Ok, so, I'm talking to a GM parts guy, who also happens to owns several Fieros (all in pieces) and he says that you can put aluminum heads on a Fiero AND keep the Fiero upper plenum if you use a later moder lower plenum from a 3.1. He says that all you need to do is a little "gasket matching" between the upper and lower plenums and... botta-boom-botta-bing high compression aluminum hot rod heads.

What'cha think?? IS he full of @#%& or what??

http://hometown.aol.com/gpxss/index.html
This is the 60-degree GM V6 homepage, or something to that nature. This guy tends to know a pretty good deal about the subject at hand.

I too have thought about this and my brother has a 3.1 aluminum engine in his Grand prix. So I took my upper intake plenum and went to look at his intake and guess what. Nope not very close at all. For one the bolt paterns are different. Now I could check again as I just gave it a quick glance but remember saying to myself it won't bolt up. I don't know how close the actual runners line up though as the top plenum never came off of my brothers car so I couldn't tell just how close the runners were but I don't think they match up either

Now don't think that I don't want to use aluminum heads and am trying to discourage others from going out and checking for oneself. I have just acquired an aluminum block and would love to have an all aluminum 3.2 liter engine. Having an aluminum block with iron heads just sounds cheasy and kind of takes away the point of even having an aluminum block.

This would be the coolest thing though if it only did take slight modification to get it to work though as I would have aluminum heads on my car in a heartbeat. Then I can say "all aluminum, nitrous powered 300 hp V6" I like the ring of that.

I also took a look at just saying screw it and pick up the aluminum heads and intake but the distributor won't fit with the 3.1 intake plenum. Its shaped differently then the Fieros and appears to not allow room for the dist cap. Now i have not actually bolted it up to get actual verification but just from looks alone it won't work. Which means that if you want aluminum heads you will have to go to a DIS system which means a new computer or maybe a new chip(which won't be as bad) and the coil packs and all that too. Wiring harness and stuff too.

Another thing is with the use of aluminum heads is that the throttle body that came on cars equipped with aluminum heads is setup differently then the FIero's TB. The linkage on the Fieros is on the opposite side then the aluminum heads design. Which means that the throttle cables and kickdown and cruise cables will have to be routed differently and might possible bind because of this.

These are just some observations I have made as I have seen quite a few aluminum heads 3.1 and 2.8's as I work around them on a daily basis. However I have not actually bolted anything up to 100% verify. But I trust my eyeballs

Get more info and try it Mrfixit and see what happens. This could be a great benefit to us Fiero folks if we could get it to work.

I know a company called Venom makes an aftermarket intake manifold for the 3.1 and 2.8 that used aluminum heads. Now if we had enough people that were willing to pony up the dough we could probably get them to make us Fiero folks an intake that would allow us to use a distributor still and the stock or overbored TB and have it bolt up to the aluminum heads. This would be a sweet mod and everyone always talks about wanting aluminum heads on their Fieros. This is another way of getting it done. I would expect a top intake manifold would run around $500-$600 to have it custom made and produced. If Mrfixit finds out that it won't work then we could call up this company and have them make us some. Start saving your pennies.

any info/opinion from you 1fst2m6 would help out too.

Shaun- wanting aluminum heads to coincide with his aluminum block

It has been a while since I posted this, so here it is again: SOME 86 Chevy Cavalier Z-24's had the aluminum head 2.8 and a distributer. This particular intake should allow for the use of the Fiero electronics in the AL head motor. Now, about the throttle body being in a different location, doesnt it come toward the drivers side of the engine? If it were in the rear of the car, it would still point toward the drivers side of the car.

I've looked at a lot of J car 2.8L engines and I've *never* seen any with HEI and AL heads. All were DIS.

Strange.