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| 3800 Swap..something will catch fire. (Page 1/10) |
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Chris Hodson
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OCT 12, 01:34 AM
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Ill start with pic of my car. Sorry if there over 100k, i dont have anythign to resize at the moment. Sorry. 
"No hate-ing on the wing, im selling it $200. IT DOES NOT BELONG ON THIS CAR.
Well... At first I was just going to replace some exhaust manifold gaskets. But then I decided to do a 3800 swap. Ive wanted a fiero all my life, my car is about one year older than I am. The first time I saw this car i knew i had to have one. I got this car at the begining of this summer and have been working my a$$ off trying to get it to how I want it. I got all the body work/ paint and interior finsihed already. I plan to keep this car forever and If I move away from Iowa im going to need a good running engine in this beast. We could argue all day about what the best engine for these cars is but I happen to come acrosse a non supercharged  67k mile 1998 bonneville with some rear end damage. The guy wanted $400 for the engine and I got him down to $350 for everything under the hood. Not that ill need it all, but I bought another bonneville for this swap a month before for $500 and it was just to nice and good running of a car to tear into. So ill be getting alot of parts ill be able to use in the long run for my other cars. ANYWAY,,,I may be starting this thread a tad late but i took pictures of everything ive done so-far. I guess a few owners before me did a stock engine replacement and just mutilated the wireing and the cradle. Everything was done half a$$. Here, ill shut up and show some pictures.
I took the engine out from the top. I should have thought about it a tad more before doing so. But I didnt think my garage roof hoist could support everything.
I definatly do not think this is stock. The person who did the swap "im pretty sure" Welded the bolts going through the front most cradle mounts, which really sucks. If anyone has some god ideas other than drilling it out please let me know!
For the rear mounts, both of them just spun in their holes. "My luck". It took me a bit to figure out I needed to take the carpet out to get to anything. Turns out a previouse owner made a hole to get to the nutt on the other side but this was useless to me. I cut a hole on the side and put a nut splitter on what i thoguht was a nutt and turns out it wasnt a nutt. It was a thick threaded piece of metal that was suppose to be welded to the frame. I put some locking plyers on it and got it off eventually. The otherside I used a air chizzle to cut away the metal and it was just spinning like the other side but i decided to salvage it, i couldnt get my welder out because my garage is that messy....so i drilled a hole through the threaded metal thingy and ran a bnolt through it. I got under the car and it came right off. Im going to fiberglass something over the holes i made. Itl be cool.
Ive got a few 2.8's laying around already and dont need another. And i cant think of any other reason i would need another, cept for my imaginary dune buggy...sooo If anyone wants this engine and transmission Ill let it go for $400. The engine runs very good, ill give you the manifold gaskets. The transmission doesnt slip. The only reason the 2 are dirty is because it hasnt been washed in 20 years and that exhaust leak got on everything. Did i mention the upper intake was ported and somewhat polished?
Has anyone used seats out of a sunfire? I needed new seats and these looked like they fit. Whats awsome was that the stock fiero brackets match perfectly with these sunfire seats. They are pretty much the most comfortable seats ive ever sat in, And they don tlook to bad either!
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Back On Holiday
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OCT 12, 03:38 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by Chris Hodson:
Has anyone used seats out of a sunfire? I needed new seats and these looked like they fit. Whats awsome was that the stock fiero brackets match perfectly with these sunfire seats. They are pretty much the most comfortable seats ive ever sat in, And they don tlook to bad either!
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yes, I have a set in my car and they are very comfortable, they sit a tad higher up than stock fiero seats (thicker foam?)
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Chris Hodson
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OCT 12, 04:03 AM
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Im 6 feet and 4 inches tall, my head just clears by half an inch. I can adjust the seat back and Ill have tons of head room though. When i compared the two seats the sunfire foam was a bit thicker, your right. I dont know how i would be able to fit in one of those chop top fieros lol. But i still want one.
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Fiero38SC
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OCT 12, 08:36 AM
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| quote | | I definatly do not think this is stock. The person who did the swap "im pretty sure" Welded the bolts going through the front most cradle mounts, which really sucks. If anyone has some god ideas other than drilling it out please let me know! |
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I would try to get a grinder in there or break out the cutting torch.
Jason
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Chris Hodson
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OCT 12, 08:52 AM
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I should invest in one of those.
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Indiana_resto_guy
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OCT 12, 09:08 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by Chris Hodson:
Ill start with pic of my car.
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So to whom does the red one belong to?
| quote | Originally posted by Chris Hodson:
I definatly do not think this is stock. The person who did the swap "im pretty sure" Welded the bolts going through the front most cradle mounts, which really sucks. If anyone has some god ideas other than drilling it out please let me know!
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If it were me, I think that I would use a cutoff tool or die grinder and locate the center of the bushing sleeve and drill it through first. After that I could turn the drill loose on one side of the bushing sleeve. Do both sides. Then burn the bushings out and cut the pins and drop the cradle.
| quote | Originally posted by Chris Hodson:
For the rear mounts, both of them just spun in their holes. "My luck". It took me a bit to figure out I needed to take the carpet out to get to anything. Turns out a previouse owner made a hole to get to the nutt on the other side but this was useless to me. I cut a hole on the side and put a nut splitter on what i thoguht was a nutt and turns out it wasnt a nutt. It was a thick threaded piece of metal that was suppose to be welded to the frame. I put some locking plyers on it and got it off eventually. The otherside I used a air chizzle to cut away the metal and it was just spinning like the other side but i decided to salvage it, i couldnt get my welder out because my garage is that messy....so i drilled a hole through the threaded metal thingy and ran a bnolt through it. I got under the car and it came right off. Im going to fiberglass something over the holes i made. Itl be cool.
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Most of us go through the frame rail on the side (in the fender well) to access that area but what was done before works as well, just make sure to get a good seal and douse some por 15 (or rust convertor) along with some paint on the back side to help prevent rust through.
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SLOWnSTEADY
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OCT 12, 09:42 AM
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nice hood, I actually cut mine right off a $400 3" rise camaro hood (its OK, i only paid $50 for it)
 
yeah, it does still need a little work.
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darkhorizon
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OCT 12, 10:28 AM
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When working on the front cradle bolts, or whatever is actually there, just try to preserve some roundness of a hole under all the random welding. If you cant be prepared for some serious fabrication work rebuilding the cradle mounts.
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Chris Hodson
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OCT 14, 04:07 AM
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Thats freakin cool slow. It looks much wider than mine. I saw someone on the forum who glassed his hood to his fenders then cut the side molding on his fenders and it all goes up as one. I though it was cool. Thought id share that. So about the fron cradle mounts that are welded, i think i can use a stone grinder with a flat top and take it down till the bracket without damaging it to much "if the air chizzle doesnt work first" I will post picks later today after i power-wash everything. By the way, does anyone know where i could possibly pick up a "flipper" front end?
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thismanyfieros
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OCT 14, 01:09 PM
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