Getrag transmission problem on low mileage Fiero GT (Page 15/17)
Patrick MAR 23, 04:36 PM

quote
Originally posted by Moar:

Test-run with modified oil pump and lightweight flywheel:





Did you actually run the engine with no installed exhaust manifolds? It must've really "barked" out of those open exhaust ports!
Moar MAR 24, 01:07 AM

quote
Originally posted by hobbywrench:
Very nice stuff. Have the exhaust ports been opened up. They kinda look bigger. I would open mine if ever the original heads come off.
(5/8" dia. I think was the go to dimension)



At the moment the exhaust ports are still unmodified (dia. 29-30 mm).
Exhaust ports only look bigger due to the black carbon buildup, which goes up
to the inner edge of the exhaust manifold gasket (~ 35 mm).
The inlet diameters of the exhaust manifold are smaller than the exhaust ports (manifold inlets ~ 26-27 mm)!
However, the smallest passages are inside the manifold (T-junctions) which are even smaller than the inlets (~ 18-20 mm)!
FYI, the exhaust valve diameter is 36.1 mm.

Porting exhaust ports doesn’t make much sense if stock manifolds are used.
But you can port-match the exhaust manifolds to the head ports.

To sum up, stock manifolds are a piece of junk!
Pontiac knows how to kill the power of an engine...

It is not a big secret, that a lot of power can be unleashed with custom headers and a high-flow exhaust system (especially in case of the Fiero)!
I have already ordered some 90° stainless steel elbows for custom headers.

------------------
Patrick, Analysis Engineer
´88 Fiero GT 5-sp. Getrag

[This message has been edited by Moar (edited 05-03-2016).]

Moar MAR 24, 01:19 AM

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:
Did you actually run the engine with no installed exhaust manifolds? It must've really "barked" out of those open exhaust ports!



Yeah, I like loud engines!
Badass exhaust sound with afterfires

Sorry for the bad video and audio quality.
Next time I will use my camcorder.

I just wanted to check the oil pressure and searched for oil leaks.
Fortunately, I have high oil pressure (about 70 - 75 PSI at idle, cold) and no leaks (so far).

------------------
Patrick, Analysis Engineer
´88 Fiero GT 5-sp. Getrag

[This message has been edited by Moar (edited 03-24-2016).]

Patrick MAR 24, 01:31 AM

quote
Originally posted by Moar:

Badass exhaust sound with afterfires



Heh heh... that's pretty cool. I love the blue flames shooting out of the exhaust ports!
Moar MAY 03, 08:52 AM
FYI:
My Fiero project is on hold now.
I hope that I can proceed the work on my Fiero after 13th Mai.

I need to put all my working capacity into my Mazda Miata now.
I have gotten a letter from the government and I was forced to drive my Miata to the state inspection of
upper Austria, which is the strictest inspection in Austria (or the strictest inspection in the world).
Of course, my Miata has not passed (but that´s usual for the first attempt) and now I need to “fix” it if I wanna keep the car.

You can be glad that you don´t live in Austria!

------------------
Patrick, Analysis Engineer
´88 Fiero GT 5-sp. Getrag

[This message has been edited by Moar (edited 05-03-2016).]

Moar MAY 16, 02:57 PM
On Friday the 13th my Miata MX-5 finally passed the state inspection at the Austrian government!
My MX-5 drives like **** now, but it fulfils CURRENT Austrian laws of 2016.
Hopefully, Austria doesn´t change these stupid inspection regulations again.

Now back to the Fiero ...

Transmission/engine and cradle installed!
Everything looks way better than new

Pictures coming soon ...

Stay tuned!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edit:

here are the pictures:
(detailed description coming soon...)

Axle stabilizer bearings with drive shaft seals:



Release bearing installed:


Tranny ready for installation:


Custom transmission mounts (´79 Dodge Ram engine mounts - cheap alternative to poly mounts):


Burning away old rubber from Fiero mounts:



Cleaned Fiero mount brackets:



Ram engine mounts installed into modified Fiero brackets:


After painting:




Freshly painted cradle ready for installation:


Engine bay prepared for tranny installation:
(painted in high gloss black, new heat insulation of wiring harness)



Ported and heat wrapped OEM Fiero headers ready for installation (I workd on them 2 days):


Tranny installation (at least 2 persons required - in my case 3 persons):


This images is larger than 153600 bytes. Click to view.






After first test fit of my custom tranny mounts (cradle was already installed) I noticed that I need to
remove all tranny mounts and tranny brackets again, because some further modifications were required!

Modifications: Cutted rear mount upper edge and modified tranny brackets with elongated holes:




Finally it was possible to install the cradle and tranny mounts:



Another minor modification was required (because the tranny/engine sits a bit lower now):




------------------
Patrick, Analysis Engineer
´88 Fiero GT 5-sp. Getrag

[This message has been edited by Moar (edited 02-19-2017).]

Moar JUL 11, 02:12 PM
´88 Fiero Suspension Mods

Some custom suspension stuff!

Modified strut mount plates (elongated holes for additional camber adjustment):








Modified Eibach Mitsubishi Lancer springs (part number# 116001301):
(1/2 coil cut with bent & grinded ends)

Spring calculation:

*) Ground clearance measured from side skirts.

Resulting rear spring rate: 196.9 lb/in

F/R wheel rate almost like ´88 Fiero stock F/R.
I´ll use ´87 Fiero Eibach front springs, k = 52.3 N/mm (298.5 lb/in).


























Technical spring specs coming soon...

PROTHANE poly bushings installed:


Camber bolts painted with POR15:





Suspension stuff put together:







The big benefit of this suspension setup is that I can also drive with this setup in Austria without
problems with the ****in´ police or ****in´ mechanics at annual inspection (hopefully).

I will tell them that I have just painted the stock coil springs in red during my restoration project.
I know that some red suspension parts (like RED suspension bushings) are strictly illegal in Austria, but
I hope that this doesn´t apply to red springs and stabilizer bars…?
But everything is possible to be illegal in Austria.

However, a much more “legal” look I can only achieve with black paint.
But I wasn´t able to resist to paint some parts in red. Black/red paint combo looks awesome!





Above you can see my old resurfaced and drilled stock rotors.
They are also illegal now. I have forgotten that I am in Austria as I drilled the holes...
Therefore I need to order new rotors soon (in order to pass next inspection).

[This message has been edited by Moar (edited 02-18-2017).]

Moar AUG 10, 04:15 AM
Finally, I finished the suspension mods on my Fiero!

Here are some pictures of my lowered ´88 Fiero GT at Austrian US car meeting in Wels:




Now my Fiero drives like a proper sports car


------------------
Patrick, Analysis Engineer
´88 Fiero GT 5-sp. Getrag

[This message has been edited by Moar (edited 08-10-2016).]

Moar AUG 10, 04:39 AM
As a parked my Fiero in the garage and opened the hood I recognized some oil drops.
Both axle shaft seals are leaking again and work begins again...

Especially the driver side leaks quite much and ****s up the whole engine bay.
Passenger side leak is almost nothing (so far).

It looks like I have the same problem like qwikgta.

Copy of qwikgta sketch about the problem:


The surface of the drive shaft journal on which the seal rides I have smoothed/polished very carefully before installation.
This cannot be the cause of the oil leak / seal damage.

The tripod has contact in axial direction with the shaft seal cage (see red circle):


In this area the leaking oil is contaminated with metal particles due to the axial interference of the parts. Maybe these metal particles have damaged the axle shaft seal?
This is one problem, which I have to fix soon.

However, I can remember that a small leakage was already there before I drove with the car!
At this time there weren´t any metal particles.

Maybe leakage is a common problem with this type of axle seals (OEM Fiero seal style)?

I could try out NATIONAL # 223540 as alternative shaft seals (with a big rubber dust seal instead of the metal cage of the OEM Fiero seal):

This seal is for the 2003 - 2006 Pontiac VIBE and many other newer cars like the Toyota RAV4.
ID and OD are same like the Fiero shaft seal (35 / 55 mm)!

What do you think?

Any help is appreciated.


------------------
Patrick, Analysis Engineer
´88 Fiero GT 5-sp. Getrag

[This message has been edited by Moar (edited 08-24-2016).]

Moar SEP 05, 02:14 PM
Update, axle seal leakage:

Last week as I have changed tires & wheels to original for annual inspection, suddenly the leakage became very worse.
The leakage was so bad, that almost the whole tranny oil leaked out in about 2 hours!
I think the reason was the axial movement of the axle shafts during tire change (caused by the suspension travel).

I have trapped the oil and I have found out that there are a lot of small metal flakes in it




I know some metal flakes are normal with new bearings during the transmission break-in procedure.
Therefore, an oil change is recommended after approximately 500 miles.
Gears even need almost 5000 miles to bed-in completely (remember I have also changed the differential)!

However, I don´t know how much metal flakes are normal and which particle amount indicates a transmission problem.

I have placed a strong magnet under the oil and most of the particles are magnetic.
There are small bronze metal flakes in it which are attracted only slightly by the strong magnet magnetic,
whereas dark / black particles are attracted much stronger by the magnet.

Hope it´s not a problem with the differential bearings.
Maybe these metal flakes are mainly coming from these add-on bearings?
(one add-on bearing is made of brass material, whereas the other one is made of a gray sinter material)

Is this amount of metal flakes normal after the first 100 miles?

------------------
Patrick, Analysis Engineer
´88 Fiero GT 5-sp. Getrag