my auto tech teacher in high school dropped a grand national v6 into his and with under 5k was making close to 500 hp. that was his street car.

 

my 85 GT with nothing but a cat delete and cold air intake

and 125hp dry nitrous shot smoked the town drag racer

of course this was 20 yrs ago.

he had a sure enough bad boss 351 mach 1 with a 4-speed,

my little go-cart made him look silly.

sad thing was a coupla weeks after that he blew a front tire

racing a GN and hit the GN and killed them both.

it didn't take long for me to quit street-racing.

 

I have had 2 fieros one 2.8 and the other a 2.4? (I think that little 4 banger is 2.4) the 4cyl is very very slow but, of my two third gens I have owned the fieros handle much better because of the weight distribution. They feel like they can take a corner at top speed without braking or even really letting up on the gas, of course with the third gen you should be able to get to the corner, park, make lunch, eat, take a nap, and warm up the car again before the fiero can get there. My 2.8 was traded for my 92's title but the current fiero was aquired for $500 and all it needed was a clutch ($125) and now it gets 30mpg every tank, so... who the hell needs a preus if an american sports car can pull that off, overcome that cost of ownership.

 

my dad has a 86 fiero gt with a sbc 350 crankin about 500 horse and a 175 shot on top of that it has vented rotors, 3rd gen calipers.