every winter i make improvements to my car .then i drive it and some of the improvements turn out to be a step backwards .this year it was my new air cleaner: turns out it just isnt big enough to flow enough air .the engine was running out of power at 5500 rpm .so i had to revert to the old filter and make up a rain shield to keep the water off it .the new filter had an open ended cone cover built in to it so a water shield was not needed .fake carbon fibre too so it looked nice .but it has a very small amount of filter area and was not up to the task .pcs of my new setup: i put some padding on the edges that does double duty to also funnel the water away from the filter .now the car pulls strong up to 7000 rpm again .much more fun .
did a bit of tuning on the car .after i changed some things on the PE and HO timing charts last summer i thought it ran pretty good but it seemed rich and my gas mileage dropped a bit .but i left it that way because i did not have time to mess with it .i came to realize that most of the changes to the timing were unnecasary because the water meth injection and the vortech FMU was doing the same thing as the changes i made in the PE table .other things i had done to the tune seemed to be causing my LTFT trim to be in the red at anything below 2000 rpm and the timing dropped drastically at anything over 10 % throttle opening .i realize now that the tune i borrowed was for an engine without water meth or an FMU .so i put the tune back to mostly stock and scans i have taken show a big improvement in LTFT , the timing stays up where it should be and there is less KR and my mileage is back up to 32 mpg town driving /40 mpg hwy .the motor is idling and running smoother now as well as feeling a lot stronger in the upper revs .some people would now say that since my tune is so close to stock then what do you need HP tuners for? so this is the changes i made to the tune and car with HP tuners: 1-injector constant changed to 0.13350 for the 32 lb injectors . 2-speedometer change to 23200 ppm to correct for 245/50/16 tires . 3-redline changed to 7000 rpm . 4-speed limiter raised to 150 mph . 5-VATS deactivated . 6-raised idle to 1000 rpm . not huge changes but all things that make the car better for me .HP tuners is not cheap (the MPVI pro package i have was 650.00) .but i think it has been well worth the moneyespecially for the diagnostic tools .i like driving with my laptop connected and seeing all the engine parameters as i drive along .i can also delete any thrown code with a stroke of the keyboard .i went on a little holiday this week to the monday practice round of the masters .had a great time .but now i come home to my fiero covered in snow and freezing temps .hope it all melts tomorrow .norm says my flush mounts are being shipped this week .it will be nice to drive at night again .
the kit i bought originally was from RCC .it came with 4 Lebaron rear rotors ,camaro front calipers ,cadilac rears with the parking brake built in ,and front aluminum hubs and custom mounting brackets .but the rotors fit too sloppy on the hubs so i sent the hubs back to get a ring made to make the discs fit better .the guy at RCC swore up and down they were the right size but they did not fit the discs he sent me .he never sent them back to me , inspite of numerous calls and emails .while i was waiting i had the discs cut off and ran the stock hubs that fit perfectly with the lebaron discs .the setup has evolved to include street dreams drop spindles and the new front discs i just put on .if i do another fiero i would just buy the caliper brackets from a supplier and source everything else out myself .i would stick with the 11" discs because i just cant see needing any more stopping power than i have now .the increase in unsprung weight is not worth it .i got back from Georgia tuesday night and got greeted by a snow storm and the fiero was covered in 6 inches of the white stuff .global warming , what a bunch of BS .
i got back from Georgia tuesday night and got greeted by a snow storm and the fiero was covered in 6 inches of the white stuff .global warming , what a bunch of BS .
i have been playing around with my tune getting everything setup for the summer and i discovered a neat feature of my HP tuners software .i noticed that when you are on the display chart page it also has a timing feature .you cant turn it on or off , but if you pause the scrolling , you can use the cursor to calculate how long to do 0-60 runs by plotting your 0 point and then your 60 mph point because speed is also shown on the charts .so i took my HP tuners plug in recorder out to the car(i dont need the laptop to record a run ) hooked it up and went for a rip .so on a straight stretch of slightly uphill road i did a 0-60 mph run in 5.48 seconds .a personal best .
i have been playing around with my tune getting everything setup for the summer and i discovered a neat feature of my HP tuners software .i noticed that when you are on the display chart page it also has a timing feature .you cant turn it on or off , but if you pause the scrolling , you can use the cursor to calculate how long to do 0-60 runs by plotting your 0 point and then your 60 mph point because speed is also shown on the charts .so i took my HP tuners plug in recorder out to the car(i dont need the laptop to record a run ) hooked it up and went for a rip .so on a straight stretch of slightly uphill road i did a 0-60 mph run in 5.48 seconds .a personal best .
Damn, that's no slouch! Can't wait to ge me an ecotec!
thanks .it does seem noticeably faster than last year's version .the problems that are showing up though is my intake air temp is still too high during a full throttle run , not extreme about 40*C and my LTFT trim is in the red below 1500 rpm.my KR is way down to the point of almost non existant , that is the one major improvement so far .
my new headlights came from Norm's fibreglass the other day .Norm threw in a battery box because i was waitng a while for these .that was great of him , a pleasant and useful surprize .they fit great , an easy install in about an hour because i already had the old lights out . you have to drill one hole per side .the plexi fits well , if i wasnt so lazy i would do a little sanding and make it perfect .i am really happy with this product .
i decided to do a small mod to my new lights .i decided to add proper factory connectors to the setup rather than the semi hard wired setup that norm sent .norms wiring looked and worked fine but i wanted that factory look .so i went down to the local parts store and asked about new connectors and i got the usual answer : go to the wrecking yard .so off to Huron auto wreckers i went and after half a lap of the yard we found a 1993 grand prix and i got four factory connectors for 5 bucks .the high beam connectors are actually different from the low beams so you cant get them mixed up .info i got is GM only used these slim line headlights for 3 years .i think i will order a few spares in case they disappear completely .here are some pics: with factory connectors stock from norm: i aimed the the headlights and then took it for a ride and they work better than my old stock headlights and i think they look better too .
i have been driving the car a lot and not working on it much .it is running really well, i want to make some minor changes to the timing charts but i have been too lazy too bother .one thing i tried was to use the Hahn racecraft no drill turbo oiling system without the evacuation pump .i added a T in the drain line and ran it to the top of the engine compartment to vent the line .this did not work at all , the oil spewed out of the vent line and i was blowing blue smoke everywhere .the problem is the fitting that Hahn provides you with that goes in to the oil pan drain hole is way to small .so i put the pump back on but i did add a large bypass line that T's off below the turbo and loops down and back up to the hole i drilled and tapped where the factory drain hole goes .with the crankcase at negative pressure and a 2" total drop from the turbo to the oil pan inlet , this line gets rid of the excess oil during high rpm bursts an should provide a "limp home "mode should the pump fail .
my clutch slave cylinder packed it in today .and the local parts store cant get me one till wedsnday .i looked at the line from the front of the car and it is pretty well shot so i have splurged and ordered a new SS line from the fiero store .while i was in the mood to buy i ordered roger thelins transmission adapter kit .i mistakenly thought it was my homemade linkage that was giving me problems , so i ordered rogers kit to go back to a stock shifter.now that i know it was the slave , rogers kit will get installed next winter .the slave developed the same corrosion that they all seem to get .i pumped half a litre ot brake fluid through to clean the line .i will put the new line on in a couple of weeks as it will take that long to get to me .
i also decided to get a water to air intercooler kit from frozen boost.com .the air to air didnt work too bad , but according to my HP Tuners temps under boost were still in the red zone . i didnt want to run lines all the way to the front .i got the the full deal,fan cooled rad , water pump , straight through intercooler and ice box too .when i get all this stuff , i will post some pics , and then my old intercooler will be for sale .
my new slave came in a day early so i have the car running again .i got two new front tires today .i decided i did not like the rubber band look on the front and the old ones were worn bad from the front end being not quite right.i ended up with 205/16/55's to replace the 205/16/40's i had on .they fill the wheel well much better and ride much nicer .the old ones were making a lot of noise and now things are nice and quiet .i got a 4 wheel alignement done and took it out for a spin and thought i would see just how fast they would rotate .without incriminating myself , lets just say it is very easy to bury the needle now .the road was a little bumpy and the car hung right in there .here is a pic of the new tire :
my new air to water intercooler set up runs 12* C cooler under boost than my old air to air setup did .the old IC showed 40* C IAT under boost and the new one shows a max of 28* C .so it is a big improvement .
my new air to water intercooler set up runs 12* C cooler under boost than my old air to air setup did .the old IC showed 40* C IAT under boost and the new one shows a max of 28* C .so it is a big improvement .
Did you mount your heat exchanger up front - in front of the radiator? How does the fan work, does it come on automatically depending on inlet temps? If it does or can be made to do so, it would be great as it would help to control/eliminate heat soak. That's a pretty impressive drop in temp...how much boost are you running again? Now that your inlet temps have dropped so dramatically, do you still see a need for water/methanol?
Once again, great build and always look forward to reading about your updates!
i mounted the rad right in front of the lower rubber air dam .there is not enough room to get it vertical , but it seems to catch lots of air .i didnt want the fan running all the time , so it is wired on the same circuit as the water meth pump .when boost hits around 3 psi they both come on .the snow controller hits max injection at 8 psi and then both the water meth pump and the intercooler fan are going full out .i am still running at a max boost of 10.75 psi . i never did figure out how to get the AEM boost controller to work right but it makes a great boost guage .i am thinking about increasing my timing to get some more power , i get no KR at all now on a scan .i could up the boost instead but i would have to buy another controller .i dont really know what people mean when they talk about heat soak with regards to water to air intercoolers .with a constant flow of water from the tank to the rad to the IC and back to the tank i cant see anything but even temps all the way around .the IC is where my old air to air used to be , in the former cat converter location . thanks for posting ,and thanks for helping my thread hit over 20,000 views .
Hey any engine bay pictures that are new? Im looking at doing something new with my intake. I am having some way high IATs with my current intake setup.
nothing new in the engine bay these days .when i ran without the turbo i just hooked the stock 2.2 eco airbox to the stock 2.8 fiero cold air intake and air filter .that seemed to work really well .the stock fiero intake is one of the best flowing out there .i got my stuff from roger thelin the other day and i will post some pics .good to hear from you fosgate .
Yeah I have been going through alot of changes with my shop and office areas, my income has been severely smaller last few months and cars sitting in need of a new wideband. I am still driving it whenever I can just not much power
Wftb, how does the engine noise compare in your car with the ecotec versus the stock 2.8 you had before. Is is quieter? The reason I ask is because I am planning an ecotec SC swap and am hoping that the ecotec is quieter then the 2.8 that's in the car now.
Also, about how many km are you getting per tank of gas (my car is an 86SE v6 4 speed standard). I average about 320 km per tank and usually fill about 32 - 33 litres of fuel at each fill up, so that's around 10 litres per 100 km and this is about 80% highway/rural road (easy on the car) driving. I'm hoping that the ecotec will be more fuel efficient and raise my cruise range to atleast 400 km per tank under the same driving conditions. Is this realistic?
Thanks!
[This message has been edited by Eau_Rouge (edited 07-24-2009).]
the 2.8 was noisier but the muffler was shot so it is hard to make a comparison .when i did the swap i took a lot of the sound insulation off of the firewall.so i do get some unwanted valvetrain noise coming in to the cabin , but only at low speeds .when i drop the cradle to put in the shifter mods i bought from roger thelin , i am going to put in some proper new sound deadening .overall , unless i am pushing it hard it pretty much sounds like a GM built unmodified 4 cylinder cavalier .it is muffled down quite a bit with the turbo and the muffler and solstice cat.it makes a real snarling sound under boost .it is an amazing difference when you run it hard .i check my mileage a lot and with mixed driving around here i get between 13 to 15 km per litre of gas or 30 to 33 miles per american gallon(3.78L) .so that should translate to about 500 km with a little left in the tank .my gas guage does not work so i fill up when i hit 250 to 300 KM on the trip odometer .that is usually less than 20 litres of gas per week of driving to work and golf etc .
the 2.8 was noisier but the muffler was shot so it is hard to make a comparison .when i did the swap i took a lot of the sound insulation off of the firewall.so i do get some unwanted valvetrain noise coming in to the cabin , but only at low speeds .when i drop the cradle to put in the shifter mods i bought from roger thelin , i am going to put in some proper new sound deadening .overall , unless i am pushing it hard it pretty much sounds like a GM built unmodified 4 cylinder cavalier .it is muffled down quite a bit with the turbo and the muffler and solstice cat.it makes a real snarling sound under boost .it is an amazing difference when you run it hard .i check my mileage a lot and with mixed driving around here i get between 13 to 15 km per litre of gas or 30 to 33 miles per american gallon(3.78L) .so that should translate to about 500 km with a little left in the tank .my gas guage does not work so i fill up when i hit 250 to 300 KM on the trip odometer .that is usually less than 20 litres of gas per week of driving to work and golf etc .
Wow, 500 km per tank - very impressive...can't wait! I'n the mean time, I guess I should look at replacing my firewall insulation as its now 23 years old as are my suspension and drivetrain bushings - this should make it a little quieter and easier to live with.
One more question, what rpm do you turn at 100 km/h. Also, is the ecotec a smoother, more civilized engine than the stock 2.8?
the ecotec is a very smooth motor as it has balance shafts .roger thelin told me he used to run his without a dog bone and i believe him .mine just barely shakes a little when it idles ,but when i ran it NA with the stock airbox it behaved like an electric motor .i rev about 2100 rpm at 100km/hr .if you plan on running a 2.2 stock with the factory airbox, you wont hear the valvetrain noise as it acts like a muffler for that noise .and i used to get over 40mpg when i ran it stock , but i couldnt resist a turbo setup .thanks for the comments and questions .
i was at the SOFA show in london the other day and got a few ideas from the people there .too bad it rained , i relly wanted to hit the drag strip .show was really well organized , thanks to SOFA and the volunteers .one idea about relocating my air filter to the fender well where the old water seperator resided sounded good to me .puts the air filter out of the engine bay and protects it from rain as well as getting rid of my ugly rainshield .cant seem to post pics at this time .i keep resizing but pip keeps telling me they are too big .i will try again tomorrow .
changed my water to air intercooler out to a 750 cfm unit .i thought when i ordered the first one it said ti was good for for 450 hp , that was my misread and it said 450 cfm .new unit flows much better ,feels like the top end of the rev range is stronger now .it is physically a lot bigger , have to run a scan to see if it cools the charge better .i ran a scan with the first air to water unit with and without the water meth system hooked up .without water meth i had KR of 7* .with water meth running i had KR of 0* .the water meth makes a big difference in my setup , even with the cooler intake temps with the water to air intercooler .
today i did 200 miles on 2 lane roads with slow spots through small towns with traffic lights and stop signs etc (kincardine to london , ontario ) and got 35 mpg .i am more than happy with my mileage .
havent worked on the car for a while .i drive it to work and golf and it has run great all summer .never got to the dragstrip ,weather all summer up here has not been great .thought i would write this little update just to stay on the first page of the C zone , where i have been since it started .thanks Cliff !
havent worked on the car for a while .i drive it to work and golf and it has run great all summer .never got to the dragstrip ,weather all summer up here has not been great .thought i would write this little update just to stay on the first page of the C zone , where i have been since it started .thanks Cliff !
I hear you, I haven't completed all my intended updates/mods but after 4 years of not driving the car, when I got it to a condition that I was happy with over the summer I said to hell with continuing and decided that I would enjoy driving the car until it snowed...was looking forward to taking some nice fall drives but now I've got no clutch pedal pressure at all (clutch started to engage with the pedal right at the bottom then no pressure at all and I hear a popping sound when I press on the clutch pedal) so I guess I won't be enjoying those fall drives after all...what a kick in the pants! Sorry, just a little upset!
Regarding your setup, what inlet temps do you see with our current fall weather temps? Do you notice an increase in power, throttle response?
i havent ran a scan in a while but it feels a little stronger overall but like any car i have owned , it uses more gas in the cold weather .i have to add some antifreeze to the intercooler setup or take it off the road soon .i havent decided yet .good to hear from you ,have a good fall season......
i am still driving the car since there has been no snow or salt yet .just got back from the wreckers where i picked up a complete centre consul and skeleton , shifter and cables and other odds and ends for 50 bucks .dont know how much i will use but i need the shifter and cables to install Roger Thelin's transmission kit that i bought over the summer . i am going to do a cradle drop to make that job easier and when the engine is out of the way i am going to re route all the hoses to hide them from view .it is warmer than normal for november so i might still be driving right in to december this year .unexpected after the cold summer we had .
i am still driving the car since there has been no snow or salt yet .just got back from the wreckers where i picked up a complete centre consul and skeleton , shifter and cables and other odds and ends for 50 bucks .dont know how much i will use but i need the shifter and cables to install Roger Thelin's transmission kit that i bought over the summer . i am going to do a cradle drop to make that job easier and when the engine is out of the way i am going to re route all the hoses to hide them from view .it is warmer than normal for november so i might still be driving right in to december this year .unexpected after the cold summer we had .
Agreed,
Im still driving mine however I will be dropping the cradle as well and redoing and upgrading stuff
