Fiero Interior Disassembly:

by Andy Szavay

This is a 4 part series that will explain how to remove practically everything from the interior of your Fiero. Disassemble at your own risk! The result should resemble the bare shell of the passenger compartment of the Fiero.

Part 1:

Door Panel:

Tools required:

·         small phillips screwdriver

·         small flat screwdriver

·         medium to large phillips screwdriver

·         upholstery puller

·         window crank handle remover (opt...manual windows)

·         small hex wrench set (opt...manual mirrors)

Procedure:

The first step in disassembling the door panel is to remove the armrest. Use the small flat blade screwdriver to pry the cap off the top and remove the three screws holding it on. If the car has manual windows, then the window crank handle remover should be used to pop out the pin that secures the crank handle. The small hex wrench should be used to loosen the mirror adjustment knob (if you don’t have power mirrors) so that it can be pushed through its bracket into the door panel. Pry off the small Fiero emblem by the door latch and the small round cap behind the latch. Unscrew the two phillips screws that hold the latch plate on. It will take some careful maneuvering to weave the black plastic plate around the door handle while you remove the small lock slide lever. (Let the assembly hang there if you have power locks) If I recall correctly, there are 7 or 8 fasteners that hold the door panel on. This is where the upholstery puller comes in handy. By feeling around the perimeter of the door panel, you should feel an occasional recess every foot or so. This is where you slide the upholstery puller, and carefully pull the fastener out from the door, and try not to let the fastener get ripped out of the panel. If you do happen to have a few casualties, don’t worry, you can always twist the fasteners back into the panel, but it will never be as good as original. After all of them have been pulled out, the panel needs to be pulled out from the trim metal bracket that holds it on right next to the window. It should pull straight out. From here, you snake the wires through the opening if you have power locks, and move on to the next stage of disassembly.

Seat Removal:

Tools required:

·         patience

·         flexibility

·         1/4 inch drive socket wrench with shallow 13 mm socket

·         13 mm wrench

·         WD 40

Procedure:

There are 4 nuts holding the seat to the floorboard, 2 in the front, 2 in the rear. Usually, they are corroded or rusted. To avoid breaking them, spray all 4 of the nuts with WD 40 and let them soak for a while. (If you have 84 or  85 seats with speakers in the headrest, pull the seat all the way forwards and disconnect the speaker wires that run out of the bottom of the seat.) Pull the seat all the way forward and tilt the backrest forward. Try to haggle the socket wrench onto the nut, if this does not work, you are stuck with the arduous task of manually removing the nut with the open-end wrench. Once the two back nuts are removed, push the seat all the way back and remove the front nuts. Be careful not to get the seatbelt or the parking brake caught on the seat as you re-enact a tetris game trying to maneuver the seat out.

Suggestion:

                Before you re-install the seats, clean up the sliding rails and nuts, and possibly re-spray them with paint to make the job easier for next time, and just so that it looks better.

Next issue: Part 2 (Shift Console, Center Vent, Stereo, Front Console, and Armrest Removal)