So back in 2007 I did a 3800 auto swap into an 87GT Jordan's 3800 sc swap thread In 2010 my wife and I had the first of our 2 beautiful girls.. and to help supplement our income while she was out of work I sold my first swap
Fast forward to last year.. I wanted to do another swap.. but this time i wanted a stick. So I found this gem...I Picked up an 88 fiero formula T-tops 5 spd in NH last year. It was going for $1500 but the guy sold it to me for $1200.
Some history.. it was bought in GA from a guy who put 107K miles on it from 1988-1993. Then it was sold to a guy who lives in NH and he put 2K miles on it from 1993-1995. It then sat.. traded hands again in 2005 to the kid I bought it from. But it’s basically been sitting in a driveway since 1995. The kid I bought it from planned on re-building the engine, so he started disassembling it but never finished.. so the stock engine is in pieces.
Here it is after towing it to my driveway last year
so I got started.. was going to try and drop the cradle in my driveway last year but it started getting cold Instead I got some help and we wheeled it into the garage.
I picked up an 99 L67 from craigslist for $300. Complete with harness. engine tear down interesting screw there had a front valve cover leak by the looks of it
Picked up an F23 from a local junkyard
junk yard score, found some tiburon seats for cheap
I picked up a harness and mounts from Fieroflyer I also grabbed a full size intercooler, 1.9 rockers, and ported supercharger with modular pulleys
I'm 1 bolt away from getting the stock cradle out. It's being a complete ***** .
But i figured I'd make this post to share some of my journey.. I know this has been done a million times by now but whats 1 more thread?
You wont want to go back. The 4 speed auto's are miles ahead of the stock 3 speeds, but the standards are way more fun. Shortened shifter is an absolute must though.
I sure hope so. I'm pretty sure I paid for the right one. Never actually looked at the physical differences. I just trusted they gave me the right one. I'll check it out. If it does turn out its the wrong one luckily the salvage yard isnt too far from me.
I'll check out that tutorial thread that shows the differences and compare it. thanks for the heads up.
I’ve returned to document my progress. So basically, 2015 I did absolutely nothing to the fiero. but .. 2016 I’ve started getting excited about it again.
Here’s what I currently have or just bought: 1998 L67 w/ harness Fieroflyer swap wiring harness F23 2000-2002 Transmission 2.2L Cav or Sunfire 2200 VIN4 F23 Transmission and 3800 Engine Mounts 3800 Camaro flywheel cut down to .840" Spec stage 3 Plus clutch SC883F idler pulley 89006 idler pulley 89009 x 2 tensioner 89007 AC Delete al 104 Spark plugs Acces. belt Gatorback 40060835 -(Bando) 6PK2120 (no PS pump) LIM coolant plugs- installed valve cover, intake manifold, supercharger gaskets(2), coolant elbows - installed IC core and pump –core installed 1.9 rockers w/ new bolts- installed N* TB LQ4 maf 03 chevy taho 5.3 New cradle mount brackets Poly motor mount and transmission mount front cradle bolts Rear Control & Lateral Arm & Fix Adjusting Link Poly Bushings Extra Teflon Grease Rebuilt Rear Calipers Rear Rotors Rear brake pads Rear Brake hoses Rear Ebrake Springs (pair) Rear Drivers side ebrake cable Rear Passengerside ebrake cable Rear Strut Bolts (may come from AMS) Fuel filter fuel pump 9-201-1000 DW200 series, 255lph in-tank w/ Universal Install Kit. X2 Exhaust Tips/muffler - in one tiburon seats
Here’s what’s left, so long as I don’t break something shifter adapter shifter cables 5spd select and F23 shift cable htob adapter Spec HTOB 1/4 N1774-.250 spacer flywheel bolts GM (24505092) Battery Cables Power Log IC hoses clamps and fittings Maf, TPS wire adapters TB adapter Fuel rails starter Wheel bearings fuel rail adapters fuel rail adapters Fuel filter and line adapters 4x Hose ends 6an braided fuel lines EGR block off plate (exhaust side) fuel sending unit TB cable screw Driver's side coolant line Coolant line Brackets Coolant hose E71075 Coolant line for heater core 5/8" Heater Core Coolant line Plug Green Engine Coolant Front 'lower' Ball joints (lowering) Front 'upper' Ball joints Zero Lash endlinks 1988 HEAVY DUTY KYB FRONT SHOCKS (PAIR) 88 UPPER CONTROL ARM PADDLE NUT (x2) Rear Zero Lash End links Rear Coil-overs KYB adjustable "325lb" rate
Yes, I still have "Thelma" (brought a 87 SE as a daily driver that I call "Louise"). I recently completed the 13" Corvette front brake upgrade with 12" upgrade on the rear. I'll moved to NC so after last summer I will definitely be adding AC. Do you recall if the harness has the AC plug?
nice! so happy to hear it's being maintained and upgraded.
nope, don't think it does. FIEROFLYER built the harness. I don't think it'd be difficult to add though. I'm pretty sure i stripped out all of the AC parts when I did the swap though, so it might be a ***** to get all the parts back in.
Slow going, but the weather was so nice today I managed to get some stuff done
quote
Now don't forget the "engine bay" picture...
Here's the proof that it was actually me who got the engine out lol
I finally removed everything from the cradle. The strut bolts were a huge pain in the ass. I ended up having to heat them up, get them spinning with my impact wrench, and smack them with a sledge hammer to get them to come out.
Also the e-brake was so rusted the nut would not spin, so I cut the cable.. i didn't want to but had no choice.
The last headache will be this ***** : The passenger side front cradle bolt. I had to cut both ends off to get the cradle out. I soaked it in PB Blaster.. I figure I'll heat it up as much as I can and then wack it with my sledge hammer. But I'm open to suggestions.
Originally posted by ignorant prodigy: The passenger side front cradle bolt. I had to cut both ends off to get the cradle out. I soaked it in PB Blaster.. I figure I'll heat it up as much as I can and then wack it with my sledge hammer. But I'm open to suggestions.
I had this problem with mine and I spent almost 14 hours trying to drill out the bolt. The eventual solution was to use my ball joint removal tool. It is basically a huge beefy C-clamp with a pocket that gives the other side of the bolt a place to go as it is pushed out. Soak it in PB Blaster, heat it up nice an hot, then put the ball joint clamp on.
Edit: Once the bolt starts moving, you eventually run out of bolt to push on. Just insert another slightly smaller bolt into the clamp to push on the stuck bolt.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 03-13-2016).]
You wont want to go back. The 4 speed auto's are miles ahead of the stock 3 speeds, but the standards are way more fun. Shortened shifter is an absolute must though.
Its just about the longest damn throw between gears that i've ever seen. My friends have all commented on it at some point, especially when we drag race! lol
I had this problem with mine and I spent almost 14 hours trying to drill out the bolt. The eventual solution was to use my ball joint removal tool. It is basically a huge beefy C-clamp with a pocket that gives the other side of the bolt a place to go as it is pushed out. Soak it in PB Blaster, heat it up nice an hot, then put the ball joint clamp on.
Edit: Once the bolt starts moving, you eventually run out of bolt to push on. Just insert another slightly smaller bolt into the clamp to push on the stuck bolt.
awesome, I'll give that a shot. it's much less violent than whacking it with a sledge hammer
I had this problem with mine and I spent almost 14 hours trying to drill out the bolt. The eventual solution was to use my ball joint removal tool. It is basically a huge beefy C-clamp with a pocket that gives the other side of the bolt a place to go as it is pushed out. Soak it in PB Blaster, heat it up nice an hot, then put the ball joint clamp on.
Edit: Once the bolt starts moving, you eventually run out of bolt to push on. Just insert another slightly smaller bolt into the clamp to push on the stuck bolt.
so I was trying to figure out belt routing while keeping my alternator in the stock location. I'm trying to do this w/o spending a ton of money and don't have a welding machine. I already had an AC delete from a previous life..but I didn't want to buy a low mount alt. or a PS delete so I started taking a look at what I have in my garage.
I tried playing with a bunch of stuff, swapping pullies to different sizes etc.. then I saw an extra coil bracket.. i eyeballed it and thought.. hey that may work There's a threaded hole near the head that I can bolt it to...
So I started cutting
Then I bolted it in the hole.. hmmm appears to line up to the other accessory items
I flipped it around so the edge was jutting out, threw a belt on it and wha-la! free PS delete This pic shows where I cut the bracket sort of rests on a lip on the side of block. It's very rigid
[This message has been edited by ignorant prodigy (edited 03-27-2016).]
You said you don't have a welder or anything so what are you doing for the f23 mounts?
I got the custom F23 and engine brackets 3 years ago (literally.. 3/27/13) from Dan a.ka. fieroflyer here on the forums They just sat in my garage. He also did my wiring harness for both of my fieros. I’ve used him for a lot of things, great guy and not greedy with his pricing. I just recently got new bushings and mounts from Rodney Dickman because my stock rubber ones were in very bad shape. They can all been seen in this pic
I’m starting to think getting a welder and learning how would be a wise investment. Someday when I have a bigger garage.. right now I have hardly any room to do anything in there. When you have to move your snow blower, air compressor and grill into the driveway just to get at your car… you have a problem.
don't have much of an update... but took out the trunk carpet to get a better idea of the rust status. Also found some under the insulation where the air box was.
I know I'm not the only one... but my collection of "not used" parts is starting to get a little out of hand.
Today I set out to get rid of the old bushings to put in some new poly My torch ran out of juice.. So I started using my drill. There's a lot of techniques for getting these out. Some like to use a tiny bit and drill the outside of the bushing. I tried that but was breaking my drill bits... so instead I drilled 4 or 5 larger holes in the rubber, then stuck one of my punches from my air hammer in the metal sleeve.
Then I whacked it with my mallet and it popped right out.
rinse and repeat.. no broken bits and no sticky rubber residue
