Son's Fiero project update - the alternator debacle

[Green Truck]

As I've posted before, my son bought an 85 Pontiac Fiero GT earlier this summer as a project/driver.

He's made quite a bit of progress on it. He's taken it to the 40th Fiero celebration, done a few laps on the M1 Concourse track. Gotten a ticket for drag racing on Woodward Ave

Parts availability on these is good, with some strong vendors. There is also a fairly strong forum that is filled with information. We've had one issue we couldn't figure out. The alternator on the car had the wrong pulley, so it was shredding belts and squealing. This seems like an easy thing to fix, but it wasn't. First I went to Rock Auto only to find that all of the listings tell you to reuse your pulley, meaning they wouldn't have the correct pulley either. Next stop was Ebay, where I wrote to about a dozen vendors with 85 Fiero V6 alternators listed asking if they indeed came off of a Fiero, and came with the pulley. One guys responded yes, and sent me an alternator from a much older car with a V belt style pulley.

We ignored the problem for a while, and finally got serious about it a few weeks ago. After doing some searching, I posted to the Fiero Forum looking for parts section. One guy responded that he had an 85 GT with a blown engine, and he'd sell me the alternator for $50 shipped. I paid him immediately. A while later someone posted that If you get the Remy alternator from Rock Auto for an 88 V6, and the pigtail connector from one of the Fiero vendors, you can have a better alternator that has the correct pulley.

So I'm now four alternators into this, and all four have different pulleys. The new one for the 88 is correct with 4 ribs. It's now on the car ( I won't bore you with the wrenching fun). It doesn't squeal, and the car runs better than it ever has.

Have a great week Oppo.

[theturbomrt]

@Green-Truck said in Son's Fiero project update - the alternator debacle:

gotten a ticket for drag racing on Woodward Ave

Good, then all is right in the world

[MUSASHI66]

@Green-Truck Makes you wonder how the old timers wrenched before internet. Those part counter guys with decades of knowledge in their heads were irreplaceable.

[Green Truck]

@MUSASHI66 said in Son's Fiero project update - the alternator debacle:

Those part counter guys with decades of knowledge in their heads were irreplaceable.

Exactly

[theturbomrt]

@Green-Truck said in Son's Fiero project update - the alternator debacle:

@MUSASHI66 said in Son's Fiero project update - the alternator debacle:

Those part counter guys with decades of knowledge in their heads were irreplaceable.

Exactly

And now they ask you whether you have leather seats when you're there for spark plugs, because "that's what the computer is asking"

[HFV_Junkyardin]

@Green-Truck NICE

[jminer]

@Green-Truck solid fix! Strange old cars have all sorts of random problems like this. It's an adventure to fixing them!