Has anybody installed a turbo on their stock motor? I don't want to hear that engine swap instead bs so save it. Im just curious because I have a friend that rebuilds turbos and I can score one for super cheap.
It's not the turbo that costs "all the money" - it's the rest of it that can add up pretty fast. Rebuilding and welding your exhaust is not the worst of it. It's getting the ECM tuned properly for the combination where all the headaches come in. It IS do-able though.
If you want to bump up the power of your stock 2.8 V6, wouldn't it be cheaper and WAAAAAAYYYYY easier to add NOS?
Jonathan
Probably, but NOS is illegal in quite a lot of areas, on registered street vehicles. And it's only cheaper and way easier, until you burn a hole in a piston. A worn out 25+ year old stock 2.8 is probably not the best thing to be installing power adders onto, regardless of which one you go with.
The cost of adding a turbocharger, twin turbo, engine swap, nos... etc etc will really depend on your mechanical / welding abilities. It can range from 600$ (3.4pr) to several thousand if you want a lot more power. I'll step aside and let the L67 guys have the floor, because that really is the best bang for the buck swap.
Has anybody installed a turbo on their stock motor? I don't want to hear that engine swap instead bs so save it. Im just curious because I have a friend that rebuilds turbos and I can score one for super cheap.
Although you don't want to hear it, here it goes... we are talking about 30 year old POS engines. They don't take well to forced induction in the first place. In the second place after all is said and done you have dropped a ton of cash on maybe 200 unreliable hp. I ask why bother? I guess if you have your heart set on a 2.8 turbo, but if the stock look is important I'd start with a 3.4 block. It has waay better oiling and beefier parts in general.
But hey welcome to the forum even if you don't want to hear our advise.
[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 01-12-2014).]
I agree. I was just considering it since I could easily score a turbo. If a swap is affordable I might go ahead with that. But what is the easiest swap and most affordable? Do I have to buy new everything with a swap or just a block?
Don't just take our word, search the forum, there is countless examples of how you'll get better results for your money/effort with an engine swap, It's like not we are telling you this to piss you off, it's reality. If you wanna turbo your 2.8, sure, go ahead, no skin off our nose.
Like others have said, I got a good turbo for super cheap myself. Now you would spend alot of time and/or money making said turbo work not only with the exhaust manifolds and intake routing, but making sure the engine can take it as well, otherwise you'll be swapping out 2.8's like socks.
Edit: Nothing will be cheap, and if you don't want to do it twice, i would suggest everything be new or rebuilt, or at the very least, in very good condition. As I have learned way too much, any money you spend on a Fiero project is basically gone, no re-sale value at all.
[This message has been edited by mattwa (edited 01-12-2014).]
If your 2.8 is running good then the cheapest swap is to not swap it at all and live with whatever it's got.
Other than that I'm I fan of the 3.4 pushrod only because you can still buy them brand new in the crate from GM and is the closest thing there is to a bolt-in swap in a Fiero. You have to move the starter to the other side but that's about it. HP increase is modest, but they are stronger in every way compared to a 2.8 and then power adders become a realistic option.
Every stock Fiero engine is a boat anchor by today's standards. Do yourself a favor and just instal a 3800 NA. Easy 200+ hp and 30mpg. Many of us have went the turbo 2.5 & 2.8 route only to swap in a "real" engine afterwards. Sorry if this sounds harsh.
Is that still true? I thought they stopped selling them a few years ago, but you can maybe still get re-man engines from Jasper.
Yeah, last time I looked they were still available, but it looks like GM pulled the plug finally in 2012. I'm sure there's still some in the supply chain. I probably should get one and put it on the shelf if I intend to go that route.
Absolutely the L44 2.8l engine is a boat anchor. But if you are a purist and want to keep the Fiero as stock as possible, the 3.4 push rod will freshen it up without sacrificing the stock look. Any grocery getter from Asia is going to outperform the Fiero in stock form so if speed/ power is what you are after you need to perform an engine swap for sure.
