Hey guys,

Dunno if many of you guys remember me, but I was going to do a whole rebuild on my 2.8 MPFI. The important thing to remember was, that going into this, I wanted 2 things..

1) MORE power
2) I wanted it to look totally stock.


Well, here is the list of things that I did...

- 3.1 Crank + Rods (polished, balanced)
- 3.1 Hyperutectic .040 overbore, lightweight aluminum pistons (brings it up to 3.2 liters)
- Cyl Head work - Port / Polish / Port-matching, 3 angle valve job
- SI Stainless Steel swirl-finish racing valves
- Ported exhaust manifolds, port-matched to the cyl heads.
- Lower Intake - Port / Polish / Port-match to the enlarged intake cyl head valves
- Intake Runners - Port / Polish / Port-match to the Lower Intake.
- Intake Plenum - Port / Polish / Port-match to the Intake Runners.
- Throttle Body - Professionally bored out to 57 mm (stock 52). It was bored WITH the intake plenum attached.
- 17lb Accel Performance Fuel Injectors (stock 15lb)
- Accel 40,000 Volt Ignition Coil (painted black to look factory original, heheh)
- ARI Performance - Phase II Camshaft (highest lift / duration I can go to and still be compatible with the computer)
- CompCams 1.52:1 Roller Rocker-Arms
- Hypertech Underdrive Pulleys
- Y-PIPE - ceramic coated inside, heat treated outside (to look factory)
- Ocelot Header Pipe
- Ocelot Free-flow 3-way Performance Catalytic converter
- Ocelot Free-flow Performance Exhaust system (I kept the factory exhaust tips)
- And some other crap, K&N Air filter, Hypertech Low temperature thermostat, Accel MAT sensor, etc etc.
- Aluminum light-weight neutrally balanced flywheel.


The CRANK, RODS, PISTONS, CAM, BEARINGS, and FLYWHEEL I got all from ARI Racing - www.engine-parts.com

The CompCAMS 1.52:1 Roller rockers, 17lb fuel injectors I got from Summit Racing.

The Ocelot Exhaust stuff, ignition coil, y-pipe, thermostat, air filter, sensors, valves, I got from The Fiero Store www.firestore.com

The throttle body and intake plenum were bored to 57mm by Darrel Morse MORSE86@aol.com



Anyway, my Fiero had been sitting for the past 3 years, so the suspension is shot, and the tires are trashed.

If I had to completely just guess... from the STOCK 2.8 140hp / 170lbs of torque. I'm guessing that I'm probably putting out about 175-180hp / 200-205lbs of torque.

Total cost for the engine rebuild, machine shop costs, and all the parts came out to about $1,400 bucks.
(I did all the removal / installation labor) The price includes the assembly of the motor from the machine shop (Austral Racing Engine Rebuilders) plus a 12 month warrenty!

Anyway, even though the car is as beat up as it is.. I decided to take it for a drive. (the car looks nice, but the suspension is shot). Keep in mind, this is with 5 year old plug wires, 3 year old gasoline, timing set by hand (not with a light), and dry rotting tires.

I don't have any exact times, but it made a HUGE HUGE difference from before. My car was running great before. I was running consistent high 15s / low 16s with my friends GTECH before I pulled the motor (3.33:1 3-speed automatic tranny).

Judging by what it feels like in my other cars, I'd have to say that i'm running high 14s right now. It's VERY smooth power too... the car does jerk you back, but because of the torque curve of our motors, it keeps you planted in the seat until the shift. I'm really happy with it. I expect that once I get my whole suspension rebuilt, replace my shocks, get some GOOD gas, change the plugs / wires and set the timing correctly, I think I can muster up mid 14s.

The biggest issue for me was trying to figure out what kind or.. how much fuel my motor should be getting. It turns out that 17lb injectors are almost perfect. It runs a little rich at wide open throttle, but I'm hoping I can correct that with a programmable chip. FYI, I'm using the stock fuel pressure regulator.


Tell me what you guys think? As soon as I can get the car re-registered, and the suspension work done, I'll take it to Moroso. I haven't been driving it hard AT ALL because I'm still breaking in the motor... but that's the kind of performance feel I got bringing the rpms up to maybe 4,500 or something.


Thanks,

 

Hah! That should be "www.fierostore.com" NOT "www.firestore.com"

OOPS!

 

that is a whole lot of machining man I really hope there is a much bigger difference I mean crap that is alot. Nice work

 

Thanks! Yeah, to be honest, I really did notice a HUGE difference, it's like the difference between the 4 cyl mode, and the V6 model. It FEELS like I went with maybe a run of the mill V8. The thing is, I WAS kind of limited to the parts I could put in there. All the parts I put into the motor have fancy names, and fancy terms... etc.. but there really were often better choices I could have gone with. I could have snagged the aluminum heads, gone with higher compression pistons, but the thing is, I really really wanted my car to look factory stock. And that's the cool thing about it. When you look at the engine bay, it looks like it came from the factory, nothing that you can see (unless you can spot the yellow injectors) looks different from the factory. The Accel ignition coil, I even painted black so no one would know!

I'm really happy with the results.

I personally prefer the more conservative looking V6 cars (without all the ground effects, etc). But if this was on a 3rd gen F-body, and I was doing a motor swap, I probably would have gone with either a 350 V8 swap, or more realistically, I would have gone with a GM 3.4 crate motor. With the 3.4 crate motor, you get to re-use everything you had before.. (same computer, etc etc). With the V8, you basically have to go carbureted.

I wonder why more people don't swap in the 3800 Series-II motor. They had the Turbo TA in 1989, so you know they make the engine mounts. It would be nice to have a V6 3rd gen, like a 1989 or something, drop in a Supercharged 3800 Series-II from say, a Pontiac Grand Prix, hook it up to a 5-speed (same bell-housing if I remember correctley), and you've got yourself a 230hp 3rd gen that would make an excellent daily driver. Ultimately, you can do more with a V8 for the same amount of money... but the 3.8 would get you better fuel economy, better throttle response, etc.

 

Because I couldnt find out what motor mount brackests teh 3800 Series II used, or what would fit the 3rd gen engine bay. Icould've gotten a Series II & tranny, ecm, harness & needed about 10 more items to get it to work for $300

 

Do you really think all of that work was worth it? I started looking into all of the same parts about a month ago but never saw anybody actually do all of that work. If I do it though, I am going to get the aluminum heads, high compression pistons, and 100hp shot of dry NOS. But I just want to know if it is going to be worth all of the work and money for someone who wants to keep a v-6 in their car and if good gas mileage is still going to be an option.

 

Well, I can pretty much tell you it probably DID affect my fuel economy.

But.. yes, I DEFINITELY think it was worth it. Honestly, the difference in performance was NIGHT and day. It pulls like a friggin raped gorilla. It screams... it really does pull hard. It's putting out over 200 foot pounds of torque.

That's pretty damned decent.

With the set-up I did.. I can go with NOS easily and not hurt my motor (in reason of course).

You can't go with aluminum heads unless you plan on changing your intake, etc..