My Misc Fiero issues

[GTRS Fiero]

How do you deal with rust on the exhaust flanges, for example the manifolds, Y-pipe, and downpipe to the catalytic converter?

Someone made the suggestion of CLR.

[Fierofool]

Ceramic coating should work.

[GTRS Fiero]

I meant how to get rid of the rust.  Isn't the ceramic coating for after the rust is gone?

[Fierofool]

CLR can etch and stain aluminum.  Bead blasting would work if things were off the car.  Once clean they could be coated.  I don't know how ceramic is applied or cured.

[GTRS Fiero]

The exhaust and block aren't aluminum.  Should CLR work OK on them?

[Fierofool]

It probably would, but I was thinking of the splash and runoff onto the transmission case or possibly the polished areas of the valve covers.

[GTRS Fiero]

Hmmm.  Lots of masking.

[GTRS Fiero]

I'm thinking my pistons, rings and cylinders are OK, because the oil is clear, basically with a slight yellow tint.  The PCV is clean and dry, so not blowing oil back through it.  That leaves the valves, valve guides and seals.  I'm not sure how this would affect the engine.

It seams that, out of gear, the rev limiter kicks in a bit above 4K RPM, but it'll run to 4K in gear.

The lowest thing on the bottom of the engine is the oil pan, right?  It seems mine is still the 2.8 oil pan.  Odd.

The entire intake, the valve covers, the fuel rail, the thermostat housing, and some vacuum hoses must all come off, because there is a spot above the water pump that didn't get painted well and is rusty already.

The upper intake needs to be recoated, anyway.

[Fierofool]

If you can avoid it, don't remove the thermostat housing.  There's been lots of reports of great difficulty in stopping leaks after having done that. 

[GTRS Fiero]

It was already removed previously, but good to know.

[GTRS Fiero]

Haven't forgotten about your headlight door issue.  I don't know what I did with the strips I had.  I can't find them.  I don't know if I put them in a box with something else, or if they're in my shed or up in the storage building.

I received the strips.  They look great.  Thanks, Fierofool!

Here's the left side before Fierofool:

You can see that the bottom is broken, but it doesn't want to come out.  I don't know what happened to around the strip.

Here's the right side before Fierofool:

Notice that the strip is missing entirely.  You can sortof see what the problem is, in this picture.

[GTRS Fiero]

Here's why the strips didn't want to come out:

This glue has great adhesion, and equally good cohesion.  I had to scrape this gunk out of the slots into which the strips fit. I had a really hard time getting the left strip to fit into the lower slot.  I have no idea how the strips came out, with this glue.

Left side strip, after Fierofool:

The strip is sitting flat, no matter how it looks.

Right side strip, after Fierofool:


The new strips actually look better than my originals.

[GTRS Fiero]

Unfortunately, while I was in there, I discovered that 2 of the retainers for the rubber piece over the radiator were not in place.  One was under the rubber cover, and the top of the other is broken off.  I then saw that the bracket on the left side is missing a bolt.  Rrrr!

[GTRS Fiero]

Well, I fixed the radio knob.  A bit of superglue, and it was ready to test:


With a little effort, the knob slipped right on.  It turns well, with no looseness.  Nice and straight.

I have mixed feelings about adding some epoxy or something around the inner plastic that was broken, to prevent future failures.  What do you think?

[GTRS Fiero]

I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but when I got the car back, the left ash tray door wouldn't close.  I found that this was due to the white plate that holds the shift light and gear indicator having been glued in a hair too far to the left.  See where the tip of the screwdriver is?


I carefully removed this plate, and reglued.  The ash tray door does close correctly, now.