I am about to come into a 1984 Fiero SE and was looking into doing minor upgrades to the car as I was told that if you do too much to the Duke you could ruin it. I was thinking about Exhaust & Intake upgrades. Can anyone give me some suggestions as to what to look for for this? This will be my first project car and first time really doing anything much work on a car but I have always wanted to do these things. Also is it possible to put an AC into the 84 SE if it did not come from the factory with one, in either after market or stock parts. Thank you for the information, I have alread learned alot from this place.
-J

Adding A/C to a Fiero without it is a LOT of work. It can be done, but some will tell you it's easier to swap every good part from the non A/C car to an A/C equipped parts car.

As for performance parts, I can't suggest much. The air intake and the ECM are already as good as they need to be though, so don't start there.
A modern day cat converter will improve exhaust flow, an aftermarket ignition coil may cause a tiny improvement, etc. But you'll gain more by repairing common problems. The intake manifold and throttle body get clogged with carbon, the throttle cable stretches so it can no longer open the throttle all the way, sensors lose acuracy with age, all things that rob power.

If you wanted to go all out, you could get a '93 duke out of an S10, which would give you a stronger block and a better head/intake/throttle body. That gives you something like 110-120 HP, about what the 'duke can handle without grenading.

Bad thing about taking parts from the one without AC is that the body is flawless on the car I am getting. Not even a nic in the paint job, and all mechanical things work that I know of.

Hmm so the Duke from that s10 would fit into the 84 SE. How much work on re-wire would need to be done, if you know?

It would be a lot of work, both in wiring and strange differences.
If you want a more powerful engine, you really should forget about the 'duke.

Oh, and body panels can be swapped.

[This message has been edited by Jax184 (edited 09-18-2006).]

Actually the transmission bolt pattern of the S10 Duke is different from the L4 Dukes. Maybe the same pattern of the 350? But yes, its a much better block than ours.

Definitely get rid of the cat or replace it. Also, the intake could use a shorter, smoother duct to the intake. I was contemplating a PVC ductwork to go from the air scoop to the "plenum". (Is that the proper term for it?) I still dont know if the PVC can handle the temperature under the hood though.

I see, well for my first fiero I was getting this car for around $500 and was just trying to get a bit more power out of it and tinker around on it while learning the Fiero. My goal was to play with this one and get to know them and then in a year or so get another Fiero but this time the 87 or 88 gt and go all out on it. That way I have one to drive and have fun soon, while working on my project one. Thank you for all the information.

I was just curious about the AC because it can get pretty hot here in Oklahoma in mid/end summer.

Air filters are really not an issue anymore. They do their jobs well and are not very restrictive at all. K&N are less restrictive, but allow more dirt to get in (not pretty when you have to take off the heads). The ducting to the plenum is far more restrictive than a dirty filter, anyway.

As for cats, I wouldnt know. Mines coming off and a pipe welded in its place. The 84 Fiero was the only car to pass Sweden's emmisions standards that year, so its not like your polluting the atmosphere any worse than much of the cars from the 80s even without a cat.

Nice :-)

They dont do inspection checks anymore here in OK, but not sure what the laws are on them.

I'm fairly certain the law man will have something to say about it, but there is probably not any inspecting going on so he probably wont do too much talking. (at least not in MS). Circumventing emmisions is a no-no as far as I know and you gota go through a loophole to get the muffler shop to even do the job:

Take it to a muffler shop to get it cut off, and then go to a non-muffler shop to get a straight pipe welded on. (I dont know if giving shady advice like this is kosher here, so if its frowned upon, please disregard that. )

Or you could always do it yourself...

[This message has been edited by AP2k (edited 09-18-2006).]

an 84 fiero without air is supposed to be as light as fiero's come. i'd go 2-55 for air on that.

for the engine, the only people who have gotten much out of dukes are mechanics, especially machinist, who can throw experience and spare time at it instead of a lot of money. i have a couple of dukes and to me the best thing to do with them is try to keep them tuned up and oil changed, regular maintenace stuff, till you can put in something else.

2-55 HAHAHA took me a minute on that one.. NICE!

So what would going without the ct give me? Does that translate into more power? I will have to check out that article when I have a bit more time. thank you for that article.

The stock cat is pretty restrictive. I'm going to get alot out of my engine since its 4k into a rebuilt motor and before it was puking oil like crazy, so the cat is pretty clogged. I dont know off hand of any hp figures, since Dukers really arent too concerned with dyning as they are with a motor swap.

I was told from someone that swapping a motor on an 84 SE is WAY more work than its worth. How do you and others here feel on that.

I had a muffler shop do the cat delete for me... i asked them if i could do it and they said no but if i cut the cat off myself they can "fix" the exhaust leak that was unlawfull under my car... lol i love smartasses... especially SMART smartasses

It all depends what engine swap you want to do. Swapping in a Fiero's V6 will require a lot of extra work on an '84. But swapping in an engine that requires a complete custom wire harness and such on Any Fiero will be no extra effort.
That is to say, it'll be a pain in the ass on all Fieros.

I see I see... Lots to think about from here. If I do get that 84 I know redoing the interior will be my first project after replacing all the liquids and changing brakes etc. Then maybe I would look into minor things like getting rid of cat, getting a performance muffler, maybe some intake work.

Regarding interior. Currently it is tan but dingy, I am thinking about black. How hard is it to paint that hard plastic? Or should I shoot for buying some black pieces. I have found some carpet kits for around $145 that I am going to get. Also think I am going to get the aftermarket speaker box arm rest.

I think I read from someone here that a N* swap is easier on the 84's. Can anyone attest to this?

on my 87 coupe i replaced my cat and switched to a gt dual exhaust. neither was done for duke performance. i mean beyond stock performance. i switched to a gt rear facia and i wanted the exhaust outlets to match up. the cat was clogged so i got a newer freer flowing one at the same time.

i've had a couple of cai's on it (really experimenting with intake ideas for the next engine), and have had some cam and head work done. again just replacing a worn cam and valve seals with a head freshioning.

heck, got a new clutch too. there was never any performance gain beyond the obvious when worn pieces were replaced.

1. cat delete
2. Plug the EGR line from the Throttle body.
3. Increase your timing. - Timing increase is single best thing that will make the car feel more peppy. You'll have to run high octane gas if you do this, as it may spark knock.

Nothing else is going to really make any noticable difference. To get any real bang.... you need to spend big money, engine swap probably the way to go.

Sounds good.. I am still waiting on the guy to see if he can get it running or not to buy it. I thought about offering him $400 as is. I also have been prompted about an 85 with a 4cyl Jasper 301610 in it instead of Duke. Has 44000 miles on it. I msg'd Jasper about the motor and they said it has around 125HP.

Don't bother plugging the EGR on the 'duke unless you want the engine to knock on acceleration, even on really expensive gas.
Especially if you're advancing the timing more!

I just got my cat cut out today. I'm kinda off on it sounding like the generic fart can off a gutless ricer, but the car hauls alot of donkey now.

Plus I took a length of 3" heater ducting and made a makeshift air intake duct. As of right now that pipe is too big, so I'll go to Lowes or somewhere instead to get a smaller pipe. I'm pretty sure it helps alot more than that long, thin snake I used to have.

Above 4kRPM, there is no cutout of power. Its great!

If you have a choice of cars to buy, buy the latest year you can.

When I get another fiero, the first thing I do is make sure the car won't let me stranded. So I change ALL the fluids, check the tires, belts and hoses, and do a complete tune-up, ESPECIALLY coil, distributor cap & rotor and pick-up coil ! Check to see if it has the original radiator - if so, plan to replace it because the plastic side tanks get brittle and crack sooner or later .... same for the heater core. Make the car reliable first, then do your upgrades ... it gets easy to hate a car that breaks down all the time .....

Yeah I am limited on the money I can spare at the moment. I may just end up saving some $$ and buying later. Even though I am dying to get into one.