About 18 months ago, I sold my 1970 Formula Firebird and upgraded to my first Fiero. I have always liked Pontiacs, but always found myself working on rusty old cars. I wanted a car that was cheap, fun and one that I could autocross; hence the Fiero. I first upgraded the suspension and tires and the car has been great, but wanted a little more power. For some reason I've never had a garage, so I figured I should post a few pictures of my "driveway V8 swap" over the next few weeks. I have gathered most of the parts I need and got great info through searching PFF.

The car is a 85GT with 122,000 miles.


I got an extra cradle to make the swap go faster.


Blasted the cradle...


Found a crack under one of the transmission mounts...


Dropped the engine using a crane with a chain hoist...


Rolled it out on the base of the hoist...


Cleaned up the transmission.


More to come on struts and engine. (I'll make the next set of pictures a little bigger).

So your doing an 88 cradle swap too , cool.

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REMEMBER KIDS 4.9's ARE NOT SBC's

Nice. What kind of engine are you putting in?

quote Originally posted by FIEROPHREK: So your doing an 88 cradle swap too , cool.

+1, you realize that cradle is for an '88 and not an '84-'87?

Cool, I did mine on my car port.

If you didn't know about the cradle you can always upgrade
http://www.heldmotorsports....neCradleAdapters.htm
That will allow you to use the 88 cradle and get the updated suspension.

[This message has been edited by Jake_Dragon (edited 05-01-2007).]

nice job so far... way to be a "true" fiero enthusiast! JK big garage people. I did both my swaps (SBC, and 3.4DOHC) in the driveway. sometimes its nicer to be able to crank up the radio and work under the sun with a light breeze, heaven. lol, good luck man, also which engine are you thinking of?

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1986 Silver 5 speed Fiero 3.4 DOHC
Bored .30, Fully balanced and blueprinted
13.93@101mph as it is on the street.
... ... !
350ci 400hp/tq SBC, 4 bolt main
Spec Stage 3, Nitrous Oxide, many extras.
87 GT 5-speed Getrag, power everything.

There was a wrecked 05 GTO in a junkyard nearby that I thought about for a while, but I thought I would try something easier for my first swap. (SBC)


My main goal for this week is to do some careful grinding on my struts (I got lucky and got the Held adapter with the 88 cradle from someone local).

Nice! An SBC swap thread. Haven't seen one of these here in a long time. Keep it coming

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Red: TPI V8 + 6-Speed Yellow: Nitrous 3.4 + 4 speed Auto
304rwHP/366rwTQ

A slow few weeks collecting some more parts, but some progress with the help of my 3 year old.





The first trial fit. I little tight on this side, but nothing touches.

An inch to spare on this side.

I'll move the assembly about a half inch to the left. More photos and details to come after the weekend. The mechanical stuff seems easy so far. I've spent most of my time using the researching some wiring and plumbing issues and getting parts. I'll post some pictures of things I had trouble with later.

Sliding in the assembly for the last time (I hope).


Plenty of clearance on both sides


I inspected the coolant tubes and found damage on both sides. Looks ok on the bottom, but the top is crushed.


Cut off both ends in front of the damage.


Mounted in car. Fuel system is done, now just exhaust, cooling and wiring.

Lookin' good...

-fh

Have you tried pre-fitting those coil overs yet? I think you cut off too much material. The coils in mine stop in the spot marked "HERE" in the following photo ...


I bought my coil overs through IRM a few years back, but they're not hard to make. I believe the process requires cutting off the old coil cup or shelf from the strut, and to leave sufficient material around the strut tube so the coil over threaded tube can bear against it. Please correct me if I'm wrong, and for your sake, I hope I am wrong.

quote Originally posted by WAWUZAT: Have you tried pre-fitting those coil overs yet? I think you cut off too much material. The coils in mine stop in the spot marked "HERE" in the following photo ... I bought my coil overs through IRM a few years back, but they're not hard to make. I believe the process requires cutting off the old coil cup or shelf from the strut, and to leave sufficient material around the strut tube so the coil over threaded tube can bear against it. Please correct me if I'm wrong, and for your sake, I hope I am wrong.

My coil overs go all the way to the base like his do.

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My best advice when it comes to your Fiero is to "NOT" do any dealings with www.kitcarman.com

VIAGRA - Strong enough for a man but made for a woman

I haven't tried them yet, but I think with the long sleeve that I have, I should be able to adjust them ok. I have seen them done both ways so it probably just depends on the sleeve and spring lengths. Right? Anyone else?

Mine are set up the same way as yours and mine work just fine.

I did mine like Jimmy but with out the upper yellow spring seat.

Advice, put a brace on the back of the alternator. Those brackets suck, and WILL crack if you don't add a support behind it or remake it out of quality steel. When it does break, you will know because every time the engine torques the alternator fan will grind on the firewall, sounding like your trans is falling apart.

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Like electronica?
http://www.rantradio.com/rr-industrial128.pls

I have about 300 miles on the car now, so I'll bring my thread up-to-date. I got the whole thing together and turned the key to the on position. I had a poor ground on the electric fuel pump, and one fuel leak near the regulator. After I fixed that, the car started right up.


I used Archies exhaust (above) , but it was too loud for me. It sounded good, but would attract too much attention. I drive the car around town, and I'm pretty sure I would have been pulled over. I tried two or three different configurations and ended up adding some mufflers on each side (I am still using the cats). I cut off the resonator tips and got them to fit inside the mufflers dual outlets (see below). This is much quieter, but still sounds ok. I don't like that is sticks out too far, but I didn't have many options unless I cut out the trunk.


I first tried an edelbrock, triangle style air filter, but it barely hit the deck lid and seemed to get too hot. I used a Grand Cherokee housing and added a cone filter.


So far, I have had trouble with small oil leaks on the remote filter setup, and problems with the starter. Some folks on PFF suggested I add a ford solenoid to the starter circuit, and that solved all my starter troubles. I will live with very small oil leak for now because I don't want to take the starter out.

I have also added 95 firebird hood vents to help with cooling. I added Archies 4 core radiator, and the car stays cool ok, but the fan has to be on most of the time. Without the fan on, the temp creeps up to 220. The vent seems to help a little.

The fuel regulator seems very noisy to me. I will probably switch out the v6 fuel pump at some point in the future.

The only thing left to do is get the e-brake working and add a few miles. I just got a 2 hour alignment and will take it back to autocrossing next month.