I'd say 3800sc my buddy had an ecotech in his saturn and the thing gave him problems from day one. only kept it a year went to a colbalt samen story than went to an acura RSX and loved it.

Well here's a thought noone has brought up. You have a car with a working engine. You're okay to spend about $1500 to do an engine swap to get better gas mileage. Do you know how many miles you'd have to drive to make up the difference .... it's quite alot; more than you probably think. At $3.00/gallon with an increase of 10 miles per gallon its 80,000 miles.

quote Originally posted by FieroFiend: Ecotec doesnt need anymore a kit then the 3800, donor motor and trans then make mounts an wire it sounds pretty much the same to me? maybe Im forgetting something? 3800 is certainly more documented of the two. Personally I have no idea why anyone would use the stock Fiero trans with an Ecotec all it does is complicate things for an inferior transaxle

I have the ecotec/stock isuzi. I dont have alot of power but I also got 47mpg in 2006, the last big trip I took with it. Any other fieros doing the same?

I kept the stock transmission because my ecotec is setup to run any standard FWD transmission, including the G6 6 speed that I will be swapping in once I have enough money. The ecotec transmissions are good, but you have no choices of what to do as far as gearing. Im going for variety and will find a transmission that is happy with the ecotec.

I am now running a LE5 (2.4L ecotec) bottom end + the L61 (2.2L ecotec) top end. Along with a bunch of goodies.

If you try hard enough you can have a 300hp NON-TURBO ecotec, thats the ceiling as far as I've seen. But its do able, but add a turbo, and the sky(or wallet) is ur limit.

I can see getting overall better mileage in a Fiero with the Ecotec as they are quite a bit lighter then my loaded sunfire for sure. But i still cant imagine going with a Fiero manual over the F23 all it does is complicate the swap.

using the adapter plate and the stock fiero tranny saves buying or making the adapter kit to make the F23 shift properly .it also allows the use of the fiero speedometer .i did not do it this way because i wanted a completely new drivetrain and the F23 is proven to be much stronger than any stock fiero tranny .but it shows that you now have a lot of ways to do this swap .

quote Originally posted by FieroFiend: I can see getting overall better mileage in a Fiero with the Ecotec as they are quite a bit lighter then my loaded sunfire for sure. But i still cant imagine going with a Fiero manual over the F23 all it does is complicate the swap.

I need to point out, I did not do my swap just to keep the stock fiero tranny, I did it so I have choices on transmissions later on as more funds become available. Variety is key IMHO.

quote Originally posted by Fosgatecavy98: I have the ecotec/stock isuzi. I dont have alot of power but I also got 47mpg in 2006, the last big trip I took with it. Any other fieros doing the same?

The best i ever did was with Duke/5 speed = 37mpg (all us figures) all highway around 65mph

Mine was done over 213 miles around 70mph. I thought my gas gauge had failed on me after about 100 miles or so.

quote Originally posted by Fosgatecavy98: I kept the stock transmission because my ecotec is setup to run any standard FWD transmission, including the G6 6 speed that I will be swapping in once I have enough money.

What do you mean by this? Is there a particular year or application in which the block has the traditional FWD bolt pattern?

N/M... I found your original thead. I'd forgotten about the GMPP adapter plate for Ecotec to traditional FWD.

Do you have the part number for it?

[This message has been edited by Will (edited 04-24-2009).]

quote Originally posted by Will: N/M... I found your original thead. I'd forgotten about the GMPP adapter plate for Ecotec to traditional FWD. Do you have the part number for it?

Check out Bates Engineering (they have a site) they made the adapter, which honestly is simple to make. Problem is you need to be able to make the spacer which I did but is very time consuming.

I can see the benefits of using the stock Fiero tranny, but at the same time isn't one losing the benefits of using a stronger than '80 stock GM tranny? Doesn't the Ecotec tranny bolt right up to the Fiero hubs anyways? So all that's needed is Roger Thelin's mounts, or am I oversimplifying a complicated problem?

The reason he kept the Isuzu is that it has a taller final drive than any manual transmission availble for the Ecotec.