Georgia Fiero Club Forum

All Things Fiero => General Fiero Discussion => Topic started by: TopNotch on September 04, 2022, 04:43:35 pm

Title: My Fiero Adventures
Post by: TopNotch on September 04, 2022, 04:43:35 pm: The other day I was driving a neighbor around in my white Fiero when I heard a "thunk", and suddenly my volt meter went down. Turns out that my low mount alternator bracket had broken again -- the home welding fix wasn't good enough. This time I wasn't very far from home, so I took a chance and drove home. It was just starting to spew coolant when I got there. I contacted Fiero Rog and asked him to rush me another bracket. He said he could rush one, but it wouldn't be painted. That was Ok with me.
So now I'm down to one Fiero, and a friend in NC had just bought a house and was having a house warming party Friday evening. So I hop in my yellow Fiero and get there without incident. Yesterday I'm on my way back home when, at about 37 miles before the GA border on I-85, my car becomes almost uncontrollable. Luckily there weren't any cars near me, because I was zig-zagging down the highway. I managed to get it to the side and then slowly crept to the next exit, about a mile away. This car is an 88, which as you may know has a trailing arm suspension in the rear. The trailing arm and two lateral arms are connected to the knuckle with bushings. As near as I can tell, one of the lateral bushings on the passenger side completely disintegrated. I was a little more than 100 miles from home at that point, and was able get a tow home, with AAA paying for the 100 miles and me paying for the rest.
Meanwhile my new bracket came in yesterday, so today I put my white Fiero back together.
Had there been other cars around me yesterday, it could have been the end.
Title: Re: My Fiero Adventures
Post by: Fierofool on September 04, 2022, 04:48:52 pm: Are bushings readily available for that? Hurry up and get everything in safe working order. Don't want to have to go back with a tow dolly again to bring you back from North Carolina after RFTH.

Regarding the unpainted bracket, get some high temp ceramic engine paint. Once it's air cured for about 24 hours, put it in the oven and bake it at 250 for about an hour. It's as good as powder coating.
Title: Re: My Fiero Adventures
Post by: TopNotch on September 04, 2022, 05:44:00 pm: I painted the new bracket with black caliper paint yesterday, and put it in today. I'm not worried about baking it.
Rodney Dickman sells 1988 rear bushings and i ordered some from him. I'll probably have to buy tires for the yellow car because the rear tires are pretty badly "scalloped" from the car zig-zagging at high speeds.
Title: Re: My Fiero Adventures
Post by: montegut on September 04, 2022, 08:44:47 pm: Glad you are OK. That could have been bad in your yellow Fiero. What caused the coolant leak in your white car? When the bracket broke, did it hit a hose?
Title: Re: My Fiero Adventures
Post by: TopNotch on September 04, 2022, 08:56:00 pm: Quote from: montegut on September 04, 2022, 08:44:47 pm
Glad you are OK. That could have been bad in your yellow Fiero. What caused the coolant leak in your white car? When the bracket broke, did it hit a hose?
When the alternator bracket broke, the belt, of course, came off, and so there was nothing driving the water pump. By the time I got home, the car was starting to over heat.
Title: Re: My Fiero Adventures
Post by: montegut on September 04, 2022, 09:21:38 pm: Oops! My low “mechanic IQ” is showing. I’ll do better!
Title: Re: My Fiero Adventures
Post by: TopNotch on September 08, 2022, 03:25:50 pm: Here's the problem on my yellow Fiero. The rubberr in the bushing somehow squeezed out one side and formed a sort of rubber "pancake". I've never seen that before.
Title: Re: My Fiero Adventures
Post by: TopNotch on September 17, 2022, 11:15:53 pm: Haven't updated this in a while. My yellow car is fixed with Rodney's bushings, and it feels so good I'm thinking of driving it on RFTH. Need to replace brake pads before then, though. I already have some.
Title: Re: My Fiero Adventures
Post by: Fierofool on September 18, 2022, 12:33:36 am: Hurry. You need to get a couple hundred miles on them before doing any hard braking as we do on RFTH.