NEHA

I doubt they've ever been replaced. Though all 4 wheels are still tight and have no play when you try and wiggle them either horizontally or vertically. But it certainly wouldn't hurt to replace them or at least have extras as you suggested.

The new end links were a much needed fix however. There was quite a bit of rattling over bumps. And even though the steering is still on the vague side, it is at least much more predictable while cornering as there isn't that play in the sway bar anymore.

Steve is right. If something in the suspension is marginal, I have to believe Ascutney will break it, probably around turn 26.

If the front end is reasonably tight, the tires are OK, and the steering is still vague, you need an alignment. That looks like it may be the Chevette - derived front end - if so, it is more adjustable than it first appears (I was a GM dealer alignment tech during the "Chevette era")

The 84-87 Fieros had the chevette front end and citation front end mounted in the rear I believe. In 88 (which my car is) the fiero got its own unique front and rear suspension. It may need aligning, i'll do some measuring to see, but I think there may just be some play in the steering itself.

Though my idea of vague may be a little skewed since I'm used to driving my Mazda 2 which handles like a go kart...

For I've noticed a slightly worn European car is about as "tight" as it gets for a Japanese car.

Judging by the last Chevy Cruze rental car I got, a brand new American car is about at "tight" as a 250k mile old Japanese car with it's suspension bolts loosened two turns. ;)

Paul

Haha! Yes! Needless to say I'm quite happy with how my 25 year old 120k mile American car handles.

Good, I was hoping that my intended tone of massive sarcasm came through. ;)

Paul

Rusty seat brackets are fixed and fire extinguisher is mounted! Almost ready for Philo!

Camera is mounted and racing sticker applied. We're good to go! : D

As spring is nearly upon us (hopefully), I've been doing some thinking about my to do list for awakening the Fiero from winter hibernation. I'm trying to decide what to do about changing the oil. My plan from here on out is to change the oil once every spring when I get the car out of the barn since I won't be putting a lot of miles on it during the summer, but I want the oil to be fresh each year. So the previous owner for many years used full synthetic, but the last few years has been running conventional oil. In talking with Luke about this, he said that conventional vs synthetic oils have different wear characteristics and it's not good to go back and forth between the two. I really would like to run synthetic due to it lasting longer and being able to withstand higher heat, which it will be subject to while racing. So my question is what would be the best route to take? Switch the engine back to full synthetic, it has 121k miles on it, or stay with the conventional oil that it's been seeing the last few years or so?

Also, Luke suggested to me that if I switch to synthetic oil it might be worth it to start out doing a kerosene/oil flush of the system to clean out the gunk first before putting in the synthetic oil. The reason he recommended this to me is that sometimes when you switch to a synthetic oil it can clean out some of the gunk and immediately clog your filter you just put in. So you put in cheap oil with a little kerosene and a filter and let it run for a little while before putting in the better synthetic oil with another filter. I'm just wondering what the general opinion is on this? If it is worth it/safe to use kerosene or perhaps I should just put in the synthetic and a filter and then drive it for a week or so before replacing just the filter.
-Sam