World's slowest Fiero/Quad 4 Swap (Page 2/47)
Quad Raider JUL 19, 08:35 PM
Found some of the photos from the process of mounting the Quad to the Fiero cradle.

I noticed that the stock Isuzu transmission mounts were very close to fitting the GTZ's Getrag, so I modified them as a starting point.




It's been so long I don't remember exactly what I did to the rear mount. I think I had to cut one side of it and add some metal.

The front transmission mount was more straightforward. The mounting holes lined up, but part of the metal on the mount had to be removed.
(Sorry for the blurry photos)



I decided this wouldn't be strong enough, so I used a piece of wide angle iron for the vertical piece. I can't find a picture of it so it'll have to wait until I can take some new ones.

In a previous post I said the clearance issue was with the crank pulley but that's incorrect. The issue is with the transmission. With the engine sitting level, there's a spot where the decklid is about 1/4" above the timing cover while the transmission is about a half an inch from the driver's side frame rail. It took a while, maybe a few hours over a couple of days, to get the engine/transmission to sit in that spot.

[This message has been edited by Quad Raider (edited 07-22-2017).]

Quad Raider JUL 21, 07:54 PM
Here are photos of the Grand Am type of Quad engine mounts. I don't know where I got these pictures, possibly from a thread on this forum:




These mounts obviously work fine, but I just didn't want to clutter up the engine compartment this way.
Quad Raider JUL 21, 08:03 PM
As I mentioned, I was still driving my GTZ as I began working on the Fiero when the timing chain tensioner broke and the Quad chewed up its timing gears and chain. The Quad is an interference engine, so the engine bent four valves.



I don't think the head is damaged, but I will check when I get to that point in the reassembly.

The Quad has a rather long timing chain, which is kept tight by the tensioner shoe between the crank and the water pump sprocket. This photo is of one of my spare Quads. The tensioner shoe on my HO broke in half, right about where the spring is, allowing the tensioner to tighten the chain too much and screw up the timing, too.


Quad Raider JUL 21, 08:05 PM
This is an interesting comparison between different Quads. The exhaust pipe on the top is from the HO Quad out of my GTZ. The one on the bottom is from a regular Quad out of a Grand Am.


Quad Raider JUL 21, 08:14 PM
My GTZ came with aftermarket wheels that I never really liked. After I junked it, I came across a set of GTZ wheels in the salvage yard and bought them on sale for $100.



I then spent many months trying to find the other three center caps. One day while checking the salvage I saw a set of Grand Am hubcaps with center sections that looked like they would fit. Here's the thread about the conversion:

http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/095502.html

Edit: Can't believe that was two years ago.

[This message has been edited by Quad Raider (edited 07-21-2017).]

Quad Raider JUL 21, 08:28 PM
Here's what the car looked like when I first started working on it on March 6th, 2011. When I saved this photo I made a note that I'd finally finished working on the engine in my daughter's car. I don't remember which daughter, which car or what the problem was with the engine.



The car was pretty tired. The seats had three covers on them. I guess the original owner would get tired of one and just put the new one right over it. The passenger seat is actually in decent shape, except that she spilled a whole bottle of perfume or air freshener on it.



The headliner was toast, but it doesn't matter anymore since I switched over to a sunroof.

[This message has been edited by Quad Raider (edited 07-21-2017).]

Quad Raider JUL 21, 08:44 PM
Here are more photos of how I shortened the rear tie rods. I read a lot of posts about the bad geometry of the '84-'87 rear ends and finally settled on moving the mounts 3" toward the outside of the cradle.

The first step was cutting the tie rod, putting a piece of thick-walled pipe over one end, welding the tie rod and grinding the weld, then sliding the pipe over the junction and welding each end of it.





Heavy-walled C channel worked for new mounts. I lined up the mounting holes then lined up the mount and welded it on. This took a while because of all the grinding required.





I'm confident the modifications will be strong enough, but obviously I have no idea if they'll actually work and eliminate bump steer. Hopefully they won't CAUSE any problems.

Quad Raider JUL 21, 08:48 PM
Side note about my blurry photos. They're not a problem anymore for two reasons. One, I have a Galaxy S8 now and its camera is spectacular. Two, last summer my doctor convinced me to quit wearing a contact in my right eye. I'm near-sighted but my right eye isn't too bad. Wearing contacts in both eyes required me to wear reading glasses, which was a pain and I often didn't do it, especially working in the shop.

It took me about two weeks to get used to it, but the difference is amazing. If I need to focus up close, my brain automatically uses my right eye.
sardonyx247 JUL 22, 08:49 AM
I think ideally would be to move the tie rods to the control arms, but yet I have never seen anyone do it, except the "bump steer kit" It would completely eliminate the bump steer.
Quad Raider JUL 25, 09:27 PM

quote
Originally posted by sardonyx247:

I think ideally would be to move the tie rods to the control arms, but yet I have never seen anyone do it, except the "bump steer kit" It would completely eliminate the bump steer.



That's an interesting concept.