Hello all. I was here long ago with two cars I built. Both 87 GT's, first one was 3800SC with a 5 speed, and the second was 3800SC with 4 speed auto. Both cars were fast and fun. Right up to the moment when a trans cooler line blew off the auto car and soaked the header. Fire ensued and I lost the entire car. I swore off Fiero's. Guess what happend. I bought another one last month. I was offered a deal I couldn't pass, and I brought home a 88 GT with a LS4/auto. The gauges are from a 87 Cavalier Z24 with the stock Fiero tach. The car sports 275/35/18 in the rear and it is tucked inside the wheel well. The motor has a Thunder Racing TR220 cam with ported heads and a LS2 intake. Dynojet shows the motor at 332/306, hp/torque. The tranny has a single chain conversion and hardned input shaft and 3:29 gear ratio. I will get pictures up as soon as I take them. I emailed Cliff to see if he could find my old user name, but he was not able to find it, since I changed email accounts and for the life of me I can't remember my old address. I have been reading a ton in the last month and now I have big plans for the car. And please don't give me crap about building vs buying. I am building a 55 Nomad from the frame up, all me. Don't have time to build everything I want. I wish I did.
Thanks for the welcomes. No this car is not the above listed Fiero. A friend of mine built it for himself. He is not a member here, as far as I know. As with life, things got in his way so he offered it to me. Got to help a brother out! Fieroguru- I read your entire build thread and I enjoyed your skills and style. My car, like yours, smells rich at idle. I have HP Tuners coming so I can hopefully remedy that like you did. I hope I can bend your ear some about tuning pointers. Jb1- we should exchange Nomad info.
Jb1 - I just read your thread too. I like where you are headed. I am ready to road trip to Des Moines within the hour. I will be checking my highway mileage.
Thanks for the welcomes. No this car is not the above listed Fiero. A friend of mine built it for himself. He is not a member here, as far as I know. As with life, things got in his way so he offered it to me. Got to help a brother out! Fieroguru- I read your entire build thread and I enjoyed your skills and style. My car, like yours, smells rich at idle. I have HP Tuners coming so I can hopefully remedy that like you did. I hope I can bend your ear some about tuning pointers. Jb1- we should exchange Nomad info.
Thanks for the welcomes. No this car is not the above listed Fiero. A friend of mine built it for himself. He is not a member here, as far as I know. As with life, things got in his way so he offered it to me. Got to help a brother out! Fieroguru- I read your entire build thread and I enjoyed your skills and style. My car, like yours, smells rich at idle. I have HP Tuners coming so I can hopefully remedy that like you did. I hope I can bend your ear some about tuning pointers. Jb1- we should exchange Nomad info.
Welcome back....I hope you are enjoying the double posts!
I been working on the nomad for a friend, just got all the new chrome in for the dash so my weekend is already accounted for.... I will post up a couple pics thos weekend ..
------------------
87GTseries 1 3800sc (7.597 @88.53 1.579 60ft) (series II swap in progress) 85GT Northstar/ 4t80e 86GT 3800 n/a My Build
Originally posted by LS4-GT88: Fieroguru- I read your entire build thread and I enjoyed your skills and style. My car, like yours, smells rich at idle. I have HP Tuners coming so I can hopefully remedy that like you did. I hope I can bend your ear some about tuning pointers.
Thanks!
Delaying the end of injector timing helped the fuel smell (eyes no longer water), but mine still has a fuel smell at idle due to the lack of cat.
I would love to see some pics of the install to see how all the fitment issues were resolved and the type of exhaust setup ran.
Jb1 - I just read your thread too. I like where you are headed. I am ready to road trip to Des Moines within the hour. I will be checking my highway mileage.
thank you.. Here is a couple pics of the nomad, It belongs to a friend of mine he also has a 36 ford coupe ( steel body ) 63 Impala SS, 70 Roadrunner and 67 chevelle.... I consider myself very lucky to get to work on the caliber of cars he buys, those are just a drop n the bucket to the many different cars he has owned and I got to work on... I cant afford to own them so guess working on them is next best thing.. the top looks white in pics it is actually a light cream color
He is doing 58-60 corvette lights on the rear..
BTW I did not mean to hi jack your thread , I will delete pics if you like, would love to see both your cars..
------------------
87GTseries 1 3800sc (7.597 @88.53 1.579 60ft) (series II swap in progress) 85GT Northstar/ 4t80e 86GT 3800 n/a My Build
[This message has been edited by jb1 (edited 11-08-2013).]
Jb1 you can highjack my thread anytime with nomad stuff! Guru thanks for the input. I will post pics when I return from my weekend away. I have been getting 17-18 mpg running around town. Almost in line with others on here. I take the fiero this weekend so I can check it on the highway. I got 20. What the.... The performance was great the efficiency sucked! Lol Can't wait to get HP Tuners
I have finally learned how to post pictures. JB1, I posted the frame I built for my nomad in other cars section. I will post pics of my car this weekend. Fieroguru I will get as good as I can get motor shots for you.
The battery is in the trunk right now. Front mount is my first scheduled mod. The alternator is a low mount on the trunk side. Thanks for the compliments but I didn't build it, I just bought it.
Compared to your other builds what's your opinion on the performance differences, do you think the Ls4 offers the same level of performance as the SCV6's?
Jim, That is a hard one to say. I want this one to be better, so I am bias. A few things to consider so you can understand where I am coming from. Back then I didn't care at all about fuel economy and I consider economy as part of the overall performance. My first SC car was a five speed and I was always afraid I would frag the tranny. So I didn't push it real hard. The second SC I built was was an auto but the car didn't last long enough to find out. I can beat on this car as hard as I want, and so far has taken it without an issue. I am an old V8 guy and I like this sound way better then the SC 3800. Now that I have talked in circles, I'll take a LS4 any day. I'll build my boy a SC 3800.
Looks like it is a good starting point and has some good bones. The headers have to be custom as it looks like the exhaust is taking the stock fiero route. I would appreciate seeing more pictures of the exhaust when you get a chance.
Fieroguru, the install pails in comparison to yours. Yours is so clean! I had one more pic of the acc drive area, but don't know what happened to it. If something goes wrong in the motor area that I have to tear into it, I want to use yours as a model for mine. But it's not broke so I'm not messing with it. Lol
I am an old V8 guy and I like this sound way better then the SC 3800. Now that I have talked in circles, I'll take a LS4 any day. I'll build my boy a SC 3800.
Scott
Me too! All though, the 60 deg. V6's sound good to me also.
Its ironic that back in the day an all aluminium V8 was the stuff of dreams or big $$, now you can get a salvaged one for $1800.00. I would be curious to see some pictures of shift linkage set up, looks like a custom set up. Most of your passengers side deck hinge was retained during the swap too; which can be a challenge. I cant figure out where you coolant fill is located either?
Jim, I'll get more pics of those area's. I fill from the radiator. I drive up on ramps to raise the fill point. Kind of a pain but it is only once in a while. I may one day figure a way to add a fill area in the motor area.
Tom, The wheels are 18's. I don't know the width. The rears are 275's.