I want to share my idea for a hood vent. I never did it to my yellow 88 GT because I decided to keep it stock. Take a look at your center defroster grill in the dash. I think that would make a great hood vent for your car. I have one that I picked up from a yard, I am sure you can find one. The size is very nice for the area in the hood where it would have to mount. I was going to have mine powercoated to protect it from the elements, but a coating of epoxy paint would do just fine.
I love your Fiero! This is my favorite build thread on here. As much as I like Black GT's, I also love White GT's, but with no spoiler. Great work bridgetown.
We'll... I have been thinking about my engine setup a bunch lately. I have come to the descision that I am going to build a seperate engine for the turbo setup. I am going to get another 3400 or 3500 (mabey) and put it on my stand and build it up on the side and keep my current engine in the car and running. I think this will be the best because I will not have to deal with the car being down while I tinker on the turbo setup. This brings my next issue, I want to boost the fun factor on the car right now (I am impatient like that). So I am going to do a minor buildup on my current engine, keeping it N/A and just doing bolt-on stuff, most of which will transfer over to the new engine when it is ready. Here is what I have planned for the current engine:
65mm throttlebody - Purchased 3500 upper intake - Need Headers - Being shipped New exhaust system - Being designed Here are the headers I just purchased. They are going to need some minor mods to work, but should offer some descent gains.
My exhaust design idea is going to offer some benifit over my current setup. First, the new one will be lighter, I'm currently using a spintech muffler which is very heavy. The new one is going to utalize a lightweigh race muffler. Second, the new system will place it's weight in a better location, adding some handling benifits. I am going to mount the muffler in the old cat location similar to this. This will place the majority of the systems weight in front of the rear axel line. The third benifit will be lowering engine bay temps (hopefully) I am planning on having the headers ceramic coated.
After I complete these mods I will have my '7730 tuned on the dyno hopefully I will gain around 25hp from the above mods. That should be enough to keep me satisfied until the new engine is ready. I am also, at the same time, going to try to remove more weight from the car. I have some ideas swirling around in my head to drop another +/- 50 pounds.
That's an expensive way to go, and for just a little more hp (IMO). You'll have to redo the entire exhaust for the turbo setup. I can understand the engine build aside from the car, though, that's what I'm going to do with the stout 3200 destroker shortblock. Hopefully the TGP 3.1 shortblock will stay together in the meantime. WOT-tech has some great parts for mild to wild Gen III turbo buildups.
Just for reference, if you haven't seen mine (I forget if it was mentioned), here's my turbo and exhaust setup.
The 180* plenum rotation gave it the necessary room for the turbo location. You can mount the turbo behind the engine if you cut the trunk, but... while this would slightly lower the CG, it'll harm handling by reducing the mass centralization that the forward mounted turbo improves upon (which is another reason to mount the IC down low in the middle). There really aren't many other practical locations for the turbo.
OOC, what are your ideas to remove weight? I could always use more.
[This message has been edited by ALLTRBO (edited 08-25-2010).]
That's an expensive way to go, and for just a little more hp (IMO). You'll have to redo the entire exhaust for the turbo setup.
OOC, what are your ideas to remove weight? I could always use more.
I have started rethinking the "remote" mounted turbo system again. I won't have to redo much of the exhaust system and be able to keep the headers with what I am thinking. Here is what I have come up with. It's a messy pic but I think it conveys the idea. I don't have the A/C pump there in my setup, there is quite a bit of room in that location on my car. I also have a bunch of space in the old battery location since mines up front. I plan to mount the intercooler there and run a blower fan to draw air from underneath and out the decklid vent. This will keep the added weight of the turbo and intercooler in front of the rear axel and will need minimal exhaust work. Also the wiring for the rear fan is already done, the trunk fan curcuit is still in place and wired into the main fans. I removed my trunk fan but left the wiring.
I know that there will be the added hassel of the oil pump in a remote turbo setup, but I think that it is a good trade off for the other benifits.
As far as weight goes this is what I am planning: New side mirrors - old ones are suprisingly heavy. I am converting the drivers window to crank - not much weight there, but it is some and I think it will give a cool race car feature to have only one power window. Remove all interior carpet - I will replace the tunnel carpet with lightweight carpet. The floormats will be fastened to the floor with snaps, no other floor carpet (The rubber backed factory carpet is really heavy) I will be removeing the rear crash bar when I replace my rear bumper with Whodeanie's F355 style one (which I hope is lighter then the factory one it replaces) Remove front steering damper - mine is shot anyway. Even lighter battery then the one I have now Remove decklid tortion springs - rplace with single strut ( not much there but it all adds up right?) Remove rubber pedal covers - Replace with grip tape (I know, it's like a couple ounces, but I think it will look race!) Working on getting aluminum door beams made to replace the heavy steel ones in there now. Replaceing my rear widow with a lexan/marguard one. And lastly, the big(expensive) one, Held Slalom front end. - this one is still cash flow dependant but it is supposed to save close to 30Lbs. itself.
I am being conservative estimating all this adding to a savings of 50 Lbs. Mostly because I know that adding the turbo system could add back another 50 Lbs. Without the turbo system, the above items could save nearly 100 Lbs. I am shooting for a 2500 Lb. car which I think is doable from what I have learned so far. So when all the dust settles, and my bank account breathes it's final breath, I should have a 2500 Lb. car with approx. 250-280 whp. this should give me near Z06 levels of performance, in handling and acceleration. But only time will tell...
Well, not much to report lately on the car. I have been swamped with work and a new kidlet on the way, the Fiero always comes last. I did get out this summer for our annual cruise. Here is a short clip. http://www.youtube.com/watc...ture=player_embedded
Life does tend to get in the way of Fiero ownership.
Been so busy this year with fix up projects at my oldest daughter's place, haven't had time to install the parts I got in February.
And today, the son and daughter-in-law, gave birth to their third kidlet, and my fourth grand child.
Congrats on your forthcoming child. Is it your first ?
I need to figure out how to mount a baby seat to my luggage rack, to haul my 3 year old granddaughter around town in the Fiero. Maybe some bungee cords, a bike helmet with face shield ?
Rumble Seat, next generation.
------------------ Marko.
'85 SE 2M6 Muncie 4 speed. a.k.a "The Rumble Seat"
Had some time to mess with photoshop today. I have been exploring different tail light ideas. I saw a 240sx the other day. I noticed that the lights had a very similar shape to the Fiero's. I didn't measure anything but if they fit inside the opening of the Fiero you could build an infill panel between, I was thinking carbon fiber. Here is a pic of some smoked 240sx tails I like.
Here is a rendering on the Fiero.
This would offer an updated look to the lights. I have found 240sx lights cheap on ebay so it wouldn't be to expensive to do. I like the carbon fiber panel because it would tie in with the front carbon fiber splitter I'm planning.
Bridgetown I have been thinking about the 3400 swap like you have done. was wondering how difficult the wiring was and what computer you used. I have an 88 GT with the Getrag 5 speed.
How hard is kinda relative. I didn't do the original harness but the car was running off of an OBD 1.5 ECM, I later converted it to OBD 1 and ran it off of a '7730 ECM. There are pin outs on Sinister performances website to follow for the '7730 setup. It's pretty strait forward. Alternately, you could start with a universal '7730 harness from WOT tech. Then you would just need to wire in the c500/c203 connections in the Fiero. I hate wiring and I fumbled my way through most of it. If you take your time anyone could figure it out. If you have questions feel free to ask, I'll try to help the best I can. There are others on here that are far more knowledgable on this topic than I am though
Thanks for the reply Bridgetown. I currently have a 7730 computer so I will probably go that route. I am just looking for a bit more power than the 2.8 and be somewhat different than the status quo.....
The advantage of the 3400 is not only the added power (I dynoed 178whp) but the drop in weight as well. You will lose around 50 pounds. My car is still on a base tune and I haven't added my headers and 65mm throttle body, and it is a lot quicker then the 2.8 it replaced.
It's been a long time since I've updated this build. Sadly, I have not done much tweaking on the car, I did get to enjoy driving it a bunch this summer at least. I Have been pretty busy for the last year and a half. New business, new baby, new house, eating up all my time and free cash. I have stockpiled some parts however, and I have a new workspace. Standby for some good stuff over the next few months.
Well, a year and a half has passed since the last time I added a modification to the GTS. I have had a set of F1F low-pro headlight buckets and hella 90mm headlights for a long time. I finally got sick of looking at them and swapped them in tonight. Man it feels good to finally be improving on the car rather then just maintaining it.
What transmission and drive axles did you use? I noticed a carrier for the Passenger axle. Thanks Mark
My transmission is the fwd getrag from 92-94. My passenger axle is from a 91 sunbird. And if I remember correctly, the jackshaft is from a grand prix from the same era. There is some more information somewhere else in my thread, as well as elsewhere on forum. The idea is to obtain equal length axles, and as an added bonus, more room for exhaust routing.
I also have f1f buckets in storage. Did someone say that the Hella HID system will not work/fit in the buckets?
I'm not sure about the setup from hella, I do know that the kit from TLG fits. Randye did a write on the install. I am probably going to eventualy go that route.
Dude that car looks so amazing i love it clean lean and mean I have been looking for a 88 white gt with t tops for a long time i just think fieros look good in white or red !!
Photoshopped this. Rather then being recessed like the Aston, It is more along the lines of the TRD Supra. I like that it is flush. I would add a structure underneath to direct air from the rad out the vent.
Nifty. I did some flush on mine with black mesh in them.
Please dont go a2a with the turbo set up. w2a is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better suited for Fieros. Plus, since w2a is 4x more efficient, it can be smaller than a comparable a2a set up.
Nifty. I did some flush on mine with black mesh in them.
Yeah that is along the lines of what I had in mind. Although, lately I have been thinking about getting a full fiberglass hood from Tha Driver with his STM vents, http://angelonearth.net/customfiberglass/
I like the look of it and it saves some weight over the stock hood.
Please dont go a2a with the turbo set up. w2a is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better suited for Fieros. Plus, since w2a is 4x more efficient, it can be smaller than a comparable a2a set up.
BTW, love your car!
Yes, I agree with you now. I have been doing more research on the turbo setup. Do w2a setups usually use the vehicles engine coolant system, or do they run a stand alone system just for the intercooler? I know high horsepower modified cars use stand alone systems. Do factory cars as well?
After collecting dust for quite some time, my F355 splitter is finally installed. Big belated thanks to Amida for bringing this product to light.
I had to avoid the odd curb/speedbump before, should be a complete pain in the ass to drive the car around town now. Between my fixed sparco buckets and this splitter that pretty much demolishes the resale value of the car.
Almost forgot, also installed a switch for my driving lights. Before this the switch was just hanging down all ghetto-like under the dash. I think this is mush better. Now I don't have to worry about ripping it off everytime I fold myself into the seat.
After collecting dust for quite some time, my F355 splitter is finally installed. Big belated thanks to Amida for bringing this product to light.
I had to avoid the odd curb/speedbump before, should be a complete pain in the ass to drive the car around town now. Between my fixed sparco buckets and this splitter that pretty much demolishes the resale value of the car.
I am completely digging that splitter! I should have bought one from Amida to go with my Fi355 nose.... Lets hope he can whip one out for me once I have the funds available again. You're doing a great job of keeping your mods clean and professional looking, and I LOVE that. Enjoying watching your ride as it comes along.
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[This message has been edited by randye (edited 01-03-2012).]
Thanks Randye. Always liked your car too, especially the colour. I had a jeep I built almost the same shade. I also really like what you have done to the interior. Nice and clean, but still looks fiero-esque.
Looks really nice! I haven't seen this thread bumped up in a while.
That clearance at the front should be manageable. I have less than a pop can in the area you placed it, and the only time I ever ran into a problem was trying to drive up forwards on the lift in my garage. Just take all driveways on angles!
Any more progress on those tail lights you wanted to do?
I can understand the engine build aside from the car, though, that's what I'm going to do with the stout 3200 destroker shortblock. Hopefully the TGP 3.1 shortblock will stay together in the meantime. 
