I recently installed my newly acquired 88 2.5 into my 85 Fiero. I have a few bugs that I cant seem to work out just yet though.

1. I cant for the life of me get the engine to sit in the correct place in the cradle/car. I am using an 88 front engine mount with an 8? cradle, not an 88 and just drilled new holes in the cradle to adapt the mount. After I installed the assembly into the car, I noticed the engine was sitting crooked so I did some poking around and found the front trans mount (isuzu) was put into the wrong slotted holes in the cradle. I moved them over, but now the whole engine wont sit right in the car. Am I missing something about getting the 88 duke into an 85? I know some people have performed this exact swap, did you have to tweak any other holes in the cradle to get the engine with isuzu 5 spd to sit right in the engine bay? One reason I know it wont sit right is the dog bone. If I were to attach the dog bone to the engine, it would sit about an inch to the left of where it attaches to the car.

2. I may have a bad head gasket When I first started it up without coolant, it puffed some white smoke, just figured it was burning off some of the crap from sitting for who knows how long. Today I got coolant in it and tried running it until it got hot. I first started it without the thermostat cap so I could keep filling it up, did fine for a few minutes then started spewing coolant out the thermostat area long before it got hot. I shut it off, topped it off and put the cap on it then started it again. I noticed it was really puffing white smoke/steam from the exhaust now. I ran it until it got almost to 200F then shut it off again. Next I took the cap off to fill it and started it, forgetting the cap was off. It spewed coolant again so I shut it off and put the cap on and started it up again. This time I noticed it was not puffing nearly as much white smoke as the last time, but it was spitting a liquid out the tailpipes. Other than that the car ran fine and idled nicely with no check engine light on. Anyone have any insight to what this might be? Bad head gasket? Cracked head? worse? Normal? I hope its an easy fix, I waited long enough and spent plenty of money that I didnt have trying to get this car on the road again.

I have some other small concerns that I think I can work out, if not I will post them here at a later date. I can post pics if you cant understand my problems.

-Joe

Dude, There are so many guys on this forum that have EXACTLY the same issues as me its got to be a joke.

My motor has maybe 45 minutes total on it and a couple hundred feet. Every time I turn around I'm springing a new coolant leak that has kept me from actually driving it. That and I desperately need tires.

Every time I start up the motor I get so much steam and smoke I freak out because I just KNOW I have a bad head gasket. But as soon as the motor warms up it runs great. No check engine light or anything.

Then I remember, this motor has not had any real break in yet. Rings are still seating, there's no cat so thats not doing the job it would normally do. The python pontiac calls an exhaust system seems to be designed to condense and collect water so its a real steam maker.

I've decided that unless I get a steady stream of smoke that does not go away ever that I'm not going to worry about it any more until my 600 mile oil change. I've got fuel treatment and fresh gas in a tank that had who knows how many years of shelac built up in it. Lines and the injector are being cleaned as it runs and sits. At 600 miles I'll do a compression check and see what that tells me.

My motor also did not line up correctly. No clue why. Finally made it fit.

Be wary, but don't worry.

Wow, thanks I didnt realize so many people had this problem. Keep me posted as to how yours does in the near future and I will do the same. What worries me the most is the gurgling from the engine fill point. I am alright with the white smoke becuase like you said, the exhaust holds water like crazy. Does your car do the same thing if you leave the thermostat cap off, spew out coolant all over the place? Also, was your swap an 88 into a 84-87 car as well? If so how did you get the engine to finally line up? The cradle I am using isnt from this car either, Im thinking if I cant get it to line up soon I will just replace the cradle with the one from the car and start fresh. The reason I am using the one I am is because everything is in much better shape, ball joints, bushings, the works. I just want to get the damn thing drivable. After I get the motor situated and mounted correctly I will try really driving it and letting it warm up good. I guess thats the best way to tell if anything is wrong right now.

Thanks
-Joe

quote Originally posted by joesfiero: 1. I cant for the life of me get the engine to sit in the correct place in the cradle/car. I am using an 88 front engine mount with an 8? cradle, not an 88 and just drilled new holes in the cradle to adapt the mount. After I installed the assembly into the car, I noticed the engine was sitting crooked so I did some poking around and found the front trans mount (isuzu) was put into the wrong slotted holes in the cradle. I moved them over, but now the whole engine wont sit right in the car. Am I missing something about getting the 88 duke into an 85? -Joe

The front engine mount you use has to match the cradle!

If you use an 88 cradle, use an 88 front engine bracket and mount. If you use an 84-87 cradle, use the 84-87 bracket and mount. There are several minor but significant differences in the brackets between 87 and 88. You won't be able to tell the difference by eyeballing.

Depending on where you modified the holes, you can end up in a situation where the passenger side axle rubs a bit under the right conditions of suspension compression and engine torque.

[This message has been edited by KurtAKX (edited 12-01-2008).]

No, I put a remanned 85 motor in a late 84. I can't tell any difference between the motor that came out and the motor that went in. The motor is on the cradle just fine, its the dog bone thats off by about 3/4" . I never had the the tranny off the cradle so it should have bolted right back up. Who knows.

You're disagreeing with me but then saying you kept an 84-87 style motor mount bracket on an 84-87 style cradle and it worked just fine. Are you disagreeing or agreeing?

You talkin to me or Ramblin Man? I think he is talking about an 85 engine in an 84 which is the same mount wise. Thanks for the advise. I guess I can go search the mall for the bracket, already got a mount.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

-Joe

My reply was to Joesfiero. I wasn't disagreeing with anybody. You got your reply in before I had a chance to to hit submit.

anyone else? I could really use some more input here.
Thanks for the replies so far and + to those who helped.

-Joe