88 L36 to L67 swap

[The Dark Side of Will]

gotta hit the yards and find the 4.3 duct that Sinister recommends.

Good to hear it's going well.

I'm not sure I've heard of this duct

[jelly2m81]

Good to hear it's going well.

I'm not sure I've heard of this duct

It's one listed on Ryan's site, there's a few pics of it in his build photos.

http://www.gmtuners.com/fiero/parts.htm

Layed the iphone on a milk crate behind the car today, I'll be dammed if it doesn't sound like a V6 Fiero... I guess it's liveable


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyECbtWA ... e=youtu.be

Ya I have a bearing whine, probably the alternator, that was seized up from sitting in the Regal, I just broke it free with a 15/16 wrench on the nut to get it to turn. No biggie, I wasn't concerned with that it's an easy fix... drop it off at the alt shop and say fix it. Thing is to verify everything swapwise works and then deal with the minor shit. As with my Evap purge solenoid, I knew there was lingering issues comming from the Regal.

[jelly2m81]

So I been driving this thing for the past week, works great haven't done anything other than replacing that pitted CV joint and broken axle seal. The whine is the AC compressor clutch assembly but it's steadily quietning up, maybe it's ready to seize LOL. Think I'll just buy a new AC compressor instead of buying a new clutch / bearing assembly, it's only a difference of 70 bux at Rockauto, project for next spring or this winter if it get's a turbo.

It's nimble, not fast, sorta feels like it's a car that's not lacking power ( like alot of cars and stock Fiero's do ). The 4T65E with the 3.05 differential ratio isn't to bad but it seems kind of sensitive on torque convertor lock and unlock at light engine loads. I didn't experiance this in the Regal, possibly it's a mix of Fiero OE tire size and the stock PCM tune. The harness wasn't wired from the factory for Performance shift so idk if the PCM has that enabled or not. Ryan can probably answer that. I can always add the pin to the PCM connector to wire than in, again another winter project.

One thing that will need priority attention is the rear springs. Ride height looks normal but driving it does feel ass heavy and it does bottom out at speed on big bumps, and our roads are shit.
If I recall the factory 88 rear springs are only 142 lbs/in, I don't recall what I put in the L67 5 spd swap, but I think they were 350-375 lbs/in ( customer sourced the springs, I just installed them ) and for the life of me I can't recall how that car rode / reacted to our roads, I believe it was more on the stiff side.

I'm thinking 300-350 at the max for springs for this, we want to keep some of that 88 feel to it and want to keep it balanced with the stock front springs. I need to read more of Series's shock spring rate tread to figure out what to use taking in accound for spring length.

I fucking love the 4 low mount engine /trans mounts you don't feel any movement from the drivetrain.

[jelly2m81]

If anyone cares, I'm getting 28.5mpg in city / rural driving. This is zero highway driving, a few sprints to 80-90 mpg, lots of puttering through the coffee shop drive through, stop lights and signs, just normal day to day use.

292 miles @ 10.23 us gallons

I was hoping for 30 mpg in this function, but seeing the original drivetrain was rated at like 18 mpg city, I'll be satisfied with that. I'll do a Highway mileage test someday and post that, Ideally I would be stoked with ~36mpg.

[jelly2m81]

Factory GM Keyless entry is temporary wired for testing, ended up removing door lock relay assembly completely and letting the BCM control the lock solenoids directly. For that I had to rewire the door lock switches to ground instead of the factory +12 V and also did the same for the trunk release switch/ relay. The remote trunk release is gonna be handy.
Going to finalize the wiring once I decide where to mount the remote receiver, so far it works fine just laying on the console, I might just bury it in there somewhere easy.

There's a few more functions the BCM could control like theater lighting, Horn control on lock/unlock, various warning lights but I don't feel any of that stuff is necessary for me.

[jelly2m81]

So after a long time, like 8 years now this hooptie has been just sitting off to the side letting the elements destroy it, I did drive it very little back in 2014 but since then the collection of Fiero's became more of junk sitting in the way than anything else and I came to the realization I wasn't going to put both back on the road so debating between the 88 GT T-Top and the 88 GT with the 3800NA swap I sold off the T-Top and kept the 3800 swapped one. It was the better overall car.

This spring I decided to finally make a nice Fiero, one last hurrah! so after way more money than I planned to put into it getting it as close to new as possible it's almost there. I got it to a point where I didn't feel ashamed driving a raggedy ass car. While not finished yet I have been driving it and am surprised how actually decent these shit boxes are once you address the worst bits ( 70's Drive train, brakes, tires ).

Here's what I had to work with, a Badly weather deteriorated paint and windows, 20 year old tires... usual shit.

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And here it is at this stage

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The Paint is pretty good but it needs to go back for some redoing but I told the guy I'd drive it for the summer and he could have it back through the winter when it gets slow. I guess I'm being too anal at this point.

Geez what did I replace? Alot. I'm not gonna be that guy that lists everything right down to the air filter.... I put the 12 inch brake Rotors on it and the S10 Brake Booster which doesn't make it brake harder but that booster does make the brakes feel like a modern car which is a bonus in my book.

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I did replace the Brake hoses after this pic

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I used 1/4 windows off of Ebay which look really good, I got the clear ones, it gives the car a clean look

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I bit the bullet and got Keith Goodyear Tail light lenses, No these aren't cheap but they are worth every penny, these are a extremly high quality product. Very Happy with this purchase. Also you can see in this pic I had a still arched wing squirreled away forever to use.

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Another pricey item but again worth every penny is a Alex Babineau Recovered Steering wheel with extra padding, I opted for the 3x padding. This steering wheel alone is by far the single best upgrade to the car in my opinion, gone is that comically thin old ass steering wheel from 1970 and something that feels like what you find in a modern car.

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Those are like the big ticket items, For the next stage I'm thinking Mr. Mikes ( maybe, my seats are still pristine ) and possibly new wheels. I do have a complete 3800 SC /4T65eHD to swap in along with a Gen5 blower and ZZP stainless front and back manifolds. The NA is actually a good motor it pulls strong but yanno, if ya go 3800 may as well do the SC one.

Here is a vid of the 3800NA and nonHD trans on a pull,

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g12klicnm74eg ... 1.MOV?dl=0

[jelly2m81]

. The 4T65E with the 3.05 differential ratio isn't to bad but it seems kind of sensitive on torque convertor lock and unlock at light engine loads. I didn't experiance this in the Regal, possibly it's a mix of Fiero OE tire size and the stock PCM tune.

Replying to my own post to add that the Sensitive shifting was a failing coil, I lost a coil shortly after this, after replacing it the car shifted fine.

[Shaun41178(2)]

Nice. Turned out great imo.

[ericjon262]

Looking good!

[The Dark Side of Will]

Great that you stuck with it and found your mojo again!

[CaptainHindsight]

What did you use for paint?

What is all this hullabaloo about needing a bigger brake booster on the Fiero's? Up until about 10 years ago my daily drivers were all 1973 and earlier. Late 80's is practically brand new

[pmbrunelle]

Fastest restoration ever... just one forum post!

I like both the stock 88 yellow and this yellow, but this yellow being different makes the car more unique.

[Honest Don]

What is all this hullabaloo about needing a bigger brake booster on the Fiero's? Up until about 10 years ago my daily drivers were all 1973 and earlier. Late 80's is practically brand new

I'm a fan. It made a big difference on mine. I went by these instructions:

You can do it without cutting the banjo. Was browsing and came up on this guide: http://www.gtfieros.com/phpBB3/viewtopi ... ster#p4086

[Emc209i]

Great looking car Jelly!!

I'll also vouch for the bigger booster, I like having it for a daily.

[jelly2m81]

Thanks for the nice replies guys. Ya I guess it was kind of ' quick' that's because I let the cash do this which means I just bought everything before hand. I replaced alot of cosmetic stuff right down to all the body fasteners and shit from the Fiero store, I didn't mess with any old fasteners.
I didn't have to do any mechanical past the brake booster, Pads and rotors, hoses and replace the caliper slider boots and lube those.

I just wanted it nice, no half way so it was ' Just order it all ' I am still a bit irked by the paint shop. It was a body off spray ( minus roof panel and rear clip, fuck pulling those off) When it came back first thing I did was mask the roof and clip off then I scotch padded all of the metal under the panels and resprayed even the underfloor pan, suspension, repainted the calipers to black.. It' looked good!. putting the panels back on I found a definite color miss match....

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After lots of excuses of them trying to place blame elsewhere ( this happened because they didn't lay a white sealer coat on some of the panels, just sprayed over the black ) There was never any fight with them respraying it and doing it right but they would only redo it with the body on the car, so all of my nice black underneath has yellow overspray Everywhere. Even the fucking wheels were covered in yellow over spray..... 2nd time around I only panted black what is exposed, it's over spray underneath. Jesus fuck Spray paint got expensive!

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Left half and face is after lots of work but you can see the yellow on the right half... Right now I'm debating on having these wheels refinished at a wheel shop of just replacing them entirely.

Still it's not 100 correct and has to go back yet again...fml


I'm sure the Engine / trans swap will be the same thing. It'll just happen over a few days.

[jelly2m81]

How fast can jelly swap an 88 3800NA to a 3800 SC with an HD trans?


I have 2 hours in it so far....

[jelly2m81]

Dirty and pollen covered, damn it still looks good,,,,
just needs that Whine when it does nerd things:P

That wing bro.....

[eHoward]

Car looks really good.

And thanks for the insight on the brake booster.

[jelly2m81]

Well my swap has been slowed by a combination of lazyness and customer cars, anyway thought I'd post my home brew fuel rails.

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[The Dark Side of Will]

Wrinkle finish on the blower and valve covers looks sharp... will be hell to keep clean, though.