shed is warmer now .its insulated with 2 feet of snow all around it .head is back on :



more pics tomorrow

the cylinder head is back on and torqued down .the oem head gasket had some sort of sealer on both sides and cleaning it off was a pain .but after i got it off i could see the need for sealant so i sprayed both sides of the cometic metal gasket with permatex spray a gasket .here is the gasket in place with ARP head studs installed:

I am so envious! Good choice on internals! Do you plan on putting more boost to it? Any change to the valve train? Cams, higher rate springs? I have a '06 Cobalt SS supercharged. I at the moment can only dream to do what you are doing! Im loving your build!

i am not changing the valve train at all .i hope to get a greddy profec and then up the boost to about 14 psi .that should be do able with my present equipment .hoping that will give me around 280 HP .thanks for the comments , kind of cold in the shed now but the wife's away and i need to get out there.....

wftb, where did you get your shop? I have one from Harbor Freight and it's just too narrow to work around the sides of the car but this one looks much better.

Thanks,

------------------
Alan Frazier

'84 2m4 Northstar 5 speed
'84 3800SCII sold
'86 GT-'92 3.4 TDC 5 speed(sold)

i got it from a place called "give me shelter " in uxbridge ont .they have a website with all the sizes available .mine is 11 X32 .two mods i did were
1 .built a pressure treated platform out of 2X4's and 3/4 " plywood .
2.put a 30 X 40 outer tarp over top of the whole thing and screwed it down to the platform .sunlight kills these buildings so i would rather buy a 100 dollar tarp every 3 years than a 700 dollar cover every 5 years .also this bldg has stitched seams that leak a bit so the tarp cures that.at first i was not that happy with my choice but with the platform and the tarp it has held up to some huge winds .it started howling around here about a month ago and it hasnt stopped yet .i live about 150 yards from lake huron .some nights the lake has been so noisy we have worn earplugs to be able to sleep .

so much for working on the car today.40 mph winds from due north so i had to rope the door shut and call it a day .

well i have had a change in plans .while trying to get the pully off to remove the front cover so i could get the cam chain in the right position , i managed to spin the cam drive sprocket on the crankshaft .i did not think that would even be possible but i did it .so that screw up combined with being worried about the scoring in #2 cylinder has convinced me to get another motor to put my new rods and pistons into .so off to a wreckers tomorrow for a low mile 2.2 , about 500.00 .but in the end , should work out better .except i also need another 100$ head gasket .oh well

i got a low mile (25000 miles) engine for 375.00 .it was cheaper because it's oil pan got a crack in it from the accident it was in .good for me because i am using my old pan that is already drilled for the turbo oil return .on the ontario auto recyclers website you can brouse through way over 500 ecotec motors .spent today tearing it down and so far i am happy .nice smooth bores without sratches and no sludge anywhere .the cylinder bores still have factory cross hatch lines . there was a lot of carbon buildup on the tops of the pistons , this engine was running rich for some reason .this is from an 06 cobalt and there are some changes from my old engine .it has a drive by wire throttle body ,no cast in EGR passage ,a cast cover where the PS pump would have been , a redesigned cam chain tensioner and some extra mouning hardware that i assume holds on an engine cover .i took apart most of what i need to do to put in my new pistons in about 4 hours today .it is so easy to work on an engine that is on a stand .the plan is to get this engine ready to drop in to the car , and then wait till spring and tow my fiero over to the garage when the snow is gone .pics:


returnless fuel rail that i cant use:

no EGR casting , factory PS drive cover:

drive by wire TB has a low profile but i cant use it:

new style thermostat housing , may have to swap for the old one :

nice clean valve train:

finally a cam chain i can see the marker links on:


nice bores

i ordered an LSJ head gasket today .i didnt want to risk reusing the cometic gasket even though the engine was never fired .i have not heard too many good things about the cometic gasket and the LSJ gasket is what most ecotec guys are using now .it holds boost really well and is 40.00 cheaper than the cometic head gasket .i ordered it from crate engine depot . com .

Thank you for keeping this updated! I love watching your build! Happy new year!

thanks everyone for watching and happy new year to everyone here .

i noticed an item on the ecotec forum recently .it was a group buy of 58X bolt on reluctor wheels .these allow you to run a 2.4L ecotec as well as the 2007 and newer 2.2 ecotec using the older ECM .my new motor is a 2006 because i did not think it would be possible to run anything newer with my wiring .nice to know that down the road i will be able to once again update to a nearly new motor .and since i am putting in a new motor , i have decided to do a cleanup on the engine compartment wiring and plumbing .i recently rerouted the heater core and turbo coolant feeds but i am still not happy with it .the main problem is that the outlets are at the back of the engine(next to the fiero trunk) and stick straight up .so to reach the fiero heater pipes , two rubber hoses have to go all the way around the engine .this is the mess i have now :

i have pulled off the charge tubing , intake tubing , exhaust pipes and muffler and turbo and manifold . i hope to improve on all of these items but at the same time i dont want to be without my fiero for the summer .i havent missed a summer since i did my swap so if i dont get it done on time , the old stuff goes back on .
this is a busy elbow .these taps will go on a new to me 2.4L ecotec intake manifold , as long as i can find one used .good for a 13hp gain over the 2.2 manifold and 3 lbs lighter.

my subaru 16g turbo is still in really good shape so i will continue to use it .bearings spin freely and no slop side to side .i am going to get a real turbo manifold and then use this plate that i made when i first went turbo to weld up a proper downpipe .

i will get a top mount log manifold and put the turbo back to its stock configuration , instead of this:

i have had my share of difficulties running my home brew turbo set up , but one thing i am proud of is that i have never broken down because of my setup .i like to make constant improvements and i hope to have a car that will be better and faster and still be as reliable as it has been up till now .

my cylinder head is back on my new motor .the lsj head gasket looks good and fit the 2.2 perfect.it has extra sealant on it that the cometic lacks .and since the machining lines can be seen (but not felt) i really think the sealant is needed.so , more pics:




back together ,and hopefully to stay together :

Wftb, I'm very interested in putting in a 2.4L ecotec in my car. I'd love to get an LSJ but it's expensive and more complicated/time consuming to make work in a fiero. Plus, I don't want to spend a year or more doing the swap and 180-190 hp in my fiero would be good enough for me. Also, I have no interest in a 3.8 or 3.4 - I like the 4 cylinder engines.

You say that with 7x wheel, a 2.4L can be made to work in a fiero, what exactly do you need to make the 2.4L ecotec operational in a fiero?
I'd like to do a swap like yours, that is by using the engine, transmission, ECM, BCM and the wiring harnesses necessary to make the engine work - I don't want to have to worry about re-writing codes for the ECM or tuning - would like to do it plug and play if possible.

Given your knowledge of the ecotec in a fiero, is it possible to make a 2.4L ecotec plug and play in a fiero?
Should I avoid any particular year of 2.4L ecotec and why?
If I source an engine from a solstice, will the stock flywheel, clutch setup work with the 2.2L ecotec 5 speed transmission?

...Just trying to get an understanding of what's needed to do this swap. Given your knowledge, if you could put a list together, it would be greatly appreciated.

Great build and please keep updating!

if you get the ecm, bcm ,steering collum with key in it ,fuel pump with harness , wiring harness from donor car ,gauge pod and gas pedal assembly ,then it is plug and play .the key is the wiring harness , this makes it easy .you will have to make your own motor mounts and figure out the DBW gas pedal mounting , and buy the shifter kit from roger thelin .you will have to extend some wires to reach the gauge cluster if you go that route.make sure you get hp tuners compatible model so you can disable the anti theft .i would stay away from the solstice motor because you cant use the exhaust manifold and i do not know about other problems that may crop up .LSJ's are dropping in price but you still cant get a good one for less than 900.00 .and that was without a harness or supercharger . i was thinking of going that route because the harness and tuning in my car can run an LSJ .but then i would need to sell my pistons and rods to recover some of the costs so i got the new 2.2 instead .i am now going to get a Hahn racecraft 20g turbo and manifold for the new motor.just waiting on the price....

I've been reading in the hybrid section of ecotecforum.com regarding putting a 2.2 head on a 2.4 block in order to get rid of VVT and not have to use throttle by wire. May elect to go this route instead as it does leave open the possibility of tuning.

Regarding your build, with your upgraded pistons, rods and turbo, are you aiming for more power, increased reliability/durability or all of the above?
Do you expect the crank shaft to be a weak point as it is not forged?

i am looking for more power and durability .the crank in a 2.2 is not forged but it is a very strong unit .it will handle over 500 hp ,a level i am not interested in .if you want a forged crank , the cheapest way is to go LSJ .a whole swap package from a wrecker will cost less than one forged crank from gm performance (and the eagle crank has been discontinued) .the 2.4 does not have a forged crank and it has powdered rods .they are heavier duty but only marginally .this is info i recently dug up that i think is accurate .the bottom end strength of 2.2 and 2.4 ecotecs comes from the massive crank girdle .a lightened crank would be nice but too much work for me .

i have today off and i am sitting here waiting for more parts , which apparently are slowly going through canada customs .these include my camshaft and drive pully bolts , so i cant put much more back together until they come in.in that order , i am also getting the ecotec build book and the 2.4L manifold .i was looking for a used one but no luck there and they are on for 10% off so why not .i have ordered the hahn racecraft HTZ-1085 turbo manifold and the matching 20G HTU-2910 turbocharger to go with it .bill hahn jr. put together a package with all the bolts and gaskets and gave me a great deal .this turbo is not the one listed for the cobalt ss ,it is a little cheaper as i dont need the cobalt specific parts .i am really glad i emailed hahn and asked them to put together a package .i saved 300.00 over what i would have paid if i had just ordered parts off the website , and the turbo should be better suited for the fiero .my old turbo is a 16G and i wanted to stick with that style of turbo as it spools really quick and produces boost at a low 1800 RPM .the 20G is capable of moving a lot more air and pressure can go way over what i need .i have to work nights all weekend , hopefully everything will be here by next week .

Wftb, I'm looking into purchasing an ecotec engine/trans - possibly the 2.0 supercharged if the price is right. Not too sure where to look. Do you have any sources that I can look into?

Thanks

check out the Ontario Automobile Recyclers Association website .once you are there , click on the "search for green parts " button .then you can do a make and model search for a 2006 cobalt ss or saturn ion redline and it will let you pick either the 2.4 or 2.0 supercharged motor .i found a 2.0 for less than 1000.00 but it did not have the supercharger .i found a wrecker near stratford ont that was selling what they called a swap kit to convert a stock cobalt to a supercharged SS version .it included the harness , ecm ,bcm , motor ,f35 trans ,axles , guage cluster and everything that was needed .price was 3300.00 .a little rich for me but only because it had a lot of stuff i did not need .happy hunting.....

i am getting a lot of work done on the new engine .valve cover and oil pan are back on, installed the 2.4L intake manifold and put the fuel rail back on .the adapter kit for the intake swap was not quite plug and play .it includes an adapter plate and gasket to go from the DBW throttle body to conventional TB .the extra bolt as supplied is way too long and i replaced that with a shorter allen socket head bolt .some material has to be removed from the TB with a dremel where this bolt head contacts the TB or you cannot get the TB bolts to line up .also , one of the bolts has to be torqued into the adapter plate and since it is only 1/8 " thick you need to add a nut on the bolt under the plate .you will strip the thread on the plate without the nut .my new turbo and manifold were shipped on the 4th but i am still waiting for it .we have had some more storms and road closures so it is sitting somewhere now .i have brought all my piping and fittings and intercooler in from the shed .i hope to mock up my new charge piping on the engine stand .i am going to try and mount the intercooler on the drivers side of the engine over the transaxle .this will eliminate about 6 feet of charge piping i hope .cant do it without the new turbo and manifold though .this is the only day i can work on it and i am waiting for parts again .have to work all weekend and monday .

got my new 20G turbo and hahn manifold:


mocking up new charge piping:

i checked the fit of the charge piping on the car .i have bolted the old cylinder head on to the motor in the car and now that it is warmer(40*f) ,this makes it easy to do test fits .i had to shorten the bracket i made to hold up the intercooler as it was too close to the decklid support arm .put all the clamps on and took some pics of what you will see when you look in the engine bay :

should be able to get the exhaust mocked up tomorrow and sunday .but , i hear there is another storm coming so maybe not....

Youll love the 20g, hahns products are superb and they are great to work with.

mounted the waste gate on my new turbo.i had to clock it and drill and tap a new hole to mount it to the turbo and bend and extend the actuator arm:


starting the new exhaust system .used a tailpipe expander to hold my downpipe flange in place for welding:

new brass fittings on intercooler :

have all day thursday to work on the car but working nights all weekend .

got most of my new 2.5" exhaust finished today .i have to leave the welding of the 90* exit pipes till after i have the new motor in and i figure out what kind of hangers i want to use .after i got it fitted and welded i put it all together in the basement :


the muffler is a flowmaster for a camaro .this time i managed to tuck everything up above the bottom of the bumper .should look nice with nothing exposed except the tips .

got the old motor out and now i am working on cleaning up my fuel lines and coolant lines .i am hard piping as much of the fuel lines as possible .i am doing away with all of the rubber hoses with a combo of original equipment flex lines and stuff from the junkyard and some new bits from cdn tire and ideal supply .on the coolant side ,i am going to take the cavalier overflow tank and mount it up front and get rid of the fiero overflow .i have been running with both ever since i got the ecotec running and this will improve aesthetics a lot .then i am going to sort out the wiring and get everything cleaned up and mounted better .i am going to rip all the old insulation off and put in new foil backed insulation .no pics tonight , going on holidays sunday , cant wait to get away from the snow....

I had the 2.5" version of that muffler on my '91 Camaro RS 5.0L, it sounded okay there. But I've no idea what it'll be like on a turbo 4. I'm surprised that I'm now curious. Will you be posting a sound clip? Or a link to one?

i hope to do a video in the spring if my wife can figure it out.i am hopeless when it comes to things like that .the car sounds awesome under boost but just driving around it sounds like any econobox .its a jekyl and hyde thing .

one of the improvements i have been working on is hard piping my fuel lines with adapter pipes that are compatible with the ecotec factory quick connect flex lines that connect to the tank and the engine fuel lines .this gets rid of the high pressure rubber hoses and multitude of clamps i have been using .here is how the return line is now hooked up :

the rest of the lines are complete and on the car .when i drop the motor in , i just have to put two quick connect flex lines on and the fuel circuit will be done .i have gone back to using the aeromotive FP regulator as i realized that i took it off when something else (my injector harness) was actually causing a problem .this regulator responds to boost and vaccuum and has a 1:1 boost to fuel pressure increase feature .i hard piped the vortec 6:1 FMU in as well and made a mount to attatch it to the intake manifold .now i am moving the cavalier overflow bottle to the front of the car and eliminating the fiero catch tank .i have been running with both and this will simplify things and free up more space in the engine compartment .