now THIS is the top plate that is supposedly FIXED to the rest of the cradle. Obviously needs some attitudinal adjustment. Trying to separate from the rest of the team....
So that will be cleaned up and welded again. Saw someone else who had the same thing, so it prob isn't that rare. Only a few short welds hold the thing in place.
Next pic, altho fuzzy (my camera doesn't seem to like closeups) shows that weld. It has been broken for some time judging by the rust on the weld. The plate is distinctly separated........ not perfect, I don't think.
So doing the cradle bushings should give an opportunity to check things out.
and interestingly, I found that the Lumina DID do the same thing...... it rubber mounted:
1. the cradle; then
2. the engine/trans; and also
3. the control arms.
I was curious because I was thinking of the MANY front engine cars that have an engine/trans that is separated from the FRAME only by rubber mounts. Then the control arms/suspension was SEPARATELY mounted and isolated by rubber too.
The point is, the fiero (and others) has a rubber mounted engine cradle that is subject to movement. The engine/trans CAN and does move; and that little bit of inertia when moving would cause SOME movement in the cradle............ which then has the unavoidable effect of MOVING the base points of the control arms.
So handling is affected by all this rubber.
Sure it is good at noise and vibration isolation and the fiero WAS supposed to be a cheap commuter car......... but if you are into handling then all this would have to be looked at.
my 2 cents for today
g