ever thought about doing the grand am brake swap up front to add vented disks? the total cost would be less than $50. and you could change out to a larger master cyl and the judges would not notice the difference becase they are the same size.
We've thought of a couple different brake swaps up front before. We decided we were gonna do the "cheap n' easy" things first, and the way the brakes are set up now without the dust shields, with the cooling ducts, and the Carbomet pads, we're doing well. Brakes don't fade, we get the stop out of them we need. The front Pads last for a full 12 hour race, too. Backs go an entire race weekend.
If we go with some different brakes, we're probably gonna go a relatively unexplored route - my Dad is playing around with getting mid 2000's Malibu brakes on a Fiero. Benefit for those with street cars is that all four corners of the Malibu calipers fit a Fiero, as it has a mechanical parking brake like Fiero rear calipers do.
We're out in Oregon... so making the tow to the 24 hours at VIR isn't really realistic.
Too bad there is a ChumpCar race in Washington on May 5-6th. I would love to invite you to participate in our race in Reno on those dates. www.gwraceseries.com Reading your thread inspired us on our own Fiero. We built it to run the two 2011 Chumpcar races at Reno-Fernley. Both of which where canceled. So we started our own series. We did run at Infineon in October and will do so again in March, both with the Lemons.
I believe one Fiero will be coming over the mountain from S.F. for the May Reno event. But ours will be relegated to more pedestrian track duties. Keep us in the loop on your Dad's brake efforts.
We're not planning on attending the Spokane race on the 5-6th of May... A. because it's a relatively quick turnaround from our March/April race in Portland, and B. If we're gonna make the tow to Spokane (roughly 7 hours) it's gonna be for the 24 hour race. Having said that, a 10 hour tow to a completely unfamiliar track with relatively limited track time with the same turnaround issue is not likely either.
I'm glad we've been able to inspire a few Crapcan teams. Do you have a build thread for your car? Someday I'd love to get our car to Reno-Fernley, Infineon, Laguna Seca, Thunderhill, Buttonwillow, Willow Springs, Ridge Motorsports Park, etc. All these great west-coast tracks waiting to be driven. When our team gets to be a bit more reliable, and confident, we'll venture out. At this point, we're just not there yet.
Our original "rental driver" Zak has a Chumpcar/Lemons team with a Fiero. They've competed at Reno before with Lemons, and they're preparing another car. Who knows, they may be back out there some time.
[This message has been edited by ManMadeChickens (edited 02-07-2012).]
I have not put together a build thread. Yet. I did take a bunch of photos during the build with the intent of creating a build thread. But, as you know, the build doesn't actually end. For instance, since our race in October, we have added rear coilovers and 350 lb springs to the rear of our '88 Formula. Front coilovers are being designed now, but probably will not be built until after our March Infineon race. It will be rough in March with a total mismatch of spring rates, but what can I say?
I skimmed thru the post all awsome do the brake swap for the barretta well worht it and run pentosin brake fluid for racing Porsche factory ran it and we ran it itn our 24 hour lemons fiero and never had brake fade the baretta conversion was well worthi it cheap and carbotech makes pads for it with the slow fiero we can brake at the last cone at almost ant track and never experice brake fade keep up the good work!
Thanks for the props, and the advice. We're running Wilwood 600 EXP fluid, so it's just about the best stuff money can buy I imagine. We're exploring the brake upgrade options. Like I said, we might have a new trick up our sleeve. If so, I think it'll be a first for the Fiero community the setup we're looking into.
I realized I have yet to post our highlight video from the latest event a few weeks ago. So, here it is!
My teammate Drew bought a GPS/Accelerometer lap timer device, so now we can overlay speed, track position, and G-force on the videos. I'm working on making a Fiero 120 MPH speedometer for the overlay, so it's a little more authentic.
Hello again everyone, I just wanted to jump in here to add that we're gonna be doing a lot of work to the car over the long weekend coming up in a few days, so if you're interested in seeing the car, talking about ChumpCar or Fieros or whatever, you're welcome to come out and hang out. PM me for details if you want to come!
The latest endeavor is going to be Frankensteining together a 3.1L using two and a half engines: two 2.8's and one 3.1 will come together to make kind of a fun hybrid engine. We're planning on using the 2.8L iron head's .040" head gaskets with the 2.8L pistons, the 2.8 heads, and the 3.1L crank, which should be a mild upgrade in power over the stock engine in there now.
While you have everything apart, maybe consider a mild port/polish on the heads, and definitely clean up the exhaust manifolds too. Pick up some extra ponies for free!
My teammate Drew bought a GPS/Accelerometer lap timer device, so now we can overlay speed, track position, and G-force on the videos. I'm working on making a Fiero 120 MPH speedometer for the overlay, so it's a little more authentic.
Is that a SmartyCam? If so cool, I want one but its hard to justify 1000$. If not what is it?
[This message has been edited by FieroWannaBe (edited 05-22-2012).]
I always enjoy watching your vids, great stuff!! Some good white knuckle racing in there. Definitely get your hp up cause you're getting passed too much
1) Put a double-coat of rain-x on the windshield, and try not to use the wipers.. it works great at speed, and you can apply it to the top camera lens as well..
2) In the top vid of your most recent post, I think I hear a cracked / leaking exhaust manifold.. while you guys are going over the car this weekend, check it out.
Good luck with the races, and sad that you didn't make it up to the spokane raceway for the race the other week..
FieroWannaBe - The setup we're using is comprised of a few parts. The in-car stuff is a Samsung 1080p digital video cam, the external video is a GoPro Hero 2. The telemetry/overlay is done using a QStarz LT-Q6000 GPS Lap Timer. The Samsung camera can be had for about $150, a GoPro for $250 or so, and the lap timer is about $400. If you just wanted lap data, the $400 is all it would cost. To get the video overlay, you'd be looking at about $550 to replicate our setup with a single camera.
nitroheadz28 - When we're not in traffic, we do get a good run off the corner just because of how much mid to corner exit grip is inherent in the MR layout. When it rains, that's mostly out the window. There's some folks running this series with some stout 350's that tear our decals off when they pass us.
Aaron - Yeah, the GoPro outside definitely needed something this time. A Diesel Benz put down about a gallon of oil over the back half of the track, which meant that there was now rain, oil, and oil soaked speedy dry getting thrown up at it. Normally, it's not a problem. This lovely mix of stuff caked the windshield, the exterior camera lens, etc. It was nasty. The car has always had that wicked manifold leak. I'm pretty sure one of the exhaust studs on the front is broken off. Engine's coming out, it's getting attended to. I hate hearing it, it's bad for performance, and with no rear window, we get the fumes into the cockpit. We'd like to make it out to Spokane some day, but when we do we'd like it to be for the 24 hour. Maybe next year!
Here's a time-lapse of our cradle drop on Memorial Day weekend.
There's the shortblock and the trans off the cradle. I'm in the phase of assembling the new high-comp 3.1L motor now. However, I've run into a snag:
That's the 2.8L piston sticking .140" out past the deck of the 3.1L block when using the 3.1 crank. Ruh-roh! Apparently, the 2.8 pistons have a taller face above the upper ring land. It's thick enough up there that we're thinking of machining the face down so the pistons will be flush with the deck. This will net 10.43:1 compression, nominal .040" quench, and most of all, it'll be a cheap fix for our penny pinching team.
I'll post more pics as things develop. Once the motor is together, and "broken-in," I plan on taking it to the dyno... let's see what this junkyard motor can pull!
[This message has been edited by ManMadeChickens (edited 04-05-2018).]
Great to see you and your team flying the fiero banner at so many events Maybe once life settles down some I'll get to do the same. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing more
As an update to the thread, I can report that the engine was finished, installed, and running prior to the Northwest Fierofest weekend in Richland, Washington. I drove the car there and back, in the often 90°-100° heat. Only abnormality to report is that I may have been a bit aggressive in setting the timing past stock. The 10.5 compression, heat, lower octane fuel, and hilly terrain certainly let me know that it was too far advanced. It pinged quite badly going up hills under load. Setting it back closer to stock, and we'll see how it does with that.
All opened up for the show. Photo credit to Nolan Lamb.
That video is worth the wait til end. The golf had a bad habit of cutting the corner going into the chicane. Even with the chicane in the front straight, are you guys hitting 100mph?
The orange car is a Dodge Omni... but certainly does look like a Golf. There's about a 5" dip inside the curbing going into the chicane, and if you hook your tires the wrong way, you're in for a surprise- which is what he found out. We get up to about 105 on both straights, and down to about 35 going into that chicane.
Tried my best- it was pinging half the way home from Fierofest, but I limped it home as gingerly as I could. Our next race is October... we'll see how it holds up to 18 hours of endurance racing.
Tried my best- it was pinging half the way home from Fierofest, but I limped it home as gingerly as I could. Our next race is October... we'll see how it holds up to 18 hours of endurance racing.
Some small news to report. We've adjusted the caster on the race car. I used 1.5mm stainless washers to shim the control arm instead of the standard twin 6mm ones. 10.5mm in front, 1.5mm in rear to take us to 3.5°.
We also put in a new three-core aluminum radiator. Snagged it on eBay for a steal, we'll see how it does.
In addition, I've correctly set the timing for the new high-comp 3.1, and done a lot of other little odds and ends that needed attention. I feel like we're totally prepared for once!
We'll be at Portland International Raceway for ChumpCar's "Ghosts, Goblins, Ghouls and Grease Enduro" the weekend of October 27th and 28th. Green Flag drops at 9am both days. 12 hours of racing on Saturday, and 6 hours on Sunday. If you make it out to the track, be sure to stop by the team's pit and say hello!
Video will be posted after the event, like always!
[This message has been edited by ManMadeChickens (edited 10-17-2012).]
Congratulations on an excellent finish! Are the results official? Chumpcar has not posted yet. I am very pleased you guys did so well in the dark and wet
I got some nice "keeper" shots Sunday.
I can't wait to see your edited in car video! ------------------ "Now you too can see in the dark." http://projectorretrofit.com/
[This message has been edited by hairballrm (edited 10-30-2012).]
On my chevy V8 fiero i have a bunch of hose clamps! I was always having leaks and having to retighten the clamps. Than I went to the GM spring clamps. NO leaks! I get them when I am at the junk yards.
it works great at speed, and you can apply it to the top camera lens as well.. 
