I'll start from the beginning. I was born in late '86 and custom built by my first owner. He had every option put into me including factory suede seats. He took very good care of me. Always keeping up on the maintenance and keeping me inside the garage. He passed away and I sat in the garage....never driven anymore. My paint faded and I started to smell like old mouse smell. His wife wanted the car to go to a good home and she turned away several buyers. Through a friend of a friend that is a customer of my current owner Dave, his wife came and picked me up. Within weeks, I was repainted, cleaned, got new shoes, recovered my seats, tuned up and treated very well....and even took me on a vacation.....
That was when it all started to go downhill........
Dave (BMWGuru), thought I smelled like an old lawnmower going down the highway. He decided to install a simple 3800s/c with a 3.4" pulley in me (262 whp). That was great. I did whine a lot in the beginning and I think he really liked my whining. So within a few months, he added 1.84 roller rocker arms, ported blower, a Northstar throttle body, a better tune and a cold air intake. Next thing I knew, I was at the drag strip.....it was rough. So, during the next winter, I was parked next to an orange and black Fiero, and on the other side was this German VR6 Fiero.....(it spoke with a funny accent). They were telling me to just go with the flow and not to worry about it. All these other Fieros showed up and left over time. They came into the shop slow and left screaming and whining.
After it started to get warm, I was knocking a bit on the inside. Dave got concerned. I thought he was going to turn down my boost and let me take it easy, but instead he had Ryan make a set of headers for me....topped off with a new stainless exhaust.
Then my knock was under control and I thought I could relax a bit. Then my bumper and hood came off, and I'm getting tubing stuffed under me. What the hell is that?! A short stack intercooler and a 3.2" supercharger pulley. WTF?
I started to have some stopping issues. I was going too fast and my undersized brakes couldn't keep up..... The solution....
Then the beatings really started. Everyday.....I was being beat on....The pain.....my rear shoes had no more tread....then newer sticky shoes got put on and the beatings got worse. I couldn't take much more, so I turned to meth. It eased the pain of the beatings and kept my blower cold (the 116 octane rating helps too). The only downside of the meth is now when I get juiced, I am all over the road. I completely lose my grip and I'm flying. I try to keep my meth addiction a secret, so I hide my controller where it can't be seen.....
My pump is hidden in the front under the jack.....
and my nozzle is hidden from plain sight too....
Now I feel good all the time. Still being beaten on, but I kinda like it. Here is a pic of me smiling......
Until a component in the meth system fails, causing chipped pistons to be spewed out of that nice stainless exhaust, like many others on Clubgp.
Maybe it is just a GM thing. We have been putting meth on VW's without fail for quite a while....maybe those guys on club GP need better tunes....or stop running them so close to the edge of failure.
I know how I tuned it and I'm not worried. Besides, a 3800 engine is pretty cheap at the junkyard. Then I can add a series III to the mod list.
Dave
[This message has been edited by bmwguru (edited 01-30-2012).]
Originally posted by Justinbart: Until a component in the meth system fails, causing chipped pistons to be spewed out of that nice stainless exhaust, like many others on Clubgp.
Hey I jumped on Club GP to look for some instances of this, but didn't find much. Could you post some links so I can read up on it please? Thanks.
Please Please Please figure out a way to market that awesome looking exhaust
I realize that all swaps are not mounted in the identical location, which makes a "one size fits all" exhaust difficult, but perhaps you can come up with a questionnaire for customers to fill in (height of engine from a datum, distance from X, Y, etc..
That is an awesome looking exhaust and I believe it would sell
Please Please Please figure out a way to market that awesome looking exhaust
I realize that all swaps are not mounted in the identical location, which makes a "one size fits all" exhaust difficult, but perhaps you can come up with a questionnaire for customers to fill in (height of engine from a datum, distance from X, Y, etc..
That is an awesome looking exhaust and I believe it would sell
We can sell the exhaust...we do have a jig for it, but the cost of the materials and time spent fabricating the headers drives the price up. Everything is stainless steel and TIG welded. If I remember correctly, we have been charging around $1200ish for the headers and crossover, which has two ball flares with no gaskets to blow out and it drops to a flex joint and then to a V-band for the muffler attachment.
We can run the headers either way....towards the front or the rear. If run to the rear, the trunk would need to be partially reduced at the bottom or the standard, fully reduced. We can do that in Haus as well for $350.
quote
Originally posted by css9450:
Never mind the exhaust, the headers, the meth or the window banner - I just wish I still had hair like that.
LOL
Dave
[This message has been edited by bmwguru (edited 02-02-2012).]
Love the story n the headers. I used ball flanges on mine to, expensive but well worth it. About the meth spray I can't say whether it will eat coating off or not but I once bought a gen v from a guy and it was soaked with gas when I got it. I asked him why n he said "hym maybe my guy got gas on it when he shipped it out." well he clearly lied cuz I found a thread where he was running a wet kit n that's how the damn gas ate the coating off.
If you run the headers to the front (stock fiero direction), do you manufacture the downpipe? I have a series III oilpan and don't want the exhaust to hit, and would like to run a catalytic as well.
It looks like you are a 9 hr drive from me... I wonder if my 24 year old car would reliably make it to the "Home of the Brave and the Land of Snooki...."
Do you have any pics of the echaust going the stock route?
If you run the headers to the front (stock fiero direction), do you manufacture the downpipe? I have a series III oilpan and don't want the exhaust to hit, and would like to run a catalytic as well.
It looks like you are a 9 hr drive from me... I wonder if my 24 year old car would reliably make it to the "Home of the Brave and the Land of Snooki...."
Do you have any pics of the echaust going the stock route?
If you browse through my "Haus of Guru" thread, I have a few exhaust systems we fabricated that ran to the front of the car. We can build whatever you like, but for best fitment, I'd advise bringing the car to the Jersey shore. Dave
Funny, I've searched Club GP, Grand Prix Forum, and W Body forums and haven't found this overwhelming evidence that this will definitely cause serious issues. Almost all of the discussions were people that have never even tried it, stating their opinions on what they believe it would do. This is why I asked for more info, some place I could look at actual experience being discussed. Oh well, I don't have a SC anymore anyway.
Funny, I've searched Club GP, Grand Prix Forum, and W Body forums and haven't found this overwhelming evidence that this will definitely cause serious issues. Almost all of the discussions were people that have never even tried it, stating their opinions on what they believe it would do. This is why I asked for more info, some place I could look at actual experience being discussed. Oh well, I don't have a SC anymore anyway.
There are pros and cons to everything. I weighed them out and normally my blower gets pulled once a year for cleaning and prepping for shows. Secondly, I like the fact that the meth injection will clean the carbon deposits from the intake valves. Back before fuel injection cleaning was popular, we would take a small cup of water and pour it slowly into the carburetor to "steam out" the inside of the engine. Then later on, "run rite" and then "sea foam" became popular based on that initial cup of water idea. The only complaints I read about are the s/c rotors get a blueish tint to them over time. I run a 33% meth mixure in my Fiero which is -20 washer fluid. I tuned my car to not rely on it in case of meth pump failure....I didn't want it to go lean. The entire purpose of the meth in my car is to cool the blower and keep my engine clean. When I pull the blower next year, I'll pull the lower intake and take some pics to see if it is doing more damage than good, but I don't expect that to be true. I do plan to take advantage of it when I hit the dyno and the track, so we can see what kind of difference it will make.
I saw on the 1/4 mile sticky that one Grand Prix dropped 6 tenths off his quarter mile with no tuning just the meth.
She was getting some serious valve float over 4,000rpms, so I added 105lbs valve springs, a single roller timing chain and powdercoated valve covers. I believe I finally hit the right balance of power to reliability. The engine is so much smoother and keeps pulling instead of breaking up in the higher rpm range now. Dave
I ran at the track with the meth on and the meth off. I had a 0.4 gain with the meth on. I also found the meth to be quite damaging....I bent my stock transmission brackets and need to ugrade to Rodney's thicker ones.
Nice job on the car and a fine looking set of headers. As for the meth injection you can overcome any flaking of the supercharger lobes by installing the injector nozzles in the LIM. As for meth H2O's value on a boosted 3800; the comparison between it and those running the full stack IC might yield some interesting results. The user comments over on the ClubGP forum seem to be away meth injection but your tests seem to disagree with that. Having not used meth.H2O injection I really can't confirm or disprove anything.
------------------ " THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, custom ZZP Intercooler setup, 3.4" Pulley, Northstar TB, LS1 MAF, 3" Flotech Afterburner Exhaust, Autolite 104's, MSD wires, Custom CAI, 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite. "THE COLUSSUS" 87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H " ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "
Nice job on the car and a fine looking set of headers. As for the meth injection you can overcome any flaking of the supercharger lobes by installing the injector nozzles in the LIM. As for meth H2O's value on a boosted 3800; the comparison between it and those running the full stack IC might yield some interesting results. The user comments over on the ClubGP forum seem to be away meth injection but your tests seem to disagree with that. Having not used meth.H2O injection I really can't confirm or disprove anything.
Thanks Dennis,
I absolutely love the header design. The ball flares are more forgiving and less expensive than V-bands. As for flaking....none so far. I just pulled the blower to freshen it up for the GM nationals when I did my valve springs. I hope to find 5 minutes of time to get the car to the dyno and back to the track again. If/or when the rotors start to flake, I'll probably upgrade to a Gen V or send the blower rotors out to be recoated. I'm not at that point yet, so I'll address it when it becomes an issue.
A lot of changes have been made since the last post. The meth was sold and to make up for the missing high, a VS cam was installed. I was seeking a little bump in performance without a change in the sound of the engine that the XP camshaft gave. A gen V blower was installed with a functioning pcv and the gen III blower was sold (no flaking). Also, the roller rocker arms were sold and stock arms were installed to work with the camshaft.
Now the car is getting ready to come out for Spring, but it looks like it will be either going back in for fresh paint or going up for sale.
[This message has been edited by bmwguru (edited 04-13-2014).]
I saw the thread title and then saw who posted it and understood, knowing who you are and your wife, I have to say I think your addiction is cheaper than hers and that hay burner she has, nice story about how you turned a perfectly good Fiero into a meth addict,
How is the new puppy doing with the kids? I haven't heard much about that since you lost the last pup and hope you found a good match for what I know is a good family,
Keep up the good work Dave and tell the wife and kids I said hi.
Steve
------------------ Technology is great when it works, and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't
I saw the thread title and then saw who posted it and understood, knowing who you are and your wife, I have to say I think your addiction is cheaper than hers and that hay burner she has, nice story about how you turned a perfectly good Fiero into a meth addict,
How is the new puppy doing with the kids? I haven't heard much about that since you lost the last pup and hope you found a good match for what I know is a good family,
Keep up the good work Dave and tell the wife and kids I said hi.
Steve
Thanks Steve. The pup is getting old (7 years), big (110lbs) and moody. She is very very protective of the kids and won't let anyone near them...which has caused some minor issues in the past. Other than that I am trying to take this year away from doing swaps and just enjoy tinkering with mine. Dave