Only because you brought the thread up

A friend of mine picked up a fiero a couple weeks ago cheap and the engine needed replaced, so all garage time was being spent on pulling the old engine. Another local guy swapped one of these TDCs in his car and I spent some time wiring up their car, one wire off, and it was confusing because it was in a LeMons race car with a toggle switch dash set up, I was pretty happy with myself though.

All the mill stuff showed up, or atleast most of it, I got the thing torn down and just cleaned up all the packing wax off the parts today and started test fitting the cnc parts to see the spacers I need to make:


On the car itself I got the truck cut out, planning to install the intercooler there, and am starting to remove the rusted parts to redesign the wheel wells for the custom suspension:


Finally here is a picture of the transmission bolted to the engine sitting on a stock 88 cradle, it is just sitting there, and I actually wont' be going with any stock mounts, and will be running the custom cradle in the second picture:



Finally to I guess spice things up and since the mill is in process the intake is almost assured here is a picture of what I drew up that I will be milling when the cnc conversion is up and running:


Progress is slow, but I just got a power washer and hope to be able to get the chassis outside for a good cleaning soon, then I can start some reassembly and get the chassis atleast rollable again.

Thank you for following my progress and getting me to update the thread.

Oh and sorry about the poor photo quality I will work on it

Chris

Thanks for updating us. It looks like you will have some very intersting things to follow along with, please keep us informed.

A + for you!

Nolan

well it is good to read all about the mounts and get ideas as i have bought a 3.4 dohc setup from cypres you all have given me some ideas not sure if they will work but i don't know how to engineer anything i just have to do it see if it works if not i try something different

Wow. I just read through page 2, and am just miffed. I thought the engine in my car was pretty good. I'm utterly shocked that everything L67 said didn't come true. I was so convinced by the argument that I would have at least broken something in the past 3.5 years that I have been driving it that I've decided to park it just in case.

All joking aside. I knew the weak points. My 88 GT's cradle was cracked at the front transmission mount by the 2.8. So I fixed the crack, and did some reinforcement.



I used brand new Rodney dickman Poly mounts on the transmission and engine and his transmission mount brackets.




Did some minor reinforcement on the front U mount, it too had a crack.


Then I made a dogbone that cleared the decklid, as well as applied the force to the lifting bracket in such a way that it didn't induce any twist (yaw axis) at all. It was all just good engineering.
Started out like this:


Finished product:


Just fits!



It's been great so far.

I do have 2 issues that I can blame on the motor though. One: It has a leak from between the head, and the cam box. Apparently Northstars blocks have the same type of issue with the split lower block. GM recommends using GMS (sealant) on the metal surfaces of the gaskets to prevent this sort of leak. The other issue is that the lifters tend to tick if the oil is too thin, and the engine is abused too much. I've found that Royal Purple 10W-30 works miracles, and if it starts ticking regularly, it's time to change the oil. Then the tick goes away immediately, and then no amount of abuse will bring the tick back. Maybe even a slightly thicker grade is better? I tried 5W-30 when I first put the engine in. That was a disaster. Once warmed up the ticking wouldn't ever stop.

My car now has 239,000 miles on it. The Getrag transmission has seen every one of those miles. the last 22K with the LQ1. I will hopefully be putting in the F40 6 speed soon, then I will consider weather or not I will turbo the engine. There isn't a heck of a lot of room in there, but how well executed the fit is boils down to good engineering.

I'm applauding eph_kay. I hope he pulls it off. It's really just up to him, his skill, and his knowledge to do it. It's not about the engine, it's all about who builds it. As has been proven time and time again, It takes a lot to do a swap, but to do it right, takes a whole lot more.

I was looking at that front engine mount on the deal that i just bought and due to the person cutting it to gain clearance they cut to deep and weekend it even if it was not cut that deep it looks weak to me so me and the guy installing it are looking at a front engine plate with legs that will extend all the way out to the frame he has a tubing bender it makes things nice at the ends of the legs we will use some rwd transmission tail shaft mounts 1 on each side

It's not a roller motor so you may need some zinc additive. It's probably why royal purple seems to work so well.

eph_kay are you planing on doing individual throttle body's

quote Originally posted by engine man: eph_kay are you planing on doing individual throttle body's

You noticed, yes the current plan is for ITBs, if the complexity becomes too much I will shy away from it, but I already have the couplers, the throttle bodies, the linkage and manifold designed, and the mill is being set up currently to make the manifold. The only thing really let is the velocity stacks and the upper plenum for getting the boost to them all.

Chris

i want to do ITB and i have bought some hayabusa throttle body's but i need 2 more . I think that use the lower intake like it looks like you are doing and make the upper intake and get the port spread right and the hayabusa throttles should go right on

I got GSXR600 throttle bodies, 2 sets, the guy that sold them to me, a motorcycle repair shop, questioned me why I needed two sets

They are 38mm bore if I remember correctly which is what they recommend for about 50hp per cylinder, learned that after the fact though, got pretty lucky I guess, giving me about 300hp na rating.

Not to say the Hayabusa ones will be too big, but they will be large though, and so far the 600 throttle bodies are too wide in all directions, so I am milling off all the bosses and extremities on the bore that aren't needed just to make them fit close enough for the bore spacing on 96-97 lower intake.

We will see how it turns out though, there is another approach I wanted to take with using the throttle bodies in 3 sets of pairs, but the intake became too complex for the milling effort I wanted to take, but again, might make it work out to simplify other things and just run the newer style gsxr 600 throttle bodies.

Chris

Best of luck getting it all put together.

I think mine are 45mm and the center to center looks like 2.75 inches that is about a 1/2 inch to much i think i dont know how much closer they could be made it might be easer to spread them and have three going to one side and three going to the othere

Bump for updates.

bump for updates

Sorry guys not a whole lot to update right this minute. I have been working with a friend on his fiero trying to make decision on what engine to use, and been doing some research on what wheels I want this go around. But most of my effort these days has gone into my mill. I have 90% of the components and only need to get me my spacers milled for my ball screw extensions on a friends mill when he has time, but here is a picture of it coming together.



Chris

Been awhile guys, the Fiero hasn't moved, but the mill has, and by itself!

I will be getting a few finishing end mills this week, and hopefully making the intake this week.

Then I will try and dedicate much more time to the car.

Chris

Sorry it has been so long, some things have changed, but the mill is up and going and I have been working on the intake, a few hurtles I have been trying to over come, but the main thing is just getting the time to do it, 3 hours for the bottom and looking like about closer to 8.5 hours to finish the top, but it will get done eventually.





Started today roughing out the top:


Also, the project has changed plans slightly, the engine swap is going to be going into my ttop car, this car:


Progress will be slowed greatly, but I will attempt to keep everybody updated as I make progress, I want to get this turbo running, and get to use this intake

Awesome intake ..hopefully you can make more than one . Love the wheels what are they and sizes offset?

I will hopefully be making this intake for sale, I have made a few mistakes on this one that will be fixed in the next couple that I am going to present to you guys, so keep an eye on me. With the mill being cnc once I get the first one done I'll be able to just square it in and let it go while I am working on the other parts of the engine swap.

The wheels are VMR V710s 5x112pcd the fronts are 18x8.5 with a 45mm offset running rear hubs in the front of an 88 giving closer to a 38mm offset causing them to stick out from the fenders a bit, the rears are 19x9.5s with a 33mm offset on stock 88 suspension with the 5x112pcd stock style hubs and coil overs.

Chris

An update for everybody:


The intake is getting redesigned though to include the throttle blades and shafts into the intake, with the throttles bodies on top of the current designs gives an install height on the motor of about 1" taller than the supercharger on the 3800sc with both running stock height transmission and engine center line, measured 24" from the top of the rail on an 88 cradle.

Hopefully I will have the design finished here in the next few days and figure out a way to machine it and cut away at it

Hope you guys like the designs, it is pretty, but needs some tweaking.

Chris

the intake is looking good i cant wait to see your final design

In the process of drawing things up and trying to account for the return spring stop and the TPS sensor mount, I have decided that it makes more sense to go with the lower as I have done in the last one, and building a "throttle body" that is all 6 built into a single plate with coupler fittings on both sides, a little more modular, and more adaptable to other engines.

Chris

Some update on the work, the shift to the new project car has slowed this down a lot, and I am doing a clutch job on a miata currently that is slowing me down further, but I am still making progress.

I thickened up the flutes and adjusted some of the dimensions for better fitment, and then used a different file type that netted smoother curves, here are the results of 16+ hr of run time on the mill:



Outside of flute:


Port Alignment:


Bore and a couple overall of the bottom:




And here is a picture of what I am planning for the upper intake it is just a rough one that the file didn't work quite right, but it got pretty close


Chris

There's something about machined metal that I find very appealing....


It's looking very nice!
Nolan

Any progress?

Yeah, any updates? Don't listen to the nay sayers, this really is an awesome engine when done properly. I can't wait to see what you've got up your sleeve with that intake.

Sorry guys no updates, I have so many hurtles to overcome on my next car that this hasn't come to mind for awhile. I designed up an intake just like this one just with a "standard" sized O ring and a one piece throttle shaft with bolt on o ring bearing supports on the ends, and a bolt on series of trumpets.

I haven't finalized the trumpets so I haven't purchased the steel or set up the coding, when the other fiero gets more into the building phase, I will get the mill on a working phase too and try and make the first one piece intake.

Chris

Bump

Hey, you're supposed to be proving me wrong! Get to work. ^_^

Nice build thread!

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2010 WRX, w2a chargecooled & stage II
1987 Fiero GT 3.4TDC w/ n20
KTM 250SX