Welcome to the Fiero world. There are a bunch of great people here to help with anything you need. When you say performance what exactly do you mean ? Do you want to go faster 0 - 60 MPH, faster top end, faster in the turns, stop better ? There are so many things you can do that depend on your mechanical know how, available tools, and probably the most important which is your budget. I would say to you is to make a plan and stick to it one thing at a time and take your time and do it right the first time. Be patient and you will be happy with your results. Use the search feature and read, read, read. You may want to purchase a service manual to help out. I wouldn't bother with the Haynes manual. The Chiltons is a little better but a GM service manual will save you lots of headaches and can be found used on EBay.
First thing you should do it make sure everything is in proper working order, especially the brakes. Change brake fluid and pads. Change transmission fluid. Change engine oil. Inspect all rubber and plastic lines for signs of cracks, rot, or other damage (replace as necessary). Inspect tie rods, bearings, bushings, and ball joints. Clean and fill all grease fittings.
Once all of that is done, you can start thinking about upgrading your car. Upgrading a car that is in poor mechanical condition is a recipe for spending a lot of money only to be frustrated at the results (or lack thereof).
Also, a bit of expectation management is in order here. Even a properly running, well built 2.8 doesn't have a whole lot of potential. There's a reason engine swaps are so common with this car. Seriously consider saving your money toward putting a more capable engine in the car.
I would suggest not to think about real performance upgrades right now, unless you have quite a lot of money already, and a second car that's a reliable daily driver.
The best thing you can do, is to save your money and just keep it in good running condition. The Fiero has been out of production for almost 30 years, and there really aren't all that many left. So it will sometimes be difficult to find performance upgrades for a stock car. It will even be difficult to find maintenance parts sometimes. If you aren't doing the work yourself, and have to take it to a shop to have any work done, it's going to get costly when things need replaced.
If you just save your money and keep it running, then you can slowly improve performance by just replacing parts with better ones when they need replaced, and have money saved up for when unexpected things fail or happen. And yes, the unexpected will happen. It always does; even with new cars.
First thing you should do it make sure everything is in proper working order, especially the brakes. Change brake fluid and pads. Change transmission fluid. Change engine oil. Inspect all rubber and plastic lines for signs of cracks, rot, or other damage (replace as necessary). Inspect tie rods, bearings, bushings, and ball joints. Clean and fill all grease fittings.
Once all of that is done, you can start thinking about upgrading your car. Upgrading a car that is in poor mechanical condition is a recipe for spending a lot of money only to be frustrated at the results (or lack thereof).
Also, a bit of expectation management is in order here. Even a properly running, well built 2.8 doesn't have a whole lot of potential. There's a reason engine swaps are so common with this car. Seriously consider saving your money toward putting a more capable engine in the car.
The next question is who will be doing the work? Is this going to be father son project? What is the experience level of the people doing the work? The fact that 2.8 is not a performance engine and you can spend a lot of money and not make much power. I would save my money for a engine swap, the simplest swap being the 3.4 Push Rod (PR) out of a mid 90s Camaro. Although there are limitations with this swap it does provide about 20% more displacement for more HP and Torque.
------------------ 88 GT 5 Speed Black with gray interior 3800 SCII Swap Complete. Paint Complete Detailing in Progress
IT RUNS!! IT'S QUICK!!
"Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not."
I would suggest not to think about real performance upgrades right now, unless you have quite a lot of money already, and a second car that's a reliable daily driver.
The best thing you can do, is to save your money and just keep it in good running condition. The Fiero has been out of production for almost 30 years, and there really aren't all that many left. So it will sometimes be difficult to find performance upgrades for a stock car. It will even be difficult to find maintenance parts sometimes. If you aren't doing the work yourself, and have to take it to a shop to have any work done, it's going to get costly when things need replaced.
If you just save your money and keep it running, then you can slowly improve performance by just replacing parts with better ones when they need replaced, and have money saved up for when unexpected things fail or happen. And yes, the unexpected will happen. It always does; even with new cars.
Agreed.
Assuming your car has 100K miles or more, your suspension is most likely worn out. Unless you can verify replaced parts, you should be thinking about shocks and struts, ball joints, and bushings... It's easy to assume that how your car performs now is how it is supposed to be, and that's not true. When it was new it handled much better than yours does now.(unless all that stuff has been replaced).
[This message has been edited by Gall757 (edited 03-13-2016).]
Originally posted by ILVMYGT: The next question is who will be doing the work? Is this going to be father son project? What is the experience level of the people doing the work? The fact that 2.8 is not a performance engine and you can spend a lot of money and not make much power. I would save my money for a engine swap, the simplest swap being the 3.4 Push Rod (PR) out of a mid 90s Camaro. Although there are limitations with this swap it does provide about 20% more displacement for more HP and Torque.
I'm a bit exhausted from seeing this the Fiero 2.8 is not a performance engine constantly being espoused on this forum. The 2.8 in the Fiero was the most powerful version of the 60 degree platform at the time. The only more powerful V6 from GM was the 3.8, and most of those were in much heavier cars, and without the turbo. The Fiero 2.8 was THE performance V6 of the era. The 1/4 mile time for the Fiero is on par with the 305 V8 F-body cars. The 305 had about 50 more HP than the 2.8 did, but the Fiero GT weight was about 500-600 lbs less, so the power difference balances out.
Of course, compared to to today's cars, it's not much. But to say it's not a performance engine is just outright nonsense.
Given OP's car is an automatic, probably something that would help performance, is verifying the transmission is shifting properly and has good fluid and clutches. If you want a Fiero 2.8 that certainly feels slow, drive one with a worn out TH125. Add to that 30 year old suspension components, motor mounts, and dogbone, and it will definitely not feel like a sporty car.
At your age, the best performance upgrade would be yourself. Start by investing in some driving training. Defensive driving first, then maybe a performance driving course. Driving experience / skill is really important before you start trying to up the horsepower.
^^^^^^ Exactly what he said ! You would be surprised how you can drive a car if you have training and experience. I totally agree about getting your Fiero mechanically up to snuff first and get yourself familiar with the workings of the car. Then I would decide on which engine swap you want and start saving for it and reading about it. Have a plan and then follow it.
Can't say I'd invest a single dime in a 2.8 V6 with an automatic. Even mild upgrades on that motor will quickly outstrip the cost of something simple like a 3.4pr replacement which is about as close to free power as it gets. Same goes for the transmission - while personally I wouldn't consider anything other than a manual trans, assuming you're going to keep the autobox your performance dollar is best spent with a 4-speed auto swap.
My first dollars would be spent on making sure everything is in excellent shape, especially the cooling system My next dollars would be spent on brakes - *personally* some sort of mild swap, but worst case at least being sure all the stock components are up to snuff My next dollars would be spent on suspension - although none of the parts are inherently costly time & money add up quick My next dollars would be spent on good tires, possibly involving some sort of wheel swap just to get access to better rubber - not a lot of good big balloon 15" tires anymore
Once all of that is done, and I've had a LOT of seat time, would I consider any sort of performance upgrade. Getting those systems fully checked out and updated will make power upgrades far, far more rewarding. And safe.
At your age, the best performance upgrade would be yourself. Start by investing in some driving training. Defensive driving first, then maybe a performance driving course. Driving experience / skill is really important before you start trying to up the horsepower.
Just saying...
More sound advice. If there's an SCCA chapter near you hook up with those guys and run a few of their autocross events. This isn't so much for the racing standpoint, but more from the car control and discipline standpoint.
