Well We managed to get started on the swap yesterday (Saturday). One of the guys (Rob) wanted to work Saturday and we managed to get a running start on the swap.
Some of you have heard me mention that sometimes I have so many visitors that stop by the shop that I sometimes call it "Archie's Clubhouse".
Well Saturday was one of those days, there were people coming and going all day. So all of the progress you see below was done by Rob alone.
Starting at 8:30 AM He removed the decklid and worked at dis-assembling everything that can be reached from the top. Remove Battery, fuel lines, air cleaner, throttle/cruise/shift cables etc......
We take the wire harness out with the engine, so we remove the center console & disconnect the harness from the ECM. You can see the harness laying on top of the engine in the above pics. The following interior pic shows the missing console and the area where the ECM was disconnected. The harness pulls right out thru that driver's side hole between the seats.
Jack the car up in the air, remove a few things, unbolt the tops of the struts, remove the calipers and lower the engine/transs/cradle assembly out onto a dollie and roll it out from under the car. Just 2 hours & 22 minutes after starting on the car, Rob has the whole unit out of the car and ready to put up on a workbench and proceed with the rest of the swap.....
more to come
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02:44 PM
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
Next we set the engine/transs/cradle assy. up on a work table and start disassembling it. We remove the wire harness in one piece & the Alternator, A/C Compressor & suspension from it....
Total time 3 hr. 45 min. To get to this point.
Tomorrow, I'll report on tomorrow's workday....
Archie
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02:57 PM
KRMFiero Member
Posts: 2711 From: Providence, RI Registered: Sep 2000
You guys are slow! I removed the engine/Cradle/Tranny in less then 30 minutes... All you have to do is take a sawzall, cutoff wheel and cut through all the wiring, connections and then take a torch and cut through the cradle... J/K, i did do that before on a car i was sending go the crusher anyway.
Nice work! That is some damn good time... I really like the look of that Notchback in yellow, makes me want to do a paint job.
Kyle
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03:12 PM
Jim88GT Member
Posts: 714 From: Portsmouth, Virginia Registered: Sep 2002
I know this is a dumb question but I'll ask anyway. Where do you put your jack stands at in the rear? I want to know so I can drop the engine and other mods to my car without putting the jack stands in the wrong place from the get go. How high do I need to go to drop the engine out? Thanks.....That zz4 is.....well u cant see drool but you get the idea.
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06:39 PM
CTFieroGT87 Member
Posts: 2520 From: Royal Oak, MI Registered: Oct 2002
I know this is a dumb question but I'll ask anyway. Where do you put your jack stands at in the rear? I want to know so I can drop the engine and other mods to my car without putting the jack stands in the wrong place from the get go. How high do I need to go to drop the engine out? Thanks.....That zz4 is.....well u cant see drool but you get the idea.
The front jackstands are located on the crossmember and the read stands are on the frame rail just ahead of where the front of the engine cradle bolts in.
The rear is 45" from floor to the top of the rear wheel well.
Archie
Doesn't anyone have a guess who the 2 guests I had on Saturday were?
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11:02 PM
Tina Member
Posts: 2858 From: At an elevation of 8564 feet. Registered: Nov 2000
It's the guy from the AARP table. Last time I seen him he had a bunch of beads around his neck. Call 'em THE PREZZ I believe. Young guy next to him is his son. For the life of me can't remember his name now, but I do remember him from the Dells. Came up to me asking for a ride in my car for a friend of his. Wanted to convert him to a Fiero Lover. Think we managed to do so.
Tina
[This message has been edited by Tina (edited 06-16-2003).]
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11:33 PM
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
It's the guy from the AARP table. Last time I seen him he had a bunch of beads around his neck. Call 'em THE PREZZ I believe. Young guy next to him is his son. For the life of me can't remember his name now, but I do remember him from the Dells. Came up to me asking for a ride in my car for a friend of his. Wanted to convert him to a Fiero Lover. Think we managed to do so.
Tina
There you go, glad to see that someone is reading this thread.
Archie
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11:39 PM
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
Today's progress report starts with a bit of an apology. We got a lot done today & I took about 50 pictures of the progress. However I left one of the discs (about 14 pics.) at the shop tonight when I came home. I will give a description of what we did, then tomorrow I'll edit this post to insert the pics.
The 1st thing we did today was to finish disassembling the engine/trans. from the engine cradle.
Since we are replacing the 4 speed with a 5 speed we Didn't have to remove the trans from the original engine. This is a good running engine/transmission combination and I'm happy to report that the customer is taking that assembly back with him when he picks up the car.
After seperating the engine cradle from the engine/trans we cleaned it and the replacement transmission.
more to come.........
Archie
[This message has been edited by Archie (edited 06-21-2003).]
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11:44 PM
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
The only thing we have to do to the engine cradle to get it ready for the fitting of the new engine is to trim off the original front motor mount pad. This makes more room for routing the exhaust system.
The transmission getting preped and painted.
The engine is a 355 HP ZZ4 crate engine. I've shown the detailed assembly of the V-8 engines before, this time I'll show pictures of it with the items mounted.
The starter and remote oil filter system are mounted....
more to come........
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11:55 PM
PFF
System Bot
Jun 17th, 2003
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
A bit of aligning and bolting and measuring and the engine is mounted up to the cradle ready for the 1st. trial fitting.
We also got some of the engine compartment cleaning done today. Tomorrow you'll see the 1st trial fitting of this engine into the Fiero.
Yes, we got a lot done today. One of my guys put in 4 hours today on this project and another guy got 9 hours in on it. They were both complaining that my picture taking is slowing them down.
C U tomorrow.
Archie
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12:16 AM
litespd Member
Posts: 8128 From: No where you want to be Registered: Aug 99
Wow! Not sure how I missed this topic yesterday (I love these threads).
A few things... the two guys in your picture ("that guy from the AARP table & his son") happen to be Tom "The Prezz" and Jon Podziemski from the Wisconsin Fiero Fanatics
I'd also like to 2nd the idea that we'd love to see an automatic buildup - bring it on!
Archie- keep up the awesome work & pics... I'll be calling you soon!
Actually we have an LT1 with a 440 O.D. chop top swap coming up in a few weeks that we can document for you.
Archie
The 440t4 is the non computer controlled 4speed automatic. Its similar to a stock fiero 125 with an overdrive. Very popular swap for automatic guys. MinnGreenGt has on in his car.
[This message has been edited by KissMySSFiero (edited 06-17-2003).]
