Making a little more progress. Installed the Oil pressure switch, trans reverse switch, thermostat and the timing chain tensioner on the ecotec and F35. I originally bought the tensioner from autozone. It was not the updated version so I took it back. Autozone doesn't carry the updated version yet. I had to get one from rockauto online. BTW http://www.rockauto.com/ has the best prices on parts that I can find, even with the shipping. They were all GM Delco parts except the thermostat.
I took the valve cover off to check out the cams, valve train and chain. Everything looks good and clean. I am going to powdercoat the valve cover and supercharger while I have them off. I love the look of the flat or wrinkle ferrari red intakes. Anyone know where I can get some flat red powder? Would like to go with something like this.
Not a lot of progress to share. Had some rain a slush here the past week, enough to reveal some leaks in my foundation. Luckily the damage was very minimal. Most of the water came in the garage. After digging a few holes and adding a few sump pumps the garage is now mostly dry. I did get some time to do some painting on the valve cover and supercharger. I bought some VHT Wrinkle red spray paint to do the job. Turned out better than I had expected. Im still doing some touch ups on the supercharger. But here it is anyway.
I want to do some decals on the bare aluminum coil cover on the valve cover. Something like "Fiero GT" Or "SUPERCHARGED" over :Fiero GT" Or even "Fiero 2 M WTF" We will see! more soon!
I have a little progress to post. I ordered the ZZP stage 2 performance kit. Which includes a smaller supercharger pulley, 50lb injectors, a larger tensioner pulley to take up the slack that the smaller supercharger pulley leaves, 1 step colder NGK spark plugs, a dual pass end plate for the intercooler and a retuned ECM. Heres the smaller pulley installed.
Here it sits. To bad this is the fire wall side. Still looks sweet!
I hope I can get more done soon. I have a long list of honey dos and I got a new toy that will need some tlc too.
It is a Triumph Sprint. A year 2000 Sprint ST 955i to be specific. I love the sound of the triple!! Has an aftermarket exhaust that makes is sound amazing!
The wrinkle did come out looking good! Im very pleased with it! It isnt as robust as powdercoat but it was much less expensive.
Sorry I havent posted in a while. Spring has got me doing much needed yard work and im in the process of starting a new career. I did find time to do some ebay shopping. I hope ccfiero350 doesnt mind that I copied his exhaust route but I fell in love with the look of the tsudo headers. Plus thats the first thing youll see when you open the decklid.
Cavalier 2.2 tsudo headers.
Before
After. Its just mocked up there for now. Ill need to do some tweeks for it to work the way I want it to.
Im pretty much done playing with the engine. Im going to FINALLY tear out the old motor and trans and get working on mocking up the new to the cradle, when I can. Alas, wife says we need sprinklers and grass first.... Ill just do what I can after dark when shes not looking. The new job will give me more time on the weekends to play too! More as soon as I can!
that exhaust and cam cover combo looks friggin SWEET, man!! cant wait to see this bad boy in action!
ive been kicking around the idea of an LSJ swap in my 87 GT, but i have to bring in some money first. the only thing i cant settle on is exhaust- i hate the sound of most "performance" exhaust for 4cylinders. i had the stock catback from a GS-T on my old eclipse; that had a nice low tone and wasnt all farty sounding. id also like to fill both cutouts in the GT's rear bumper. i thought about a stock setup off of a 3rd gen camaro from the axle back.
Thanks for the comments! Im living my dream right now getting all this put together. Its turning out better than I had imagined. I dont like the "fart can" sound of most 4 cyl exhausts either. Or the weed wacker sound a lot of them have. I have some ideas on how to make this one pretty mild, sound more low and soft. I do like loud under heavy throttle but muted and low at idle and light throttle. I still have a while to sort that out tho. Cant wait for the day I can fire her up!
Cool swap you got going here. I'm doin an LSJ swap of my own (eventually), but I don't have a whole car to pull from. Wish I did, cause I would go the same route you are with keeping as much of the electronics as possible. Wanted the gauge, boost gauge and all of that. Now I'll probably just end up with a standalone setup, unless I get lucky and find a Cobalt SS at the yard.
That red reminds me too much of a Honda Type R engine. Looks pretty good though. Can't wait to see this thing running.
I do plan on doing some dyno tuning, ill get a vid of that for sure. I had an intake and gm stage 2 kit on my cobalt before I sold it to start this project, the blower wine was tremendously loud! WOT is going to be an earful with this car. Thanks again for the comments. Ill try to get some more done soon. I still have a whole donor car to tear the wiring and electronics out of... which will make it necessary to take most of the fiero interior apart also. Wish I knew of a way to custom program the BCM so I wont have to deal with air bag and ABS warning lights/messages. Ive been searching but havent found a fix for that but to just deal with it. Thats one of the reasons going with a stand alone engine controller would be nice.
There are some people out there that have successfully hacked the ecu into a stand alone unit. They come up on ebay every once and awhile. I looked for my link to them but alas, that was one hard drive and os upgrade ago.
------------------ yellow 88 GT, not stock white 88 notchie, 4 banger
Im not sure if I want to make the ecu stand alone tho. I would like the modern electronics from the cobalt in the fiero but again I cant have them all. Like ABS and airbags. We will see where I go with it.
If you have not done it already, get the full gm service manual of your donor vehicle. In it are full schematics plus diagnostic routines that are easy to look up and use. Well worth the price.
------------------ yellow 88 GT, not stock white 88 notchie, 4 banger
My dd is my future donor car unless I pick up another one.
------------------ 2005 Saturn ION Redline ~ still stage 1 & my dd 84 Indy Fiero ~ in desperate need of TLC 87 SE ~ needs TLC also 77 F150 Supercab ~ under construction 08 F150 Supercrew ~ the family hauler
No, no new updates... My new job has me working out of town a lot and 50+ hours a week sometimes. Any spare time has been given to yard improvements and weekend getaways. When it gets cold I will be in the garage a LOT more. Or if I could get enough "donations" I would gladly quit my job and work on the swap full time and give updates daily! Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Ill get something going on it soon to make a post. Keep me motivated guys! I could potentially beat coppertop and ccfiero350 to getting an LSJ Fiero running and on the road. :P Granted im not doing any where near the modifications to mine as they are.
I just started reading your thread and was going to suggest that exact header I've uses it before onca eco cav. Then I got to the 2nd page and saw it.... looks good. Keep up the good work.
Are you a member of the Fiero club here in Utah? Its a Yahoo! Group called Utah Fiero Owners club. Heres a link if youre not. autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/UtahFieros/ Ill have it at meets and will be driving it as often as possible when its done. Youll get to see it! I dont have any progress to post unfortunately. Still trying to get my yard in order before the snow flies. I think I have the motor that is in the car sold tho. That should get a good kick start to getting the new motor and trans mocked up on the cradle and hopefully itll snowball from there!
Alright! Got a 3 day weekend and its snowing! Time to work in the garage. Whos ready to see some actual progress? I can say I am! Yard work just doesnt have the appeal that custom motor swap work does!
Now that ive got you excited....
Ya, its nothing terribly exciting... Just getting ready to drop out the old.
And whats working on a car without some help and company?
Thats Kiba my Wifes Japanese Akita. She was making sure I got all the cats out! :P
Got the old motor out and Ive started working on cleaning up the engine bay. I took out all the fiero evap system except for the vent tube to the tank. Took the dog bone mount and battery tray out. That was a pain! Drilled out all the spot welds as much as I could. My spot weld drill was 1/4" hole saw (harbor freight) so It left a bunch of nubs that I need to grind off now. Before After: notice nubs...
I mated the ecotec motor and tranny so I can start working on engine mount ideas. Spent some time looking over other ecotec swaps to get ideas on mounts... I think it made things worse! XP Haha!
Im messing around with engine mount ideas. Trying to go the easiest route possible. Unfortunately the more I look at it the more I see that to do it right I will need to do some engine cradle surgery... The tie rods are in the way of doing any substantial surgery.... maybe I should do an 88 cradle swap... :/ I just dont like the way it looks on the strut towers...all off centered and such. Or there is this at the fiero store Any one have experience with these? What happened to Rodney Dickmans site? here
Your right, you are going to have to modify the subframe to mount your new combo. It's not that bad really.
Do yourself a favor and make a fixture to locate the mount points of the original subframe and spindles before you start cutting and welding.
I hope its not! Im losing hair over fear of ruining the whole thing! :P
Is tacking on a temporary brace while cutting and welding not a good way of keeping it square? The only other way I can think of, that I could do, is to do all the cutting and welding with it bolted up to the car. Im open to suggestions.
I spent some time yesterday grinding down the spot weld nubs that were left over from removing the battery tray and dogbone mount. Going to fill in a couple of spots and paint a little. A couple days ago I ordered a service manual on DVD for the cobalt, well its for all GM cars from 98 to 09. $27 on ebay. I just got it today. Ill let you all know if it was worth the $. Im leaning more and more to swapping in all the cobalts electronics. Except a few things like the air bags and ABS. Tho it would be fun to figure out how to adapt the ABS system. Maybe in the future. Ill get it running first!
I hope its not! Im losing hair over fear of ruining the whole thing! :P
Is tacking on a temporary brace while cutting and welding not a good way of keeping it square? The only other way I can think of, that I could do, is to do all the cutting and welding with it bolted up to the car. Im open to suggestions.
Used a piece of 2x4 steel on mine before removing the front and rear crossmembers, it worked great to keep it rigid. Cradle bolted back in no problem with the cross members cut out.
Yeah both my dad and I are in the group. wed love to drop by and maybe help out if needed too, or atleast just talk Fiero. Id love to pick your brain on the distributorless set up from your old engine too.
I think once you get your sub-frame and engine in the mock up stages, aligning up the axles to the hubs and drive train is going to show some tightness on the passengers side like it did on mine.
Luckily the damage was very minimal. Most of the water came in the garage. After digging a few holes and adding a few sump pumps the garage is now mostly dry. 
We will see! 
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? 
