Johnny -
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Mullet
I also had a 1984 2M4 and I loved that car. I only had it for 3 days until the engine caught fire from an ignored oil leak.
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Yeah, that sounds like the infamous defect of the early Fiero's :
Pontiac Fiero
Engine fire reputation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac...ire_reputation
Quote:
... "GM tests have shown that running these 1984 cars with low engine oil level can cause connecting rod failure which may lead to an engine compartment fire...Pontiac is aware of 260 fires attributable to the condition, along with ten reported minor injuries."[6]
The larger of the two reported numbers of cars with fires (260), amounts to 0.07% of Fieros produced. The fires affected almost exclusively the 2.5 L engine, and mostly 1984 models. (Note that there may have been additional occurrences after the above reports were published.) The primary cause of engine fires was a batch of poorly cast connecting rods which failed when the oil level became too low. The faulty connecting rods were produced in GM's Saginaw plant. The theory is that the sports car styling attracted buyers who would drive the car hard, most notedly over-revving the engine. ...
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I am guessing that the problem is fixed in fierofury's 1986 GT.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by DifferentPointofView
weren't they mostly fiberglass or something? something burnable?
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They were plastic-clad, but I don't think the outer plastic led to the fires. Saturn re-used that technology in their S-Series, L-Series, and Ion models. The idea was that the plastic cladding would reduce weight and increase fuel economy to make the Fiero do double-duty as a great commuter car. Unfortunately, the steel body structure was still very heavy (2790 lbs curb weight on a 2 seater!), so the benefit didn't reach it's intended design goal (IMO). The plastic cladding was bolt-offable, which why it became such a perfect Kit Car platfom over the years. I was hoping that the Kit Kar aficionados would take the plastic clad Saturns under their wing, but I guess the "base shape" wasn't cool enough to work with,
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CarloSW2