Hi, I'm a new member, been looking for info on here since I bought this car back in early may, and figured I should register and share some pics of my progress and frustrations.

So as the title says, she's an 85 gt automatic.  Got it for $650 because it needs a fair bit of work, but even knowing that, I really think I got a good deal considering that it runs, the tires are in great shape and it had new exhaust put on before it was parked roughly a year ago.  The guy who sold it thought my friend and I were brave or foolish to drive it to delta from maple ridge, he really expected that we were bringing a flatbed.  Made it back with the only problem being that it needed a jump start after we put fuel in it.  Anyway, here's the pics from the first day I got the car.

The interior was pretty filthy, pics really don't show how bad it looked or smelled.

Survived the trip with no real issues amazingly

Now I knew it had a lot of problems getting into it, and found more as I started digging into it, but here are some of the problems it had when I bought it:

-no park brake
-no washer tank or pump
-no spare tire
-engine was low on power
-transmission line was leaking
-hole where the battery tray used to be
-left exhaust tip was not installed for some reason when they did the exhaust work, but the seller supplied extra tips with the vehicle (forgot to mention he supplied an extra hood w/scoop, and side scoop panels as well!)
-weak brakes

But the big pain was that every lock had to be changed.  He had no key for the drivers door, pasenger door was punched in, trunk was punched in, and the ignition had either part of a key broken inside, or was just so mangled so much that it worked with nothing in it!  I kept pulling the wire from the coil to the distributor as my only means of theft protection when I parked it.  Seller also had a spare used GM ignition lock cylinder, and included it with the car as well.

Soon after, I ordered a set of locks, and installed the used ignition lock cylinder.  Those side door locks are a royal pain!  Thankfully I did them last, or I wouldn't have bothered with changing the other locks in the same day.  I took some pics of the trunk lid lock getting changed.  I had to patch up the holes with some epoxy because I had to punch out the old screws since the heads were stripped and badly rusted.

Plate and cylinder were out at this point, just waiting for the epoxy to harden so I could drill new holes.

Here's the old lock



And the finished result, along with the picture of the first time the trunk latch has been closed in who knows how long.

I was busy that day, gave it a tune up as well, which took care of my low power problem.....what a difference!  I also figured I'd see if I could get that exhaust tip back on.  It had an old clamp on it, so I thought I'd try and see if I could reuse it first, rather than having to leave and go buy a clamp right away without knowing.  It was an extremely tight fit because the end of the old piping from the tips was nowhere near round.  Also remembered I had some metal polish, so I tried cleaning it up before it went on.

Before:



After:



Here's how it looked with the tip out.  You can also see the nice puddle of ATF on the ground from my leaky trans line, that ended up just being a loose clamp, which was a nice break.



I have to mention something funny that I noticed as well.  This very same care was owned by someone else who was/is on these forums.  I was searching through the "old members rides" page and noticed "Vlad's 85 gt" and saw the wheels on his car right away.  They look just like the ones on my car..... appear to be mkIII vw gti rims, so I doubt too many local grey 85 gts would have them.  I looked closer and saw the difference in paint colour from where the bra on the car used to be as well.  The big kicker was the battery though.  On his personal webpage link there's a shot of his rear trunk mounted battery.  Well look at what's under the trunk of mine.....



I just thought that was kind of neat.  Does anyone know if he's still around?

Eventually, I brought it over to our pit (I've been keeping the car at work since all my tools are there and I'm allowed to use the shop on days off as long as I don't get in the way of the mechanics on duty), changed the oil and had a look underneath.





It looks so much better with the tips on both sides!  Underneath looked ok.  Rad support is rotting away, but still holding fine, just needs a patch on the bottom.  Everything else looked decent, it was $650 remember? 

Next post will have a few pics from when I had it on our hoist to check the brakes and then the few pics I took when I finally got to take it out on a permit to see how she drives on actual streets (my friend drove it back from maple ridge because I wasn't going to let him drive my dad's brand new truck, which we took to haul the extra hood.....I'll take some pics of that soon and try to get those up too).  Before the day with the permit, I'd only driven it up and down the yard at work really.  I'll hopefully have the next post up within a day or two.

Oh I almost forgot the coolest thing about the car, the REAL selling point..... THE MIGHTY TYPE S CUP HOLDER!  Even my friend said I had to buy it just for that hahaha.

Yep I saw the pics and instantly though about Vlads car.

             When he owned it, he use to race it at Mission on the road course for years there was a pic of his car on the Mission track page.

               He did take pretty good care of it, but as I mentioned it was years ago, probably around 6 or 7 years since he sold it.  At that time it was pretty much stock aside from the battery in the trunk.     I can't remember if there were any real mods, but I would go over the suspension and check for aftermarket sway bar(s) poly bushings and such.  I thought I sold him a black poly insert for the dogbone, can't really tell in the pics though.

fierowned wrote: Hi, I'm a new member, been looking for info on here since I bought this car back in early may, and figured I should register and share some pics of my progress and frustrations. So as the title says, she's an 85 gt automatic.  Got it for $650...

Excellent first post and introduction to your recent acquisition.  Sounds like you got a great deal.

Hope you consider coming to the next club meeting (this Saturday) to show off your  '85 GT!

fierowned wrote: I don't really want to take it out on the road without an emergency brake though...

If the truth be known, many (if not most) people don't have a problem living with a car with an automatic transmission that doesn't have a parking brake. (Just put it in Park when parked and it's not going anywhere.)

The '86 GT (automatic) that I bought over a year ago has never had a working parking brake since I've owned it. However, I have to admit that I don't like parking a manual tranny car, especially on a hill, without a properly functioning parking brake.

The brakes are these, http://www.westcoastfieros.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=477&PN=1 - http://www.westcoastfieros.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=477 &PN=1   

        The GrandAm swap was very popular, especially for people racing.   You get nearly twice the braking performnace and its 1/2 the cost of stock brakes.  However you loose the parking break. 

       Oh forgot to add, I downloaded and installed ICQ and actually remembered my ICQ number.  I had him on my ICQ list, so I have sent him a message and asked him to pop in over here.    Kinda funny side note, out of 160+ ICQ contacts only 15 were online.    I am pretty sure he still uses it though through an multi client app.

fierowned wrote: And I just like knowing I have something in an emergency too.

I'd really be interested in knowing how many people have EVER used their "emergency" brake in a true emergency. I'm referring to a situation where out-of-the-blue their perfectly working brakes all of a sudden failed completely while driving at speed and the driver had the time (and presence of mind!) to use their emergency brake before bouncing off something.

I bet the percentage of drivers in this scenario rates right up there with million dollar lottery winners.

I've been driving for 37 years and have never used an emergency brake in an emergency, nor have I won the lottery.

        To agree with you on that one Patrick, I have a perfectly working E-Brake on my 88GT and I have TESTED it, driving at 80kph and yanking it as hard as I could, we slowed down but in no means quickly.   I can decelerate much faster by dropping 2 gears and letting the engine slow my down, then turn off the key while in gear.  Which I had to do in Lisa's V8 one night. 

My Grand-Am brakes on my 85GT saved me far more times that I could count.  Those times were I was able to stop the car with less than a foot before I hit someone, If I had the stock brakes all the way around I know I would have made contact.   For me the Grand-Am brakes are well worth the trade off, or doing the more "now popular mod" using the Cadillac Calipers, Le baron 10.25 rotors in the rear so you get to keep your E-brake and have the better brakes in the back.

92rsrskyline wrote: looks like a decent fiero for $650! this forum is great, great people too, i dont know where i would be without it....

Check your PM's

Romeo wrote: Ken Block would be heart-broken to hear you bashing on his favorite toy.

Who the heck is Ken Block?

92rsrskyline wrote: http://www.google.ca/search?q=ken+block&ie=utf-8&oe= utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client =firefox-a

Are you trying to supply a link to http://www.google.ca/search?q=ken+block&ie=utf-8&oe= utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client =firefox-a - This ?

I may not know who Ken Block is, but I know how to properly post a link.

So, what's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Block - This guy got to do with parking brakes? 

         Its is very possible that the pads are glazed over, if the person had a tendency to ride the brakes for a long distance while coming to a stop or other related issue.  I have seen Fiero's that felt like they had no brakes at all, because the pads were glazed so bad.

My 85GT with stock front brakes and premium pads, with rear Grand Am brakes and good pads, could lock all 4 wheels up at 70kph, and that was with rather large 225/50/16's on the front and 245/50/16's on the rear.

fierowned wrote:

Vlad I. wrote: 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.

Good eye!

             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?

I was kinda looking at that earlier, looks like there are 5 that say Motormaster V-Groove and one AC Delco.   Hmmmmm

Here I rotated and blew it up and cleaned up the image a bit.

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. 

What's the mileage on the car now anyway.

You do realize that the guage pod is not original on this car, right? I was the one who swapped it.

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

Dave, the K&N's you don't need to replace - just clean - right?

K&N Air filters are clean and re-use, however K&N fuel filters and oil filters for the Fiero's are toss and replace.   

fierowned wrote: I figured since it's actually driveable right now, I'm gonna take it to the meeting as it is...

Great, we look forward to meeting you and seeing the car!

LOL, Hey John I thought I had dibs on those, LOL again.   I've got 3 already in storage, I heard he was going to toss them all in the dumpster so I told him Please Don't, I put them all in storage.  Glad that at least one of them is getting put to good use.  I'll try to make it over tonight with the trailer and grab all the extra things.

Now as to Fan Switch, hit up Napa ask for the Buick Grand National fan switch.  Its the 3.8 Turbo one IIRC its a 205ish On, 195ish off. 

       Hit up Canadian Tire, and look for the most expensive brand you can find for the Fiero then look for a 180 thermostat in that brand.  Lordco/Napa/Decker's/Premium parts won't stock the 180 only place I have found to be in stock was Canadian Tire.