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Motor swap on 87 Fiero SE |
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3.1fiero 
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Joined: 18 June 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 20 |
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 Topic: Motor swap on 87 Fiero SEPosted: 18 June 2009 at 12:37pm |
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Im Adam and am new to the fiero world and have been working with a good friend Jesse on my new fiero project. We took a 3.1L v6 from a 1996 monte carlo and i used the heads and intake from the 2.8L. Gasket matched the heads and intake and i have got to say this car pulls like mad. Even better the motor swap was not even that complicated. I was mainly just wondering if anyone had done this before and also i can answer any questions for those who may be interested in doing this swap. The reason I did this swap was because the 2.8 was blown and intsead of buying another 2.8 and building up the motor into a 3.2 i would save my money buy doing this swap. And I have got to say this car is amazingly quick, and i only spent $200 for the motor and then bought a gasket kit (upper) for a 2.8l. It is a great swap and i have got to say i love these cars!
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Capt Fiero
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Founding Member Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 4039 |
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Posted: 18 June 2009 at 1:08pm |
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Uhm, unless I am really mistaken, a 1996 Monte motor is not a direct swap into a Fiero. If you indeed did put Fiero 2.8 heads onto a 96 Monte Carlo engine and made it work, I'd really like to see some pics on how you got it all to work right, hell I did not even think the water jackets were in the right place on Fiero 2.8 vs Monte engines. I am sure the Dr. will be in here, as he has a fair bit of experience with that Era GM cars. |
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Capt Fiero
88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd. |
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3.1fiero
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Joined: 18 June 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 20 |
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Posted: 18 June 2009 at 1:54pm |
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Hey... This is Jesse... The guy that built your 305 fiero... I made it work and it goes like snot. The only water jacket issue was with the passage on the back and the externally balanced flywheel. A drill took care of the flywheel weight, and a small plug in the timing cover took care of the hole in the back of it. There's always a way to make it work. By the way I'm running my own shop. I'll try to make it to a meeting with the kit who owns the car when it's done.
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Capt Fiero
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Posted: 18 June 2009 at 2:51pm |
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OK so now I am a whole lot less skeptical. If anyone can find a way to make it work Jesse can. Congrats on the setup. I would really be interested in hearing what the cranking compression numbers are. Due to head changes and intake bowl sizes it could make for some interesting info. As for Lisa's V8, we picked up a set of late model heads, center-bolt valve covers and fuel injection intake for it. We'll be getting the rest of the parts soon and plan to get the Fuel Injection on it. We have not had it on the road for a while as Lisa just drives her 85 V6 Auto and I have my 88 to drive. My personal V8 car was pulled from the road and the entire car is being re-done right down to a new chassis. We got a chance to race it heads up Lisa's V8 vs my V8, 0-60mph sprint the 4.9's fuel injection gave it the edge but once wound up, the Carbed seem to catch up. So we are hoping that putting fuel injection on the SBC it should give it the best of both worlds. Again nice to hear from you Jesse. P.S. Lisa and I are going to be the 2.5 family in November. |
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Capt Fiero
88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd. |
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3.1fiero
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Joined: 18 June 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 20 |
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Posted: 18 June 2009 at 3:08pm |
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Congrats on the upcoming loss of sleep. We're now a 3.5 as of april 28. I miss my car, and hope to find another wreck to rebuild before I die...lol. Hopefully I'll be able to make it to the next meeting with Adam. I'd like to get to know everyone again. I have my own sorta custom car etc. shop now, so I'm hoping to be able to talk to some people about doing some work if anyone's interested.
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Capt Fiero
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Posted: 18 June 2009 at 3:32pm |
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Jesse you had better really be careful what you ask for. There is a Huge Need for competent custom car techs that can work on Fiero's. Drop me a line at 604-807-2623 and I'll let you know the current state of Fiero owners needing repairs. The Dr. (John Craker) has started doing repairs again on the side, because frankly there were no other shops to do the big jobs. I do the occasional clutch job, or electrical repair, but I get at least a call a week, from someone with cash in hand ready to hand it over to a mechanic to do a full on engine swap or .............. The kinda of stuff that I am not setup to do with welders or proper cutting and modifying of parts, and John, can't take on that type of project as it is too time consuming for him to take on. |
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Capt Fiero
88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd. |
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Dr.Fiero
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Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 1726 |
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Posted: 18 June 2009 at 4:22pm |
Damn day jobs that pay steady income....  |
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Bobz0r
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Joined: 13 March 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 83 |
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Posted: 18 June 2009 at 6:03pm |
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I am cureently in the midst of gathering everything for a 3400 swap. Not planning on starting it until next spring, but it's great that you've done it. What made you choose to use the old 2.8 heads? Just to use the original intake and exhaust? From what I've read, they do say its one of the easier swaps. Do you have any pics? I'd like to see how you did the new dogbone mount.
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3.1fiero
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Joined: 18 June 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 20 |
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Posted: 18 June 2009 at 11:03pm |
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Mainly wanted to use the heads and intake from the 2.8l for the simplicity of hooking everything up and the fiero look. I was also lucky enough to have the headers as well so that was a nice benefit haha. We didn't have to change the dogbone mount at all. by using the heads from the 2.8l the bolt pattern was still the same. we did have to use the pushrods from the 3.1l aswell as the 2.8l harmonic balancer and crank pulley. aswell the motor was internally balanced and we accidently used an externally balanced flywheel from the 2.8l so we had to drill the weight off while in the car haha. used the timing cover and the water pump from the 2.8l as well and had to plug the water jacket in the water pump. the vibration dampner only has two bolts instead of the three but is still good. The front motor mount and to be ground a bit for the 3.1l oil pan. I gasket matched the heads and the intake so it flows really nice. The motor is rollerized which is great with dished top pistons. Could not use the bearing rockers but still revs great. Definantly an interesting project and the car is great fun. Next thing is to drop it down and stiffin the suspension.
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Bobz0r
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Joined: 13 March 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 83 |
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Posted: 19 June 2009 at 7:12am |
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Sounds like it might have a little less HP than the stock 3100 would have had, but if it's easier to do and still runs great I guess you can't complain, eh? lol. How much was the labour for the swap? |
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Dr.Fiero
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Posted: 19 June 2009 at 8:08am |
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Have you done a compression test on it? I'd be really curious to see the numbers...
With the dished pistons, and the larger cc of the cast heads, the impression was you'd end up at about 6:1CR! Your engine did have aluminum splayed valve heads to start with right? |
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3.1fiero
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Joined: 18 June 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 20 |
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Posted: 19 June 2009 at 9:38am |
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we did it ourselves for the swap. much cheaper |
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Bobz0r
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Posted: 19 June 2009 at 6:37pm |
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I like to do my swap myself, but all my tools were stolen and with my new place I don't have anywhere to do major work anymore. That and I just don't have the time either. I only get about an hour or two per day of free time and there's other stuff I'd like and need to be doing than working on the car, lol.
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Capt Fiero wrote:
haha. And allot more fun to do yourself. Have not done a compression test yet but im curious aswell haha. and yes it had the aluminum heads but they wouldn't work with the fiero intake and also the bolt pattern for the accessories. I actually just found pictures of my car on this site. it's under the old members gallery pics, and is under Andrew Aka Mizer. so that was pretty cool.