I've been in and out of hospitals and having worsening health since late 2017. Once I was a bit stronger, I got caught up with customer work (not just Fieros), then I took the plunge into my own personal 3800 Supercharged Conversion to my 1988 Base Coupe.
My history and info as well as some of the work I've done are publicly available on my Fiero Addicts and ItsASteveThing Facebook pages.
Not going to use up Pennocks bandwith to show off all the projects, images, and videos.
Here's a short acceleration video with old all season tires. I'll be getting some track tires in 2026 for safety's sake.
[YouTube Video
https://youtu.be/H-6e7D0nAlQ?si=MSwi1EYpTThVdwXn Instagram Video
https://www.instagram.com/r...MTBqYWU4bmF0NWpvbw== Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/17qDH8XZhb/What I did 2024-2025
Images and videos of most of it are available on Fiero Addicts and ItsASteveThing to see how things went in.
Bought a running and driving 2000 Pontiac Bonneville SSEI with lower miles on it as a donor for $1200. If not for the rear floor being rusted out, it was a decent car. Parted out what I could and scrapped the body to get back several hundred dollars.
3800 Supercharged V6 Engine
Danny McIlmoyle Harness with both 4T65E-HD and Manual wiring (so I can easily change over)
Modified Fiero Rog dog bone and low mount alternator brackets
Stock 1988 Fiero 4 cylinder lower Engine Mount
ZZP VS-RPM Camshaft
90 pound LSX valve springs
Rollmaster Double Roller timing chain
Smaller idler pulley
ZZPerformance modular supercharger pulley hub with 3.0, 3.2, 3.3, 3.8 pullies (3.8L is the Valet pulley if I ever have to leave my Fiero with someone else)
ZZP PCM (Computer/ECU)
DEKA 60LB injectors
ZZP Front Stainless Powerlog
ZZP Rear Stainless Turbo Powerlog
Custom Stainless Equalized Exhaust Crossover into 3" downpipe
3" Varex VMK16-300 muffler
Stainless 3" to dual 2.5."
3800 Camaro/Firebird oil pan and pick up tube for exhaust clearance under engine for Fiero routing
Modified timing cover and lower intake manifold heater outlets with barbed fittings
Dorman lower intake manifold
ZZP aluminum fuel rails and regulator housing (required modifications to fit how I wanted)
ZZP Stage 2.5 Full Stack intercooler (2.25") with 3/4" silicone hoses to 3/4" Aluminium pipes that run along each side of the fuel tank, to 3/4" silicone hoses, to Frozen Boost 27x7x3.5 heat exchanger with Pierburg CWA100-2 pump (want a CWA50 to decrease cavitation)
Parallel Flow A/C condenser upgrade, custom lines, mounts (needed to upgrade for better Intercooler heat exchanger clearance)
Rodney Dickman Fuel Sending Unit with 255lph Quantum E85 Safe Fuel Pump
EGR and EVAP DELETED
Aluminum Vacuum tree
New 3800 A/C Compressor
My own A/C Compressor to body lines with a custom port adaptor from an LSv8 that was milled to my specs
Moroso Sparkplug Wireset (cut to length)
Ignition module and coil packs mounted on the passenger upper rear frame rail (battery moved to spare tire area)
Rodney Dickman V6 OE-Style Rubber Engine Torque Strut (helped a little with vibration over the Urethane I had but not much)
All gaskets and seals replace except headgaskets.
4T65E-HD
My own one-off Transmission brackets with stock fiero mounts to lower the driveline for more decklid clearance.
Modified Fiero Rog lower engine mount (cut and rewelded, with clearancing done for oil pan)
Driver TH125C Axle (direct fit for 4T65E-HD units)
Passenger Inner 4T65E-HD joint and cup with driver manual axle
TransGo Shift Kit
NOS made in USA Transmission filter
Several stronger fluid pan magnets
Hayden 699 transmission cooler mounted under the driver decklid vent with a fan (found out it runs plenty cool and doesn't actually need a fan surprisingly, but I still have it just in case)
Raybestos inline magnetic trans filter
Cooler line in/out are quick connect to 6an line
W-body shift position switch (due to H-Body being the donor)
things left to do - rebuild passenger door hinges, replace driver's lower seat cushion upholstery (have the replacement, mount passenger IMSA scoop/vent, fix trunk damage from one of the previous owners, all front control arm bushings (not needed, just have new Rodney Dickman ones, front shocks (not needed, but have new ones), lower the rear end (have the springs), other random stuff I haven't decided on yet ;-)
I'll try to be in the gorum more, now that I've dialed back my workload.
Steve Walchli
P.s. I don't have a fully tally for parts cost and hours invested. I'm not available to take on any Fiero conversions for the foreseeable future due to my work schedule. Sorry.
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F.I.E.R.O. - Fantastic Imaginatively Engineered Racing Object
I'm here to Help, just ask
Technician/Mechanic (Restorations, Modifications, and Service to all makes and models)
1985 Volkswagen Vanagon Subaru 3.0L H6 & Reversed Subaru 5MT LSD
1988 Fiero 3800SC 4T65E-HD (modified)
Fiero Addicts - Facebook
ItsASteveThing - Youtube, Facebook, Instagram
[This message has been edited by gtxbullet (edited 12-06-2025).]
