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Dawg’s Machine |
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Dawg 
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Joined: 15 August 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 988 |
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 Topic: Dawg’s MachinePosted: 01 July 2011 at 11:45pm |
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Here's our new ride. It's an 87 GT with a Camaro 3.4L V6.
  This car has had a lot of effort put into it. Very nice in and out. Ron did a terrific job. |
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You dream it up....I'll make it
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Dawg
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Joined: 15 August 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 988 |
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Posted: 01 July 2011 at 11:57pm |
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Like any used car, this one needs some work. We found out after driving the car a few days that the motor will be needing significant work done to it. Ron, being the gentleman that he is, offered to give us some of our money back to help out with the repairs.
When we got the car I noticed it ran very cold. Upon further inspection, I noticed the thermostat was missing. In the end, I found a bad fan switch to blame. All is well there now. Today I realized that the front wheel bearings and seals need replacing. So will be doing this tomorrow. I also figured out why the front end is so twitchy. The Prothane bushings are worn out. The front wheels move back and forth about a 1/4 inch. Eeek! I might just make my own bushings in the end. I suspect the rear suspension will need some lovin' also. It's amazing how well it handles considering the condition of the front end at the moment. Over all however, it is very nice to cruise in. The Dawg |
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Capt Fiero
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Founding Member Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 4039 |
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Posted: 02 July 2011 at 1:12am |
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I have some new prothan bushings here if you want something to make mock ups for the ones you will build. I would think that instead of a pure solid bushing, looking at a way to place a bearing in the Shel's of the control arms might be an interesting unique way of doing it. Some nice common industrial bearing that does not cost an arm and a let because it is unique. I don't know if it would last LONGER due to the fact that it is not being forced to twist like the rubber or poly does every time the suspension moves or wear out more quickly because the bearing would get hammered every time you hit a bump in the road.
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Capt Fiero
88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd. |
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Dr.Fiero
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Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 1726 |
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Posted: 02 July 2011 at 7:23am |
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I suspect that it would be awesome - for about 20 minutes.
Then for one, the novelty would wear off, and you'd find the car undrivable due to the harshness. Then interior parts would start to fall off, and if you were lucky your windshield wouldn't crack.  Then you'd find cracks developing in your spaceframe...... (the list goes on) You need SOME form of isolation up there. I know when I went from my low mileage stock rubber in my '87 to poly, I had squeeks in the interior within a week. |
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Dawg
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Joined: 15 August 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 988 |
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Posted: 02 July 2011 at 7:04pm |
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Yup, this thing squeaks like an old covered wagon heading West...:) I might try and find a chunk of graphite impregnated plastic. I hear that sh*t is real slippery and won't squeak.
Hard ball bearings would probably pound themselves to death pretty quick. What they call needle bearings might work. But ya, I think John is right. I might even look into stock rubber just for kicks. Drove it around today, nice! PS. I might just take you up on that Dave. Then I have the drawings anyway. The Dawg |
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Capt Fiero
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Posted: 02 July 2011 at 7:47pm |
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Well if you want graphite pregnant lubed hole's Prothan makes a poly with graphite mix bushings for the Fiero's. I personally have always just stuck with the red bushings and greased the hell out of them. Even gone as far as drilling zerk fittings into the shell to make it lubeabel (is that a word, my rod is lubeable, if you don't believe me, ask my wife) Hmm.............. |
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Capt Fiero
88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd. |
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Dawg
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Joined: 15 August 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 988 |
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Posted: 02 July 2011 at 9:22pm |
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I do have a question regarding getting those bushings out. I was looking at the upper control arm tonight. It appears as though there is a long bolt that goes all the way through the assembly. Is that how it is?
Not much room in there to get something that long out. (Dave! behave yourself here)....:) I guess you have to get the break line out of the way first eh? Once the spring is removed the lowers look easy. Are the front A arm bushings the same size as the back ones by chance? The Dawg |
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You dream it up....I'll make it
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Patrick
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Joined: 19 April 2008 Location: Vancouver Status: Offline Points: 5 |
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Posted: 02 July 2011 at 9:32pm |
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Are we talking about the same engine that sounded so smooth down in Arlington?
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Capt Fiero
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Posted: 02 July 2011 at 9:50pm |
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Yes its one long hard bolt that does not have lube, so its a pecker and a c**t to get in and out. The shaft has usually been in so long that its seized up inside and requires the use to power tools to bang it loose. Battery powered stuff just is not up to the task. Gently warning and cooling, and spraying lube in the hole usually works best to get the shaft out of the hole. Its about 12-18"s long. I can do phone call support if you are still awake. My tech line is 1-90-FieroSex In all seriousness, the problem is the center section where the bolt goes through it rusts in place and gets seized in there. The metal ends up fusing into one piece, I've had 1 bolt take me 2 days to get out, using air hammers, propane torches 2 cans of Lloyd's moveit I think I even found a way to get a Fiero scsiorr jack in there to keep constant sideways pressure on the bolt as I pounded wtih an air chisel. |
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Capt Fiero
88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd. |
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Capt Fiero
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Posted: 02 July 2011 at 9:54pm |
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At Arlington there was no thermostat in the engine, so it never got fully warmed up. Once they got back and got a thermostat in it, so the engine was up to operating temperatures. They found the oil pressure was not keeping up and sounds like a possible main or rod bearing is on its way out. May last 1000kms, may last 10,000kms or may never blow, only time will tell. However Ron is being a good guy and refunding a portion of money equal to part of an engine rebuild. |
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Capt Fiero
88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd. |
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Dr.Fiero
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Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 1726 |
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Posted: 02 July 2011 at 9:55pm |
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I gotta start charging by the question....  Yes. Some just slide out - MANY are way stuck where the bolt meets the bushing. A fast impact is your friend. You just spin the f*ck out of it until it beats the rust free. Yes. Just undo the one 10mm headed bolt/screw, and gently fold the line out of the way. Yes. Sort of. Sometimes. Usually. Maybe. YMMV. No. That'd be just too easy. |
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Dawg
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Joined: 15 August 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 988 |
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Posted: 02 July 2011 at 11:22pm |
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Not sure, we bought it like this. You see Michelle did the test drive because it's her daily driver and she drove it home a few days later when we paid for it. So I didn't get the chance to drive it till several days later. I noticed the slight knock then. But it was so light that I thought I would wait till we ran it a bit and changed the oil before coming to any conclusions. It's definately a rod bearing. It sounds exactly like our 3.1 at the same RPM only much lighter. It's the very beginning of the problem. The engine has a massive rear seal leak. You should see our driveway. Combine that with a buggered oil sending unit and I bet the engine was run dry by mistake at some point. It runs fine at the moment so all is well. We'll see about getting it pulled in 6 months or so. The Dawg
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Bassman
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Sir Brian Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 2501 |
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Posted: 03 July 2011 at 8:06am |
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Nice car either way...
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Brian (Bassman)
86 GT Fastback 3.2L 2013 Mazda3 Sport GS SkyActive [IMG]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u243/Bassman68/BassmanSignature.png"> |
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Dawg
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Posted: 04 July 2011 at 12:39am |
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It sure is. Ron put a lot into this car at one point. It is worth the time to polish it up. It needs to keep running till then however...:)
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You dream it up....I'll make it
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Patrick
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Joined: 19 April 2008 Location: Vancouver Status: Offline Points: 5 |
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Posted: 04 July 2011 at 7:15pm |
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Sorry to hear that, but man, am I ever glad Ron didn't accept my friend's son's offer two years ago! Hope you can get this all sorted out without a whole lot of grief.
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Dawg
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Joined: 15 August 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 988 |
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Posted: 04 July 2011 at 9:10pm |
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Me too Patty. It makes it hard when it's a daily driver. You don't want to dig into anything that will take too long to put back together. hehehe
The Dawg
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Dawg wrote:
What the heck happened?