It's an 87 w/a turboed 3.1. I bought it from Voytek. It's go power but feels like it's not running right over 4000k rpm. Feels quite untapped. I am going to use this thread to chronicle my mods to this car. I don't want any debates when I ask for help or advice. I will start by putting in on a dyno in a couple of weeks and seeing what it's got. I have no prior experience with turboed cars. This will be quite a learning experience. I would someday like to do DarthFiero's 1227730 mod. It's using an 80's knock sensing boost controller and an Audi 5000 turbo (also from the 80's). Stock '87 computer. Engine is a 3.1 rebuild with an 8.5 CR. I will be adding wood grain panels to the dash and it needs a new shift knob.
Lou, lets get it on the dyno here in Portsmouth. Im waiting on installing a new set of injectors in my 2.9 to see if I can keep it from running lean, then Im ready to go.
Cool! I forgot that you bought Voytek's car. Good luck with your tuning efforts.
------------------ Raydar 88 4.9 Formula IMSA Fasback..........................88 3.4 coupe -soon to be something other than red Read Nealz Nuze!Praise the Lowered!
Initiallly the changes will be cosmetic, but it will get on a dyno soon. I'm busy during the week and will get my head in the engine compartment on Saturday and I'll post pics of the turbo and the sweet looking tube going to the intake.
Since the rear quarter panel is separating on the passenger side, I will probably put the Turbo scoops with the clear Lexican I had planned to put on my other car and put these nice ones on the other car as this body is highly modified already, might as well go with the flow. The bra is covering some paint damage cause when Voytek hit a small animal. So it stays on for now.
@p8ntman442 Make me an appointment for any Saturday. There's a dyno shop in Fall River but the guy keeps weird hours. PM me if you want to come see it, I'm near the Tiverton border. I should have it registered today. I got to find somebody who can get me an inspection sticker. Shouldn't be hard.
Until I get the other car on the road, I won't be able to take this one down to change the computer. I'm hoping DarthFiero makes a plug & play kit and installation video. I want to get some hard dyno data before I even begin talking to him about tuning. I wonder how much it would cost to fly him in and do the work
I was hoping to race this thing at Seekonk on July 1st but with the weird behavior about 4000rpm, I think I'd better wait until August. I also want to put in the RCC bump-steer correction kit. At some point I'll have to take it to New Hamshire and run the 1/4 mile.
-horn (Voytek says it's just the spring mechanism) -cruise control -exhaust leak where the cross-over meets a tube -pisses fuel out the pipes, probably due to exhaust leak -bogs at WOT, needs tuning makes good boost at part throttle -rear quearter panels seem like stock imitations that don't curve to the body so there is some sepatation (probably will replace with turbo scoops) -shift knob worn
Oh, forgot to mention the damaged driver's side spoiler mount courtesy of the shipping company when they had to open the hood to jumpstart the car. Kindly lifted the hood by the spoiler and ruined the mount.
I have a replacement spring mechanism for the horn. Need to learn how to remove the steering wheel. I hope to have the exhaust leak looked at this weekend. I want it running good for Seekonk Speedway's July 1st Spectator Drags.
The body shop that is going to look at my spoiler has been holding some Fiero Store Turbo scoops that were going to go on my other car. These are the ones with the clear lexican section.
I'll try to get some dyno time in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully fixing the exhaust leak will prevent the bogging at WOT. Makes good boost at part throttle.
p8ntman442 came by Saturday afternoon and went for a short ride in it.
[This message has been edited by lou_dias (edited 06-18-2007).]
Lou, thanks for letting me drive the car. Very Nice ride, the pictures do not do the car justice. When you have the shop fix the leak at the crossover pipe, have them make a mount that holds the Turbo in place and attach it to the tranny or the engine bellhousing. This should keep the weight of the turbo off the exhaust pipes and keep it from cracking again.
To fix the wingstand, take off the 4 bolts that hold it on from under the deck lid, The two drivers side you may need a vise grip on to hold the nut. Then get some JB weld or some epoxy made for fiberglass, and glue the Nut insert back into the wingstand. Then Just reassemble and your all set.
The clutch does release very high, which is good for racing but mad eit awkward for me.
If that dyno guy ever comes around Id like to get some time there, its a lot cheaper than down here.
I'm having the wingstand fixed Wednesday as well as putting on the turbo scoop quarter panels. I confirmed with Voytek that the ones on the car are imitations from xxx Spyder in Florida. Forget the name exactly, but he confirmed they were flat, not curved like the real ones. The Fiero Store's turbo scoops fit nice when I put it over the area and a missing panel on my other Fiero. They will look great on this car. I will keep these to replace the one missing panel on the other car (whenever I get that one back)...
Oh and I promise more pics to come soon. Been both lazy and busy.
Jamie, I'll gladly pay to see the guy near you. The dyno guy near me sounds iffy. There's another dyno guy in Seekonk right across from the speedway, but he's pricey too. He did my 3.4 dyno several years ago. Back then he was in Warren/Bristol, RI. www.geocities.com/lou_dias/Fiero.html
I need to get the exhaust leak fixed before the dyno, otherwise it would all go to waste once the leak was fixed. The Seekonk guy - Mike Dez Racing - may be able to burn me a chip... I'll give him a call.
[This message has been edited by lou_dias (edited 06-19-2007).]
Lou, here is the website, I have never been inside the shop, but the guy also does custom exhaust work, so If you have the dough, he can fix the exhaust, and tune it. The link takes you to the page where he Installed a Roush EFI system on a Cobra a guy at work owns. Up from 250hp to 400 after proper fuel injection was added.
Have you confirmed with Voytek if that is a block heater cord on the dogbone? If so, you can remove and clean the engine bay up a little. Maybee its good for the turbo to have warm oil in the winter though.
Lou, You should re-post the 80 Series Flowmaster installation you did a few years ago. That might eliminate some of the recurring questions that appear on the forum. And, nice car!! bb
Lou, You should re-post the 80 Series Flowmaster installation you did a few years ago. That might eliminate some of the recurring questions that appear on the forum. And, nice car!! bb
Bruce, could you refresh my memory. I think my brother did put one in my last Fiero before it got totalled in an accident. Any muffler shop should be able to put one of those in a Fiero, I know it was a Camaro/Firebird muffler. Probably just fabricated some hangers. I'll try to take pics of this setup. It's a 2.5" exhaust, probably that same type of muffler.
I had the spoiler mount fixed and the Fiero Store's turbo scoops with the tinted lexican section installed. The car looks even hotter now. Pics to come later. I have to pick up the car from the body shop this afternoon. They just needed to wet-sand and buff today.
Well, I took it to Seekonk Speeday today and beat a Maxima and lost to a new Charger by a couple of feet... I clearly had more power but went in too fast through the last turns and got wide and he snuck in low to the inside.
I wanted to go to seekonk to see it but i had work. Ill try to get over there if you go on the 5th i really want to see it. Really nice car by the way, i love the rockers and the scoops on the side.
The other drivers really liked my car. One guy's girlfriend called her boyfriend and had him tell me she loved it. Another's little brother did the same, he claim his little bro was a Fiero nut.
I did the times roughly via the DVD recording we did. The top 3 cars were doing 18 second laps. The next tier including myself were doing 20 second laps. In the second race in which I lost, I did a 21 second lap and the Charger beat me by 2 feet. He had the lap of his life as he went on to do a 26 second lap against an old Beetle and then a 23 second lap against the Grand Prix GTP that took 3rd with 20 second laps. In the final 2 rounds, one of the 18 second lap cars got eliminated by another so the GTP was able to get 3rd place...where I should have been!
Now I need to look for some 16" or 17" light weight wheels that are 8" or 8.5" wide so I can put some Nitto rubber on them just for the track. I was spinning too much off the line and too much in the turns. That could easily propel me to the top.
Any one got any suggestions for wheels?
Edit: I did have the best looking car there IMO. Before the race I changed the easy bank of plugs and wires because the 8mm ones that Voytek had in there were arcing really bad. Engine runs much smoother now. I gapped them to .048 (vs. .045) since I have such a strong ignition box. Eventually, I'll replace the other 3. I also found some exhaust leaks around the Sprint manifold flanges. I found a spare set of heads in the basement this weekend along with a lower intake. I think I will get these ported and eventually thrown on this engine. I need to get the other car back and driveable before I get into any serious engine work with this one.
[This message has been edited by lou_dias (edited 07-02-2007).]
I analyzed the lap times of the best cars. I lost in the second round by my own poor driving in the last 2 turns. I clearly had more power than the Charger. I would have been going head to head with the Grand Prix GTP for 3rd had I beaten the Charger. The GP GTP was doing consistent 20 sec laps. I'm not consistent. I'm not the greatest driver. Throw a good driver behind my car and you'll see a top 3 finish every time.
I have to overcompensate for my poor driving with much better tires. Then again, I went in there with street tires and a street suspension. The Corvette that won had racing rubber and his wheels were angled out at the bottom for the track. So that says alot about the Fiero in general too. I drive mine every day and it's the same on and off the track. Give me some proper rubber and we'll see what happens. I also want to replace the back 3 plugs and wires incase those are arcing like the front 3 were. I believe they are because I still get some smoke when the motor is cold. Still got a could of exhaust leaks to fix too.
I will try to convert the videos from the miniDVD disc...may take a few days to figure out how...
[This message has been edited by lou_dias (edited 07-02-2007).]
I would recommend removing the "VIPER" stickers on the windows.
I am a professional 12volt installer, and if for some reason I wanted to steal your car, I'd go look up on the computer the info on a Fiero, and when I popped the dash down in 1 second (breaking it) I would know exactly how to disable it because I install a ton of viper equipment.
Because you have a Viper sticker on the window tells me what type of security system you have and it would make me (or a would-be thief) more confident that I would know exactly what to expect when I break into your car.
It's like a shopping cart sticker. Everywhere you go there are lots of people like me that work on every vehicle under the sun installing electrical equipment and some of them are bad people and would actually do what I just described.
Everytime I see a Compustar, DEI, Viper, Astrostart, or Crime Stopper sticker on a person's vehicle I shake my head because I can visualize in my head exactly how it is installed in that car. Last year alone I installed over 500 remote start/security systems. Trust me, it doesn't take much to disable them if you know what you are doing. There are not many vehicles that I have not done an install in, so it really doesn't matter what type of car it is to know how it was installed.
good luck. oh and nice car!
[This message has been edited by Oslo (edited 08-10-2007).]
Thanks for the warnings. The blinking light and the alarm stickers are enough to ward off the average street junkie car thief. I'm more worried about it being stolen from my driveway than anything else. One way or another, I'd hear glass break or my alarm for a few seconds and could be outside in about 10 seconds. I'm not as concerned about a random theft in a mall parking lot.
About Seekonk and the Sept 2nd race: I went to get an alignment to see what's wrong and it turns out the problems are with my front end. I have both lower ball joints bad, 1 upper bad and 1 loose lower A-arm. I still think the driver's side rear caliper pins need greasing...and they will be, but I should order the $125 rear bump-steer correction kit as well. That's cheap money to fix a spinning out issue. Makes it handle like my '88 in the rear which is why the sticky caliper exagerated the bump-steer problem. This is why my '87's always spinout coming out of turns if I punch it too soon, but my '88 never did nor the '87 with the '88 rear retro-fitted in.
So today I ordered a ball joint kit and steel braided brake lines from the Fiero Store. From RCC Specialties, I ordered tubular upper and lower control arms and the coil-over conversion kit as well as a dog bone and the bump-steer correction kit. Sadly the parts won't ship for 2 weeks. This means they will arrive after the Sept 2nd race.
Courtesy of the Kick Hill Swap Meet, I scored the 3 plug wire heat shields I was missing. When I pulled the #1 wire from the plug, it came off rather easily. Upon replacing the it (shielded) I put it in there nice and tight. The car runs much smoother and with a bit more power now. So unfortunately, I only change for the Sept 2nd race is going to be a slight power upgrade. I'll still have to be careful braking in the turns and punching it too soon coming out.
Also, I've got 2 of the 4 carbon fiber panels on the car. My boost gauge scratched the radio surround because I was too lazy to unmount it (I'm reeeeally lazy) and tried shoving it in there. The GT gauges piece will go on next and I have to recondition the shifter surround and reattach it to a spare surround that I bought at Kick Hill before that one goes on the car.
Turns out my turbo is a KKK K26. It can make up to 250hp. It's probably perfect for a 2.8 but does seem to be missing some umph above 5500rpm. Can anyone give me any direct bolt-on replacements? I heard of the K27, but I don't know if it's a drop in swap...
OK, supposedly there are 2 K26's, the K26/6 and the K26/8. I have the K26/6. the difference is the hot-side. to get similar performance to a T3/4 hybrid, you use a K26/8 hot-side and add a K27 compressor wheel on the cold side.
I have a fresh K26/6 in my possession. Once the 6 speed car is running, I will work on putting in a ported intake and heads into this car, along with the fresh turbo...as well as fixing the leak in the cross-over.... The 6 speed car should be running within 2 weeks. I need to have an exhaust built for it as I'm putting on Trueleo headers with the 2.5" downpipe. I will probably clone this exhaust setup with a Spintech muffler....
How did I miss this thread??! Granted, I haven't been on here much lately....
Those new quarter windows/scoops look awesome! Glad you're moving forward with it and have made a lot of progress. Did you get the bump steer fixed and the steel braided brake lines on there? Please keep us posted - I am SO glad the car went to someone like yourself.
