hello fiero people.. well heres where i`m at my car is sitting in my garage a 1986 gt 4 spd completely stock as far as i know and i have done the little things it needs to get it saftied and on the road but i`m not putting it on the road for another few months.. and i`m looking for ideas of things to do with it.. i`m pretty much a newb when it comes to mods with the biggest i`ve done being installing a cd player in my moms escort and an exhaust system on an old truck.. my car only hass 114k (kms) and i hope to one day do a 3.8 sc swap or something similar but as of now am lacking the knowhow and experience to do such a swap.. so my question is any body have anything they have done that is relatively easy that i could do? i greatly appreicate your help !!! Ryan
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05:52 PM
PFF
System Bot
floridafiero Member
Posts: 377 From: Cocoa Beach, Florida Registered: Jun 2004
If you are looking to get a little more power out of the 2.8 some easy things to do are to put a KandN filter in, an MSD blaster coil and new plugs, wires if you have not already done that. All of this is pretty simple to do with a general knowledge of how stuff works and there is tons of info on the forum as well - the search function is great. There are a couple suspension mods that are fairly easy to do as well. Such as a rear sway bar (just drill two holes and bolt up the rest) or replacing the front shocks which is just a matter of getting bolts out and back in. Another suspension mod would be to put polly bushings in the front sway bar - again, fairly simple, but I could feel a difference(or atleast I thought I could!). Also, if you dont have a chiltons/haynes manual they can be very helpful. Hope this helps a little.
Gabe
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07:05 PM
Kitskaboodle Member
Posts: 3232 From: San Jose, Ca. Registered: Nov 2004
Move the battery to the front. Relatively easy project, cost is minimal and there are several benefits. Another mod is rebuilding the headlight motors and putting in Rodney's brass gears.
Pics dont work but I can get some for you if you desire. Basically flipping the spare tire upside down and using the spare tire hold down to hold the battery up. The battery I recommend is an optima since they can be run in any position without leaking or affecting performance. Pretty much a free mod besides running battery cable from your starter to the + battery post and creating a ground in the frame up front for the negative terminal.
------------------ -Kyle Email: arte@sek-c.com Aim: Littlechugger 1988 Notchback 4.9 v 8 1993 Ford Probe
A good tune up always is a good "mod" to start with. but do not be fooled inot thinking the spark plus are easy... 3 of them are easy, 2 are difficult, 1 will make you swear words you never knew you had in you. do a major inspection of the front 3 spark plugs and blow out the holes to make sure you dont get junk in the cylinders.
One easy one for a little bit of power is to accidently replace your cat with a piece of straight pipe. if you want to stay legal, get an aftermarket cat it will certianly flow far better than the old 80's style restrictive cat that is on there.
those things make a world of difference on a fiero. and those are simple maintaince items.... You can add a K&N filter if you like $40.00US air filters.... your engine does not suck enough air to make a difference between a K&N and a $3.00US Fram or other cheap filter.
Nothing you can do easy will make any difference you can feel if the engine is running in top shape. IF you want a real free improvement, remove the exaust manifolds and port them. Free if you have the time and grinding stones, I would weld the flanges though.. your only other option after that is the intake, you gotta get more air in there if you want to get power at high rpm's.
Everything else is not really much. hotter spark from a MSD coil or a bored TB will give you better throttle response but certianly no more HP and not make it faster.
Now, if your engine is not running 100% perfect, you can get gains by simply tuneups, and general maint items.. I have seen 6cyl cars making less than 90HP because they were so poorly maintained, a full tuneup and corrective maintaince later and they feel a 30-40HP gain.
Cheshire, where in Ontario are you again? You should come by some time soon. I am in London. I am in the finishing stages of Swapping an 86 2.8 into my 85 coupe. I've done some basic mods which include porting the exhaust manifolds (thanks PBJ) and the crossover pipe, power pulley (bolt on) Cone filter on the wheelwell, and front battery mount.... pics here...
You may want to try Seafoam if it is a higher mileage car, my friends talked me into doing it on my fiero mainly just to get amusement of all the white smoke it pours out, but I think I could tell it ran a little better, it has 169000 miles, I think I have read some people have had problems with it, but it worked good for me.
Also like posted previously some good sparkplugs, like splitfires or Bosch Platinum +4 (expensive though), they seem to really improve power and gas mileage in some cars but are not noticible in others.
Also K&n air filter and no cat like previously listed.
So anyway Im driving along and all of a sudden my catalytic converter fell off....
I would say this is the single best mod that can be done for cheap. My Duke picked up a very noticible amount of power after I did this.
i did this to my 2.8 but had a cat clamped back on for smog testing. i would put the straight pipe back on, but the cops are putting out mobile dyno traps on the roads periodically, and testing people at random lately. don't want to be caught...big fine out here in California!
