Since I have been a big fan of the show on the Discovery Channel, and there isn’t a season 2 coming out, I decided to make our next swap more interesting. Here is the deal:
The car: 1987 GT 5 speed Two technicians/fabricators Five days to build the car. January 31st to February 4th
A little history: This car sat at Loyde’s Fast Fieros in Texas from July 17, 2007 to December 3, 2010 untouched and waiting for the mods we are about to do. Charles (the owner) has been without his baby for a long time and I wanted to show him how the Guru’s team can get this done promptly and accurately.
The build:
Remove the existing stock 3800s/c to turn it into a show quality high horsepower car
The mods: RD poly mounts RD upgraded slave cylinder RD dog bone 4” cold air intake Guru ported blower case and lower intake manifold Guru custom pcm tune Guru custom a/c hose Guru low mount alternator and dog bone….the existing dog bone mount has been cut out, so we will weld a new one into the Fiero ZZP 3.25” supercharger pulley ZZP short stack intercooler using G12 coolant instead of Dexcool….G12 is Volkswagen red coolant. Custom intercooler fill using a Volkswagen coolant reservoir ZZP front mount water to air heat exchanger 42.5 Lucas injectors Northstar throttle body NGK TR6 spark plugs XP Hot cam with 105lb springs and timing chain Vens Autosports 304 stainless steel headers….fabricated by Ryan who works for me full time. These headers are custom made for the 3800 into the Fiero. They flow better than the aftermarket ones that are not designed for the Fiero chassis. We can make them either drop to the front or back depending on your preference. They use 1 5/8” primary pipe into a 2.5” collector to the Y-pipe. The Y-pipe has a 3” outlet. The complete exhaust will be stainless steel…..a Magnaflow stainless steel muffler and ending with Corvette C6 exhaust tips. To get my approval for these headers, they not only had to flow, the spark plugs had to be easy to service....which is by biggest problem with aftermarket headers. Headers are ceramic coated and will be fiberglass wrapped and silicone coated then baked with the wrap Relocate battery to the front trunk with our custom battery low mount battery tray. Custom engine cooling system fill point with low temp thermostat Spec stage 3 clutch…..say what you want about Spec, but I have had zero issues with their clutches. I follow the break in procedure to the T. Wiring harness modifications and tuck Low mount ignition coil with hidden wires ZZP return less Billet fuel logs with hidden fuel pressure regulator and AN braided hose Engine and transmission to be painted Remove firewall insulation and paint engine bay satin black Oil service with 5w40 synthetic oil and a Bosch oil filter Transmission fluid service with Synchromesh
Suspension and chassis mods: Shortened trunk Held Motorsports bump steer kit Koni shocks and struts Rear coil overs New front hubs and repack wheel bearings RD solid cradle bushings
Front lowering springs New rims and tires Four wheel alignment
Other mods: I need to rebuild the passenger side axle with new CV joints New a/c hard lines from the rear to the front because the last one to work on the car cut and hacked them up. New passenger side coolant pipe….our initial evaluation showed that it was crushed sometime during it’s life. Front radiator hoses to be replaced
The fuel:
Two cases of Arizona RX Energy herbal tonic Sleep MD Our shop’s gym to pump some iron when we hit the wall Joey’s homemade chili with some ghost pepper hot sauce 8oz of Boswell’s “Christmas Cookie” pipe tobacco for Dave and “Maple Leaf” for Ryan (Canadian’s love their maple, eh) A few cases of dark beer for the evenings
The prep: (this is what was done prior to the five day period) Order every single part down to the nut and bolt to get this swap completed. Fabricate the stainless steel headers and cross over pipe. Ceramic coat the headers. Fabricate the low mount alternator bracket for the Grand Prix alternator Fabricate the thermostat housing
That is about it. Everything else will be done in the week. I have all the shop’s phone calls forwarded to voicemail and the doors will be locked. Tons of pics and videos will be posted.
Here are a few to start this off:
The parts list....yes, that is our gym and kitchen in the background.
The fuel.....
our thermostat housing....
Ryan TIG welding the headers....
Guru low mount alternator bracket....powdercoated too.
WOW, now i know you have the ability to get er done...but my question is........ how the heck did you get Loyde to release the HOSTAGE ???? and do you think he will release anymore...lol al
Sweet! I really like the things you guys do. Im really glad we got guys like you out there producing some sweet Fieros! Ill be watching this thread as close as all your other builds!
------------------ '88 GT- 3800 Turbo 11.367@121.03mph FOR SALE GM Tuners
Aw man... i wish i had the vacation time from work to come down and watch! Aught to be awesome! How about a pre-insanity set of pics of the car the way it sits?
Ace, let's just say he realized he had no alternative.
Would be nice if the same thing could be done for Will, but I don't want to ruin this thread with talk about that. Good luck Dave, I will be watching very closely!
Note the exhaust has been blocked off and is ran towards the front. I'm surprised the KR wasn't through the roof because the exhaust seems to run back into itself before it dumps into the down pipe.
Here are some pics of the header fabrication using a test block and heads:
Would be nice if the same thing could be done for Will, but I don't want to ruin this thread with talk about that. Good luck Dave, I will be watching very closely!
I was going to say the same thing. I hope WIll is reading this, maybe it will motivate him to go get his car.
The laptop looks to be a thinkpad... i'm guessing X series. Looks almost like the X60 i sold not too long ago. I restore thinkpads from time to time. Nothing beats the X41T i use daily though.
[This message has been edited by Finally_Mine_86_GT (edited 01-29-2011).]
Tony, you spotted our mascot, Winkie. I try to pose him in the background of some of the pics just to see if anyone notices. There were only a handful of members that knew I did that until this thread came out..... http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum6/HTML/079932.html He is also on the welder in the background of the last pic of the headers.
[This message has been edited by bmwguru (edited 01-30-2011).]
Thanks for the compliments on the shop. I wish I could have posted the pics when it was cleaner, but with our crazy work week and lots of snow, salt and ice, the shop is a mess. We did wash the one bay that the black GT is in because we were working on a BMW E46 that the owner supplied his own DSC pump and module and we had to put in three before we got one that worked.....so let's just say that there was a lot of brake fluid on the ground. Normally, you could eat off the floor.
The shop pics were taken at the end of the day. All the German cars that are staying over the next week were locked up outside. The Jetta TDI is inside parked under Alltrbo's car. The other cars are mine.....the orange and black V8, the VR6 Fiero and my gold GT 3800s/c that is getting another 100whp added to it this winter.
I should get a Pontiac flag. I finally have my regular customers actually respecting the Fiero. Four years ago, they kinda stuck their nose up about my cars, but either their opinion has changed or I have better customers now. Dave
Less than two hours until the start of our day. I don't expect to post the pics until tonight....and depending on how the videos come out as well. I'd like to take a video of us dropping the engine out and editing it into one of those "fast play" vids (can't remember the proper name). My average time to drop a fiero engine from start to finish is an hour, fifteen minutes. With two of us, we should have it out in under 45 minutes.....if no bolts are rusted, stripped or seized. Dave
Sweet~I love these types of builds! Another thread I can follow while on my trip! Guys good luck on the build and I am sure the owner will be uber appreciative since he has run into a few roadbloacks along the way (as I recall).
Took a video of pulling out the drivetrain. 34 minute long video (not too shabby) with some comedy for the first few minutes. I'll find a way to edit it later and post up a link. Dave
Aught to be awesome! How about a pre-insanity set of pics of the car the way it sits? 
