ARP head studs.
Here is a picture of the damper mark that supposed to indicate TDC and line up with the timing cover mark. It's way off. I had to locate TDC and cut a new mark. This is a New GM Damper too! Can you imagine what it would have been like to time this engine if I had not checked this?

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I'm sure happy for you that you caught that! Got my 3 white Fiero's out, driving them all this summer. Got to keep them limbered up.

Let me know when your project is completed, I'll take a quick dash down I-91 and check it out...good luck with the rebuild!

This is the intake runner. Can you see the bowl work that has been done? Notice the smooth valve guide area.
These roller rockers are the real ones baby.
The lifter valley.

Man! You're not playin' around!
Looks great!

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Raydar - aka Steve

Black 88 Formula.
Red 88 Duke coupe. "The Project"
88 Formula parts car. "The Donor"

Ahhhhhh, I cannot wait for my own rebuild.....there aren't many things better looking than a freshly builf performance engine. Brings a tear to my eye, lol ;P

They look like Crane gold series full rollers to me. I hope you test fitted them with the valve covers in place.......I always thought that they were too tall to fit under the Fieros short valve covers. This is why I used the Crane Magnum series roller tipped rockers (but if these gold ones work I'll use them ).

Let us know......they do look great!

There’re Crane Gold Race roller rocker arms. I’m not the first fiero owner to use them in their 60-degree v6 engine. They do clear the valve covers although they barely fit. It’s close so if you do get them you still have to check the clearance.

Love your pictures, great project.

You don't always get what you think you are going to get. I ordered the GM part number 10044435 oil pump regulator spring from the GM performance website. It's supposed to increase the oil pressure to 70 psi and have a blue stripe on it. The spring I got does not have any blue on it and it's shorter than the spring that came with the high volume pump. I'll have to call GM Monday and find out what’s going on. Looks like the wrong spring.

When it comes to performance parts it seems you must double check everything.

88F, Looks like I'm going to have to stop by as my engine work starts! I'm envious....

I bought several of the "blue stripe" springs without the stripe. Right spring, no stripe.

Main studs.

Bottom end put together. Yaaa baby finally.

View from top.

The Crane roller rockers you are using... are they narrow body ones, ordered for a centerbolt valve cover SBC v8?
Or did you order them specificly for the Fiero?

Oh, BTW is that a 3.4 F-body or 3.4 Mini van block you are building. I see the hole drilled into the angle (typical for f-body block )there for the outer bolt hole but I only see 1 bolt hole on the other side of the block for the starter.
Looks nice, what cam are you running? Crower makes some KILLER 60deg V6 cams.

Steven

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87 Fiero GT 14.9/ 93mph
94 Formula WS6 w/ NOS 12.4 /118mph
87 Conquest TSi
85.5 Starion ESi

The Crane roller rockers I have are the narrow body rocker arms used in the small block Chevy. You can either buy them for the Chevy and have a machinist install 7/16 rocker studs in your heads or you can buy the kit that comes with the special studs that you just screw in the heads like I did.

I have the 95 F-body block and I have the GM 12363220 camshaft, which is the same camshaft as the Crane PowerMax H-260-2 camshaft. It’s a mild camshaft with 204 degrees duration on the intake and 216 degrees duration on the exhaust.

Which Crower camshaft are you referring to?

looks like someone has the "How to Rebuild Your Chevy 60* V6 Engine" book

Sweeeeet lookin' engine man!

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1986 GT 5 speed
1984 SC Auto

AOL: LastMinuteBastrd AIM: SavedbyJebus

Outstanding. More pics!

Are chromoly pushrods available for this engine?

What pistons are you using?
Any numbers yet?

This is an old thread!

The pistons are Federal Mogul stock type hypereutectic pistons. I’ll look up the number later.

The motor just hit 800 miles and I have not brought it to the track yet, I haven’t had the time. It also has a fuel/ignition problem that I need to sort out and the clutch hydraulics do not work correctly. I am waiting on a computer chip too.

Yeah I know its an old thread, I did a search for 3.4 pushrod engines and your post was the best I found. Im wanting to build something like yours but with a t3/t4 hybrid turbo. I was wondering if you had it dynoed? Im hoping to make 210 on the engine, before the turbo. 320-330 hp is my goal after the turbo.
Do you know your compression ratio? thanks in advance for any extra info you can provide.

My compression ratio is 9.05. With a Garret T-3 turbo charger you’re looking at around 270-300 horsepower with a ten psi boost limit. Using Dyno2000 I think I should have around 206 horsepower @ 5500 rpm.

What I need to do is get better injectors, custom chip, a scan tool, and a better ignition system. Once I have purchased the necessary tools and I get it running right than I can bring it down to New England Dyno and have it tested. Even though it runs crappy and rich it still has way more balls than my original engine did with 50k miles. Last night I rousted an automatic 4.6-liter mustang with an exhaust with no problem. Pulled two cars on him right from the light and he power braked it. My clutch doesn’t fully disengage either because I can’t seem to get all the air out of the system. Because of the clutch problem it’s very hard to switch gears and the 1-2 shift kills my acceleration.

I plan to use a cam that is a bit bigger than yours, and supposedly suited for mild turbo use. I am going to use a mitsubishi eclipse intercooler, and about 15 lbs of boost (on the track) 10 on the street. So with 15 I should be able to hit 330 horse. I may drop a 50 shot on there too, just in case. Thanks for your help, now I need to save up some $$$.

15-PSI of boost will really push the longevity /reliability factor of your engine. The hypereutectic pistons I have won't stand up to 15-psi of boost and you'll probably want a compression ratio near 8.0-1. The great thing about a turbo charger is that you don't need a large camshaft to make power. A turbo charger can turn an engine with a small camshaft into a tire burning animal.

You'll have to use custom forged pistons with Chevy v8 connecting rods to stand up to that kind of boost. The custom pistons I wanted were over $600. What camshaft do you plan on using?

[This message has been edited by 88formula (edited 08-26-2001).]

quote Originally posted by 88formula: 15-PSI of boost will really push the longevity /reliability factor of your engine. The hypereutectic pistons I have won't stand up to 15-psi of boost and you'll probably want a compression ratio near 8.0-1. The great thing about a turbo charger is that you don't need a large camshaft to make power. A turbo charger can turn an engine with a small camshaft into a tire burning animal. You'll have to use custom forged pistons with Chevy v8 connecting rods to stand up to that kind of boost. The custom pistons I wanted were over $600. What camshaft do you plan on using? [This message has been edited by 88formula (edited 08-26-2001).]

Forged pistons? yes

SBC rods? NO

The stock rods ought to be fine at that power level and reasonable RPM.

I heard from a gazillion people that the rods are the weakest part of the 60 degree.

I heard that it was due to the fact that the 60* was externally balanced (until 88) and had some carnk oiling problems (until 88) that would make the rods go after 200K miles. They'd either shake to peices or burn from oil starvation...
They are forged units, and should be good to 7000RPM according to GM.

Wow! drool..I can't wait till I can do that with my engine!

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Mike
85'GT 4sp
AIM: KilleRedGT

There is a guy here that does thermal coating on pistons, and exhaust systems. Its like a ceramic coating, that on hyper pistons, and cast pistons, creates a barrier equal of that to forged. The thing I liked about hyper pistons vs forged, is the weight factor. The lighter pistons will help the engine rap faster. And I know forged will cost alot. Ill keep the boost at 10 or less most of the time, but when I go to the track I planned to bump it up, maybe with some 110 octane. This guy swears by his thermal coatings. ????

Pontiacs4me - But how much he will make the coating??? Add the coating + pistons price and you will have an idea for Perf vs price.

DreX

coatings for pistons are usually around $10 or less to coat a piston. This is just the top. You can have the side skirts coated as well for under $20. This is per piston. Even with hyper pistons and the coating, you still come in way less then the cost of forged pistons.

The coating is like 10 or 15 bucks a piston. I dont remember for sure. Oh yeah, I changed my mind on which cam I want, I think I will go with the same cam as you, do you have the one with 112* lobe seperation or 107*? What will the performance difference with a turbo be? I read on GM performance's website that a stock rod will hold up to 7000 rpm also, I also am experienced in grinding and polishing side beams for extra strength. I want the engine to power to 6500 rpm, but I dont want it to decide to grenade 20,000 miles down the road.

I've herd mixed results with those piston coatings. The hypereutectic pistons I have are heavier than the stock pistons; I think 526 grams vs. 535 or something like that. A set of good quality custom forged pistons would weigh much less than that. Probably more like 300-350 grams.

If you want to have your engine rev up quicker than get an aluminum flywheel. You get what you pay for. If I were planing on running 10 psi of boost or more with a supercharger there would be no question that I would get the forged pistons. The stock connecting rods are strong and would probably hold up well under those conditions but again if I spent that kind of money I wouldn't want a broken rod to ruin my new motor. GM designed the stock rods for a normal 140 horsepower engine or normal use. They were not designed to reliably withstand 300+ horsepower. There are some members here who actually have 60-degree engines that make that much power with stock bottom ends but in my opinion they are really pushing the limits of the stock rods and bottom end.

You get what you pay for! I’ve learned that the hard way.

I agree with formula on everything stated above but would like to add that it would be a good idea to use ARP rod bolts!

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Dave Gunsul
N.I.F.E. member
86 GT modified
85 SE daily driver

Pontiacs4me- Sounds like your Going to have one sweet engine. If you can 200 N/A HP out of it you should have no problem getting 300+ with a turbo running 10 psi. I would go with a t3/t4 hybrid or maybe a t3 with a super 60 wheel. Just don't use to small of turbo, It would suck if that engine ran out or air.

I'm running a T-3 .63 a/r on a modified 2.8 The turbo's a little big for engine, Boost dosen't come on until around 3k rpm but when it does, it has no problem holding it.

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-Brian, Toolmaker
Lincoln, NE
87' GT-Galaxy silver mettalic, Turbo Charged, Modified 2.8- 235 HP w/ 7 psi Boost, Eibach Sport springs, RSM side scoops, Mr Mikes leather, 17" Mille Miglia's.

First off thanks for all the info guys, 88 formula, I dont know why, but i always thought forged pistons weighed more than hyper pistons. How much were your hypers? Is there another piston that can be used, besides a 3.4 piston? Like a 305 or 283 piston, bore out the 3.4 block to specs, then mill the piston top to spec? I know some of this kind of stuff is possible. Are SBC rods the same?

Sluppy123 - Do you are using headers?? or stock manifolds? If you are using manifolds you should have them ported. Remember, the turbo is powered by the air flow of the manifolds. The more and fast the air get out from the heads to the turbo it self will end in reducing the turbo lag. Also the proper designs of the exhaust from the heads to the turbo will increase/decrease the lag and the eficience of the turbo setup. Plus you must use a super less restrictive muffler and hi flow cat.

DreX

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86 GT Turbo Intercooler Project - Total Restoration.

I used ARP rod bolts, main studs and head studs in my engine. Just look at the pictures above. I also used them for the flywheel. The early small block Chevy rods can be modified for use in the 60-degree engine. The Chevy Power book goes into detail on how to do this. The center to center length is the same but the big end has to be narrowed down to make them fit I believe.

Because forged pistons have a denser grain and are stronger they can be made with less material, which makes them lighter. I don't know of any manufacturer that makes forged pistons for the 3.1 and 3.4-liter engines, I’ve looked! Federal Mogul makes hypereutectic pistons for the 3.4-liter engine and I think I paid about $180 for them.

I never looked into using a piston designed for another engine in my engine. I wouldn’t even bother especially if they had to be fly-cut or something. If you’re trying to keep the costs down than why don't you build up a 2.8-liter engine and put a turbocharger on that engine? I bet I could take most any turbocharged 2.8 fiero off the line and maybe to 60 mph but in the quarter mile they would probably take me. The Rod to stroke ratio is also better with the 2.8-liter engine than it is with the 3.1 and 3.4-liter engines, which makes life easier for your pistons and rods.