Had some time to do some tinkering today. Found where the Alt wire was wearing on the tensioner pully. I rerouted the wire and tied it down - should solve the problem. I set the timing the other day but it did not seem to be right. It felt like it was too far advanced. Almost like the spark was "scattered" causing a rough feel - like a miss (or several misses). After reading every 4.9 thread ever posted on PFF last night, I decided to play with the timing/idle learn, et.c this afternoon. I hooked up my timing light, jumpered A & B, fired up the car and the timing was jumping all over the place. I messed around for over an hour and came to the conclusion that my timing light must be fubar! I went and bought another one and sure enough, the my old Snap On timing light has gone goofy on me. It breaks my heart - this was my grandpa's timing light - it's an oldies but a goody. I'll have to see if I can get it fixed!
Anyway, with the new light, I could see that it was set at about 16 plus degrees. I set it at 12, locked it down. Went through the idle learn procedure and went for a drive. Runs smooth, no stutter, miss, nada! Idles aroung 750 - no sail on that I can detect. Seems to down shift at the right time when slowing or coming to a stop. I took a spin around town - light to light type heavy traffic driving - ran great and never went over 190*. I got it out on the highway - mainly to check the speedo with my GPS (it's about 3mph to the slow side versus the GPS) - and it edged up to 220* and hovered there at speeds of 70 to 80 MPH. Coming back into town, I ran around 55 to 60 and the temp came back down between 200 and 220*. I think I still have an air flow problem in the front of the car. I thought I was not going to have to build a "funnel" to force air to the rad but I was wrong. I think at speeds over 50, the air does not get to the rad due to the length and design of the front of the XTC body. Looks like it's back in the garage for a fix! Off to San Antonio for the Round up in the AM - More next week.
Pat
Rick 88
MAY 16, 08:24 AM
You might try a lower air dam extension under the front bumper as a quick fix to force more air up to the radiator. Maybe some hood vents may be in order too.
Next run to the mountains will be in the Fiero!
doublec4
MAY 16, 10:29 AM
After I added a chin spoiler to my car I had to do the same thing. I just took some of that black plastic garden edge stuff from the hardware store and bolted it to the existing rad air deflector under the car. You can't see it, but it adds a few inches to the original air deflector and directs more air up to the rad. Solved my problem for temps rising on the highway with my old 2.8
[This message has been edited by doublec4 (edited 05-16-2010).]
Tony Kania
MAY 16, 12:15 PM
quote
Originally posted by doublec4:
After I added a chin spoiler to my car I had to do the same thing. I just took some of that black plastic garden edge stuff from the hardware store and bolted it to the existing rad air deflector under the car. You can't see it, but it adds a few inches to the original air deflector and directs more air up to the rad. Solved my problem for temps rising on the highway with my old 2.8
No doubt. I just mentioned this to Dogcreek yesterday. Buy a short section/roll of the good stuff. The airdam area is larger than you will need. Great! Just cut to fit. And there is a built in lip for which one is able to attach securely with nuts'n bolts to the undercarriage. I read this somewhere, and did this to one of my old E250s. Just don't get the cheapo stuff. You can feel the difference.
That car has come such a long way. I remember giving Carver1 a friendly rubbing over the "doiley" mesh in the front when he originally bought it. Now, the shortbus is getting a makeover. Old Fieros never die,.........
katatak
MAY 18, 04:08 PM
Thanks guys for the airdam idea. The XTC has no airdam at all. I think I will look at fabbing up one this weekend and see how it works. I fear I will still need to build some sort of "funnel" between the grill and the rad. It's just so long in the nose and there is really nothing there to direct the air to the rad - maybe an airdam will "scoop" up eough air - the only issue is that the nose is so low to the ground now - I suppose if it's just under the rad, it may be close enough to the front wheels where it won't drag too much. My head is grinding away now.
Pat
katatak
MAY 18, 07:46 PM
I managed to finish up some more small details this afternoon - in doing so, I found some more than need addressing. The OP gauge was pegged so I took the sender out - it was working on the Duke pre swap and took it back to AZ - life time warranty - and picked up a new one. While I was doing that, I also picked up an oil cooler for the engine oil. I got the lines run and the cooler mounted - I put it on the passenger side just above the frame rail - the old battery box was rusted out and left a hole in the fender. I cut out all the rust awhile back with the intention of "patching" up the hole later but it turns out that it is the perfect fit for the new cooler. I will fab a kind of a box to cover the exposed side and then duct it to the scoop on the right side just behind the door. It's functional for now. I fired it up to check for leaks and was pleased to see that the OP gauge is now working.
While mounting the oil cooler, I noticed that the plastic fan on the alternator pulley was looking rough. Upon further inspection, it looks like the motor is torquing backwards far enough to let the pulley rub on the strut tower. - about an inch. I'll have to fab up a dog bone now. I'm glad now that I did not move the engine 1/2" to the passenger side - it would have ate my alternator. This is the source of my squeak on the right side. I still have to fab a brace/bracket to support the rad/heater hose above the crossover. When it get's warm, it sags and ends up riding on the crossover. It's amazing all the little things that come up with these swaps - they are not a straight forward - bolt in deal. I was reading a thread awhile back about folks wanting someone to build/assemble a "swap kit" for the 3800 and the 4.9 - I'm not sure that a "kit" would be a one size fits all thing. I scoped out another 4.9 swapped Fiero in San Antonio at the Round Up this weekend. Lots of things done differently! Most better than the way I did them and I followed most the swaps documented here on the forum. It just proves that there is more than one way to skin a cat or is that caddy? When it cools off this evening, I'll go at it again - I need to get this car on the road!
More later!
Pat
katatak
MAY 19, 01:34 AM
As I was sitting in the living room in the nice cool air this evening, I had a constant nagging form one particular 16 year old - Is it done Dad? Can I drive it Dad? What do we have to do to get it done Dad? and on and on.... so I got up and went to the garage to see what else I could get finished up. First on the agenda was a dog bone or torque strut. I am not completely sold on the version I came up with but I will give it a shot to see if it works. I have seen other 4.9's using a similar setup and have had no issues - we will see. I used a 3/8" stainless turn buckle. I picked up some Derlin bushings that fit snuggly into the eye of the turn buckle but had to drill out the inside for the 10mm bolts. I bolted it to the stock Dog Bone mount on the chassis and to the alternator bracket on the motor. After a few test drives this evening, so far so good. We will keep a close eye on it till I can fab a better bracket and build something with heim joints or something fancy like that. I really did not think the motor would move as much as it does - more so under load.
Second thing I needed to do was fab up a bracket / support for the rad hose - that was quick and easy - a piece of angle iron, a couple notches, drill a hole, add piece of muffler pipe split in half, a little bending and welding and that was done.
The last thing I had to do was "button up" the AC compressor. I had a couple little plastic plugs in it to keep the debris out but it's going to be awhile before I have time to get the AC going so I cut an AC hose manifold off a Caddy and sealed the stubs I left coming out of the block then bolted the block with seals to the compressor. Right now its just an elaborate idler pulley.
What's left? Well nothing that won't keep us from driving the car but I still have some things to do. The list is getting shorter.
Fab a box/scoop for the engine oil cooler to keep road and tire debris out of the cooler. Install the firewall heat shield. Drop the tank to work on the fuel level sender. Rebuild the door hinges - parts ordered - will do that as soon as I have the parts - passenger door hinge pin is broken. Finish the AC - need hoses and flush the system out then oil and charge it up. I think we are going to take the interior out of the V8 Coupe and swap it into the XTC - I have a new direction for the V8 Coupe. It will need new rotors and pads before the end of the summer - pads are ok now but the rotors are looking worn. I'm sure I'll come up with a few more - we all know it never ends.
Watching the paint dry on the rad hose bracket:
Of course I had quality help!
Bracket installed:
Temporary Torque Strut:
Oil Cooler:
All buttoned up: - for now!
Red has her house back - all cleaned up after her 1500 mile trip to San Antonio for the Round Up!
More later!
Pat
katatak
MAY 19, 01:37 AM
Here's a short clip of the exhaust - not really my cup of tea but the boy loves it - still needs a couple of tips - maybe he can find some short resonator tips to change the note a bit? It will do till he can afford something better.
josef644
MAY 19, 09:00 PM
Pat, how many quarts of transmission fluid did you need to top off thte dip stick? I need to get some of that pretty soon.
Joe
katatak
MAY 19, 09:59 PM
quote
Originally posted by josef644:
Pat, how many quarts of transmission fluid did you need to top off thte dip stick? I need to get some of that pretty soon.
Joe
Hey Joe.
The trans had the tripots from the Caddy still in place when I got it from Carver1. I lost about 1.5 quarts when I swapped the axles. I ended up putting 2 quarts in it. Not sure if yours was drained - usually the majority of the trans oil is in the torque converter - if you did not split the motor / trans and drained the converter I would get the engine to temp then check the stick - add a quart at a time till it comes up on the stick then shift from park to reverse for a few seconds then to drive for a few then back to park and recheck. If you did not drain it, i would think 3 or 4 quarts would fill the pan? I'll do some digging and see what I can find on 4t60 capacity.
I just mentioned this to Dogcreek yesterday. Buy a short section/roll of the good stuff. The airdam area is larger than you will need. Great! Just cut to fit. And there is a built in lip for which one is able to attach securely with nuts'n bolts to the undercarriage. 
I read this somewhere, and did this to one of my old E250s. Just don't get the cheapo stuff. You can feel the difference. 
