I’ll start at the begining like all good stories do.
I got the Fiero bug when I had just started driving, as luck would have it a ricer ran down the street in the rain at about 90 mph and found my bumper of my truck, though it was a minor accident for me, it totaled his car on the spot, and being that it was an old truck it was totaled by the little damage that was caused. I drove this truck back home, and after a while the engine started to go.
So I went car shopping with my dad, he said that he would buy me car that was under 2k but I had to pay him back, so we had been actively looking for a few weeks and then one day he brought me down to military drive, on the Southside. And there it was a 1986 Pontiac Fiero with the GT ground package on and a v6 in the back and a four speed!!!! Perfect paint, perfect interior working ac. It was the **** !!!!
Went home empty handed then later dad came home from work with my new car, it was probably one of the most memorable moments of my life!!!
I got to drive it for one week and then the damn clutch went talk about luck, but yeah so I swapped it out for a new one, or so I thought from auto zone!!! ONE-WEEK LATER TO THE DAY IT FAILED AGAIN… so I got my money back, and bought a new one from orielys, turned out the one from auto zone had been a remmy. Put it all together and it worked for 2 more weeks then I spun a bearing on the 2.8… so I was forced to put it up for about 6 months till my dad had done some research and found a 3.4l to swap in.
Its been running good for a few months, and I got the itch to go faster, so I started doing research on hopping up the 3.4 and I decide that I was going to have to invest in around 1.4k to get it respectable.
So I don’t know why but I went to ebay and there it was, my future,
So for a whopping 657 dollars I had a motor that had been sitting outside for almost a year. Picked it up the next day with my friends truck, and low and behold the guy wasn’t even there, so he had a friend meet me there. I HAD TO PUT THIS MOTOR IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK MY SELF!!! Ne who, got it home and put it at my friends house where it has sat for the last month… finally got the free time to work on it, and started to disassemble it. First things first I took off the wiring harness, what a royal pain in the ass that was! I proceeded to put that in my car and went back to work. The next item of business was to swap the valve covers… THSES THINGS WERE CLEAN ENOUGH TO EAT OFF OF INSIDE!
OMG That made my WEEK! So I then took off the fuel lines, injectors and proceeded to call it a night!
Got home and started to tear apart the harness, my gawd there is soooo much of the tape and conduit. And there has to be close to 100 ft of wires in this thing.
Three hours later, 5 razor blades and 3 band-aids the harness is now completely naked and I am looking up for the wiring schematics to see what wires were cut when the guy removed the engine from the car, I can tell right now that all the accessories have been cut and there are a few loose ends but yeah that’s where I stand now, I will have pictures soon.
Continue to check for updates, as this will be the only step by step install to date of the Pennock Fiero forum of a poor man installing a 3800 II sc in a 1986 Fiero with a 4 speed!
Positive ratings would be nice if you find this step by step usefull!
------------------ (sig complements of Nebiros88) Got a Job, a V6 Manual FIERO! ...All I need now is a NEWGirlfriend
[This message has been edited by pred1tor83 (edited 10-13-2004).]
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02:29 PM
PFF
System Bot
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
o yeah i almost forgot, as for how to's for making your own mounts and ecm tuning... um im poor so im gonna not cut corners in those areas and buy from loyd
And one more thing, its great to have a mentor of sorts, ive got two people i can call up if i ever get stuck, loyd of fast fieros, kevin, hes also done a wounderfull swap! mentors are great especially when they know what they are talking about! so yeah thats it for the day, im done here, maybe ill get some pics of those pretty valve covers
the cut wires??? well i cant really offer an explination, i think when whoever took out the motor from the donor didnt feel like disconnecting the stuff from the front of the engine ie ac, alt, and all that other great stuff sooooo i am gonna have to do a lil work on mu own to figure out what these einstiens did
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04:59 PM
Oct 14th, 2004
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
All right here’s today’s work and most of last nights
I stayed up till around 4 trying to figure this thing out, and still have yet to come to a reasonable excuse for the guys at the wrecking yards to cut the harness, but it does no good to stew about that…
So I started to take C1&C2 apart, and seeing as I have never done this before I took my time. And am going to share how to do it with you too.
Ok first there is a screw that goes through the metal backing and through the plastic that is then attached to the ECM, this needs to come out, and holding it in is a sort of lock washer, I could not find a better way to get it out other than to take two flat head screw drivers to it and pry it up until I bent the **** outa it and it gave way.
The metal washer has been taken off in this pic
These are the tabs
Then you can press the four plastic tabs that attach the plastic harness to the metal case and it slides out.
little tab on the side… these should come off without a fight! Then you simply lift each finger out and pull the wire out of the pin and whalla you have an empty C1 & C2 after a few hours Then there are covers that slide over the white housing; they come off by depressing the!
[This message has been edited by pred1tor83 (edited 10-14-2004).]
Earl, you need to call me. You took C1 and C2 too far apart. Also I know why the wires are cut in the location they are. Its not important or a problem where they are cut.
Loyde
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08:58 PM
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
keep the info coming, i'll be "attempting" to wire my own harness soon enuf, and have no idea what im getting myelf into, but it doesnt look good... what a mess.
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01:48 AM
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
Ok well I didn’t stay up as late last night, but I have finally gotten this wire harness thing down to a manageable level. The three nights I have been battling with this beast gives me a much greater respect for anyone who has ever attempted this, or even better has actually done this (big props to Loyd cause he does this all day).
Anywho, I’ve got the harness down to the bare basics, the wires on the left of the shot are the wires that don’t have plugs to anything yet have pins for the ECM. Wires in the middle have the connectors but are missing one wire to the ECM.
Well, I think the next action would have to be to actually start plugging things up and deciding on a location for the ECM…. But this has to wait until I actually get to see my engine again, which could be a while, so I think this thread is going to die, at least temporarily.
O yeah how could I forget, here’s my baby, still not moving under her own motivation…. Even though it’s got a perfect 3.4 sitting in it…. Damn clutch hydraulics… maybe I should work on one thing at a time….. nah, its more fun this way
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01:01 PM
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
I would like to take this brief ending of this topic to GIVE some thanks to a few people that have helped me out a lot. In no particular order
First LOYD: of fast fieros, cause without him here I would have no idea what I would do, this guy is the walking bible as far as I'm concerned…. If I had more money id have him do this swap, that way I knew everything was done right…
Second REVIN: he is the inspiration for this install, about a year ago he brought his multi colored fast back to San Antonio for a local show, and I got a 6 second ride while he parked it, and that was the moment I decided I had to have one!
Third ROCKCRWAL: He’s got so much info on his site, what a great guy sharing with the rest of the community
Fourth PBJ: as many of you know he is also a master mind of the 3800 swap.
And others, LoWkEy, Darthfiero, lowfierogt, fierox, wetpoop, and everyone else who has ever done any kind of documentation on this stuff
Sorry if I left anyone out, but this is a living thread, so I can add you at anytime :P
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01:15 PM
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
Loyd I know I went to far and perhaps should have called you before I started to mess with this, but, after seeing your swaps you have given me a goal, I mean **** , look at any of your swaps, THEY ARE SOOOO CLEAN… that was part of the reason to take the harness as far as I have, I want it to look as clean as yours, you do awesome work…. I know I have some brown on my nose, but hey someone had to say it, better me point out than you point it out for me
this is what i am talking about, you cant see hardly ANY WIRES its kicks asssssss
[This message has been edited by pred1tor83 (edited 10-15-2004).]
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01:18 PM
Oct 20th, 2004
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
Yesterday started at 3pm, loaded up the car with petrol, stopped at the store and bought 2 2ltrs and started up 35 up to Austin.
About an hour and half later I was getting fired up about something I had heard on talk radio, so I called in and voiced my opinion, and they put me on the air live for ten minutes…. But for these ten minutes I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. So about an hour later I call Kevin up and ask him where I am, turns out I over shot his house by about 54 miles…. Turned around and got to his house and got right down to business.
Now looking at all the information he had was a little daunting. Three manila folders FULL of papers notes and diagrams…. So I wasted no time finding the local Kinkos to start coping. About 34 dollars lighter, and 391 pages heavier, I loaded everything back into the battle wagon and stopped at the local walgreens for a disposable camera, and a pack of smokes (I know I am supposed to quite but its boring driving alone). Spent a few minutes snapping all 25 pics of his beautiful car and clean install, and started on my way home…..
Great trip nice guy, and now I have new bathroom reading material :P hot rod was getting old…. But seriously, this information was worth the drive up there….. sooooo much info its amazing.
------------------ (sig complements of Nebiros88) Got a Job, a V6 Manual FIERO! ...All I need now is a NEWGirlfriend
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02:44 PM
Oct 22nd, 2004
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
swing score one for me, i just got my "bonus" yesterday, payed all my bills for next month and still have plenty of money for my project, except to see a lot more work done int the next few weeks
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05:07 PM
Oct 23rd, 2004
FastFieros Member
Posts: 2698 From: Dallas Texas USA Registered: Nov 2000
Some of you will recall this from the beatrz thread, hey at least it runs….
Back to the topic This is the new harness aproximitly 90% complete, all that is left is to interface it with the fieros harness so the injectors run and a few other grounds that have to be run to the ECM
Close up of the very uncluttered C1 and C2
Heres the helper
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03:26 PM
PFF
System Bot
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
Any who, for those of you that have done this swap, I need help with these….
This one is rectangular 5x2 colors A:white B:brown/white C:yellow D:brown E:Yellow (becomes twisted with D) P:blck G:Red (becomes twisted with p) H:brown/white J:Tan K:Grey (goes to another connector that I cant id
A:Grey (coming from the other connector B:blue C:grey/white D urple E:blck/white F:brown G:light blue H:dk green J:yellow K:blue white
3 wires no labes Green Yellow Black
4x3 A: B: C: D:blk/white E:yellow/blk F: G:yellow
I cant id these!
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03:46 PM
FastFieros Member
Posts: 2698 From: Dallas Texas USA Registered: Nov 2000
ECT - Engine Coolant Temp sensor plug. Goes under the T-Stat housing. Will have a 3 wire connector on the other end that is flat.
Bad picture, but it looks like EABS plug. Anything that is twisted pair together is High speed LAN also known as GMLAN wiring. These are used for the ABS brakes and SRS. You will not use them.
Take a better close up pic of the connector itself. Looks like it might be a transmission interface plug.
Loyde
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04:46 PM
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
Well you could also see where the wires went into the ecm (pin location) and determine what they are for that way. if they don't go to the ecm should not need them ...huh right Loyde?
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05:20 PM
DjDraggin Member
Posts: 2854 From: St Louis, MO. USA Registered: Feb 2003
Coming along really well man.. you got some umm kahonas to dive into that mess. But some pic help for you. does your digital cam have a macros setting on it? if so thats for taking close up pics. I just found that out last week after my accident.. LOL L8
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06:14 PM
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
WELL i feel much better now... took a day off heres where i stand i will take pics tommarow
i have the 3800's harness completly redone for the 99 pcm i am buying from loyd, all i need to do now is bring certain wires together like the even injectors, and the odd ones, and get them as ready as possible to interfacing with the 2.8 harness, I also have to bring a couple common grounds together and that’s it…
thanks to the fourm I sold my 3.4, got my asking price, I will be taking it out this weekend hopefully…
this is gonna die for a while im saving my money
things still left to buy, do modify:
Bend the new clutch a little Send the 4speed cable braket to WCF to modify it Buy alternator Buy starter Buy flywheel from a 96 camaro 3800. and have machined down and balanced to the flexplate Buy 2 mounts from fast fieros Buy ecm from fast fieros
I have decided that I am going to go with this style exhaust
copied from Fiero evolutions, with either STS tips or maybe even some early Camaro z28 tips…….
That’s all for now
Current expenditures: Engine 657 fuel pump 80 5 razor blades 1 15ft of wire loom assorted size 20
[This message has been edited by pred1tor83 (edited 10-27-2004).]
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05:04 PM
Dennis LaGrua Member
Posts: 15482 From: Hillsborough, NJ U.S.A. Registered: May 2000
So for a whopping 657 dollars I had a motor that had been sitting outside for almost a year. Picked it up the next day with my friends truck, and low and behold the guy wasn’t even there, so he had a friend meet me there. I HAD TO PUT THIS MOTOR IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK MY SELF!!! Ne who, got it home and put it at my friends house where it has sat for the last month… finally got the free time to work on it, and started to disassemble it. First things first I took off the wiring harness, what a royal pain in the ass that was! I proceeded to put that in my car and went back to work. The next item of business was to swap the valve covers… THSES THINGS WERE CLEAN ENOUGH TO EAT OFF OF INSIDE!
Great choice of engine and really neat installation. My only reservation would be that the engine might have some rust in the cylinders for sitting so long.
ok well heres a bump for those of you following this thread
For the first time in 3 years my fiero is shifting right see link below
Well I finally got that all squared away, the old motor is going to a good cause, a fellow forum member has purchased my 3.4….
The wiring harness is now completely done, with the exception of 3 or 4 wires that I need to splice into the Fiero’s harness… and too top it all off my bad a$$ soldering gun took a **** on me, well actually my dad, when he was installing his car stereo… that really blows cause this gun was nice, trigger style, with two LED’s to light up work subject.
But I have the whole harness wrapped up in conduit… the connectors are all nice and tidy… now I just need money and an ECM
At this point the build list only requires one addition
Things still left to buy, do modify: Bend the new clutch a little free Send the 4speed cable braket to WCF to modify it 60 dollars Buy alternator 45 dollars Buy starter 50 dollars Buy flywheel from a 96 camaro 3800. and have machined down to .840” and balanced to the flexplate about 200 dollars Buy 2 mounts from fast fieros 65*2 Buy ecm from fast fieros 150 Soldering gun 50 dollars
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04:14 PM
pred1tor83 Member
Posts: 1872 From: Washington DC Registered: Dec 2000
o yeah loyd u will get a call from me... try as i might i can only find one knock sensor.... the 99 ecm has 2, i am not sure what i am going to do about this
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04:18 PM
Excell Member
Posts: 44 From: Galloway, Ohio Registered: Jun 2004
o yeah loyd u will get a call from me... try as i might i can only find one knock sensor.... the 99 ecm has 2, i am not sure what i am going to do about this
Whichever side you found this knock sensor on, there is one in the exact same place on the other side of the block. If you don't see it, look for the hole it screws into. Then you just have to get another sensor.
Goodluck!
P.S. I agree, Loyde is the man! Loyde, we'll be in touch soon.
1986 Fiero SE 2M6 - No motor, no rear brakes, eyesore of the neighborhood... 1998 Grand Prix MP112 GTP - 11.48@117 1999 Ford F250 XLT 5.4l - 3800 Hauler!
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08:24 PM
shop_rat45 Member
Posts: 3271 From: Lapeer, Michigan Registered: Mar 2004
Whichever side you found this knock sensor on, there is one in the exact same place on the other side of the block. If you don't see it, look for the hole it screws into. Then you just have to get another sensor.
Goodluck!
P.S. I agree, Loyde is the man! Loyde, we'll be in touch soon.
Yep, my engine didn't have any knock sensors on it when I got it. I need to find a couple myself. The holes are in the same position on both sides (verticle) Good build thread. I just added it to my favorites.
what a mess.
