The 3500 Fiero saga continues....

[merlot566jka]

Some of you may know the story behind the 3500 fiero I built, well I am here to say its coming back to me.

over the past year or two my brother (americasfuture2k) has had the car and been making improvements on it. I gave it to him to keep it from being taken during my divorce.

Mike had taken the car to some local tune shop and we were excited to finally get the car tuned. I came home for leave last week to see my daughter. Mike and I went up to pick up the fiero from the tuner. The tuner was a freaking joke. He had told Mike that the throttle was sticking at WOT and that there was lifter noise. Then he tried to change the oil and tune it anyways. Ill just say the car is running worse than it ever has. The guy was an idiot! It took the guy a month to do nothing but make things worse. The car was making a god awful noise and I couldn't pinpoint it. The tune was horrible and the car was running on 5 cyl. The guy said the injectors were too large (gen3 36lb at 55psi) and that's why he would only be able to do a base tune.
I personally think he over revved it, causing a rocker arm to let loose. I cant prove that though, and I'd rather move on and accept the fact that we got screwed here.

Yesterday I dug into it to find the intake rocker arm stud on the #2 cyl had ate its threads right out of the head and it was just laying there!!
We got a helicoil kit, and I helicoiled it. I bolted it all back together and fired it up. Same noise, same problem...no fire on #2. Maybe the helicoil pulled out? maybe the lifter was collapsed or frozen? Maybe 6 engines isn't enough for the car....it wants blood?
At this point I told mike that he was going to have to pull the head and either replace it or find out whats going on with that cyl. To pull the head its easiest to drop the cradle...and while its apart, I suggested headers that actually fit and flow better than the Truleo headers we have on there. The problem could have been several things, from the rocker stud letting go again, to a lifter that is stuck.
We were both irritated and let down. We talked it through and decided that I would give him the money to get another Fiero and I would take that one back.

So I have to find the money and a transport co ship the fiero up to WA. But the car is going to get pulled apart, diagnosed, new headers and possibly a new intake.

[siKKa]

my moneys on a severly bent valve. Compression test that cylender. it would take a hell of alot of force to rip the rocker threads out. if you gave the idiot any money, go smash it back out of him. Thats rediculas!

[Joseph Upson]

You have to really trust a business to leave that kind of temptation with them for any amount of time unsupervised. It's an old but very unique car with an engine that makes it much more fun to drive than what it came with stock in the perfect location for balance. Not saying they were negligent and caused the damage, but if they gave you the car with that kind of problem and no details as to what was going when it happened and didn't bother to call you and state that they were having a problem when it happened I'd be pretty suspicious to.
A tuner that knows what he or she is doing could simply set an appointment and have you show up and leave with the finished product the same day, so that you'd be present to see what's going on. I wouldn't leave my piece of Fiero with any bunch of strangers unsupervised long enough to abuse it and when it goes to the paint shop you can be sure it wil have a rev limit of about 2500 rpm set in the chip, there's no way you could expect them to behave after they see the gauges in the car and look under the deck lid.
I'm angry for you, the work with 3500/3900 swaps in Fieros is going pretty slow for everyone involved in that combo and I'm eager to see someone successfully complete the swap including myself when I can get back to the car.

What is a base tune on an engine with injectors that are too large? and why would he as a professional take your money for something that obvioulsy can't be done correctly if what he said is true. Good service would have been to have you install more appropriate injectors and bring it back, but from what we know, 36 lb/hr injectors should be doable on that engine without much of a problem if you know what you're doing.

[merlot566jka]

I don't like what happened either! I wouldn't have done it that way, and I sure wouldn't leave the car with anyone for anytime unless I had trust in them.

As far as a base tune, I'm not sure the guy had any idea what he was doing.

For the 3500 fiero, it will be completed as soon as I can complete it. I have to get the car here, and do everything else to it as well. Hopefully it wont be too long, as I go out to sea for 8 months in July.

I also have a 96 LT4 Corvette that I am working on too. It's more of a daily driver, so nothing extreme, but I would like to make some headers and try some different intake systems and maybe a hotcam.

As with anything I do, Ill get it done as fast as possible

[Honest Don]

Nonsense! When I tuned my ironhead 2.8 for 36lb injectors, the worst part was getting the idle just right, everything else was pretty straightforward. I'm using a megasquirt though.

Find a new tuner! or DIY, you can't be much worse than that guy....

Sorry to hear about the motor, hopefully its nothing too serious.

[3400-95-Modified]

What is it with people these days saying they can tune cars and not even having half a brain?

[mickaz]

must be the weather...idiots tend to come out more during summer.

[pocket-rocket]

What is it with people these days saying they can tune cars and not even having half a brain?

And here I have the equipment, but won't make any tuning changes just because I haven't learned to tune yet...

[FallenZ24]

Any updates Jon? I just stumbled upon this thread and I'm angry for you.

I say bent valve or broken spring. He probably over-revved the car on a joyride or racing someone. I'd go feed that guy his own teeth...

Oh btw, I hope to have my Fiero on the road again. Turbo 3500 & fwd getrag, should be fun.

Joseph_Cooley
(the other fiero guy in Fl.)

[86FieroSEv6]

That shit just burns me up. I get "tuned" cars in my shop from time to time and all I can say is WOW, my piece of shit mexican mazda (ZX2) could probably beat it. I feel your pain man. Over in Pensacola there is a great shop called XXX. They have a good dyno, a good shop and knowledgeable staff. These "street tuners" running around really should be avoided, even if they are your best friend. Remember, the machine has no loyalty. It is either right, or it ain't. I haven't settled on what to do to my fire horse yet but you can bet that any "tuning" will be done on a recently calibrated dyno by somebody who's tuned the system before, at least several times. Also, if they've never scrammed an engine I don't want them either. No matter what bone headed maneuver I've done, I have never tried to hide it from the customer. Honesty can be painful, but it's a healing pain . . . . the best kind.

Yo, Fallen' . . . when you get her rippin' again, maybe you can cruise to FWB and let me take a peek at your creation. Tune Ups-n-Such, 211 Mary Esther Blvd. ... across the street from Santa Rosa Mall next to the Burger King.

[FallenZ24]

I hope to be on the road in a month or two. I have a few prts left to buy still. I'd be up for a short road trip to fwb. I always enjoy meeting other Fiero guys.