After a couple minutes with the ol' Sawz-All, the remaining trunk brace was removed up to the strut towers and the rear header was put on:





The following picture does a good job of showing the height of the rear primary tubes and how they relate to the strut towers. There is plenty of clearance for a new strut tower brace to be put in. The primary tubes almost look like they were built for it:



I removed the remaining trunk steel on the ends of the strut towers, leaving the body mounting tabs in place. I'll beef up these tabs later so that they have more rigidity:





After removal, it left a nice flat surface to mount the new brace to:



Next up... strut tower bracing.

Stay "tuned."

[This message has been edited by ITALGT (edited 11-21-2014).]

Continuing on...

So after some more thought on the subject, I decided NOT to weld in the new brace behind the upper strut towers in the stock location as I had originally planned. In the end, I opted for fabricating a traditional style tubular strut tower brace; it weighs less, it's much better looking, it's simple to construct, it's easily removed if needed, and it's just as effective at bracing (if not more than) just slapping a big heavy bar in BEHIND the towers.

I got a little creative here and used factory strut assembly "spacers" or "hats" for the new brace mounting plates by mounting them directly on top of the towers. Here you can see the general idea, with a yardstick used as a reference to show approximately where the brace's main cross-tube will go:



The strut plates wouldn't go onto the towers without some tweaking of the upper strut hole "bulges" first. The strut bolts lined up with the holes in the plates just fine, but the factory domed strut holes were slightly offset compared to the strut plate's opening. Part of the inside radius of the plate's center hole hit the bottom edge of the dome. With a large blunt-ended chisel and hammer, I slowly massaged the outer/lower edges of the domes until there was just enough clearance for the plates to mount flat and flush on the towers:















With the strut tower brace mounting plates ready to go, it's time to cut up a piece of 1" tubing and weld it all up.

[This message has been edited by ITALGT (edited 03-23-2015).]

After cutting and a little finessing with the grinder, the main 1" strut tower brace tubing is ready to go:

[This message has been edited by ITALGT (edited 11-21-2014).]

[This message has been edited by ITALGT (edited 10-21-2014).]

Main strut tower brace in place with welds cleaned up:



Overall I am happy with the results, although it's not my best work I've got to quickly admit. I'm sure it looks great to most people, but I tend to be picky when it comes to these things.

At some point, I may build another strut tower brace that is more of a "show quality" piece, but this one will be just fine for now. After some priming, sanding and painting, I think it will look great under the deck-lid. Powder coating would be ideal, but I think I will save that expense for when and if I build a better looking (cleaner welded) one.

I'm continuing the blacked-out "stealth" theme to the engine bay, along with aluminum and stainless accents to keep it "raw."

I'm thinking this brace will look great in satin black.

More to come.

[This message has been edited by ITALGT (edited 11-21-2014).]

With the header installation going smoothly, it's time for some overdue updates.

As mentioned earlier in this build, I was planning to retain the TPI fuel injection system and modifying it for more RPM's and power.

Well, not any more... bye-bye TPI:



Yes, that's a carburetor and intake you see. No, I'm not crazy!

What you see here is a black powder coated Edelbrock Performer RPM Air-Gap Vortec intake topped with Edelbrock's 650 CFM Thunder Series AVS (Adjustable Vacuum Secondary) carburetor. And oh boy, it's even got a manual choke!

Some people will no doubt scowl in disbelief when they learn I am ditching old-school 80's era fuel injection for a so-called "archaic" carburetor. I get it guys and gals, I really do. But this build is not about what other people think or say I should do, for me it's all about getting the ultimate driving experience and performance level I want to get out of this car when it goes back to terrorizing the streets.

In the end, I want the same connection to my car as a motorcycle rider has with his bike. I WANT a manual choke cable. I WANT to manually crank my windows. I WANT the air conditioning and most comfort features eliminated. I WANT the car to be a little temperamental... and WANT it to have it's own special character. It keeps it that much more interesting, rewarding and FUN to play with. I WANT this car to be no-frills, basic, raw, and nothing but visceral when it's completed. And more than anything, I WANT it to scare little children and old people! Well not literally, but hopefully you get the point.

For clarity... let's just say that this car is NOT being built for a daily driver, so my concerns about eliminating the EFI are very few, if any.

Let me rephrase that... I have NONE!

I actually WANT a carburetor, and here's why.

First and foremost... bang for the almighty buck $$$. Upgrading the TPI's intake runners alone costs about the same as the carburetor and intake combined, yet they produce way less power and only slightly improve upper RPM capabilities. TPI engines with aftermarket runners still produce the monster low-end transmission-breaking torque, and can't rev past 5,000 RPM's without the engine falling flat on it's face without serious and in-depth modifications. That's not such a big deal in a big, heavy car that needs lot's of bottom end torque, but in a light-weight V8 Fiero, it just plain ruins the overall driving experience.

On the aftermarket intake side of things, such as using the Stealth Ram to replace the entire TPI intake, the final cost gets WAY out of hand really quick (the cost of the intake itself, fuel rails, throttle body, small-body distributor, injectors, hardware/gaskets, etc). With the Fiero's ultra-low gears, I firmly believe that even a highly modified stock TPI system just is not a great intake to use on a lightweight Fiero. Still kinda' fun and no doubt quick, but FAR from ideal. That said, if one has the money for a Stealth Ram or similar aftermarket replacement intake... definitely go for it. These aftermarket intakes replace the entire OEM TPI assembly and are designed to flow/make power well past 6,000 RPMs... and they do it well, especially with a little porting.

As far as tuning, I actually prefer to do that with a screw driver... not a laptop. I want to have a more intimate connection with the car and be involved with how the engine runs and performs without burning a stupid chip. With that said, Edelbrock's AVS carburetor bolts on the engine ready to go out of the box... no changing jets or tuning required. Just set the idle screws and go. Adjustable vacuum secondaries allow for mechanical secondary-like performance, which is perfect for a lightweight/low-geared Fiero.

Then there's the performance. No more monster low-end torque with no useable power above 4,500 RPMs. I will now have a very broad horsepower and torque curve producing excellent USEABLE power throughout the extended RPM range to match the transmission's low-a$$ gear ratios. Drive-ability and reliability? Check. Wicked neck-snapping throttle response? Check. As a bonus, I will still get very decent gas mileage, as there's not much weight at all for the engine to move; the car already weighs over 200lbs less than stock. Not that I'm really worried about gas mileage!

Less dead weight too. By the time you consider how many TPI components there are, you quickly realize how heavy the system is compared to just a simple aluminum intake and carb.

Then there's the gear drive thing. I have an Edelbrock Accu-Drive on it's way. Don't get me started on the "gear drives are bad" debate, because the bottom line is they work just fine below 6,500 RPM's and you either love them or you hate them. I just happen to LOVE them. I'm after the gear-whine sound, not because I am the poser-type who wants people to think he's running a blower, but because it will add to the overall visceral driving experience I am after. Anyone familiar with the Honda VFR 750 motorcycle with gear-driven cams knows exactly what I'm talking about.

The real key to dual-idler gear drives? Just don't put one in an engine and expect to be revving past 6,500 RPMs... you're just asking for trouble. Even though I've heard guys run them with TPI with no problems, I'm just not going to take the gamble of messing with the knock sensor issue.

One last bonus... by going with a traditional carburetor setup now, I will be paving the way for installing stand-alone fuel injection system at some point down the road (if I ever wanted to go that route). I love the flexibility, tune-ability, and simplicity of these systems... not to mention, wicked power and tuning potential. If I'm still running a gear drive at that point, I'll deal with it accordingly if there's still a problem with the knock sensor issue.

The only real down side I can see by not using the TPI is the looks... I think it looks particularly bad-a$$ when combined with the 180 headers I'm using.

With that bit of news out of the way, here's the daily driver Fiero GT I picked up a couple weeks ago... she needs some TLC, but overall a very decent car. I will be using the staggered 18" Rohana RL05 wheels for this project, and I will replace them with the 17" Enkei's I am currently using:





More pictures and information can be found here:

http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/094923.html


Stay tuned, more to come!

[This message has been edited by ITALGT (edited 05-26-2016).]

quote Originally posted by 85-308: Just reading your thread now; you will be happy with your combo! I did a conventional sbc with 'only' a 600 vac secondary (yes, manual choke), the Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, 'double bump' CI heads very extensively (home) ported and polished, but with the smaller 1.94/1.5 valves, 'only' the CC 268H high energy cam, 1-5/8" headers and a high pressure oil pump ($2.98 Z28 relief spring). Not much else; stock pistons with an .030 bore, new stock rings, stock bearings; Rhoads lifters that I think helped; roller 1.5:1 rockers; a 3 way double row timing set (that I didn't really need to be adjustable; I didn't change it) and that's about it! All that went into a (heavvvvvyyyyy) 78 firebird with a 4 spd and highway gearing. It was a BLAST! My brother had a 455 trans am at the time and he couldn't touch me.. which I exploited at every chance LOL! The trick is, as the cam manufacturers say so often, the COMBINATION. And that combo worked perfectly. You'll be happy. Great thread; thx for sharing! GP

Thanks for the heads-up!

In all honesty, I want to build a high-winding naturally aspirated SBC variant with all the goodies and keepin' it old school; in other words, build the engine specifically for the car. For now, I think this set up will be more than sufficient. And by reading your post, it looks like I'm right on track for a killer, very fast, very streetable SBC Fiero.

More to come.

[This message has been edited by ITALGT (edited 03-13-2015).]