Real Fiero Tech

I know there's some interest here in these, and I was gonna post some truly excellent stuff on how one guy got his Syclone into the 8s, but I know you'd want to try your own ideas, so why bother. In that same folder I found the story of the first Typhoon.

nice find

My typhoon build would look something like this.

I'd take an LS1, and cut off the front two cylinders. I'd then boost it to high heaven.

Cool info.

How do Trailblazer SS's compare to SyTy's? I know the Trailblazer is a lot heavier...

GM should have boosted the 4.2 I6, though. :thumbleft:

The trailblazer has the 8.6" rear axle, and a great rear suspension, loosely based on the '82-'02 Camaro, but way stronger. Why would they bother boosting the 6 when they has the LS2 that made far more horseys than the original Sy/Ty setup?
If anyone would give me a second gen Camaro ot Trans Am, I'd be interested in starting a boosted 4.2 project.

What does the original SyTy setup have to do with boosted I6 vs V8 and what does that have to do with the axle?

GM also had 245 HP V8's and was about to release the LT1 with 275-300 HP. Why did they go with a boosted V6? They did it because the builder showed them a concept, not because they did any engineering to figure out if that was the best way to do it.

Take, for example, the ZR1 Corvette. Early in that program someone in "management" dictated that the car would NOT have a hood bulge and would not lose any over-hood visibility compared to the base Vette. That made a HELL of a lot of work for the powertrain engineers. The production powertrain would probably make more power with less boost (and would have costed less to develop) if built to the original height, but some exec just HAD to have the sight angle... <sigh>

Basically, half the time there isn't a good reason for an OE to do anything, beyond their idiotic toothbrush-salesman managers who think it would be "cool" or who have no grasp of the engineering trade-offs involved.