I was talking to a buddy who is pretty into 3D printing (and has printed various things for automotive applications) and he claimed that there was a readily available "automotive ABS" that could be used to print an intake and would easily stand up to the heat, vibration, fuel, etc. as it is the same material a lot of OEMs use for their intakes. He did mention it took a printer capable of higher temps but I found it intriguing...
I have the ported exhaust, "Dawg Style" UIM, relieved y-pipe, hi-flow cat, Hypertech chip and a 57MM throttlebody. Basically all the breathing mods. Each one added a little to the performance but then I did the 1.6 rockers and WOW! what a difference.
I consider the rocker mod to be the one that brought all the pieces together, giving me a very nicely balanced car which also looks completely stock.
As for the RMP power limit, I can say unequivocally that the rockers made a huge difference. Where the stock car ran out of breath at about 4500RPM's, the modded car easily pulls all the way to 5500RPM's and there still some left but that's as far as I want to push a 30 year old engine even if it only has 60K miles on it. In fact, being an automatic I have to manually shift because the factory shift point is way too low for the modded engine.
As far as I am aware my engine is stock but it pulls super hard to 5500
K time for an update. I did lou_Dias mod (correction thanks fieroguru) on the middle intake as well as swapped my rockers to 1.6 rollers. That with my modded ppg style plenum and all the other work on my 3.4 ( ported heads sprint headers custom y pipe 260h cam bored TB tuned chip from sinister Etc etc) feels real good now. Fiero Gigi was right the modded middle intake let’s it breath all the way past 5500 rpm pulls through the whole power band now. A little torque lost on the bottom end for more top end speed feels great. Now I need to get it dyno’d. Mental number count from 0-60mph has me at low 5 seconds. Only need first and second gear to get there too
[This message has been edited by jjd2296 (edited 08-26-2020).]
K time for an update. I did fieroguru mod on the middle intake as well as swapped my rockers to 1.6 rollers. That with my modded ppg style plenum and all the other work on my 3.4 ( ported heads sprint headers custom y pipe 260h cam bored TB tuned chip from sinister Etc etc) feels real good now. Fiero Gigi was right the modded middle intake let’s it breath all the way past 5500 rpm pulls through the whole power band now. A little torque lost on the bottom end for more top end speed feels great. Now I need to get it dyno’d. Mental number count from 0-60mph has me at low 5 seconds. Only need first and second gear to get there too
The idea and video on the modification to the middle intake was from lou_dias. I just liked the video to share the info.
I haven't done anything with a 60 degree V6 in about 15 years.
I just read through this whole 4 pages today, because the car I just got has the stock 2.8, and I have been trying to figure a way to push the envelope without making the car look modified. I REALLY want to just put an LS4/F40 in the car (I am in CA, the land of the NOT Free) I thought a 3.4 would be the ticket, make it look stock, but to make real power, cheaply it seems newer 3400 heads and intake are the way to go. Could someone make that look Fiero Stock? (I am adding 2 links, the story about power from a 3.4, and the ebay add with the same kind of heads/intake Rails/injectors that made power bolted to a camaro 3.4. The camaro story is a little bit of reading, but the guy sounds pretty happy with the results, if you don't have the smog police that I do, this could be the way to go. For some reason, I don't think it would be completely easy to put 96 EFI parts, OBD2(rails/injectors) on the old 85 Fiero 2.8 wiring, I don't know enough yet about them. Frank
HAVING TROUBLE GETTING LINKS TO WORK.........Ahh, OK
Franked, That's obsolete info, times have changed.
Ok, my 85 car still has a 2.8 in it, a 3.4 will bolt right in and use the original stuff (smog guys would never know) I was thinking that the more modern aluminum heads and intake would look stock if someone milled off the 3.4, or somehow made it say fiero, maybe sacrifice the upper part that says "Fiero" and patch/weld that into the newer intake? Making more than 200 up with a little V6 that bolts right in sounds pretty cool to me, if it can be made to look stock to fool the smog guys. This post was about the breathing on a V6, what better way than a top end swap?
Keep in mind these cars were built before most of the young smog tech guys/girls were born.
If this is all obsolete info, what is the new s**t? Remeber, boost or supercharger, or something obvious= NO SMOG FOR ME.
Trying to make WAY more power, without setting off the alarms, how do I do that? I am considering a" plug in" entire cradle to run a V8 and switch back to stock at smog time.
If you really want 'way more' power, you are looking at engine swaps or turbos. The cast iron heads have inbuilt limitations. A halfway point is going to the better breathing alloy heads but it isn't going to look the same.
How it performs is a matter of power to weight. I have 200 bhp hauling about 2100 lbs. in my rebodied MG and it runs about dead equal with an MGB with a tuned Rover V8 in it. Plenty for fun touring use. Yes, I did really think about sticking my turbo 3.2 (which was closing on 300 bhp) in it but that would have been overkill and the inherently inferior weight balance of a front engined car would limit adhesion on starts anyway.
The Original V6 is a flawed engine that many of us are fond of, but not that suitable for high output levels. Lots of modern engines are much better. If you want to stay GM powered, look at the Ecotecs. Here is a Cobalt SS with 600 bhp out of a 2.0.
I run a 2.0 ecotec with 375 bhp that returns 30 mpg in my street car.
