Bump for some updates. I got my heads and block back from the machine shop. They cleaned the heads and reground the valves when all I wanted them to do was check the guides, but they didn't charge me for it though, so thats a bonus. They said the valve guides are fine and well within spec, just as I suspected. The block is now bored and honed .5mm over. I'll be checking ring end gaps this weekend but I have a feeling i'm going to need to borrow or buy a ring filer. The factory spec for the top ring is something like .012 gap but I need to run a .024 gap on the top because of the hyperutectic pistons. I've got pretty much everything I need to get it back together so it looks like I wont miss to many autocrosses this season, unless it decides to continue to burn oil despite all my efforts. I also managed to score a spare hood for free so i'll be starting work on a hood vent soon.
The 6 speed was fantastic to cruise around with but I didn't get a chance to do to many really hard 1-2 shifts. So far the tranny has been great, but then again i've only gotten to drive with it for one day.
Bump. Got the engine fired up yesterday. I'll get the rest of the rear suspension back together tonight and hopefully take it for a drive sometime this week. If everything goes ok, (fingers crossed), I'll insure it for the rest of the summer. I'll probably take it back to the dyno just to see how the mods have changed it. There's still 16 auto x events left in the season so hopefully i can at least make it to half of those.
Well, I drove it to work today. Seems great so far, a couple of minor issues but nothing huge. I need to replace the tensioner pulley for the water pump drive. It wasn't shifting well into 1st or reverse, but that was just a matter of zap strapping the heater hose out of the way of the shift counterweight. Doesn't burn any oil!!!! YAY!! The WB02 isn't working any more for some reason. With the laptop hooked up the narrow band o2 is working fine but the WBO2 just reads 2.0 volts all the time (it's supposed to read 1.0-2.0 for 10.0 afr to 20.0 afr). And the WBO2 gauge that i made isn't working properly either. It worked a few days ago just fine but somethings up with it now. I have an initialization routine that the gauge goes through when you turn it on. It's supposed to scroll through all the numbers from 10.0 to 19.9 in 2 or 3 seconds, but when you turn it on now it just displays 19.9. I'm puzzled why both the laptop output and the gauge output and the guage are all haywire. I'll have to do some investigating later but i'm so happy that it's running great i just don't care to much. I've got a slalom race this saterday so i'll have to take some pictures and video. On another note my friends and I got the northstar powered lotus esprit we've been building fired up last night. It sounds really good too.
I got the dakota digital converter today. ... I got the signal converter in and working today. One thing to note is that the instructions say that output 4 is 4000ppm od and output 3 is 8000ppm ac. Output 4 didn't display anything on my computer or speedometer so i switched it to the ac signal on output 3 and then it worked fine. As output 3 is 8000ppm I was expecting the speedometer to read double what it should be but for some reason it actually reads correct. Kind of strange but i'm not complaining. I only have 2 hours of class this thursday so i'm thinking i might put a day permit on it .
Can you elaborate more on your Dakota Digital settings? I'm running the 4.9/G6 and my speedo needs some help and I don't think the ECM is getting the right speed. What settings did you use and where is the SGI-5 in the circuit? Thanks.
Can you elaborate more on your Dakota Digital settings? I'm running the 4.9/G6 and my speedo needs some help and I don't think the ECM is getting the right speed. What settings did you use and where is the SGI-5 in the circuit? Thanks.
I have the SGI-5 in between the speed sensor and the ECM. The ecm is expecting a 4000 pulse per mile signal. Hook up your ecm wire to output 3 of the SGI-5, and then do the fine tuning with the buttons. The F40 trans outputs 60,000 pulses per mile if that's relevant, i can't remember. I switched the sensitivity to low but it still gets interference when i'm completly stopped and the speedo needle jiggles about a bit. It causes the idle to jump up to 1500 because it thinks i'ts moving, kind of annoying but i just have to put a little buffere circuit in there.
I have the SGI-5 in between the speed sensor and the ECM. ....
Thanks again... I gave you a + for helping me out. I need to fine tune my SGI. I've seen the filter mentioned a couple of times, what is it, and where do I buy one? Or where are the plans so I can make one?
Did that filter work for any of you? The one I got from Archie shuts the whole speedo down. I get the jumpy idle just once in a while so I just live with it.
I wanted to say thinks for the details and the Pictures. I'm currentingly installing a 6-speed in my 86 and I didn't like the solid transmissions mounts. My friend and I were discussing the different options to make my own custom mounts. Now that I've found this, I've go a good idea on what I can do.
Well the dyno was a little dissapointing because i couldn't do any tuning due to a strange EMF ECM issue that occurs only on the dyno. At 5500 rpm, even though the throttle is wide open, the tps signal drops from 99% to 33% which pulls it out of power enrich mode. I had this issue before on the dyno so i tried shielding the emulator and ecm with tin foil but it didn't work. It's not the sensor and it never happens on the street. It's something that is related to dynoing it because it's very consistant. I managed to get one run, where i had the current chip installed and the lid on the ecm bolted down, that didn't do it so that's the only graph I have. The afr is around 13.0 which will need some richening up, probably to around 12.5, and i could probably add a bit more timing to the top end. I have a feeling I could probably tune another 10-15whp out of it if i was able to actually tune it on the dyno without this stupid ecm issue. We compared my graph to my buddies (2000 N* with 288* cams and headers) and my power is much more broad. The cams really make his power peaky and it only makes more power than mine above 5500. Right now he's putting down 315whp and i'm at 305whp. His torque is at 300ft lbs and mine is 310ft lbs. The stock cams are much better for mid range so i'm going to stick with them. I've got about 30 more ft lbs of torque through the entire mid range than the cammed motor. Anyway here are the graphs.
Must be hell to hunt down a problem like that! Where do you have the ECM mounted?
Looks like you have a lot of usable torque. You definitely could pick up some peak power with tuning; the AFR spikes lean right where peak power should be. I have heard that the N* likes running rich; 12.5 or 12.0 like you said. How is the tuning on your friend's car with the cams?
Must be hell to hunt down a problem like that! Where do you have the ECM mounted?
Looks like you have a lot of usable torque. You definitely could pick up some peak power with tuning; the AFR spikes lean right where peak power should be. I have heard that the N* likes running rich; 12.5 or 12.0 like you said. How is the tuning on your friend's car with the cams?
I have the ecm mounted underneith the arm rest. The tuning on my friends car still has a little ways to go but it won't see much more improvement in the mid range.
First to answer a few questions: I'll be using the stock g6 final drive ratio I'm not going to cut off the counter weight because it doesn't interfere with anything.
Zac, do you know of any other final drive ratios available or different 1st gears perhaps? the disheartening truth is that even the N* doesnt revv high enough to make 1st gear tolerable on that transmission. if it could be replaced, or perhaps the final drive swapped out for something somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.0:1, would greatly improve the drivability with any V8 swap
Hey man can you show mr the way wear can i get a stock computer from a cadillac sts reprogramed to work with a manual trans because iam thinking of doing a noryhstar swap on my 88 gt and info will be apreciated
Hey man can you show mr the way wear can i get a stock computer from a cadillac sts reprogramed to work with a manual trans because iam thinking of doing a noryhstar swap on my 88 gt and info will be apreciated
Not sure where to get a stock ecm reprogrammed. I'm using the 1227730 to run mine.
The car is currently finished and for sale. It's gonna be really hard to let the car go after all that work. Everytime i fire it up and listen to it i reconsider not selling it. I need the money though to start my next project, which will be a little more involved. My friend and I are designing an ariel atom clone and are going to make a pair of them. This is what we have so far, probably less than 1/4 of the car is designed but this picture is inspiring.
NICE! What engine are you guys planing on using? Honda K20, GM LNF or LSJ? Forced induction? using the hubs from something else, or are you guys building the suspension from scratch?
An Atom is an acceptable excuse for selling your fiero.
if you do build the Atom, make sure to keep us posted with a thread somewhere on the internet.
I will for sure be posting a build thread when we get started, probably on www.locostusa.com . We were originally planning on building our own spindles but we figured it would be faster, and easier to pass the inspection with an existing design so we're going to use the spindles, ball joints, and brakes from a 90's miata. We'll still be making our own control arms and figuring out the geometry ourselves though. The power plant is going to be a JDM K20a in stock form for a little while anyway but eventually we want to supercharge it.
Hey Zac, you sold your Fiero to Steven aka Paramedic, who then sold it to someone else. The current owner drove it to a club meeting and a few Autocross's but I have lost contact with him and am trying to track him down. I had given him a link to this thread so he could contact you, did he ever get in contact with you? If you still have his info could you fire it back this way.
------------------ 857GT Part 85GT Part 87GT Part Caddy, 93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust. MSD Everything Now with Nitrous. Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics For Sale $4000, Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
I have no idea who has it now, it's changed hands so many times. I originally sold it to David, who sold it to someone else after a month, and he sold it to another person after a month. I think "Medic" on westcoastfieros was the last person I can recall owning it.
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