Citrusss

Do somebody know is it possible to charge 2.5L Fiero engine. any ideas? for cheap and good output? how to make it really fast and save it's soul?

rabbitman

iTrader: (3)

There's a shop in Windsor that's put several 32V Northstar engines into Fiero's. I've also seen the 3800 V6 crammed in there, etc, etc. Don't bother with the 4 cyl, unless you go to the trouble with a quad 4.

Citrusss

yeah, but I mented to charge 2.5L engine. because swap is expensive. and V6 engine is heavy, weight balance is not so well with it. The car will lose in handling

kwikshifter

NOOOOOOOOO!
The Fiero 2.5 has a very weak block. It will self destruct very quickly given any sort of stress. Fine stock for tooling around, it is not cheap to mod and definately won't be reliable. Spend money, hear boom...repeat!

Quad 4 is a nice swap, but the motors are old. You have to use the quad 4 tranny and the swap is just as hard as a 3800. The newer ecotec dohc 4's are nice. The swap requires a lot of wiring work as the ecm looks for signals for everything in the frickin' car. There are only a couple on the road as far as I know.

The stock 2.8 has serious breathing problems. Building a 200hp + engine is as costly as a swap.

3.1, 3.4, 3.4 DOHC, 3100, 3400, ...well any GM can be shoved in fairly easily. Some obviously easier than others.

The most popular currently are 3800 and Caddy 4.9 swaps. The 4.9 is cheap, easy to install and has a bunch of torque to please the ***-o-meter. 3800 and 3800 s/c swaps are very common now. Range from 200 to 240 hp stock and very easy to mod.

A friend in Belleville does a lot of swaps and has a nice 86 SE with a 2003 3800 s/c in it for sale. $6000.00 He usually has a swap or 2 on the go. It's worth a visit just to see what they can do. He also has a Trans Sport van with a 3800 s/c.

The handling does not go out the window with some weight in the middle. That said, a Fiero is not a regular driver. Once you learn the point when the *** end wants to be first, you're golden. The first time you decide you're going too fast into a turn and lift off the gas, you may need to change your shorts. Just point the sucker where you want to go and go!

Last point....... buying a project car will break you mentally and pocketbook wise. Get a runner and go from there. These cars are getting old and a car that's been sitting will have all kinds of hidden surprises.

A Fiero is not a Honda. While you can do lots of swaps they all require a bit of seat of the pants engineering. Don't expect a weekend install of store bought goodies.


This is Dan's car (for sale)




This is a download page.... scroll down to the Northstar Fiero vid at the bottom. It belongs to one of the Ottawa guys. Big d/l but sounds sweet.
FieroNews.net

Citrusss

WTF? what engine is inside???

and anyway - carburator is rules! everytime! may be it's a eat more gas, but the output is more!

kwikshifter

That's a 3800 s/c with the red painted s/c. The vid is a Northstar, a 4.6l, 32 valve caddy engine.

No Fiero ever came with a carburator.


Carbs are old technology and just about everyone will admit that fuel injection is better. Carbs are just simpler in that no computer control is needed.

The beauty of the Fiero is its simplicity. You can take the whole darn thing apart with a half dozen wrenches. The computer system is very basic, pretty much just engine management. In a swap there are a few wires to mate to the chassis, mostly instrument and power stuff. The rest is self contained. Bring the whole drivetrain, engine, tranny, computer and it really doesn't know it not in it's original home. The whole drivetrain can be lowered in a few hours with easy access to everything. An amazing number of engines will work with some creative thinking. GM obviously easier, but there are SHO, Mitsu, Honda, Chrysler, VW diesels, electrics, and just about anything else out there somewhere. The only trouble one is a rotary. The exhaust interferes with axles badly enough to pass them up. In any case torque is fun....therefore the reliance on GM v-6 and v-8 engines.

They are so low, that you easily see under 18 wheelers, people in Hondas or Cavaliers look down at you (no pun intended). It's also a comfy cruiser. I usually get out of a car after a couple of hours in agony for an hour or so till my back gets with the program. After a 10 hour Fiero ride, I'm always fresh as a daisy.

Citrusss

hmmm... I drived once Fiero with carburator engine 1984, Iron Duke

and one more point, carb is old, but it's not mean bad I got many troulbles with one rare fuel injected engine (Endura-E). It's difficult and extremely expensive to charge, however output is extremely high. But anyway I not really thrust electronic

kwikshifter

That's the only advantage with carbs, not enough electronics to screw up the system.

84 Fiero....iron duke. It wasn't a carb, although it does look like one a bit. It is a throttle body fuel injection system. You could get an aftermarket intake and mount a carb but it would have been an owner modification.

Citrusss

it's the main advantage

could be... I didn't look there very carefully..

could you tell me about it a little bit more? what is it? or just give me a link.

Oh yes! what's about tranny?

kwikshifter

There are a lot of swap links here 3800 plus other swap thread list

Takes a bit of reading but will give you a good idea of what's involved. Dan charges $2000.00 labour and you supply all the parts. Any repairs of a nasty car extra, he doesn't work on crap. Parts can run between 2000 and 4000 depending on how new the motor is.

GTA Fiero Club Some of the Toronto guys are running 3800's or are building them. I bet you could have a look or hitch a ride to see what it'll do.

You can use a Fiero manual, but if you're making big power use the 4T65E HD automatic that comes with the s/c engine. The Fiero has a long cable controlling shifting so a manual tranny is usually slower (drag racing), but a lot more fun on the open road.

My opinion is that the car is a great open road cruiser. They're old enough now that I would regard them as toys, summer daily driver, or second cars only. If you are young, can't dick around with little problems, need lots of space, have kids, etc they won't be a great 'only' car. If you need a drag car (domestic) get an old muscle car.

Citrusss

hmmm... found one for $1000. 3.8L automatic...

kwikshifter

One what? Just an engine? What year and what was it in?

metal144

I've seen dans car first hand and it's worth the money period.