85 SE 2M6 Refresh (Page 3/4)
thismanyfieros JUN 09, 08:39 PM
no luck with the brake booster....sorry man...tim
TiredGXP JUN 09, 09:10 PM
Thanks for trying. I'll check the yards around here or just break down and buy one from NAPA.

Cheers
TiredGXP JUN 21, 01:37 PM
Been out of town a fair bit for the last couple of weeks and haven't had a chance to do any work. The side effect of that was extra time to re-evaluate the project and come up with more ways to spend money .

Since the stock block and crank both need machining, I've been considering going with a 3.1 crank, then I realized that my father in law has a 90 Lumina with the 3.1 that's headed to the wrecker (engine runs, has about 11k fewer km than the 2.8).

I figured that there may be a few parts worth salvaging from the car and took a look at it, and realized that this used the 7727 ECU with DIS ignition. The plan now is to use the 3.1 bottom end with the 2.8 heads and intake.

Pros:
3.1 block is a direct swap
No distributor - more consistent timing and provides clearance for alternative intake options (3.4 upper intake?)
Elimination of cooling tubes and trunk fan for a cleaner look.
All the other advantages of the 7730 swap, including
Option to add digital cruise
EGR delete
No cold start injector
Eliminate fan switch
Can eliminate more vacuum lines for evap canister
Knock sensor
No more machine work than is already required

Cons (well, just extra bits of work):
More wiring required to re-pin wiring harness connectors (Guess I need the 7730 ECU, not the 7727, but at least have the 3.1 memcal, knock sensor and coil packs) and to hook up cruise and evap solenoid.
Need to find a neutrally balanced flywheel
Programming changes as necessary for other engine mods and standard vs. automatic transmission.

I figure Ryan at Sinister Performance can provide a tune that will allow me to keep it running during cam break in and provide a good starting point for refining the tune based on my particular mods.

Question
With the planned elimination of EGR and the cold start injector, I've been thinking that perhaps the IAC tube can be rerouted from the LIM to the EGR inlet on the UIM. Anyone done this? Problems?

Cheers

[This message has been edited by TiredGXP (edited 06-21-2008).]

TiredGXP JUN 22, 08:52 PM
Finally have some progress to report.

The porting kit came in the mail on Friday, so I started tackling the heads. This is my first attempt at porting, based on the results, it's a good thing I don't do this for a living. The porting was nothing radical, just a gasket match in the intake and removal of significant casting flaws.

The intake gasket match went pretty good, well, except for a couple of slips with the grinding wheel. Intake ports need a bit more time with 120 grit to smooth things out.

Based on the results of polishing the exhaust ports, it looks like I didn't spend enough time with the flap wheel to eliminate all the 120 grit marks, so I'll have to go back over those.

I'm not really happy with the bowl work on the exhaust ports, especially the middle one, so may have to go back over them.

On a couple of ports, it seems like I just can't reach everywhere, so there's still a couple of patches of rough cast finish that I need to try to deal with.

Here's a few "in progress" pictures:

Intake runners port matched and raw head



A couple of shots of partially polished exhaust ports and the raw carboned up one




A couple of shots of the bowls, and a stock comparison




Based on the number of pictures posted, I guess I should have put a 56K warning in the thread title.

Cheers
Fiero Owner JUN 22, 10:18 PM
My intake is mostly not painted, kind of like yours.

This images is larger than 153600 bytes. Click to view.
TiredGXP JUN 23, 10:46 PM
Haven't decided yet whether to paint it or to smooth things out a bit more and just clear coat it. I do like the look of bare aluminum, but want to keep it from oxidizing.

What all have you done to your engine? I see the aftermarked dogbone, headers, and what looks like Rodney Dickman's stainless vacuum lines, anything else?

Cheers
Fiero Owner JUN 24, 12:47 AM
Darrell Morse intakes and throttle body, MSD coil, Comp cam(272 I think it was), roller tip rockers, headers, Rodeny's SS vacuum lines, aluminum flywheel, Spec stage 3 clutch, oh, and a 3.4 block. Probably more I can't remember right now but that's most of it.

Edit: Forgot to say it's being swapped out for a 3800SC now.

[This message has been edited by Fiero Owner (edited 06-24-2008).]

TiredGXP JUL 05, 08:24 PM
Finally getting some things put back together.

Poly bushings are installed in the front of the cradle and in the rear control arms. New engine and transmission mounts have been bolted to the cradle:


The knuckles are back on with the new axle seals installed:


Had a scrap of aluminum left over from a TB adapter project on the LS4, with a bit of trimming and some threaded rod, it made a good tool to drive the new axle seals in:



New hubs and cleaned-up dust shields installed:


I'm now committed to the 3.1 swap, ordered .75mm over pistons and rings from Rock Auto earlier today. I'll have the 3.1 block out of the donor car in a couple of more days - next weekend at the outside, and can then get things off to the machine shop.

For anyone who's interested, I came across a guy who bores out and ports throttle bodies http://www.maxbore.com/ Depending on whether an intake manifold mod ever happens, I may just have to have the stock one bored out to 56mm, which ought to be big enough for a 3.1.

Cheers
TiredGXP JUL 17, 07:57 PM
Been spending a bit of time fixing the cancer (rust) in the trunk and engine compartment. Having a few problems with the welding, as I keep blowing holes in the existing sheet metal even with the welder set on low heat. Then get to spend extra time trying to fill those in.

FedEx dropped off the new pistons for the 3.1 today (Sealed Power H562CP), so hopefully I can get the block, crank and rods off to the machine shop in the next couple of days.

Since I'm going with a DIS system, and not too set on keeping a completely stock look, I thought I'd look at other upper intake manifold options.

The 3.4 SFI upper from a F-body looks interesting, even though there appears to be a clearance issue with the thermostat housing:


(picture courtesy of Sardonyx247)

Can anyone comment on how this flows compared to the stock Fiero upper?

Cheers

Edit to fix picture link

[This message has been edited by TiredGXP (edited 07-17-2008).]

Raydar JUL 17, 11:59 PM
Wow!
Lost this thread for a while. Nice work!

Most people will probably tell you that the 3.4 upper isn't worth the trouble, but that's relative to the installation of the 3.4 in the Fiero.
OTOH, if you're going to a DIS 3.1, it may very well be a different story.
Although it's kind of marginal for a modded 3.4, it ought to flow plenty for a 3.1.
And it looks really cool.
The Fiero upper has a huge restriction where the neck joins the main part of the plenum. The opening is even smaller than an un-bored Fiero TB.

As you mentioned, the thermostat housing is in the way, but someone on the Forum cut a "C" notch out of the end runner, and welded it up.
Looked like it should work really well.

While we're on the 3.1...
The FWD Lumina car has aluminum heads with much smaller chambers. It has lower compression pistons to accommodate.
You'll need the pistons for the iron head version. Think CamaroBird or 91 Lumina minivan (also with iron heads.)

Edit - Since you're already swapping ECMs and using DIS, just swap in the Lumina engine in its entirety. Its intake and heads flow much better than the Fiero's. You might be able to reuse the Fiero timing cover and accessory brackets to save yourself a bit of re-engineering. You might lose one bolt hole on the heads, though.

If you can get www.60degreev6.com/index to load, there's a wealth of information about these engines.
(You may have to hit "refresh" to get pages to load. It's kind of cranky.)

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 07-18-2008).]