Hi,
Does anyone know if there is a manufactor of mini starters / high torq
starters for the 60 deg. V6 engines?
I have just rebuildt the 2.8l engine in my 88 Formula and it is
therefore a little tight when hot.
In the chase of reducing weight i installed a Odyssey PC 680 race
battery. (15 lbs instead of 34lbs for standard battery)
Normaly there are no problems starting the engine but if it stalles
like it did yeasterday at time practice i could not get it started
until it had cooled down for 5 minuts.
The weight of a ministarter is probably also lower than the 17 year
old stock Fiero starter.

Fredrik Olsson
Sweden

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*GT 87 3800 in progress.*
*Formula 88 race.*

If you have bad engine grounds or the original starter that could be your warm start problem. You also might want to replace the battery cables and run the ground cable from the battery directly to the engine block. Mine had a similar problem were it became hard to crank the engine when it warmed up. A new starter motor was the cure.

All cables are new and the ground cable goes direct to the engineblock.
I have note checked the stock starter but it worked before rebuilding of the engine.
I know that the Odyssey battery have less capassity than a new stock battery but is also mush lighter.
I know i guy that have the same Osyssey PC680 battery in his Corvette C4 and it works well.

Fredrik

Does a starter from an old small block chevy V8 fit on the 2.8l Fiero V6?

Fredrik

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*GT 87 3800 in progress.*
*Formula 88 race.*
www.vindkraft.com/fiero

Add a good heavy ground cable from one of your starter bolts to a clean chas ground. I would also recommend that you put some of that self-stick heat shielding on your starter they can get quite hot from the exhaust pipes.

Thats not what hes asking guys. He didnt ask "where do i add more grounds"

I believe the starter from any newer 60 degree GM motor will bolt up which is half the size of the Fiero clunker.

quote Originally posted by Pink_Ninja: Thats not what hes asking guys. He didnt ask "where do i add more grounds" I believe the starter from any newer 60 degree GM motor will bolt up which is half the size of the Fiero clunker.

yep,96(or so) newer 3x00's have a mini starter,and they are quite a bit lighter than the monster stock fiero one

Now I have solved the starter problem.
We modified a SB Chevy mini starter to fit the Fiero V6 engine.
The modification was done "on the fly" so I don't have any drawings or simular.
We used my old 2.8l 87 GT engine, left over from my 3800SC conversion as a test rig.

One of the two 10mm holes the mini starters aluminium mounting block hade to be moved a little to fit the V6 engine block.
We hade to make new holes for the starter in the mountingblock to reorientat the solenoide to clear the V6 engine block.
Then we made a spacer between the mounting block and the engine.

The ministarter cranks the V6 engine very well even with my small Odyssey race battery wich the old Fiero starter didn't.
As a bonus I also saved close to 4 lbs in weight with the new mini starter.
And then there is always the "bling bling factor" to have a high torque mini starter in a Fiero ;-)

Thanks all for your replies!

Fredrik

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*GT 87 3800 in progress.*
*Formula 88 race.*
www.vindkraft.com/fiero

A 3x00 starter huh? Is it drop in or do modifications need to be done? Might be cool to have on my TDC - weight reduction can be a very good thing.

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Chris

Blue 1987 GT Getrag 5 speed, 1" lowering springs, 225 50R16 rims and tires, Fiero Store 9 3/4" HD clutch - Awaiting a motor rebuild so I can complete my 3.4 TDC swap. Almost done! Build Thread: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/059801.html
Silver 1986 2m4 THM 125c automatic (Current commuter)
Black 1985 2m4 SE Isuzu 5 speed (no paperwork)

I have a 3X00 starter at home. I'll try tonight to get comparison pics and relative weights (as close as I can get with a digital bathroom scale).

A key installation difference I have noticed so far is that the 3X00 starter has slightly different sized mounting lugs for the wire connections. The large battery cable lug is slightly smaller (~8mm, vs. 3/8" for the old-style starter), and the starter solenoid lug is slightly larger (the stock wire will still fit over it).

Marty

Don't forget to smear up all those terminals with silicone grease. (Dielectric or brake grease work well. Brake grease is a little better.) Better yet take the wires off and make sure you get the grease on everything and into the terminals. Silicone won't wash out unless you hit it directly with fairly high pressure. Like a cars wash hose.

If you don't you will have problems, likely sooner rather than later, as water etc eats out your connections. It takes very little terminal damage to start affecting cranking in negative ways.

What did that cost?

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurasic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top of every forum page...)

quote Originally posted by theogre: Don't forget to smear up all those terminals with silicone grease. (Dielectric or brake grease work well. Brake grease is a little better.) Better yet take the wires off and make sure you get the grease on everything and into the terminals. Silicone won't wash out unless you hit it directly with fairly high pressure. Like a cars wash hose. If you don't you will have problems, likely sooner rather than later, as water etc eats out your connections. It takes very little terminal damage to start affecting cranking in negative ways. What did that cost?

Thanks for the tip about brake grease on the terminals.

The cost?
We used a normal no name Chevy SB mini starter from the 406 SB engine in our off road racer (not used at the moment).
The material for the spacer was a 100mmx20mmx12mm scrap aluminium pice i found in the garage.
It took aprox. 3 hours to perform incl. thinking time.
It is important to get the ministarter 100% aligned so it hook up with the fly wheel right when engaged.

Fredrik

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*GT 87 3800 in progress.*
*Formula 88 race.*
www.vindkraft.com/fiero