Yeah...I was being overly conservative in my expectations. I have read so many posts about the 3.4 and did not expect a whole lot of improvement. The Mera now has plenty of power for me with the 5-speed.
Here is a poll:
One friend says to leave the "Ferrari" exposed on the engine. It is done very nicely and in great condition. However, my car is completely marked as a Mera and I intend to keep it that way. I also picked up a "Mera" intake plate from Rodney (one of his last two). I would like to install it to keep the Mera theme going. Please cast your vote.
I am torn between keeping the Mera intake plate a pristine collectors piece, or installing it on the intake and taking a chance on it being weathered. Does any one make a high temp/solvent proof matte clear that I could use to "seal" the plate and protect it a little better?
Rick, as a collecter of the rare....i would try to find a way to replicate the Mera eng. plate. cheap! for the car and hang the real plate on my wall. like a rare comic book. the 6th edition is fire starter material. the first ed. is my retirement
the cheaper the reproduction plate the better for a new, clean lookin' replacement should they tend to fade or melt. hahahaaaa...... but you know me
anyway i got a question about the 3.4 performance.....what is your 0-60 mph times?? i did my 2.8 Mera and got 12.07......horrible.
i had the chance to get a 3.4, modded with extras, installed for $3000 in the Indy area up here.....but then i had No job. NOW, i am on a fast build job and the potential is high for that $3000 plus living expences thru this comming Winter.....
sooooo i was thinkin #1 i have a friend who has a 3800 II SC waiting for me to get like the $5-7000 for this swap OR #2 $3000 for a 3.4 L. tthis month. jobs has to be done NOV. 1. soo all the money i would have for any swap, i will have by the end of OCT. jolly good. is the increase with your 3.4 that good? i would also want a turbo......FIERO X STYLE.... ohhhhh yeah, and GOOD SHOW TO ALL THE EL PASO FIERO GUYS. WELL DONE ALL. later....
Daniel- Mera X
[This message has been edited by batousai666 (edited 09-25-2010).]
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08:25 AM
Rick 88 Member
Posts: 3914 From: El Paso, TX. Registered: Aug 2001
No 0 to 60 time yet. But by the seat of the pants meter, it is noticeably quicker. I think this will be more than enough power for the kind of driving I do. I can see that I will have to watch my speedo a lot more now.
If you are trying to keep the stock look the 3.4 is the only way to go. But if you want to burn up the road the S/C 3800 is the only choice in a V6 that can make stupid power easily. Since Nelson has five Mera's with every engine combination available I would ask him to have him take you for a ride so you can decide.
If you have the tools and equipment you could do a 3.4 swap for considerably less than $3000. They are almost a plug and play replacing a 2.8
If I had the knowledge and equipment, I would love to swap a 312 hp DI 3.6 out of a new Camaro and attach it to a f40 6 speed. I think this would package very well and be a hoot to drive.
I may look into making a duplicate Mera intake plate as Rodney is not currenlty planning to make more. Tom, (Fiero in Paridise) is my hero concerning clean Mera's. It is my goal to make my Mera as nice as his. (Lofty Goal). What ever you decide to do with your Mera, just have fun. Fiero's are great cars to play with and drive. Being a Mera makes it that much more interesting.
I love it when people ask me what kind of car I have and I get to say: "It's a Pontiac"
[This message has been edited by Rick 88 (edited 09-25-2010).]
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01:03 PM
Carver1 Member
Posts: 2843 From: Edgewood, New Mexico Registered: Nov 2000
Got a lot done to the Bus today! Motor is in and it's running! Just have to build a new exhaust system for it tomorrow - should be driving it before noon!. Then we are going to build a new exhaust for Jeff's 3800 SC. We are going to do a quick scuff and puff paint job on the Bus, add some different tires & wheels and fix a few odds and ends and it will be done.
Ready!
Set!
Stuffed!
More tomorrow!
Pat
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09:23 PM
Sep 26th, 2010
katatak Member
Posts: 7136 From: Omaha, NE USA Registered: Apr 2008
Spent the day working on a new exhaust for the Bus - thought we could finish it but we did not have a lot of ambition. Learned a few things today about Fiero's that I did not know.
There are some major differences between an 88 Y Pipe and an 86 Y pipe - not just the insulation/heat shields. The 88 is shorter than the 86 where it turns down to the exhast flange. The O2 sensor is in a different place and on the 4 speed trans there is a casting lug that hits the bottom of the 88 Y pipe - we had to cut the lug off.
You may be wondering why we are going to all this trouble to use the 88 Y Pipe - one major reason - all the bolts holding the Y pipe to the manifolds are rusted so bad, they will break trying to remove them so we opted to leave it mounted to the motor.
When we went to bolt up the stock 86 exhast flange/donut to the 88 Y pipe, it was too short. I had to add a 5 1/2" piece of pipe to extend it so that we could mount the muffler (mounted where the stock cat is located). We got it welded out and the muffler mounted then worked on the exhaust pipe from the muffler to the tips. Had to build a Y to split out to the tips. Got the passenger side tip installed and just have to run a straight pipe to the driver side tip and add a couple of hangers. So much for a simple exhaust job.
More later!
Pat
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08:09 PM
Sep 27th, 2010
Rick 88 Member
Posts: 3914 From: El Paso, TX. Registered: Aug 2001
Had some "battery" issues the last few days on the Bus. After doing some diagnosics, I found that the right side headlight motor was "twitching" - draining the battery over night! I'll have to pull the motor and clean the switch. I should have looked there first. Going to take it for a drive here in a little bit. he new exhaust sounds great - I'll get a video up as sson as possible.
More later!
Pat
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11:11 AM
katatak Member
Posts: 7136 From: Omaha, NE USA Registered: Apr 2008
Looks like you guys will be doing some paint work......me too...... just on my wifes new classroom. I did prepwork there yesterday. No Union breaks for me.
If I get done early enough I will come by. I want to hear Jeffs new exhaust. Hopefully he can ditch the ear plugs. The Mera sounds bad a** when you wind it out, but cruises with a nice tone. Hard to understand how much different the same exhaust system sounds with a different motor attached to it.
The Bus looks great with the black wheels, and sounds really good with the new muffler. How does the motor feel with the 4-speed? I think the cam needs the stiffer gearing to work best.
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07:39 AM
Oct 4th, 2010
katatak Member
Posts: 7136 From: Omaha, NE USA Registered: Apr 2008
Spent Saturday building a new exhaust for Jeff's 3800 SC. The twin glass packs were just too loud. They sounded great but made your teeth rattle and your eyes cross at highway speeds so we made a change. We used a stock Fiero V6 muffler mounted in the stock location - actually sits a little lower than stock but still fits nice. We built a quick turn 90* by sectioning a piece of 2.5" pipe and then built a 180* using 2 - 2.5" mandrel bent 90's. Was so busy building that I did not get any pics but it pretty much looks like all the other exhausts built this way. We worked on the car from 9am till 9pm. The new exhaust sounds great and I believe that increasing the back pressure, increased the bottom end a little. The "seat of the pants" meter is the only guage I have to go by. It does feel stronger off the botom. In addition, we can now listen to the radio and here the blower whine. It's way better than the other setup.
On Sunday, we decided it was time to get started on the body work for the Bus. Jeff has decided to do a complete paint job on the Bus so we are diving in headfirst. It's been at least 20 years since I have done any body work and paint - never on a plastic car so this is all new to me. We started on the roof - redoing some of the previous work done when Carver1 chopped it. Not that it needed redone - just that Jeff wanted to start fresh. While he was working on the roof, I was busy building a 3 gauge face plate for the stock GT pod - going to put some after market gauges in Jeffs 3800 SC. I made one of these for my V8 car awhile back and it turned out great so I am basically copying that one.
Here's the one in my V8 Coupe:
The Bus has been moved to body shop (my backyard). Jeff mixing up some high dollar 2 part GM panel filler, goop stuff that smells horrible!
Prepped and ready for the goop!
Applying his skills!
In the middle of all this, we got to tinkering with the XTC. My son pulled it in the garage and was fixing some little things so we had to give him some of our knowledge. About that time, one of neighbors pulled up in his 85ish Chevy truck. He wanted to show off his latest motor swap. He put a 8100 Vortec (496) out of a 09 Suburban in the truck - very nice job and it looked factory. Of course we had to take some measurements to see if it would fit in the Fiero (I don't think so). He is gearing up for a SBC swap into a Fiero. He currently has a Civic with a Prelude motor and this car is the real deal. Dynoed @ 450 HP at the wheels - it is not the typical fart can - Pep Boys ricer car. Anyway, looks like he is going the Fiero way now. Jeff let him take his 3800 for a spin and when he got back, he wanted to take some time looking over my V8 Coupe. I believe we have a convert!
Rick came by in the afternoon with the Mera for a post swap inspection. Plus his AC went out and that is number one necessity here. We found that the resistior at the power connector for the AC compresor was "twisted" and causing the power wire to shortout on the ground wire. We got that sorted out and then found a few things that heeded attention. There was some fluid leaking/dripping off the bottom of the trans - tracked it down to the slave cylinder leaking. Rick was also telling us that it had a thumping noise when he was going over bumps. At first we thought it was the AC lines on the floor board - not. Then we found that the heat shield was loose but not the source of the thumping. Then I noticed that the firewall side trans mount was missing the nut. I could see that the threads were "shiny" indicating that the trans/motor was moving. Installed a nut and all is well now. One of those little things that gets overlooked in the "rush" to get it together. Although we know better, it's a good reminder to check and recheck everything.
Around 8:00 PM, the party was over and I got some video of some Fieros rolling down the street.
Due to crazy work schedules there will be no updates until next weekend. I plan on dropping the pan on the V8 Coupe next Saturday! Should be interesting.
Pat
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04:25 PM
Rick 88 Member
Posts: 3914 From: El Paso, TX. Registered: Aug 2001
Jeff came over today to work on the body work on the Bus. I did not get to help much due to that nasty little detail called "work" but he did get a lot done. The car is sanded and most the body work is complete - just has a few places that need some attention. No pics today but I'll get some tomorrow. We may try sparying it on Saturday? Still need a new name for it!
Chris is having some issues with his passenger door. The outside door handle / rod keeps failing. We built a new rod for it today and it worked really well but now the door will not open. I think the "lock" mech is not unlocking the latch? We will have to take the inner door panel off with the door closed - usually results in a destroyed door panel. He also added a nice "4.9 Fiero Racing" decal to his windsheild. We went back out this evening to work on the door and noticed that the windsheild has several cracks at the bottom center. Looks like a small rock chip just under the drivers windsheild wiper. Now we have to replace the windsheild! It never ends does it?
Going to take the Formula to a body shop for an estimate on paint. A new body shop is advertising a grand opening special of 600.00 for base coat clear coat paint and minor body work. Going to check them out and see about getting the Formula painted. Maybe even a color change. I'm thinking a copper color? Don't know yet but it's possible.
More tomorrow!
Pat
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10:46 PM
josef644 Member
Posts: 6939 From: Dickinson, Texas USA Registered: Nov 2006
Jeff came over today to work on the body work on the Bus. I did not get to help much due to that nasty little detail called "work" but he did get a lot done. The car is sanded and most the body work is complete - just has a few places that need some attention. No pics today but I'll get some tomorrow. We may try sparying it on Saturday? Still need a new name for it!
Chris is having some issues with his passenger door. The outside door handle / rod keeps failing. We built a new rod for it today and it worked really well but now the door will not open. I think the "lock" mech is not unlocking the latch? We will have to take the inner door panel off with the door closed - usually results in a destroyed door panel. He also added a nice "4.9 Fiero Racing" decal to his windsheild. We went back out this evening to work on the door and noticed that the windsheild has several cracks at the bottom center. Looks like a small rock chip just under the drivers windsheild wiper. Now we have to replace the windsheild! It never ends does it?
Going to take the Formula to a body shop for an estimate on paint. A new body shop is advertising a grand opening special of 600.00 for base coat clear coat paint and minor body work. Going to check them out and see about getting the Formula painted. Maybe even a color change. I'm thinking a copper color? Don't know yet but it's possible.
More tomorrow!
Pat
I think I have a new set of black 'Formula' decals I will sell ya cheap.
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11:05 PM
PFF
System Bot
Carver1 Member
Posts: 2843 From: Edgewood, New Mexico Registered: Nov 2000
No progress today - just took some pics of the work Jeff did yesterday.
Looking scuffed!
Body work coming along!
Filled a few holes!
We have some chips to fill and smooth and few little issues to fix but it's getting closer. Jeff plans on a full day of work on Thursday and maybe set it up to spray early Friday AM or Saturday AM.
Went over to the body shop for an estimate on the Formula. 600.00 for a complete repaint with Stock red, base coat/clear coat and includes repair of the rear bumper and the labor to replace the "Formula" decals on the doors. I asked about a different colr and they want 100.00 more for a color change - more work when they have to make sure all the edges are painted - I would expect that even with a repaint of the same color? Anyway, I am going to wait and see how the Bus turns out and then decide. If we do a great job, I think I'll paint the Formula myself!
Looked at a lot of color chips today. I am really liking the "copper" colors - now to just pick one.
More later!
Pat
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05:56 PM
katatak Member
Posts: 7136 From: Omaha, NE USA Registered: Apr 2008
Decided to try and fix the passenger door on the XTC. Last time we had this problem, there was a arm in the latch mech that was stuck and would not allow the door to open. We had to take the inner door panel off from the inside last time to get the door open. This time, I grabbed a spare door latch and studied how it worked. Found that if I got a long screwdriver set in the right place through the window gap, I could manually actuate the latch release and was able to open the door.
Once the door was open, we removed to door skin so I could get to the mech. What I found was that the rod from the outer door handle to the release mech. was about 1/4" too long and was slightly depressing the lever on the mech. When you actuate the lock mech, it moves an arm back and forth postioning so it will engage the actual latch mech. With the release lever slighty depressed, and the door was locked, it allowed the release lever to drop slightly out of position so that when the door is unlocked, the arm does not slide into the correct spot - door won't open with either the inside or outside handles! Once I shortened the rod, all works perfect.
I also noticed that the door was sagging a little. With all the hinge extensions to move the door out, there was a lot of flex in the front edge of the door frame where the hinges bolted. I aligned the door where it needed to be and then I welded the bracket that is bolted to the hinge and the door to the door frame. Door shuts much better now and no more thumping when going over bumps. At the same time I found that the new RD hinge roller that I installed awhile back was not lined up properly with the detent arm. Plus as the door was opened and closed, the roller was not "rolling". I dismantled it, placed some shims to raise the roller pin, cleaned up the bushing and lubed the detent arm pin. No more "poping" and grabbing when opening and closing the door. Just another adventure in Fiero ownership!
More later!
Pat
[This message has been edited by katatak (edited 10-12-2010).]
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09:26 PM
Oct 13th, 2010
Carver1 Member
Posts: 2843 From: Edgewood, New Mexico Registered: Nov 2000
THAT makes me wanna chop another one! Looking good!
Chop till you drop!
Going to try and pick up an 85 GT in the yard this weekend. It will get chopped 3 ways! Cut off the front end from the trunk wall forward - to build a trailer. Cut off the back end from the firewall back - to make a engine swap fixture so I can mock up my next swap and build my own harness. Then cut the top off the "cab" so I can use the "tub" to mock up interior pieces. I got a lot of stuff going on huh?
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01:07 AM
Frizlefrak Member
Posts: 2921 From: El Paso, Texas Registered: Aug 2003
I beat you to it Pat! I have an 85 sport getting ready to make it's way over to my house shortly! It's a 2.8 4 speed that is pretty rough. I'm making a trailer out of the back end. I could be talked into letting the rest of the car go fairly cheap......
------------------ 88 GT "The Stray" 4.9L 86 SE ChopTop 4 Speed 3.4 "The Short Bus" SOLD! 07 Solstice GXP 2.0L turbo 08 GMC Sierra 3500 Duramax Dually. 05 Tahoe on 20's (Kid hauler)
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03:25 PM
katatak Member
Posts: 7136 From: Omaha, NE USA Registered: Apr 2008
I beat you to it Pat! I have an 85 sport getting ready to make it's way over to my house shortly! It's a 2.8 4 speed that is pretty rough. I'm making a trailer out of the back end. I could be talked into letting the rest of the car go fairly cheap......
Talk to me Phil!
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03:44 PM
PFF
System Bot
Carver1 Member
Posts: 2843 From: Edgewood, New Mexico Registered: Nov 2000
The motor overheated and the windshield is kicked in. It's been sitting over 2 years. No rust that I can find. Perfect for cutting up. I'll pick off the good parts, and use the frame for the next project. I was gonna junk what was left over, but it sounds like you could use the middle and front! Give me a call when you get a chance. I'll give you all the details.
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03:53 PM
josef644 Member
Posts: 6939 From: Dickinson, Texas USA Registered: Nov 2006
Jeff came by to work on the Bus some more today. Seems like just when you think you are ready for the next step, you find more areas that needs filling and sanding and blending and sanding and sanding...........
Molding in the inner sail panels:
Getting closer!
Hosed her off to look for more areas that need attention:
We may spray her tomorrow - have a few more little spots to clean up and mask her off. Depends on what we get done. Getting very close now.
More tomorrow!
Pat
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11:13 PM
Oct 15th, 2010
Carver1 Member
Posts: 2843 From: Edgewood, New Mexico Registered: Nov 2000
You staying yellow, or going with copper? BTW, I just got another "stray" Wanna paint it when you are done?
It's going to be yellow but a brighter more yellow yellow! Thinking of a gun metal color for the belt line, sail panels, vents, rad/nose vent? Or maybe just a plain old black?
Not sure I want anything to do with painting a car after this one - it's a lot of work!
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12:41 AM
Carver1 Member
Posts: 2843 From: Edgewood, New Mexico Registered: Nov 2000
That's too bad. I have three out here waiting on a fresh coat. I could keep you busy all winter! I'll let you know about the new one after I get some pics. You will likey! It may be the best deal I have gotten on a fiero to date.....
and I gotta quit looking at this thread..I'm about to break out the sawzall again.
[This message has been edited by Carver1 (edited 10-15-2010).]
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12:46 AM
josef644 Member
Posts: 6939 From: Dickinson, Texas USA Registered: Nov 2006
