Fiero Fever

Credit for the basic cradle dropping / clutch replacement procedure goes to Ed Parks of The Fiero Factory.The Fiero Factory
8710B Highway 53
Toney, AL 35773

As my efforts progress, I will annotate the basic procedure, found here, and add my own notes and photographs in the effort of creating a detailed procedure for posterity, and for me the next time I have to do it!

You don’t have to drop the engine and cradle to remove the transaxle. You are going to cock the cradle and remove the transaxle from under the left lower frame rail. No need to unwire the engine or even drain the coolant.

However, you WILL need a special tool to make it easier………….a piece of 2X4 about 8″ long! Also, jackstands and a floor jack.

Do the following from the top:

Disconnect the battery,

take the “S” air inlet tube off and

detach the dogbone from either end.

Remove the slave and it’s heat shield and mount bracket, leave the line attached, and hang it out of the way.

Take the shift cables, back up light, and VSS connections loose.

Remove the exhaust crossover bolts to manifold and heat shields, disconnect the EGR valve pipe from the adapter (carefully or it WILL crack, may anyway).

After getting the car on jackstands,

remove the starter to get the dustshield off.

Then replace the starter (important part of the trick).

On the drivers side remove wheel well,

break the tierod from the spindle,

remove the pinch bolt from the ball joint,

take the emergency cable off the caliper,

remove the caliper or the hydraulic line (we do that and bleed later),

the three strut bolts from inside the engine compartment. and

then using a prybar, “pop” the axle out of the trans.

This allows removing the entire left suspension including the axle (except lower control arm) as a unit without messing up alignment when reinstalled and it leaves a “clean” space for the trans to come through.

Place floor jack (with piece of flat wood) under the engine oil pan for support/slight lift.

Remove trans mounts and BRACKETS.

Lower engine/trans onto “Special Tool 2X4″ placed between starter and engine cradle.

Remove select cable bracket.

Removing the various brackets gives less possibilities of catching the trans on anything.

Then place floor jack under the rear of cradle and remove the cradle bolts on pass side rear, and drs side front and rear.

Lower jack until necessary trans clearance is attained.

This will kink the coolant hose but no harm should happen as the necessary clearance is just before that point.

Remove bellhousing bolts (remembering where the studded ones are, and that the lowest one toward the trunk is from the pass side).

If you do not have enough clearance to remove the bolts, then remove the exhaust crossover from the downpipe.

Remove trans axle.

Should take about 1 1/2-2 1/2 hours. You will need an extra hand to reinstall.

That is used to guide the pass axle into the trans.

Should take 2-3 hrs. Suggest you remove the clutch and inspect.

Also remove the flywheel and reseal the cam cover (use black RTV, not a gasket).

Rear main seal if leaking.

CLUTCH BLEEDING

Our bleeding procedure is not found in Clymer, Chilton, Haynes, or Helms (Pontiac) service manuals. Therefore, must not be authorized, but has worked without fail for over 10 years.

Jack car from front about 1 foot (until master cyl is above height of slave). Remove resevoir cap.

Open (not remove) bleeder on slave cyl.

Gravity feed 1/2 pint of hydraulic (brake) fluid. If gravity doesn’t start fluid movement,

SLOWLY depress clutch pedal until fluid starts to move. After 1/2 pint has gone through system, close bleeder.

Needle nosed vise grips work best (especially 6 cyl, which may require removal of slave cyl from bracket).

Clamp vise grip pliers to slave cyl pushrod. Pull pushrod into the barrel of the slave cyl, while at the same time “cracking” the bleeder.

The bleeder is at the wrong end of all three different slave cylinders. Air can be trapped at the end where the pushrod is, and must be pulled to the bleed valve.

Check resevoir after first “pull” (can be nearly empty). We repeat this 5 times, or until no more bubbles appear. After 6 times, if there is still a bubble,

Start over at the clutch pedal. Step 1, along time ago.

Caution: do not shave (cut, machine) the flywheel. Hydraulic clutch systems typically have 0 to .003 clearence between the face of the release bearing and the fingers on the clutch plate.

Removing material from the flywheel will move the plate that much further away from the release bearing, perhaps causing a non-release condition. Remanufactured clutches will usually have as much as 1/16″ variation in the height of the plate fingers. Also resulting in a non-release condition. If the release bearing fork is too worn, then the same applies. Hydraulic clutch systems are called self adjusting, because they can only move a predetermined amount of fluid. The spring pressure of the plate will override the hydraulic pressure, so, extending the slave cyl pushrod length will not “adjust” the system.