Mine's the red one.
It's gonna be excellent once it's finished. See the GT rim? Awesome
Of course mine isn't the red one... it's the silver one coming off the trailer.
I know you have it hidden but happy birthday no2.
So the time to pick up my car is growing near. We had made all arrangements, but had not yet purchased the plane tickets. I made the phone call (along with the final payment) to
the Fiero Factory, at which point I was informed that some of the suspension parts required to finish the repair were going to be arriving the day before I was scheduled to pick up my car. Arg. This means no time for the car to be properly tested! ! !
The original plan was to fly down, drive the car to Florida (9 hour trip), where we would visit some family, do some sight seeing, & just relax for about six days. At the end of the trip, we were to drive home for 22 hours, arriving in Ohio.
Now the entire plans are shot. Bleh! I certainly hope this isn't a sign of things to come!
That sucks. Good luck on getting your car back in working order quickly.
Good luck. What kind is it?
Friday I'm flying down to pick up my car. I have a box of car parts that I don't want to take on the plane that I need to get mailed out. Such as the gear shifter, the chrome lock covers, license plate, & so on...
Very exciting. It's been a long time coming!
Same plan as before, drive down the coast, spend some time in Florida, drive back to Ohio. Except this time we've planned some stops to visit friends in Atlanta, Tennessee, & Cincinnati. I will post some photos...
That has been a really long time. How long have you been working on this car?
Basically since I've ever owned it. I bought it in 1995, & it's always needed something. That's why we finally decided to just take everything out & install all new stuff, engine, transmission, clutch.
The final straw was when the break lines went out. From sitting for so long it eventually wouldn't start.
When did you decide to take it to The Fiero Factory?
If I remember correctly I first started to send emails to the owner in 2005, requesting them to finish our 3.4L conversion. I believe it was 2008 that I finally got the time & money to take down there.
Wow, it really has been a while then. I bet getting driving that car is going to feel really nice.
Wow, what a truly love/hate relationship.
We flew out of Akron/Canton airport to DC, & from there flew to Nashville. There we picked up a rental car & drove to Toney Alabama. All in all we could have just drove for the same amount of time. I hate flying. What a hassle.
So I pick up the car, & I'm all smiles. The wife is looking at it & thinking 'how the f*ck are we going to fit two suitcases in this contraption?'. I have to not only remember how to drive standard (which I've done for a good many years of my life), but I have to do it in a car that I've never done it before. This is no biggie except for the incredibly large hill that I have to use to exit their facility. This will only make sense if you've ever drove stick.
In the beginning everything was well worth the money & the wait. We drive this wonderful piece of car down to Florida where we stayed with family for two days. After that we went further north Florida, just outside of Tampa for another five days. The car was a daily driver. Oh man, I was zipping everywhere & loving it.
Then on the drive home, everything changed. It sarted to stutter. I'd be driving at 70mph & it would just die, throwing me forward, & as quickly as it died it would kick back in, throwing me back again. & the smell of gas was horribly rich when it did this. This only got worse. In Tennessee, it eventually started stalling out, & we had pulled in for breakfast at Shoney's, & were pissing everyone off at a light because it would go. It would idle fine, but the instant I pushed onto the accelerator, the RPMs would die. I figured it was either stalling or flooding. Eventually we got as far north as Cincinnati, where we stayed with family. It was there that we rebuilt the distributor, air filter, replaced the Ignition Control Module, the distributor cap, & the coolent sensor. We were pulling an error code 15, which was the need to replace the coolent sensor.
$150 & 6 hours later, we're back on the road. Just in time for me to meet with a client after dropping the wife off. After finishing up with the client I was headed back home, when all-of-a-sudden the car started smoking. One of the hoses gained a hole & was shooting (pewtred smelling) coolent everywhere. Luckily this happened just as I was making my final turn into my shop parking lot. Since I live only walking distance from my shop, it didn't need to run long to get it back into the garage.
What at trip... I'm a little let down that the Fiero Factory didn't do more investigation into the car. The distributor really needs to be replaced, & the o-ring is leaking oil. Plus with the visually obvious ICM & distributor replacement... I feel really let down that I took this out of state for an expert shop to work on it.
Wow, that's really rough. A shop that supposedly specializes in repairing one thing should not take that long and return your vehicle to you in poor shape. At least it got you home even though you had to work on it.
That stinks.
Truth be told, I'm still very pleased with the entire thing. It's just easy to get hung up on details. I really, really am happy with the work that they did, & the performance of the car. I'm just a little let down by the lack of detail.
I just ordered a new distributor shaft & magnetic head, & two o rings (one for now & one for the cabinet
). Hopefully I'll have it back up & running, leak free, soon
In once week I've put 2800+ miles on the car, & that's more than I've gotten out of it this side of 2000. Before the engine swap I maybe put 10,000 miles on it. So I'm very happy, & fortunate.
At least you got it running again. My C32 has been broke down for almost three weeks now. At first I suspect the throttle body, but after cleaning the engine seemed fine reving in park. Before it was dying out. Now it won't even start. Thinking the crank position sensor. Don't know yet though... Good deal you finally got your car back, but that is upsetting they didn't resolve the multiple issues you've already had.
They offered for me to bring the car back.
I'm states away at this point. Ah well. Parts are ordered, let the project being
I've purchased a reconditioned shaft, oring (& spare), & a
Distributor Magnetic Pack.
Hopefully I can find some time this weekend to rebuild the distributor & get it back-back onto the road
Best of luck; let us know how it goes!
Wow, some time has really gotten behind me.
I finally pulled the distributor back out of the car. Funny thing is I don't know anyone with a vice. I may wind up splitting the cost of a new one with a friend & letting him keep it at his place. He's the tool-fix-it guy anyhow.