Water will get into any fiero engines sparkplugs if you don't have a recall decklid weather strip

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yes, but its not detrimental to it running properly. These holes are actaully holes and not just plugs sticking out of the block. They fill upwith water and cause a misfire. It happened again last week to me after i had my cover installed. I'm going ot have to revise my design.

Water in the plug holes is such a trivial problem. Easy to fix and it shouldn't turn anyone off of using this motor.

dude im not trying to bash this engine im just telling people how it is. This IS a problem and there are several ways to go about fixing it. Im creating my own way,someone else might find another and so it goes. Im not saying that the way you are all doing it is wrong im just mearly trying to proove that there are other ways to go about fixing the problem. I might end up just sealing the holeswith caulk but i would rather not. That is a personal preferance. Besides that i dont want my taylor wires getting full of caulk and i think that an aluminum cover looks better.

so you all know, i got my working chip from darth for the 94-95 motors. There is a few small issues to be wored out but all in all it works very well.

Well I had my first official drive in the fiero with the 3.4tdc.

Its true what they say about this motor below 3500rpm. Since I broke my shifter cable during the build I can only select R 2 and 4. Starting out in second there is no power below 3500rpm, but anything past that and the motor turns on like a lightbulb. Its such a smooth run up to 7000rpm that before you know it your going 70mph. I'm sure my driving impressions will be much different when I can use 1st gear and get through the lul in the powerband as quick as possible. The biggest difference I felt between this motor and the 2.8 was the power above 5000rpm. It just keeps pulling to the rev limiter. Unless you've been in an dohc fiero its a feeling thats hard to describe.

I havn't driven it much, still havn't installed the O2 sensor. Maybe there will be more power when the motor is running at its peak performance.

[This message has been edited by crzyone (edited 11-20-2004).]

Yea, it really shouldn't be a dog below 3500. Mine certainly had no problem burning up the tires from a roll, with an automatic! I destinctly remember it having a suprisingly broad powerband. Dam I miss that motor.

Its a bit of a dog starting out in 2nd gear from idle, until about 3500.

Found first gear, just starting out nice and then hitting the gas she takes off not spinning the tires till about 2500rpm and then it breaks traction and spins the tires way faster than the car can catch up. Thats definitly something my 2.8 could ever do.

Ok, new driving impression. Got the O2 sensor installed and found a short on my positive battery cable.

This engine is IMPRESSIVE!! 1st gear is all rubber, second is just plain fast and 3rd gear 60-100mph is just awesome! Took the wife for a rip and I think she was scared

I've never had a car that has so much power all the way to 100mph. The 2.8 was a dog anywhere above 60mph, havn't had the nerve to take this motor over 130mph, but its still pulling hard. Its apparent to me now why this motor pulls the trap speeds it does stock, it just pulls and pulls!

I will take a video of my car sometime soon and post it here.

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Buy a fiero, become a mechanic

stop that - you are making me jealous

my engine is at the gathered parts phase and will be getting prepped, painted, and installed on the craddle before christmas.

Glad to hear it's running good and that you're enjoying it crazyone!
How's it sound?
Wait til you take it on a long trip. It's a real pleasure on the tollway at a constant high speed. Mileage is better than the stock engine too.
Great, now I want one more. Damn you! <shakes fist> j/k

[This message has been edited by Dave Gunsul (edited 11-19-2004).]

Sounds just crazy above 4000rpm. Sounds like a ferrari on crack. I'll get a video of it on Monday and post it. My exhaust system needs to be toned down, its so loud, I swear its going to pop some poor suckers ear drums.

quote Originally posted by crzyone: Sounds just crazy above 4000rpm. Sounds like a ferrari on crack. I'll get a video of it on Monday and post it. My exhaust system needs to be toned down, its so loud, I swear its going to pop some poor suckers ear drums.

do you have a cat-con?

my setup will be using a high flow cat-con and split off to two tube mufflers

Nope, you can see my exhaust setup on my build thread. 2 front manifolds with a y pipe into a 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust system. I'm using a single 2.5" in, dual 2.5" out magnaflow muffler, its really loud, shoud have known since you can basically see right through it.

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/053341.html

Did your bottom end come back with the change of the O²?

Yeah my 3.4 spins the tires through all of first gear. I then did the 13 degree thing on the exhaust cams, and it all went away. I think that on a 96+ motor like the one I have reacts differently to the retard. My car now accelerates like a poorly designed turbo system. It will take off like the 2.8 but at around 4000 rpms all hell breaks loose, all the way to 7000 rpms. This might be ok for the strip where I can keep it in that powerband, but not for me on the street. Today I found myself playing catch up a lot at low rpm starts with a few cars. On the freeway It was kinda nice to cruise at 70 mph, downshift to third and take off like a bat out of hell. But the cams are going back to stock.......

No, its like you described. It had decent bottom end, but 4000+ rpm she just takes off. Almost like hitting a power switch. In first gear if I start out from idle and hit the gas the tires won't break for half a second and then when it hits about 3-4k rpm the tires break loose and there is no stopping it. Since my shifter cable is broken I can't get into 2nd very quick, but when I do get it in she sits back down around 3500-4000 rpm right smack in the powet band. With all the noise it makes the car just feels like a racecar. I'm pleasantly surprised with the power.

Funny thing happened last night. Took the car for a drive after work about 8pm and stopped on the highway to do a 0-60 run. Reved it up to about 3000rpm and dropped the clutch. Being a new clutch it didn't grab hard enough and it ended up slipping until about 5000rpm but was pulling hard the whole way. Went to shift to second (probibly took 1.5 seconds) and then hammered the gas again and at about the top of second gear around 70mph I felt a bump and the car got real loud. Looked behing me and I could see the muffler and tips sliding and sparking down the highway. OOPS!! Totally forgot my muffler was tac welded on I turned around and went to get the muffler and tail pipes, hopped out of the car and picked up the muffler by one of the tips... stoooooopid.... Burn't my fingertips pretty badly. So my wife and I are sitting on the side of the road for about 20 minutes waiting for the exhaust to cool down enough to hold on to. She gave me her coat and I wrapped the muffler in it and she got to ride home sitting on a hot muffler while I'm trying to keep the car below 2000rpm so it doesn't shatter windows.

Was an interesting night. I knew the pipes from the muffler were tac welded but forgot that the muffler was as well.

EVERYONE STOP POSTING GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE 3.4 DTC FIERO.

You're all gonna make me go buy a Formula instead of waiting it out to get a good deal on a GT!!!!

lol I can't WAIT!!!

I had run the 13º cam retard on my 96 motor from the time I put the engine in. It always had a rough idle, but made good power. I then changed it to stock setting, and the engine was SOOO smooth. I didn't notice ANY loss in power whatsoever. I feel the stock settings made for a much more pleasant ride.

quote Originally posted by AaronZ34: EVERYONE STOP POSTING GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE 3.4 DTC FIERO. You're all gonna make me go buy a Formula instead of waiting it out to get a good deal on a GT!!

Formula's better anyway.

you guys with the cam timing are forgeting one important thing, you do pick up high end power, but you're losing some low end torque. Something else to consider, if you change the timing, your only gaining high end torque, if you don't change the gear ratios, then you can't take advantage of the horsepower that you're making.

in other words, increasing horsepower is worthless without changing gear ratios. now if you put a 4:10 4 spd on a 3.4 with the cam timing changed, it would fly.

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AIM= Fish100770
96 Saturn SL2 Turbo (evil SL2)

192 Front Wheel HP on 6 PSI. 1/4 times in the spring.
My cardomain site: cardomain.com/memberpage/702872

Oh it fly's well enough witn my 3.65 4 speed

Its a half second lul in 1st gear before neck snapping acceleration. And thats from a roll at 1000rpm. Every gear after that and its back in the powerband. 3rd gear from about 50mph to 100 is just cool. I've only shifted into 4th once to see how it pulls up there. Its scary to try since you're already going 100mph and 120 and 130 just rolled by.... I love this motor. I now have no doubts this motor can do 150+mph, it rolls so easily to the stock 2.8s top speed.

yes, buy my point is this. if you have a stock 3.4 VS a 3.4 with the cam timing, and you keep the same gears, you'll not notice it accelerate faster per se, but it will pull longer and harder on the top end.

torque is what propels a car, HP is a measure of how long torque can be sustained.

for example, my cousin has a civic. it had a 1.5 SOHC 16V engine, he swapped in a 1.6 SOHC VTEC 16V, (only becuase his old motor had 212K and the 1.6 has 70k, and he got it for like $200)
anyway, back to the example. both engines make the same/similar amount of torque, but the 1.6 has more horsepower, and higher up. he has the same gear ratios as stock, and as a result, the car feels exactly the same off the line, til about 4K, then it pulls a little harder, and it pulls for longer 8K VS 7K. but it feels no faster whatsoever (even though it's 40 more HP) because it's the same amount of torque, just higher up.

man i hope i'm making sense

You make sense and I know the formula to calculate hp.

My car pulls hard to 7200rpm, right up to the rev limiter. Not sure if a stock 3.4 does? Personally I perfer more hp than torque. Torque will get you off the line, hp will sustain your acceleration. If torque wins races, than the 4.9 should have no problem waxing the floor with a 3.4 in the 1/4 mile.

My ideal 3.4 would be 300hp @7000rpm. And have a redline of 8k. I have a turbo but I think I've convinced myself not to use it. Going to bore 30 over, new pistons, shotpene the rods, deck the heads, custom cam grind, short runner intake and maybe port the heads. Not looking for low end torque, I'm looking for high hp.

I've found by driving the car so far that its not the off the line acceleration I enjoy, I enjoy the ferri like sound at 6-7000rpm and not having the power fall off. Going 60mph in 3rd gear and pulling out to pass someone and not having to shift until 100mph and pulling hard the whole time is just cool I went 120mph last night and I was only doing 5200rpm, if it has the power to do so it should see 160mph at 6900rpm. Don't think it can do it as it sits now but when I rebuild it, it should.

Your engine DEFINATLY has the cam timing done to it. The stock motor (at least the stock one i have) does NOT pull to 7200 rpm strong. In fact in every gear except for 1st i find i pointless to rev it that high. It seems perfect to shift at about 6500 RPM. i personally hate that. This winter it'll be changed to have the powerband i like though

I heard on the 60 degree forum that someone actually checked the timing mark that everybody claims is 13 degrees. He said it was more like 20 something degrees, so is the little nipple what everybody is using, or are you guys actually going out and finding 13 degrees?

I have tried both of the setups....the supposed to be 13 degrees, and stock, and I think in stock form the motor has no problem pulling to redline. It just feels so much better to me to be cruising in tooo high of a gear and then floor it and take off. Like he said it is a much smoother broader powerband. I am going to go try somewhere in between the marks tomorrow and see what happens. As it sits right now, my power is in between 4500 and 7000 rpms.

quote Originally posted by cooguyfish: in other words, increasing horsepower is worthless without changing gear ratios. now if you put a 4:10 4 spd on a 3.4 with the cam timing changed, it would fly.

rpm drop from 1st to second on the 4.10 puts you down into the 3K range when you shift to second

traction in 1st gear will be an issue

its a very overrated trans for anything with power - people only think about the final drive and forget that its just a number without the individual gear ratios..

since i got a 92 lumina euro 3.4L motor for my 88GT and i have a 91GTP 3.4L 5 speed i was wondering if it was possible to just do a 6* or so cam retard on the exhaust and not loose so much low end and still gain alittle high end?

maybe meeting in the middle somewhere would keep the smooth idle.

matthew

yeah you can - I'm in the process of making a tool for the 3.4 people (including myself of course) to allow individual cam timing easily..

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/047245.html

quote Originally posted by fieromadman: Your engine DEFINATLY has the cam timing done to it. The stock motor (at least the stock one i have) does NOT pull to 7200 rpm strong. In fact in every gear except for 1st i find i pointless to rev it that high. It seems perfect to shift at about 6500 RPM. i personally hate that. This winter it'll be changed to have the powerband i like though

A stock 3.4L TDc will fall off badly after 6500. A few things will change this. The biggest impact for me was a custom chip by Ben over at the 60* boards. This made it pull to 7. Your rev limiter should be at 7150 for a factory chipped 3.4. Also a CAI helped me a lot.

Contrary to popular belief, the thing repsonsible for the power drop off isn't the cams at all. Sure they could be better, but the real reson is the intake manifold. The runners are so long, with such a small valumed plenum, that at higher rpm's the motor simply can't get air.

quote Originally posted by AaronZ34: Contrary to popular belief, the thing repsonsible for the power drop off isn't the cams at all. Sure they could be better, but the real reson is the intake manifold. The runners are so long, with such a small valumed plenum, that at higher rpm's the motor simply can't get air.

you lumping all years together? cuz the later engines you can stick your fist straight to the back of the plenum with the TB off

which is why an early model block would probably be sweet with later model intake and manifold......

Yah i was referring to the earlier models. The later models will pull right to 6500 without a problem, further proof that it is the intake manifold.

By changing manifolds, you don't make more power, you just move your power curve up about 500-1000 rpm, which with othe rmods, will help you make more power in the long run.

However the swap is kind of a pain to do, it takes a bit of customization. IMO, it is worth it, but if you are that mechanically inclined and interested, a custom manifold will be of more reward...

cam timing does have a lot to do with how rev happy an engine is tho - and the 96+ engine has essentially the same cams only timed differently than the earlier engine (along with the more open intake)

i suspect that both are factors in the powerband change from ealier models to later models.. and really with either engine a custom instake is not that difficult to make - however not necessarily easy to tune

Yah tuning isn't going to be fun, but I am going to just get it running then cross that bridge when i get to it.

We are going to stick with stock cams, and retard/advance them to best fit. Then after it is running good I'll worry about custom cams.

yeah I've been thinking about cam timing and welding up a modified intake similar to the WCF turbo one.

gotta get that cam timing tool made

Hi, I never drived a stock Fiero, but here my impressions of my 3.4DOHC.

First some specs. 97 crate engine, custom high flow headers, 2.5" mandrel exhaust, Dynomax Ultra flow muffler, Iridium plugs, retarded cams, Magnecor wires, hyper ground wires, UD pulley, Aluminum flywheel + stage 4 clutch + 150% over stock pressure plate, New MK7 Tranny, high flow fuel filter and holly pump, LS1 TB, custom CAI and 4" filter. Desktop Dyno puts my setup to 300hp but dont have a real dyno sheet to compare. Maybe in a near future.

Well, the 1st day I drive it scared the crap out of me. I have been in street racing for a long time so I knew this build was special. in fist gear I even could be @ 15-20 mph if I smashed the peddal tires spin and fishtailing is mandatory. I dont even have to rev the engine to burn tires, just start a normal way and then smash the pedal, instat power to fish tail.

1st gear CANT use more than 70% or tires will spin. Second gear, is when you see other cars going in reverse. 3rd Gear Fly baby Fly. 4Th gear, Look the rear vew mirror and try to gess how many car lengths I pulled to the guy. 5th Gear, crusing mode.

Its a REALLY IMPRESSIVE setup. God, its so satisfing to drive the car that I could be millionare and will keep it as my sport car. The sound its SO AWESOME, sounds like a nascar car. eheheh. Its so sweet.

Defeted List: Honda S200, Eclise 2G turbo, 2003 Tiburon, Eclipse 3G V6, Civic Si turbo, Mustang 5.0, 2003 Mustang MACH 1, 350Z, and a few others not worth to mention.

Oh forgot to show where is it on:

DreX

[This message has been edited by DreXteR (edited 11-30-2004).]

I want to see more pics, more specifically of your engine/headers.

Thanks

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1992 Lumina Z34 5-speed For Sale
14.78 @ 92.68
1992 Lumina Z34 5-speed For Sale
Offered to donated its organs to Fiero