4.6 Northstar Swap Project (Page 20/22)
olejoedad OCT 06, 11:39 AM
Heater core supply and return
Will OCT 06, 01:43 PM

quote
Originally posted by olejoedad:

Heater core supply and return



Apparently the car does not have A/C or the A/C lines would be on the other side of the fuel tank.
copperhens NOV 26, 10:36 AM
I drove the car through October and put almost 200 miles on it. Towards the end the clutch started to have issues but I think it just needs to be bled again. I’ve been working on the garage a lot, and it’s now insulated. Haven’t installed a good heater yet but just the little kerosene one we have actually heard it up to 65F.

I tore the car down this week. it took only two evenings it’s almost bare.






While I have the room, I’d like to reroute some things. Mainly the fuel lines and heated core lines. They’re currently zip tied. The engine bay just looks a bit chaotic to me and I would like to clean it up more.
87_special NOV 30, 03:45 AM
Wow! Great thread. You will have a very unique car when its all done. That IMSA body is going to look sweet.
copperhens DEC 02, 10:19 AM

quote
Originally posted by 87_special:

Wow! Great thread. You will have a very unique car when its all done. That IMSA body is going to look sweet.



Thank you! I’m slowly making progress on what I want in a Fiero.
copperhens DEC 02, 10:25 AM
I lost a bit of momentum because with almost all the body panels off, there are less fun things ahead. I am procrastinating the door skins because it feels like there is a lot to it from the last time I did them. I did start prepping the strut towers. When me boyfriend Paul and I were cleaning the engine bay all those months ago, he said screw it on the tops of the struts. I don’t blame him because he drives all the way from Ohio just to work on my boring projects.

It’s easy to work on at least, here is the before.


I spent some time sanding and here it is after one layer of paint. The paint is super thin so I probably might sand it off again and primer it because it’s showing some scratches.


I set the front end on. This is exciting. Does anyone know how the widebody attaches at the lower fender near the door? I don’t see how it would mount.
copperhens JAN 02, 08:57 AM
My red with white stripped Fiero is no more.


I was procrastinating the door skins. The driver side has a plastic nut strip and that was the hardest part. The car was clean enough the other bolts came off with no issue. After some practice with the driver side, I had the passenger skin off in 20 minutes.


I was not going to do the roof, but figured why not. My other two Fieros are sunroof, and each have been a pain to get to not leak. This roof skin needs some serious fiberglass help to look good, but I’m debating just going hardtop…


It took a lot of heat and old kite string, but I got the roof off with zero cracks. I was quite impressed with myself.


The widebody comes with full door skins. I’ve seen newer ones that are only the rocker. I need to transfer a lot of hardware over for this to work.



I haven’t run the car in months, and it fired right up.

[This message has been edited by copperhens (edited 01-02-2022).]

Internet-man FEB 03, 07:53 AM
Reading this whole thing in one day. This project was quite the adventure. I'll keep checking back in. Believe it.
I keep changing my mind about what engine I want to swap but this make the N* seem like a pretty good idea lol
Looking at your photos, the engine fills the bay so completely and your exhaust manifold is protruding so far into where the trunk was.
I did a google search and saw there were other people still had their trunk in tact. How the heck do people even manage that?
Will FEB 03, 09:24 AM

quote
Originally posted by Internet-man:
How the heck do people even manage that?



LOL... It's complicated. There is no standard way.

You can take the stock rear manifold and install it upside down, but then the outlet points right at the rear cradle crossmember.
You can use an extra front manifold on the rear, but then its outlet interferes with the axle.
Either fussy cutting and welding to make factory manifolds fit, or build something else.

I ended up building something else.

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/.../000121-17.html#p660


quote
Originally posted by Will:
Internet-man FEB 03, 02:44 PM
Wow! So cool. I'm keeping photos of this for future reference. How loud is that thing?
Being able to keep the trunk is a must for any engine swap, for me. So a point for N* on that

[This message has been edited by Internet-man (edited 02-03-2022).]