new owner

hey yall, im about to get an 87 fiero gt and was wondering what would be the best upgrades to do right away to the enginge and its performance? My budget is around $1k. Its gonna be my daily driver so i still want to keep the gas mileage somewhat decent. Thanks, any reply would help me out.

Tune up new plugs, distributor cap and wires. It probably needs an o2 sensor. A K&N air filter, new gas line filter. Get a AC Delco ignition module to have on hand and an extra ignition coil is a handy thing to have. Modules and coils have a tendency to random failure. Getting all that done should put a dent in the $1K you have. Just getting the car set up to run correctly without any performance upgrades. An 18 year old car may be in need of wheel alignment, tires and brakes. There goes the rest of your $!K.

Old Lar is right....it probably does need a lot of those things. On the other hand, assuming that someone else already did all of that before you bought the car, I'd say the best place to start is the suspension. If you do all the work yourself, you'd be pushing your 1k dollar budget to the limit. I think the best thing to do, is get some good lowering springs and some sport shocks...such as Eibach or Suspension Technique springs and KYB or Koni shocks and struts. Get all new poly bushings, and a rear sway bar. If you do all the work yourself, you will still need an all wheel alignment when you're finished. All that would be really close to your budget....actually maybe a little over. Just don't attempt to lower the car with the springs and think that your stock shocks and struts will hold up......they won't. As far as the engine goes, a thousand bucks can disappear really quick if you want to do internal work....but for easy bolt-ons I like the power pulley from Fierostore, and K&N air filter. The big bore throttle bodies are supposed to work good, but I haven't tried one yet.

hey thanks for all that, it really helps. Yeah, buying parts are a helluva lot cheaper when you do it yourself and dont have to pay for labor. Also one more thing, i just got my other car inspected, and i talked to the guy at the shop to get an opinion from him about the fiero. First thing he told me was not to buy it because it has alot of trouble keeping the engine cool. However the guy im gonna buy it from says that its running perfect, no problems, and just needs to pass inspection (i'm thinking just a quick tuneup should fix that). It does make sense since the engine is midship and has no direct airflow. 1. Who should I believe? 2.If yall had any cooling problems, what did you do to fix it? Thanks again. Chris

Only problem I've ran into with cooling, is the electric fans wouldn't kick on. That was taken care of by switching out a relay. Other than that, everything has been fine as far as the temperature goes. One thing you need to keep in mind if you are going to flush the antifreeze, is there are 2 different places to pour in the coolant. One is of course at the radiator....which is almost impossible to pour anything into without a long funnel, and one on top of the engine. If it's not filled correctly, it could cause an air pocket at the water pump and cause you to overheat. As far as being more difficult to cool since it's in the rear....could be true....but think about this....how many front engine cars have 2 big air vents directly over the engine?

I've had my 87 GT since new and have never had overheating problems with it.

Well i guess it ya cant get any clearer than that. Looks like I'll get. Thanks again ya'll, looks like I'll be back on here again later, but hopefully giving advice instead of asking for it.