Curious on what options are really left to boost horse power on a stock 2.8.

I know the obvious answer is to do a swap. In my lack of research I purchased a Fiero last year, being told it only needed minor work, ended up being a trashed engine. So i set off rebuilding, without doing much reading. So this year I am 1700 miles into a fresh 2.8 and am regretting the lack of research.


I can not warrant a swap with this fresh of an engine, so I need ideas for trying to boost a bit more out the stock 2.8.

I have been reading on dual throttle bodies, bored out TBs, and even turbos. I know there are some serious restrictions with the 2.8 and am just looking for some suggestions.

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A few free horsepower (maybe 3 to 5) can be had by port matching the intake and exhaust.

Doable. Figured I would pick up a second intake/exhaust just so i can do work to them, and keep my car running in the mean time lol.

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Ever been in a 3800sc Fiero?

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Nope lol.

I"ve actually only been in mine. I have yet to really meet much of a fiero community.
Edit -
outside of here :P

[This message has been edited by sirtimeless (edited 10-08-2012).]

quote Originally posted by sirtimeless: Nope lol. I"ve actually only been in mine. I have yet to really meet much of a fiero community. Edit - outside of here :P

Hm... I'm in Milwaukee, hint hint.

Perhaps we could meet up if we get a nice day.

The 3800sc will be getting stowed away for the winter, so the time is getting near. Besides, it's pretty much useless when it's chilly anyway. No traction .

Yeah! I'll have to check my schedule/weather. See if I have any time between jobs in correspondence to nice weather lol.

The big thing in regards to boosting any sort of power numbers from both the OEM Fiero drivetrains is you are going to very quickly surpass the price of swapping a different drivetrain in. The things you mentioned in your original post - dual TBs, turbo setup, etc. - all of that will very quickly surpass a complete drivetrain swap.

Some of the things you can do that are cost effect and readily accessible on the cheap is:
- Port the intake and exhaust correctly (already mentioned above)
- Remove the silencer setup from the air intake and replace it with a more straight setup (won't likely do much, but is easy to do)
- Enlarge the neck of the upper plenum right after the intake. This is the most restrictive part of the intake.
- Put an idler pulley setup on your engine (Dodgerunner's or Rodney's). Helps to alleviate the stress on the other pulleys, but may not do much for power.

One thing I would personally suggest you do is you can go ahead and prep a swap while you just enjoy your 2.8L. You can find a spare Fiero engine cradle quite easily. You can maybe even find one that has all the suspension intact. What that would allow you to do is prep another drivetrain on it and prepare the swap - do the mounting, wiring, etc. You can also install new suspension and work that how you want it. Drive the 2.8L for a few years and enjoy it. Then swap you prepped engine swap into the car, pull the 2.8L out, and then sell the 2.8L as a swap to re-coop some of your swap funds.

I will have to keep that in mind. I will start with porting things out. The silencer was removed from the intake. I've dropped some weight of it.