Street Solutions DTB

Bassman wrote: Memories...sorry Patrick I know the pics are big...go ahead and edit

Pictures are fine.

 

D_sensitized wrote: I don't know exactly how much it ended up costing me in the end, but certainly nowhere near 10k. I would say under 3k. I did it slowly over a couple years so don't remember everything.

It's a nice looking (and performing) car. Now if you can just work out these latest little bugs and get your baby back on the track!

 

Actually Harrison, speaking of porting, does anyone know if those "ribs" inside the 2.8's head can be either ground down, of at least trimmed a little? If you don't know what I'm talking about, there's a straight piece of metal located in each of the intake ports.

Hm, no, wasn't planning on doing that. If those ribs could be removed, I was planning on doing slight angled cuts (Picture what the Acura ARX-02a LeMans car does) to promote swirl. However, with those ribs being there, I wont be able to get in far enough to do them. The aluminum heads will get that treatment though.

See, that looks to be beyond the scope of what I can manage with a carbide tip and various dremel bits. Also, wouldn't that decrease fuel efficiency? You're essentially introducing a quench location right in the combustion chamber... And also pushing the gaskets to their limits to, by allowing the pressure wave to push in past the edges of it...

This is me being skeptical.

Hey Patrick – Good point on the Pennock’s Forum… I actually didn’t even think of looking for any other Fiero enthusiasts before searching locally. But now I kind of wish I had…  But with the head gasket blown and with Winter approaching fast I needed to get the car somewhere quickly so I started my search looking for shops within the surrounding 30 miles because I didn’t want to have to go beyond that distance for the work needed. Which narrowed my search considerably, leaving me only 3 shops… The first two flat out said they couldn’t do a 3800 swap and the third was very reluctant to do it which is why I think they gave me such an insane amount for the swap (they actually said the ball park figure was between $8000 and $11,000 but couldn’t be more specific since they had no prior experience doing that type of swap before and they were basing their est. off of what they’ve read online).  But the 3^rd Shop did have some experience with 3.4L swaps in the past and gave me a price I could work with.

 

 

To Harrison – I’m envious of your automotive skills and patience to work your way through a build like that… With the ability to fabricate and modify the parts needed to do a swap like that is an awesome feat!  Unfortunately, my sorry butt has to pay for parts or the time of someone else to fabricate parts needed to do something like that which leaves me marooned and at the mercy of what my pocket book will allow.

 

Brian – Wow! Nice car!!! So let me get this right, it went from a street car to a show car to a race car… Nice progression… Do you ever just scoot around town in it anymore?

 

I don’t suppose any of you guys would happen to have an open exhaust, headers, Y-Pipe, etc. just sitting around looking for a good home that I could use for my 3.4 swap? I’m almost positive that my exhaust is almost all original (except for the manifolds which were replaced 4 years ago). I’ve been looking for a decent set but they all seem to be a bit pricey… Any suggestions?

 

Thanks again everyone!

 

Al

1Shamrock wrote: The first two flat out said they couldn’t do a 3800 swap and the third was very reluctant to do it which is why I think they gave me such an insane amount for the swap (they actually said the ball park figure was between $8000 and $11,000 but couldn’t be more specific since they had no prior experience doing that type of swap before and they were basing their est. off of what they’ve read online).

Al, unfortunately this is what inexperienced shops do... They jack up their estimate to some obscene amount hoping to either scare the potential customer away, or to pay for their mechanic's learning curve as he stumbles through an unknown procedure. And then it's probably botched up anyway as he doesn't know what the hell he's doing and he's pressured for time.

It's really beneficial to find someone locally who's previously done the swap and will perform the service for a fair price. That's what John Carlo was fortunate enough to do here with the 3800SC swap into his Fiero.

 

Patrick - Yeah, I hear what you're saying about what a lot shops do to try to justify their cost on doing this type of work. But I do feel a little bit better knowing that at least the one shop had done a successful 3.4L swap in the past. And I actually met the guy who owned it once and he was happy with the work that they did...

So, I'm being optimistic about the work that is being done on mine.

Patrick - Yeah, I'm really hoping I'll get some enjoyment out of the 3.4L... Which is why I was looking at upgrading the Intake Manifold and Exhaust System. It's tough to find any real reviews on this setup since most people shoot straight to the SC3800 or even the DOHC3400 installs.

And I can vouch to the fact that the 2.4/4 Bangers aren't as much fun to drive. My first Fiero (may it rest in peace- or pieces now) was a Red 86 SE w/ a 4 cylinder in it... and it rarely ever ran right... Some days I'd start it up and it would run great, 2 days later it would run doggy for a week straight... Then the stars would align in the heavens again and it would run great again for a day...  I never did figure out why...

In any case, I sold it… and regretted it… 2 weeks after I sold it, it was in a head on collision with a Chevy S10 pickup! OUCH!

The guy I sold it to hit a 35mph corner at 70mph and hit the corner wide taking out the S10. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and walked away with only bumps/bruises and a pierced tongue from when he bit threw it from the impact. The S10 driver suffered a broken leg. Both vehicles were totaled!  

I might still have some pictures of it from the accident somewhere if anyone is interested in seeing a dead Fiero...

 

Patrick -

Yeah, in hindsight if I would’ve known that he was an idiot with a death wish I would’ve just kept the car…

Now there’s one less Fiero in the world…

 

Sorry everyone!