http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=34202&item=2430942680

I bet this is a direct drop in ,with the starter relocated to the back and the fiero valve covers ,and plenum.3.1L rated at 140hp and a little extra torqe I don't care to much for a big performance gain just a newer motor.

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87 Fiero GT with a few mods

Somewhere in Texas.......a Village has lost it's idiot.

[This message has been edited by L44_87GT (edited 09-07-2003).]

It's from FieroDave, you can't go wrong, he is an honest seller and a member of PFF. If he says it will work, it will!!
But you will have to relocate the starter to the front side...

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'85 SE - '86 Fastback SE - '99 Chevy K-1500 Z-71 - '00 HD 1200XL Sportster

One thing I did notice is that for auto's there is a small broaket that bolts to the end of the block on the passengerside.This motor has it on the other side I would assume that the 3.4 is the same,anyone know how 3.4 owners dealt with that?

Your signature has caught my attention, as I am certain this was the intent.

I do not intend to start a flaming war, but I must say that by the look of your usage of the english language, I would have to remind you, that:

"those in glass houses, should not cast stones"

Or maybe it is simply a zero-sum game and Canada has just found one!

Smiles to our supportive northern neighbors!

dawns rain coat, in expectiance of the human excriment about to hit the fan !

**Also pops some pop corn and covers it too

OK....back to the point.

The Bush joke was funny the first couple of days, now it is getting to be old hat.

[This message has been edited by avengador1 (edited 09-08-2003).]

Yay, I'm glad we've established its a sig.

^bump^

Maybe somebody has info to help him out. Unfortunately, I don't know the answer.

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1986 Fiero SE

thanks for the bump doublec!...Thanks for noticeing my sig go start a thread in O/T about it.Back to the 3.1 info please.

hey guys lets not be a bunch of

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others cars are:
1994 Mustang Vert
1999 Ram Air V-6 Firebird
1981 Turbo Trans-Am

I recently bought the same engine from FieroDave. I'm at the tail end of the swap. I too was thinking it would be the easy way to do things, but it turned out to not be so easy.

There are a few problems since the fiero's engine is mounted backwards compared to most regular setups. The firebird 3.1 plenum is setup to bring air in from the front of the engine (timing gear/harmonic ballancer/etc side), not the back of the engine (flywheel side)like in the fiero. This means that either you need to re-route the air intake path, or use the fiero upper and mid intakes/plenum. If you want to use the fiero's ECM, you need the cold start injector, which means you need to also use the fiero's lower intake and fuel rail. Using the fiero's lower intake means you need to re-adjust valve lash since you have to remove the pushrods to place the gasket between the 3.1 engine head and the fiero lower intake.

You also need to use the fiero's timing chain cover/water pump because normal cars have water pump flowing in the oposite direction. Using the fiero timing chain cover means you have to use the fiero oil pan.

Oh and the firebird throttle body is very different from the fiero's, so if you wanted to use the firebird's plenum you'd need to modify it to make the throttle cable actually open the throttle.

If using the stock v6 fiero ECM and wiring harness, sensors could be a problem as well (if you use mostly firebird parts). If using mostly fiero parts, I had to modify the wiring harness so I could have the temp gauge sender on the front of the engine (near the battery tray) instead of on the back of the engine (near the exhaust Y-tube). Moving the temp gauge sender meant having to get a longer coolant hose to go to the coolant crossover tube.

I still have a few things left to do with this conversion before I'm ready to turn the ignition on and see if it works... I'm planning on making a nice write up on what I did (even though I kept on forgetting to take pictures of the process... got too caught up in the work) once I'm finished.

Even though I had to use so many of my old fiero engine's parts, I'm really glad I went with this longblock from FieroDave. The only other option for me to replace my engine with a knocking rod (that would fit my other criteria) was a 2.8 shortblock from FieroDave. The 3.1 longblock freed me of having to re-manufacture my fiero heads and deal with the other internals that aren't included in the shortblock. I've ended up using some of the firebird parts (bolts, which saved trips trying to find strange metric bolts in hardnesses above 8.8 which none of the local hardware or auto stores/chains carry...). I used the firebird harmonic ballancer (had to copy the timing marks over from the fiero ballancer), the firebird fuel injectors, EGR tube, and other various parts. I'm keeping the fuel pressure regulator to modify and make adjustble when I have a chance, and the distributor and iginition coils as spares. The rest of the firebird parts I'm planning on selling on ebay.

Well I have to go. I hope this has helped you when thinking about this "easy" engine swap...

-Jeff

Why swap to a 3.1 when you can get a 4.9 V8 from the wrecking yard, with less than 60k on it..?
It's a better engine, and it will cost you less.....

quote Originally posted by Seanpaul: Why swap to a 3.1 when you can get a 4.9 V8 from the wrecking yard, with less than 60k on it..? It's a better engine, and it will cost you less.....

Well I can think of many reasons. Here are mine:

-I had time limitations (have to have engine swap finished before I head back to college).

-I had very little previous auto mechanics experiance. Before this summer the most I had done on a car was change the oil and replace burned out lamps. However I was a (pedal) bike mechanic a few years ago.

-brand new parts mean a lot. This is my first car (I'm 21) and I intend to keep it for a long time. My understanding is that newer parts will most likely last longer than used parts. I'm also trying to put the best quality parts into this car.

-I wanted to keep the stock look (using fiero intake plenum, etc...).

-I wanted to keep the stock ECU since I bought one of Oliver Schultz' DashScans right before I found a knocking rod in my previous 2.8L engine. Oliver's DashScan is such a great idea, is very well implemented, and his craftsmanship/fabrication on them is top notch. I didn't want to have to give that up.

Due to those reasons (and I'm sure others I'm not thinking of right now), the 3.1 was much better suited to me.

Bottom line is making a 3.1 work in a fiero requires very few modifications, whereas a larger engine would require significant modification. I didn't have the time, energy, skills, or tools to devote to the modifications involved in a larger engine swap.

-Jeff

[This message has been edited by chameleogaz (edited 09-09-2003).]

chameleogaz,Thanks for the info I will drop you a email with some more questions.Are you useing a auto? I plan on building the motor up over the winter and to be in by spring I did dropped by a shop that does up camaros and stangs they throw the 3.1s out so I will be getting one really cheap.Are you useing the ECM from the camaro? As for the 4.o9 im sure it pulls but it dosen't seem to be much of an improvement over the V6.

[This message has been edited by L44_87GT (edited 09-09-2003).]

Glad I can help.

Since you'll be getting your engine from a source other than FieroDave, you'll want to make sure the engine you get has iron heads (1st generation, I think?) and not aluminium heads. The iron heads bolt up to the fiero plenum but from what I've read/heard, the aluminium heads require some modifications to make them bolt up.

To answer your questions, I'm using a manual. I bought a new aluminum neutrally ballanced flywheel rather than having my 86 GT's flywheel machined. I'm not sure if you'll need a new flywheel for your auto, that's one thing you should look into. I'm using the ECU/ECM (if I'm wrong in thinking those names are interchangeable, just let me know).

Oh, and one other thing. I read somewhere that the 3.1 should give you better gas milage than the 2.8 (that's another reason to go with a v6 over a v8...). I forget if the compression ratios are different (making one more efficient than the other) but I do remember reading some specs that the 3.1's camshafts have a milder (lower) lift durration than the stock high output 2.8. I'm going to look into this more over the winter and I might put in performance camshafts next summer.

L44_87GT, feel free to email me or send me a PM, although I check email more often than PM's.

-Jeff