remove the air filter completely. 

        I can get mine and my wifes V6 Fiero's. (when I was running a V6)   To pass Aircare, with no cat, no EGR system, no evap system, mine with a big cam, and high compression engine.   84-87 cars are not required to have a cat. 88 is the only year you need it. 

     Just as a side note, DON'T put in the methyl hydrate if your EGR is working.  If the EGR opens and the Methyl hydrate is in there is will run your hydrocarbons through the roof.   The methyl hydrate is to reduce the NOX levels at a test. 

           I don't know where you are, but if you are planning to be a member of west coast Fiero's we have a scan tool here, it is a one time $5 for access to the scanner, then we can give your entire fuel injection system a once over and see if all the sensors are giving correct data.  Sometimes a sensor can be nearly dead and messing up, but not set a check engine code, because it is still sorta working.  Just ask Nigel about that one.   Engine had no codes, yet the motor was running bad.  Scanner found a few odd things, we swapped out from my spare parts bin and found the issue.

To be frank, I change my fuel filter every 3rd oil change, or at least once a year.   I usually see a marked increase in high rpm power due to the crud in the fuel system.  I have seen people come here saying the car has no power, it runs horrible any off idle, just to pull the filter and thought my head was going to explode just trying to blow through it, (yes with my mouth, easiest way to tell resistance to air flow is blowing through it yourself, and anyone that has ever used a Mexican gas pump knows what I am talking about, gas isn't the worst thing I've tasted)  

         The filter is about 14 bucks average, some places cheaper, some places more.  Its used on a bazillions other GM cars and trucks. 

 

 

I was going to mention that and actually forgot, 85GT's never had the 180kph speedo always the 140kph and non back lit clusters.

Why roughly, I remember exactly...:-)

When I swapped the cluster my old one read 196K, and new
204K.

So the actual mileage on the vehicle is what you see minus
8K. This is all on the original engine and tranny. Not bed
at all.

K&N *AIR* filters yes.  All the others that I've seen (K&N fuel & oil) are disposable still.