As the racing people say, car is just an umbrella to an engine, so...
I have started to build a drag Fiero, but must warn readers, it will be a very slow build.
Some pictures from the past few months:
The box is TH425 out of a Eldorado, engine block is '86-'87 Grand National "109" strongest factory block. I have the infamous half-shaft interference issue, but Right now, I'm in progress to make a 50mm(1.97") spacer between engine and box, then the shaft is below the main bearing and fits. Right now it hits the rod cap bolt.
Goal of the project is simple, single digit quarter mile times...
------------------ EX: ('86 2.8 V6) Current: '85 3.8Ti V6 New: '84 waiting for Grand National heart and Eldorado/Toronado soul
Looks fantastic so far, forgive my newbiness but what exactly does a transmission brake do? Keep the pictures coming.
Transbrake is situation, when reverse and 1st are engaged together. So I can put pedal to the metal and spool the beast up without moving an inch. If I release the T-brake reverse is de-engaged and car blasts off in 1st. There are several ways how to do that but 0 products for TH425, so I made my own. I modifyied the manual valve so, that when lever is in Low actually Low and Reverse both are engaged. When green light is lit, I move the lever to Drive and blast off.
quote
Originally posted by rudytj:
another newb question...explain minivan suspension
Eldorado/Toronado witch the trans came from used 33-spline wheel bearings and a pair of fat(1+") CV axles. I did not want to change the CV-axles to inferior Fiero ones. Rather I looked at ways to use the fat axles... 1993-1995 Pontiac trans sport/Chevrolet lumina APV/Oldsmobile shilouette with 3800 engines used wheel bearings that had the same 33-spline receiver. Now, Using only the bearings inside a Fiero spindle would require milling, but instead, I used the whole spindle. That had another problem. The Fiero ball joint was too small, so I measured the whole lower control arms, and they Fitted.
So all I wanted was 33 spline wheel bearings, but to have that without milling, I changed out lower control arm, outer tie rod end and spindle.
Bonus is, that I gained big vented rotors with 52mm calipers for brakes also. Also, minivan bolt circle is 5x115 witch is close enough to use Ford wheels(5x4.5" = 5x114.7).
once ur done I'd love to see u and fierox go head to head, tho his car is still street legal (by the looks of it, guessin urs won't be lol)
One of us would have to swap continents then But yes, it will not be street legal, so whatever it runs, it cant be compared to FieroX. He has done an excellent job with a street-legal Fiero. The cage is good for 8.5 safety index. Class ruled minimum weight will be 2250lb and engine will be 272ci Buick V6 Stage 2 off-center. I'm not gonna toss out any numbers before I have actually run them, 'cause there is bad economy on this part of the world also, and the car will get ready when it will I'm sure hoping for next year, but that's just me and my hopeless optimism.
Made a final payment for the engine as well. It WILL NOT be that pretty when it arrives. It will be less accessories, less turbo, crack in #1 cyl and in need of a full rebuild... But it looked that good a year ago
List: Block: 4.5L 274 ci Stage II Off-Center Block Compression ratio: 8.0:1 Heads: Champion GN1R Aluminum Heads/Valve Covers Latest Castings, 2.02 Intake, 1.60 Exhaust Valves Cam: Solid Roller Rocker arms: T&D 1.65 Roller Rockers Flywheel JW SFI w/BHJ SFI Balancer Oil Pan: Deep Wet Sump Pistons: JE Forged Pistons Rings: JE Rings Crankshaft: 3.625 BMS Forged Rods: Oliver 6.5 Rods Fuel injectors: 160 lb/hr Headers: Custom Made 1.625” Primary Stainless Headers Intake: BGC Intake and Spacer
Also, calculated weigth in another thread and came up with 2350lb with all bells and whistles including myself. So I need to lose another 100# somewhere... The cage is good for 8.5s safety index, so the goal is 725 at the wheels. We'll see if and how that's possible.
Cant get away from the 3.8 when it comes to drag racing a fiero I see!
Those 700whp numbers shouldnt be that far away, just be ready to invest in some nice race gas. Decide on a turbo yet?
Depends, one PT88 is on the sight, but if that deal falls off, then HX60 with 80mm wheel.
Right now, Im tied up with 2 1500hp th400 tranny rebuilds and one on-center buick v6(1200hp) that needs a rebuild asap. (need to pay for my engine with labour).
The latter drinks ethanol, and I'm also planning towards E85 or E100
Depends, one PT88 is on the sight, but if that deal falls off, then HX60 with 80mm wheel.
Right now, Im tied up with 2 1500hp th400 tranny rebuilds and one on-center buick v6(1200hp) that needs a rebuild asap. (need to pay for my engine with labour).
The latter drinks ethanol, and I'm also planning towards E85 or E100
you have the injector for E85/100 so have at it. Mine is going off the race gas here soon for E85 when I can get the fuel pumps sorted back out and bigger injectors(not really in that order).
I would be a bit weary of going with turbos as big as you are looking at. I am running a HX55ish (PT67) with a 67mm wheel turbo right now (with a small exhaust) and it has plenty of space in the 620-650whp area, yet it stills spools well enough.
If you dont mind a suggestion, heres my thoughts on turbos for these little buick v6's.
A PT74 would be more than enough turbo for 750whp, and you will retain weight advantages and keep some spool around. Guy I race with has a borgwarner S400 turbo with a 74mm blade on it making 730whp on low boost and a rough tune. He makes TONS of boost at the line and isnt quite able to exploit it like you may be able to... so smaller the better! He and I both expect almost 800 out of it when he is done maxing it out.
The holset line of turbos in a car that is already looking to drop weight would most likely be a rough battle. My smaller holset I used to run was just light enough to not upset things, but it was still about double what a comparable garrett brand turbo would have been. The "reliability" factor of the holset goes out the window when you plan on putting less than 10k miles a year on them too. I am always in fear of overheating my PT67.
[This message has been edited by darkhorizon (edited 08-05-2010).]
Not much done past few months. Crank is ground to 20/20, block is getting a sleeve and I'm trying to fit 13" sidewall wheels... Well, the biggest I could fit would be 26/10-15 so widening the rear was in order.
bent and original:
How it is done: only outer skin is cut and bent, inner fiberglass frame stays in place.
And the main building material, PU foam:
Those wheels now tucked into the wheel well are 325-50R15 ET Street Radial-s that have 13.1" sidewall and 11.6" thread. On the same scale is 28-10.5W and 28-11.5 ET Drag-s
Also, some other stuff has been held for me. The PT88 and BigStuff3 ecu. Right now I'm calculating the pro-s and con-s of hard filling the block.
Thanks for bumping this, I missed it the first time around. This is exactly what I was about to look for. Saves me the time. Curious how well this setup works in practice, and if he ever got it done.
Eldorado/Toronado witch the trans came from used 33-spline wheel bearings and a pair of fat(1+") CV axles. I did not want to change the CV-axles to inferior Fiero ones. Rather I looked at ways to use the fat axles... 1993-1995 Pontiac trans sport/Chevrolet lumina APV/Oldsmobile shilouette with 3800 engines used wheel bearings that had the same 33-spline receiver. Now, Using only the bearings inside a Fiero spindle would require milling, but instead, I used the whole spindle. That had another problem. The Fiero ball joint was too small, so I measured the whole lower control arms, and they Fitted.
So all I wanted was 33 spline wheel bearings, but to have that without milling, I changed out lower control arm, outer tie rod end and spindle.
Bonus is, that I gained big vented rotors with 52mm calipers for brakes also. Also, minivan bolt circle is 5x115 witch is close enough to use Ford wheels(5x4.5" = 5x114.7).
Made a final payment for the engine as well. It WILL NOT be that pretty when it arrives. It will be less accessories, less turbo, crack in #1 cyl and in need of a full rebuild... But it looked that good a year ago
Long time no update here, let the pictures speak for themselves...
Front:
Window frames:
Fuel pumps:
Rear panel:
Inside:
ECU:
Engine:
Right now, the car is at speed shop since I cant weld well, the headers are made there along with new coolant tubes. Also, I drove in the car for the first time when we towed it from speed shop storage to fabrication, and it was scary The spool limits the steering by 90% at least. Also, the front is too high, Rodney's drop ball joints have arrived to fix that.
Fortunately, there is still a couple of months to go until first test&tune day...
And a little video, with a lot of blablabla is Estonian, but basically the point is that speedshop owner talks what he did on the car. Cooling system and headers, downpipe and wastegate. In the end there is his 300zx block hard filling topic.
Nope, not yet. I only had time to go to the garage on lunchtime, uploaded new file and pushed the button. It started and ran for a minute, then I had to go back to work. Planning on testing and tuning on the weekend. Then I'll take the camera with me.
? is the front of the engine facing the back and the bell housing against the fire wall if so what did you do to reverse the rotation did you flip the diff so you dont have 3 gears of reverse and 1 forward
[This message has been edited by engine man (edited 04-09-2011).]
nosrac: I hope it will not run 9-s, I'm hoping 8-s
fieroguru: weight is about 2250lb, balance is about 60-65% to the rear.
engine man: look at the pic's on the thread, The diff is flipped. I opted this solution to have the diff gears work the right way. I could also swap the sides of the sprag.
Anyhow, brought the car home today. A lot of small issues to solve.
