3.5L LX9 Swap into ’86 2M6 4 speed

Just finished painting most of the trim satin black.
It's finally starting to not look like a piece of garbage
on the outside haha.

I'm also posting a few pictures of what it looked like
when I bought it:





And now:

Going to Thunder in the Valley 2012. Can't wait to see
some 1/4 mile times and probably going to use a 75 shot of
N2O.

Wow I completely forgot to post the vid!

Here it
is

Car is still running great 25,000 kms later but needs a
new
muffler. My turbo Firebird project is nearing completion
and the Fiero will get attention after that is driveable.


:D

Got the cam in and installed the new flywheel/clutch.
Also started porting the manifolds. Transmission should
be re-assembled by the weekend.




Despite the 35,000 kms of driving since the swap, the
motor still looks brand new inside :).




Anyone need a 4-speed? I also have a reinforced stock
rear trans mount if anyone wants it. It originally broke
into 3 pieces so we welded it back together with some
1/4" steel pieces to reinforce it. It held really well.

I actually forgot to post this, but in January the stock
3500 dynoed at 205 whp and 250 ft-lbs wtq. I was really
impressed with those numbers. That's stock manifolds,
stock Fiero air cleaner, untouched engine.

Ya, since I'm installing an LSD'd F23 I should no longer
need the 4-speed manual anymore.

I actually got the cam/valvespring/pushrods for a steal
at $180 shipped because it's the same seller I bought the
3500 turbo manifolds off of for my Firebird.

And after I finish this last round of upgrades I'm
seriously considering selling the car. Kinda wanna
replace it with an Audi A4. This cam won't be as good on
gas as stock but should be plenty fun at the same time.
Supposed to be good for power to/past 7000 rpm and on an
otherwise stock 3400 was expected to make 245 whp. On a
3500 it should make a bit more.

Specs:
Intake 230 .578" lift
Exhaust 236 .573" lift
LCL 110
LSA 112

Oh and rear control arms are getting poly bushings now.
I'll probably do the fronts later as they really should
be done.

So it's probably time to update the build... Drag racing
didn't go as planned :). Had issues with the shifter all
weekend and the shift cable ended up breaking on one of
the runs. It was actually the best run of the weekend
and ran a 15.x with only 1st and 2nd gear :). Which I
think is pretty decent considering that was NO nitrous
this time and it didn't get a chance to wind out 3rd and
4th gear. Shifting was around 6300 rpm or so as I have
the rev limiter set very conservatively right now.
Powerband of this cam goes past 7000 but I'm nervous to
go that high as the last motor this cam was in left valve
marks on the pistons . That may or may not be
because the timing chain was old and stretched though.

Anyways, after TITV the car mostly sat waiting for parts
for a couple months. Ordered a set of new cables from
California Push-Pull, front poly a-arm bushings, front
poly sway bar end links, front ball joints, and installed
rear coilovers as well. I'm also doing a GT conversion
to it with the next week and painting it again. This time
midnight blue.

Front suspension rebuild has been a HUGE pain. 3 Of the
6 control arm bolts were seized to the bushing sleeves
and the lower ball joints took hours of pressing,
torching, beating, etc... to remove. Oh and two of the
steering rack bolts broke when I went to remove them.
Fun.

After the front suspension rebuild is over with and the
body panels go back on, I still have a couple more things
to do before I put the car up for sale. Rear struts will
be changed out for KYBs, another motor mount will be
added (possibly two if that's not enough), a second
muffler will be added (current exhaust is LOUD... one of
the loudest street cars I've heard... my friend's cammed
LM7-swapped S13 isn't even as loud when straight piped
with NO muffler), and the starter needs to be replaced
since it's pretty much done for.

Pic of how it's sitting now


And of course a vid of the glorious cammed V6 noises
Cammed 3500 Fiero

It's idling at 1300 right now but with more tuning it
should hold 1000 ok. This cam is much more aggressive
than the one I have in my Firebird right now. I think
I'm going to try to get this back on the dyno before it
sells. It should make at least 250 whp if not more based
on simple math and the dyno with the stock cam; stock cam
made 250 ft-lbs of torque and if this cam torque peaks at
over 5252 rpm then it will make 250 hp and likely more.

Alright did up a couple solid mounts last night.

This one is on the front side of the engine, and uses
pieces of that shock-type mount that is used with the
stock 2.8. It bolts to two holes on the engine block and
one on the oil pan.


The other one I don't have a picture of but I just went
from the alternator bracket to what's left of the stock
dog-bone mount location on the trunk side. It's a little
tricky to install and less beefy but should compliment
the one on the front side and the dog-bone (which is
solid).

BTW here is a pic of the decklid notch to clear the FWD
alternator. Very minor.

That's a nice wicked sound

Well it was either notch the pistons myself, downgrade the cam, or get
a machine shop to do the work. Machine shop would have cost too
much so I chose option #1. Really I didn't take much material off, as the
pistons were aleady dented in those locations, and I would be surprised
if the balance is sufficiently off to cause issues, although it's a
possibility I had considered.

Before doing this I read about guys doing it on LS1s and Ford V8s so
after that I wasn't as nervous.

Worst case scenario I can get another engine for $300 and start over.