Capt Fiero's new 87GT Project Car

On the bright side though, I just got back from the VW meet with a of my friends and had a blast.  Lots of nice cars and driving my V8 even for the short time was still a blast.

Well with a new job, comes new income and a small bit of that is disposable income.  Which means I have money to spare on my V8. 

We got the new Keyless Entry Paging alarm installed thanks to Waylon.  I am going out this weekend to buy the 2 new O2 sensors and 8 new spark plugs for it.  Then hopefully get a permit put on it and try again for Air Care.  If it passes then I know its running right and I can start driving her again on a daily basis.

Then first thing after she is road worthy, I need to get the 2nd front tire installed. (running on an oddball full size spare) then get the front end aligned and find out what parts are worn and need to be replaced. If they can get the alignment in good to fair settings, I will continue driving it, if not, I'll park it again and go back to the 88GT. 

Well its been a long time since I updated this. My last post I was talking about a new job and new money. Well that was all great, until August when my father passed away and I found that my life was going to take a huge turn. I have been tinkering with the car now and again, but here is the latest update.

I did by those new O2 sensors and installed them, I also did the 8 new spark plugs. However I did not get the chance to re-try aircare, and frankly I wanted a bit of insurance that it would not be running rich, so I went on the hunt for an MSD Box. Knowing what I know about MSD Boxes, I knew that I could not install one with half worn out wires, and a 2 year old rotor and cap. So I decided to replace it all. Also add something that has been in my garage for some time.

So here we go.

Now the best overall shot I have currently was taken as the snow was starting to fall on my project last week but here she is. It highlights the 2 scoops fairly well, and the raised spoiler, but you can't see the custom nose at all. Also of note, just ahead of the passenger tire at the bottom is the oval shape exhaust tip.



Now this project includes the Nitrous, the MSD Coil, the MSD 6a box and related stuff.
So the crucial adapter harness from MSD that lets you install a 6a box into the Caddy 7 wire ignition.


Scan from the Caddy Service Manual to keep track of plug wires.


MSD Coil, re-used from my first build of this motor.


6a Box resting in its location


Off with the old cap, rotor and wires.


Showing the funny caddy dist with 7 wire module.




In this pic you can see the 2 Nitrous Solenoids and the Nitrous Purge. The Fuel solenoid is already in the car at this point. I am only going to use one of the Nitrous solenoids for the time being. I may add a second solenoid later as a 2nd stage with a 2nd fuel solenoid.



These are the 2 Nitrous/Fuel jets, again just one will be used for now.


Pics of some of the lines. Man there are a lot more lines than I figured for. Nitrous tank to NOS Solenoid, NOS Solenoid to NOS Jet. Fuel supply to Fuel Solenoid, Fuel line to Fuel Jet. Plus the Nitrous Purge. Then add in the connections for the Fuel pressure gauge. Whew.






Ignition wires are installed, fuel solenoid and lines are routed with fuel pressure gauge on the rail.


Overhead shot.


I was not able to get all the Nitrous lines installed today, as I frankly ran out of time. I was working on this from 7am to 9am before my 2 year old daughter woke up. Then it started to rain so I called it quits for the day.   I'll do more work on the car when it dries out.

I was able to test fire it with the new wires, cap/rotor and 6a box, and it purrs like a kitten. Man I can't wait to get back to driving it again.

The Exhaust Y pipe is going to get completely replaced with a new system. It was a failed experiment, that is not flowing like it should and I hate the fact that it is rusting. The white high temp paint I put on it didn't seem to stop the rust at all. Frankly I think the white paint makes it look even worse.   The car needs all the wiring re-wrapped as I had to take it all apart to fix a few issues that I was having. Then I need to arrange them into a better order so they look cleaner.

Ok so today being both my birthday and the warmest day we have had in months, it actually hit 68F today. My wife took care of our daughter and left me to play with my car today.  Ya for me.  I got more done to the car today than I have in the last 6 months.
        
My main goal was to get the nitrous kit installed and functioning.  I got everything done except the power switches.  However I was able to test the system by grabbing power from the cig lighter socket and everything works.   
 
The engine bay is a disaster and I have to do some serious cleaning, but for now, I am still working on getting everything functional.  Then I’ll go through and replace all the old clamps and hoses with new parts once I am happy with the new layout.    This transplant from my 85GT into this 87GT has been a ton more work than I expected.   The exhaust Y-Pipe is going to be totally replaced, so please excuse how horrible it looks right now.

Well here are the pics.

First up is the required electrical kit full of all the needs connectors and such.

 
Here is the bottle mounted in the trunk.  Honestly I was thinking about mounting it vertically. Which would take up a lot less useable trunk room?  However for the time being I mounted like the book says on a slight angle to keep the syphon tube at the bottom of the tank.

Fuel Pressure gauge on the end of the V8 fuel rail.

Solenoids mounted.  I had a 3rd solenoid for the purge, but found it was leaking, so I removed it.  In a Fiero you really don’t need a purge due to the short lines, so I may just skip it.

Another shot of the solenoids.

Full trunk view.  Yes it’s a freaking mess.  I was running out of daylight to grab a photo so I went ahead and shot it with all the junk in the trunk so speak.

Then a couple of exterior shots just to show how the car is coming along.  The cord going into the front compartment is a battery maintainer. (Yes the battery is in the front compartment)

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857GT Part 85GT Part 87GT Part Caddy, 93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust.  MSD Everything Now with Nitrous. Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics     Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
 

                 So I had been waiting anxiously for some warm dry weather, watching the forecast, today was the day, it was supposed to be sunny and warm in the mid 40’s.  Today was the day I was going to go outside finish the nitrous install and take the 4.9 out for a test.

 

                          I got my mother to watch my daughter until my wife got off work, and I got started on the install.  All I had left to do was make a bracket for and install the wide open throttle switch, then wire up the switch to the nitrous lines and hook power to the override switch in the cabin and wire power from the override to the wide open throttle switch.  The bracket was a bit of a pain but I found out that the back side of the throttle wheel has a nice trigger spot for the switch.  Then I re-did the nitrous / fuel jet so I knew it would be solid.  I had a buddy help me with doing all sorts of testing to make sure that everything was good.  I then used my multi meter to triple check that everything was activating and or not activating when it was supposed to.  Ya it was all good.

 

I grabbed my air, double checked the tires.  Double checked the coolant, oil, everything was perfect.   I turned the bottle on, jumped in the car and hit the key.    Nurr, Nurr, Click Click.  Ok so maybe a low battery, grabbed the fully charged jumper box, hooked it up, Nurr Nurr, Nurr-Nurr-Nurr, Click Click.  What the HEEEELLLL.    Grabbed the 110v Charger/60amp Jump Starter hooked that.  Same deal, only this time I heard a sizzle sound coming through the center tunnel in direct relation to the laboured starter.    

 

         A quick little history, this is the used starter that came with the 4.9 when I bought the motor over 5 years ago.  It had given me a little trouble early on, until I wrapped it in a heat blanket to keep the exhaust heat away from it.  Since then it almost always worked fine.   I think a combination of the car sitting over the winter outside, and me doing so many fire ups and shut downs over the past couple months while I did the ignition upgrades it has finally packed it in.  Either that or the 3 ought welding cable that I used for the remote mount battery conversion has somehow came loose on the starter/solenoid and the crackle I heard sparks from the loose connection.

 

 

Either way, with lines filled with pressurized nitrous at 900psi and fuel lines, the last thing I want to do is risk the car catching fire.  (Yes I got so worried that I went and grabbed the fire extinguisher and plopped it in the passenger seat.)Oh I just want to scream!!!!!!  

 

So  I decided to hell with it for the remainder of the day.  I would come in sit down and relax. 

 

David  

Thank You Hugh, the car is still very rough around the edges, but man did it feel good to be back behind the wheel of it today, even if it was just for a short while, and for those that don't know, this is what I posted to the club email list earlier today.

Ok it again it warmed up to 10C actually sweating a bit.  Granted that may just be from the test drive!!!!!!!

 

        I got the car up in the air, the way my main battery is setup, my 3 ought cable runs from the battery disconnect to the starter, then a smaller wire runs from the starter up to the power distribution block. The smaller 6g wire was literally flopping around.  The nut had backed itself off a full 2 turns.  After a quick turn of the 17mm nut to re-torque it down, I jumped in the car and Vroom.   With my hands shaking a bit in anticipation, I removed the jacks stands,  lowered the car down, pulled the big jack out.  Re-checked the water and stuff.   Turned the bottle on and heard that Hiss of the lines as they filled.  I got back in the car and let it idle for a few mins and pulled it out to the alley for a few quick Non Nitrous 60ft test runs.  This also cleaned off the brakes.  I cautiously pulled it out onto the main road in front of our house.  Gently pulled through first in dropped into 2^nd slowed down to about 2000rpms and eased the pedal down knowing that it was just after ¾ throttle that the switch would activate.  Then all of a sudden the motor went from its gentle rrrrrr to ROOAARR, I grabbed 3^rd and lifted.   Ok Test Passed it works.  Ok what next.  We need a better test.  So I drove down the road to the bottom of a large 1 mile long hill and turned around.  I figured what better test was a long straight away going uphill.   I eased the car around and then till gave her the full beans.  1^st Gear gentle with the clutch then dropped the hammer, car did a little shimmy grabbed traction and I was off.  1^st gear snapped to 6000, 2^nd gear pulling like a freight train, 6000rpms, 3^rd gear, and I can’t believe this, the motor is not sluffing off at the higher rpms she just wants to keep going, and screaming for every bit of rev, I glance down at the speedo and its reading 140kph, which is about 85mph, and this is technically a 30mph zone. I glance back up and see about a block and a half ahead there is a lady in a brown Honda type car waiting to make a left in front of me.  I quickly get off the gas, step on the brakes as hard as I dare push.  She by this time realizes how quickly I am coming up, and sees me in a panic stop maneuver. ( ya know the kind where you are hard on the brakes and gently weaving back and forth preparing do dodge left or right) So she decides that this might not be a good time cut in front of someone, she turns her wheels hard over and pulls back into her lane. 

 

             Ok WOW, now that I have gone and dirtied my shorts, I pull back into the lane beside the house and around back and park it. 

 

   I am only running a small shot jetted to about 75hp.(maybe less considering how cold the bottle was)  This seems to be exactly what the 4.9 needed.  The motor provides all the off idle and midrange torque but head into the higher rpms and I honestly think it would pull till it explodes.  There was zero detonation and as of yet no white smoke from exhaust.   Looks like it’s time for me to try emissions testing again and see what happens. 

 

        I couldn’t be happier right now.

 

David

4.9 5spd Nitrous Fed Cadaro.

 

The trunk lock, I just kept drilling until I could reach the lock rod and pull it out, then it was a simple matter of using a flat screwdriver, to reach in and twist the lock until it popped.

Now as to the floor pan plugs.  Honestly I don't know where to get replacments aside from another fiero in a wrecking yard.  I removed mine, then rtv'd them and painted them with tremclad.

Head gasket? Head?

Sucks man.


Chay

Dave, is there a reason why you have the rear of the GT pointing into the wind?

A lot of air pressure will build up against the inside of the sail panels in this configuration. I just hate to see you lose them.

I recall reading on Pennock's about someone who did this with their fastback GT and both sail panels blew off on the highway.

 

Yeah, the decklid scoop might help to lower the pressure... hopefully. 

Well, good luck. Have a safe journey.