Messages

16

General Fiero Discussion / Motor Trend video pits the 1967 Corvair Convertible vs. 1986 Pontiac Fiero

« on: December 29, 2014, 02:31:08 pm »

Thought it was an interesting video to share. I don't quite agree with some of the final tally's and I think they should have used an 88GT or formula with a v6 and not the Iron Duke. Had they gone with a v6 version the Fiero would have prevailed hands down. It was cool though that Motor Trend found a reason to bring a Fiero into the spotlight 

17

The Market / Re: steel brake line

« on: December 28, 2014, 10:14:19 pm »

Hey good to know. I didn't know they sold them individually either. I went a couple years with just two on my car because I didn't want to buy a full set to only use two from it. Glad it worked out for ya

18

Tech Tips, Tech Questions / Re: 1227730 ECM Step-by-step Conversion (with DIS)

« on: December 28, 2014, 10:04:47 pm »

Ha ha thanks. My girls really like making cameos on my videos. Her first appearance was in my hitch install video. I had finished installing the hitch and hooked up a bike rack with my mountain bike. As I was doing a walk around she walks into the shot and just starts talking up how Fieros are awesome. I reshot the walk around but found that her scene was to awesome to cut.
I do actually recommend this conversion. I can confirm that the engine is more responsive and I did notice almost a mile per gallon increase in fuel economy. It's not a large increase but an increase none the less. I absolutely love revving the engine and hitting the rev limiter. A normal Fiero ecm makes you feel like your going to blow the engine before the limiter kicks in but the 7730 makes it sound so nice. If you want to hear it just check out my other YouTube video on adding a true cold air induction. I do a before and after on that and I rev it to the limiter quite a few times. You should check out my other videos or I can post them for ya to check out.
My cruise control didn't work prior to the conversion so it'd be a bit more than just doing the conversion for me. I do feel I should make a follow up video and do the AC wiring conversion. There have been more than a few times I was wishing I had a working AC. I already have a new r134 Fiero compressor ready to install. Just gotta get motivated to do it.
Fierofull is right. It's still an OB1 ecm but it monitors more engine aspects. It is also more tunable. You can use TunerPro to change and tune the car yourself but unlike OBD2 as soon as you disconnect the laptop the car goes back to the original tune. You have to burn the tune to the chip with a chip burner for the tune to take. I have tried a couple times to use TunerPro but haven't been able to get it to communicate with my ecm. I think I just need a little help in getting it configured properly.
Overall its not a difficult conversion. If you know what your doing you could knock it out in a weekend or two. It took me 3 weekends but that was mostly because I had a lot of camera and lighting adjustments as well as taking time to explain everything I was doing. If you get stuck I can talk you through some issues

19

General Fiero Discussion / Re: Classic Cars for Under $5,000 (Fiero is number 3)

« on: December 23, 2014, 10:11:34 am »

Nice list that I can agree with. The Buick Reatta was a cool car that was very innovative for it's time. It had a touch screen computer that would also tell you what was wrong with the car instead of just flashing a service engine light. I think the Cadillac Allante used the same setup. What killed off the Reatta was the fact that it was by far the most expensive Buick on the market. I would love to have one someday.
The Prosche 924 was a good car too. I actually had a 944 which was similar. The handling on those cars are top notch. I use to work with a co-worker who built up and raced non-street legal 924's. We still talk on occasions but they are impressive cars for the money 

20

The Market / Re: IMSA Race Car with Super Duty and Spare Super Duty

« on: December 23, 2014, 09:56:16 am »

I would love to take that off his hands! I just wish I had $20k. If he decided to cut that price in half I might have to consider it 

21

The Market / Re: braidded stainless steel brake line

« on: December 23, 2014, 09:49:51 am »

I have an extra steel braided brake line if you still need one. I'm not sure who made it but it should work. Years ago someone saw my Fiero's sitting in the driveway and decided to drop off a box off Fiero parts which included 2 braided brake lines. I eventually installed them and over the summer I found someone on Ebay selling 3 new braided brake lines. I only need 2 and have one extra. If your interested let me know 

22

Tech Tips, Tech Questions / Re: 1227730 ECM Step-by-step Conversion (with DIS)

« on: December 23, 2014, 09:42:12 am »

I guess since we're on the topic of the 7730 conversion, I can't remember if I've asked this before in the past...I can't find anything but if I did ask it before, sorry. Does anyone know how to use TunerPro v.5? I've been trying to figure it out ever since I did the 7730 conversion but I can never get any readings from the car. I used the $88 3.4 F-body .ecu and .adx files and one time last summer I was able to start to get readings but it was all junk readings. For example the rmp readings were all over the place even though the car idled steadily.
I have to calibrate this new heads up display by driving a certain speed and then set it and then I have to rev the car to a certain rpm and set it. My speedometer works fine but my tachometer reads a little high so I won't be able to use that to get an accurate reading. At 60pmh my tach reads 3800rpms when I believe it should be more like 2900rpms. TunerPro looks like a very useful piece of software once you get it configured properly but it's that initial configuration that's killing me.

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Tech Tips, Tech Questions / Re: 1227730 ECM Step-by-step Conversion (with DIS)

« on: December 23, 2014, 09:17:56 am »

Wow that really goes back beyond my years if you seen them back in those early days. I became an R.E.M. fan when I was in middle school about the time Out of Time came out. It's interesting that you assumed it was R.E.M. because I could have been a B-52's fan

24

Tech Tips, Tech Questions / Re: Automatic transmission won't shift

« on: December 23, 2014, 09:14:10 am »

Hmmm I didn't try starting it out in second. I only tried driving it in drive and then manually shifted it to second while I was already moving. I'll have to try that and see what happens. I don't think it has anything to do with the shift cable because it moves between park, reverse, drive, 2 & 1 just fine. I think it's more on the transmission side somewhere.

The fluid level was a little low according to my brother. How how I don't know so I'm not sure how much he added. The transmission looks ok when I checked it but that was after he added some. The fluid levels are good but nothing has changed. Despite my advise he hasn't ever had the transmission fluid flushed and changed since he's owned it which has been 3 years. So who knows how long it's been since it was last serviced. I think the car has about 12x,xxx miles.

I'll probably try and take another look at it this weekend and mess with it. If I can't figure it out I'll probably just tell him that he'll have to have a shop look at it.

25

Tech Tips, Tech Questions / Re: 1227730 ECM Step-by-step Conversion (with DIS)

« on: December 22, 2014, 04:18:32 pm »

Thanks! I'll have to work on my southern accent more so I can blend in better. I can say that my favorite band is from Athens so that has to buy me some brownie point It has been a crazy year that's for sure. Been tied up more than I would like to have been. I find that I grit my teeth more when I've been away for a while because I see posts that I could have commented on but it was already handled months prior.

I have decided to completely stripped out the interior of my 87GT two weeks ago to give it a makeover. I re-did the headliner, repainted the interior trim panels with the Fiero Store color-matched paint and steam cleaned the carpets. The only thing I haven't done is buy Mr. Mikes seat covers. For right now I'm having to settle on some cheap seat covers from Pep Boys.

I also bought (and doing new videos on) a heads-up display from Tom's digital electronics (http://www.tomsdigitalelectronics.com/new_-_heads_up_display). It seems pretty cool. I thought it was something that he designed like his digital gauges but this looks more like a generic Chinese product. Looks cool though. It's wired in and I have it working. I just have to finish calibrating it.

I also picked up the new door skins from the Fiero Store that provide a door speaker hole. I'm going to be doing a video on that install as well. I want to retain the existing speakers so I'm currently wiring in an amplifier to power the door speakers. I plan on bridging the amp to also power a custom fiberglass sub-woofer enclosure in the foot well. I molded the box for my 88 MERA but I'll probably just swap it between the two cars until I get around to making one for the GT. I think my floor sub pushes more air than any center console sub I've seen and with the passenger seat all the way back it still leaves plenty of leg room. I can't wait to finish this up and get some new videos posted. That's my Christmas present to my self. 

26

Tech Tips, Tech Questions / Automatic transmission won't shift

« on: December 22, 2014, 03:34:48 pm »

I'm not much of a transmission guy so when an issue arises I usually have a shop do it or just swap it out. My question is actually on behalf of my brother who also owns a Fiero, an 86 SE (v6) auto. He is on a tight budget and doesn't want to have a shop charge hime for something that might have been easily fixed had we known what to look for. A few months ago he calls saying that he thinks his transmission was going out and needed a new one. I was finally able to make it over to his house last weekend and check it out. I'm not totally sold that he needs a new transmission because his problem is that his transmission just won't shift out of first while driving. Even when you manually try to shift it into second it still won't shift. Goes between Park, Reverse & drive just fine. I was even able to spin the wheels from a standstill so it seems healthy. It just won't shift into second gear no matter what we try. Could this be a shift solenoid, a TV cable issue, a leaking vacuum line somewhere? Just wanted to pick the brains of anyone who might be familiar with transmission.  Any suggestions?

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Tech Tips, Tech Questions / Re: 1227730 ECM Step-by-step Conversion (with DIS)

« on: December 19, 2014, 02:06:52 pm »

Nice video. This guy must really know what he's doing 

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General Fiero Discussion / Re: MERA profiled on Hagerty.com

« on: July 28, 2014, 03:16:08 pm »

Ha ha looks like I'll have to pick me up one of those Hawaiian shirts too as I've got MERA# 8013. Although I did address the "cheap interior" issue by installing a full Euro Dash from Pisa Corp. Since I have an 88 MERA (Ferrari 308 GTS) and a Fiero I can't have all of my unsuspecting friends wonder why the interiors of both cars look oddly familiar...to familiar.

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General Fiero Discussion / Re: what are koni special D's?

« on: July 28, 2014, 03:03:40 pm »

I have Koni Special D's (red) on the front of my car and I like them. There are four settings for stiffness which range from really soft to very stiff. I autocross my car a lot over the summer so I like the ability to change the settings back and forth but I enjoy having the ability to fine tune them to find the best handling for my driving style. To change the stiffness I have to jack the car up and remove the wheel. Then I remove the two top bolts that hold the shock on and then tilt the shock out. To adjust the shock you push down on it to completely compress it and twist it until you feel it slip into a grove. Then you turn the whole shock in 180 degree rotations to change the stiffness level. When your on the setting you want to just let go of the shock and it will bounce right back up if it is set to light or you might have to pull it back up if you set it completely stiff. Bolt it back up and reinstall the wheel. I have pics of them on my car but I'm at work right now so I can't post them at the moment.
I have a few videos of me autocrossing on my YouTube channel and I have those shocks installed. This one video in particular might make a good comparison video of Special D's vs. stock suspension. I'd like to think that the Special D's helped get me achieve times that were better than my brother who is driving the black Fiero (I have the Blue GT). Around the 7:00 mark you can see he has trouble with understeer and slides off course a couple times. His car is all stock with the exception of the exhaust.

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General Fiero Discussion / Re: Petition to have Fiero Fastback Hot Wheels Produced

« on: July 28, 2014, 02:17:25 pm »

I just added my signature. Hope to see this in production some day. Sadly, it's probably the only time the Fiero will ever go back into production.