Got my NOS front calipers from calipersonline.com today. These were assembly line pieces and never boxed as replacement parts, they are in great condition and still look brand new.
I had to eliminate my e-brake because of my cradle mods so it's no big deal putting front calipers on the rear.
I am dropping the car off Thursday morning for exhaust work, I will post pics of the finished system.
Edit: Wow! I get page 6 too....what are the odds!
[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 10-02-2023).]
Amazing thread - kudos to the genius that can make this kind of transplant successfully! I'm dragging my heels on an '87 Duke swap into an '86 Duke. Shame on me!
I wonder what percentage of E brakes are actually functional. I prefer to have them even on auto trans vehicles. The E brake has to work to pass the safety certificate for ownership transfer. I've seen some cars with separate parking brake calipers. I guess if you wanted to sell it, you could sell uncertified...
[This message has been edited by David Hambleton (edited 06-06-2013).]
Just ordered me the same front & rear set from same location...thanks for the post! I am using them with my e-brake and they are going on an 86GT with BMWGuru's adaptors!
Amazing thread - kudos to the genius that can make this kind of transplant successfully! I'm dragging my heels on an '87 Duke swap into an '86 Duke. Shame on me!
I wonder what percentage of E brakes are actually functional. I prefer to have them even on auto trans vehicles. The E brake has to work to pass the safety certificate for ownership transfer. I've seen some cars with separate parking brake calipers. I guess if you wanted to sell it, you could sell uncertified...
My cables were all in pretty good shape, but mine isn't a rust belt car. Among the many nice things about living in Minnesota is no emissions testing (thanks Jessie Ventura), and no vehicle safety inspections ( except for commercial vehicles), so the lack of an e-brake isn't an issue.
[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 06-06-2013).]
I'm surprised there is anyplace in North America that you can get license plates for a vehicle without a safety inspection certificate. I'd be a little concerned about used vehicle sales to unsuspecting purchasers...
A little internet research revealed there are 30 states not requiring safety certificates to get license plates. Hmmmm......
Do the insurance companies charge more for the 'uncertified' vehicles?
[This message has been edited by David Hambleton (edited 06-06-2013).]
Do the insurance companies charge more for the 'uncertified' vehicles?
There a few dealerships offering "certified" used cars, but that is purely an in-house inspection to make sure what they sell is in good shape. Plus it's a good sales gimmick. As far as I know, insurance rates in MN are based mainly upon a persons driving record and the type of vehicle insured and not the mechanical quality of said vehicle.
I'm surprised there is anyplace in North America that you can get license plates for a vehicle without a safety inspection certificate. I'd be a little concerned about used vehicle sales to unsuspecting purchasers...
Rust kills them so fast here that some are off the road before they hit 100,000 miles. We haven't had testing in MN since the mid 90s... we do have a 'lemon law' however, so its in the best interest of sellers to make sure the car is in decent shape before the sale.
Update: It's been a week now since I got her back on the road. The 3.5HO engine revs to 6500 rpm and has a manifold tuning valve and a short runner valve that changes the airflow through the intake above 5000 rpm. The result is this engine just pulls hard and smooth all the way from idle to redline, making it a helluva lot of fun to drive. Filled the tank today, 7.3 gallons for 139 miles driven, so just under 20 mpg. Pretty good considering there has been more than a handful of full throttle runs, and plenty of idling while I worked out a few bugs. TorquePro indicates instant fuel economy around 25 while cruising on the highway. The engine is turning about 2100 rpm at 65 mph so I anticipate decent highway mileage if I can keep my foot out of it.
Been dealing with a cooling system issue, the SAAB coolant tank has a 20lb cap and the cap on the radiator was only 15lbs. When the front cap would try and vent, it would leak out around the cap because I had plugged the overflow port. I ended up plugging the radiator opening with a Dorman rubber expansion plug which so far has cured my leak problem. I can't find a 15lb threaded cap to fit the SAAB tank so I may go back to the pick n pull to look for a different coolant tank that uses a standard cap. I'm not sure what the long term effects would be of running a system at a higher pressure than stock.
Got my exhaust done by Tim's Custom Exhaust in Anoka. They did a great job of fitting it all in, it's amazing how little room there is. The twin MagnaFlow mufflers sound sweet with a nice mellow tone when driving normally and a good bark when the loud pedal hits the carpet. Stay tuned for an updated video...
[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 10-02-2023).]
At 65mph in my 300M I'm right at 2100rpm too. My car gets 25mpg on the highway all day long so I expect you will fare a bit better than that. I was expecting more in the 30 range for you. I'm very impressed with this build and have been following it since the start. I would love to see this beast in person. I know how well this motor pulls my 300 and can't even imagine what it does for a fiero! Good job can't wait for the video with the exhaust on it.
Update: It's been a week now since I got her back on the road. The 3.5HO engine revs to 6500 rpm and has a manifold tuning valve and a short runner valve that changes the airflow through the intake above 5000 rpm. The result is this engine just pulls hard and smooth all the way from idle to redline, making it a helluva lot of fun to drive. Filled the tank today, 7.3 gallons for 139 miles driven, so just under 20 mpg. Pretty good considering there has been more than a handful of full throttle runs, and plenty of idling while I worked out a few bugs. TorquePro indicates instant fuel economy around 25 while cruising on the highway. The engine is turning about 2100 rpm at 65 mph so I anticipate decent highway mileage if I can keep my foot out of it.
Been dealing with a cooling system issue, the SAAB coolant tank has a 20lb cap and the cap on the radiator was only 15lbs. When the front cap would try and vent, it would leak out around the cap because I had plugged the overflow port. I ended up plugging the radiator opening with a Dorman rubber expansion plug which so far has cured my leak problem. I can't find a 15lb threaded cap to fit the SAAB tank so I may go back to the pick n pull to look for a different coolant tank that uses a standard cap. I'm not sure what the long term effects would be of running a system at a higher pressure than stock.
Got my exhaust done by Tim's Custom Exhaust in Anoka. They did a great job of fitting it all in, it's amazing how little room there is. The twin MagnaFlow mufflers sound sweet with a nice mellow tone when driving normally and a good bark when the loud pedal hits the carpet. Stay tuned for an updated video...
Some may not like it, but I love the way fabricated (cut & weld vs U & J bends) exhaust looks.
Engine wouldn't start today after a quick 10 min stop at the auto parts store. First time that has happened, pretty warm today, think it may be a heat soak issue. Started again after leaving the trunk lid open for 10 minutes. Thinking I may need to add a couple decklid vents to let the heat out. Any suggestions?
Engine wouldn't start today after a quick 10 min stop at the auto parts store. First time that has happened, pretty warm today, think it may be a heat soak issue. Started again after leaving the trunk lid open for 10 minutes. Thinking I may need to add a couple decklid vents to let the heat out. Any suggestions?
Obviously it was just sitting on the car, I cut the flange off and it fit the deck lid pretty well. I assume that you also have the stock side vent, I put some Archie rockers on to add air flow. Scoops in the windows Also a big vent for the radiator
My car will hold 190 under normal driving and on ocasion has hit 210 under very spirited driving but the fan will pull it back off after I get out of it. Thanks for sharing your build, its very out of the box. Well done.
[This message has been edited by Jake_Dragon (edited 06-13-2013).]
My car will run down the road all day at 195-198 deg and never higher than 213 when idling in traffic. I think I need something to let the heat rise out of the engine compartment when parked. A scoop would be cool, seen a couple pics of 84 center decklid vent being retrofit too.
My car will run down the road all day at 195-198 deg and never higher than 213 when idling in traffic. I think I need something to let the heat rise out of the engine compartment when parked. A scoop would be cool, seen a couple pics of 84 center decklid vent being retrofit too.
Just make sure that you can get air flow in as well as out. There was a reproduction in fiberglass but I don't recall who sold it.
Car had a seizure on the freeway today and left me stranded against the concrete center divider. The engine just shut off and the PRNDL and odometer displays went dark, the speedo went to 120, the odometer display came back on with a "no bus" message for a few seconds, and then went back to normal. When I tried to restart, the starter would stutter like the relay was shutting off and the PRNDL and odometer displays would blink in unison. Opened the trunk lid and let things cool for about 10 minutes or so, hoping not to get rear-ended as I sat there. After a few failed attempts, the engine started and ran fine the rest of the trip. I know there are a few 300M owners out there in Fiero land, anybody ever experience something similar? It's pretty tough to find any useable diagnostic info about this engine on the web. Best I could tell, it may be a failing crank sensor.
I've got about 350 miles on it so far, and It's been a fun car to drive, but there are a few bugs popping up I need to deal with. The stalling / no start issue. I think I have a wheel bearing going bad. The radiator has had trouble keeping up at 70mph on the freeway the last couple warm days, it runs 197-199 when the temps are cool but Sunday when it was 85 and sunny it was 208-212. So I think I may get a Champion 3-row aluminum Radiator to remedy that. My engine has developed an incontinence problem and will randomly leave a small coolant spot on the garage floor, it's never more than a tablespoonful. I think my new waterpump from O'reillys is the culprit. (That one irks me because I wasn't particularly sanguine about using the MasterPro brand went for it anyway). Since I'd hafta pull the engine out to replace it, I'm gonna let it go for now because it only dribbles after the engine has cooled down.
Car had a seizure on the freeway today and left me stranded against the concrete center divider. The engine just shut off and the PRNDL and odometer displays went dark, the speedo went to 120, the odometer display came back on with a "no bus" message for a few seconds, and then went back to normal. When I tried to restart, the starter would stutter like the relay was shutting off and the PRNDL and odometer displays would blink in unison. Opened the trunk lid and let things cool for about 10 minutes or so, hoping not to get rear-ended as I sat there. After a few failed attempts, the engine started and ran fine the rest of the trip. I know there are a few 300M owners out there in Fiero land, anybody ever experience something similar? It's pretty tough to find any useable diagnostic info about this engine on the web. Best I could tell, it may be a failing crank sensor.
My boss had a 300M that did the exact same thing. It was a crank sensor.
Finally got around to installing the new crank sensor tonight. As a test, I tugged on harnesses and wire connectors with the engine running to check for a loose connection or bad wire but the engine didn't miss a beat, so hopefully the sensor fixes it. Drove it for the first time since Thursday last week, life always gets so busy and it cuts into my Fiero time.
This project come full circle today with the disposal of the donor car. It's been in my driveway and in my garage for the last 10 months, it's weird not to see it around anymore. I paid $1500 for the car, sold around $400 worth of parts, and got $189 when I scrapped it today, so I'm into it for a shade over a grand. I probably spent another $1100-$1200 bucks in parts and steel. So my grand total is about $2200, not too bad I think.
The car comes home:
The car goes bye-bye:
[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 10-02-2023).]
Another project completed today.... I had been running an air filter right off the end of the intake boot as a temporary setup til i could decide on what I wanted to do. The problem with that setup was IAT readings of 125deg or more when idling around in traffic, and a lack of power because of it. I have been trying to decide between decklid scoop or an intake tube/remote filter, I really didn't want to cut a hole in my lid so I decided on a cold air intake tube. I had to custom make one seeing as nobody carries one for a Fiero with a Chrysler engine. I started out with a 6' length of 3.5" dia exhaust pipe. The curved sections are welded up from a series of pie shaped wedges. The welds were ground smooth and the pipes painted. I built it in 3 sections to make it easier to install and connected them together with rubber pipe couplers. I haven't had a chance to drive it yet, but I'm thinking my IAT #'s should be a lot lower. Eventually there will be a couple of Fiero Fiberglass open side scoops to feed even more cool air to the filter but that's another day.......
[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 10-02-2023).]
Installed a receiver hitch in preparation for the trip to The Tyler show. I decided to mount it to my rear transmission cross member and just use an offset ball mount to bring it up. I wanted to make the hitch removable, so step one was to make up some weld nuts. I just welded some grade 8 nuts to a piece of bar stock and cut them into pieces.
I drilled the mounting hole along with 2 smaller flanking holes.
I slipped the nut inside the cross member, plug welded it in place, and ground the welds flush.
Mounted to the cross member. To make the hitch I bought a bare weld-in receiver tube and welded it to a piece of 3/16" plate that had been bent 90 deg.
A pic with the bumper cover reinstalled. I welded the loops shut on a couple eye bolts and installed them for safety chain holders.
Got the new Champion 3 core radiator installed as well. Only $199 bucks on ebay and free shipping to boot! Had to modify the rubber mounts as well as the upper radiator bracket but it fits quite nicely.
[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 10-02-2023).]
Put on almost 500 miles last weekend with the trip to Frazee and back for the Tyler show. The car ran great, got 26 MPG, and didn't give me a lick of trouble the entire time. There isn't too much happening build-wise right now, I'm just enjoying the hell outta the car and doing a few oddsy-endsy things to it. There are plenty of things on the to-do list for this winter though.
I finally got around to installing my deck lid struts ( thanks Blake). I've got the modified hinge mounts and found I needed to add an extra brace to the hinge to stop them from flexing the firewall and skewing the deck lid when shut. Originally I used the SG304046 strut, but with no wing the deck lid was like a catapult. After much Google-ing, I found a 65# rated strut that worked great. I used the Stabilus ball stud kit # SG900001 $3.29 from O'Reilly's and the Stabilus SG 459027 lift strut $18.99 from O'Reilly's. I decided not to use a bracket and mounted the ball stud to the strut tower.
[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 10-02-2023).]
I was never completely happy with the white faced gauges and the electroluminescent backlighting. The white faces didn't fit with the style of the car and at night the EL was too bright and I had no way to dim it. On a recent trip to the pick-n-pull, I spotted some black faced gauges in a 2002 Chrysler Concorde. I liked the look and the cluster looked to be the same size as the 300M cluster so for $21 bucks I grabbed it. The Concorde gauges plugged right in to the 300 cluster and worked fine. I added some flexible LED light strip to backlight the new gauges.
Cluster before:
Cluster after:
[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 10-02-2023).]
Great build Seajai! took me almost a week on and off to read the whole thing but well worth the time! Great out of the box thinking and problem solving! Very well done, hel[ping me come up with some out of the box ideas of my own. Hehe!
Well, the weather is cold and the fuel tank is empty so I have made the decision to call it a season for the Fiero. It was a quick 5 months that included a few car shows, including a trip to Frazee, and a 750 mile round trip to Illinois to pick up a part from Fiero Thomas. Total miles driven: 5200, number of breakdowns: 1 failed crank sensor (two if you count the damn wheel incident). I wanted to go for one last drive tonight but the battery was stone dead from sitting in the cold the last couple weeks, which meant my last drive was me pushing it into the garage. I am planning on pulling the engine apart to clean, paint, and replace anything that looks worn. I also plan on having the throttle body bored out to 70mm and installing an intake plenum spacer which is supposed to improve mid-range torque. The transmission is going to get a new transfer chain and sprockets to change the final drive gear ratio from 3.66 to 3.89, this should give me a little more punch out of the hole and combined with the engine mods hopefully will get my 0-60 times under 6 seconds. There is a dash swap in there somewhere as well and I am hoping to paint too if the money holds out.
Makes me want my "GT" on the road so much more 
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[IMG]http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b50/francis4
