Me and My '86 GT

[Fiero]

Hey guys my names Paul, I drive a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT with a 2.8L V6. I know it isn't the fastest car by a long shot, but it's a blast to drive and you don't see very many of them around now a days. Right now I am mostly looking to restore/upgrade it a bit as things tend to break after 25 years of driving. I got it almost a year ago and have been driving it as a daily driver working out all the bugs and replacing things as they go.

Right now the car is getting a new spec stage 2 clutch put in as well as new KYB shocks/struts, Polyurethane bushings, and new tie rods. I'm thinking about taking it out for some autocross this summer just to try it out and have some fun.

Look forward to getting to know you guys.

EDIT: Sorry forgot to mention I'm from Cedar Rapids

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc468/2m4/320020_10150842711765511_854270510_20664137_785772 487_n.jpg
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc468/2m4/frongatymca.jpg
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc468/2m4/IMAG0081.jpg
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc468/2m4/IMAG0115.jpg
Oh yeah the engines in the back :biggrin:
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc468/2m4/IMAG0094.jpg
Not sure if I want to instal the coilovers or not. Saving them for spring at least.

[86svo9L]

That is one clean Fiero!

[LT1Dan]

Welcome! Your car looks pretty clean in the pics.

[MurderedSnake]

When you said '86 GT I figured it was a mustang. Welcome!

[AutoMods]

welcome

[Drifte]

I meet one exactly like this everyday on 965 at about 8:30am. Havent seen it lately.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

I was thinking another Fox body, good to FINALLY see another Fiero owner around here! LOL
I have a blue, '87 SE with a 3.4L DOHC swap. i have a spare one with a lifter tick if you ever wanna do a swap. :)



Welcome! I assume you are a member on fiero.nl and/or realfierotect.com? (if not, you should be)

[SaNdMaNsSi]

It's always good to see one that has lights that open and close...

[sLoWnStEaDy]

It's always good to see one that has lights that open and close...

I have owned 6 and never had an issue with this. 99% of the time it is just bad bushings, $10 and 10 minutes fixes it right up. Hell, mine was pulled out of a field in Minnesota where it sat for over 10 years. Everything still worked great on it. At least you didn't make a "they catch on fire" comment I guess. :)

[Fiero]

Thanks everyone! Sorry to let you all down that it's not a mustang though haha. When I first got my car the headlights didn't work. That's why there's a picture with the headlights up. That was taken about a week after I got it. Turns out it was just a matter of cleaning the connecters and now they work perfectly.

SlownSteady, I'm on fiero.nl my names Big Paul, But I don't post very much so I would be surprised if you recognized it. I would love to do an engine swap, But right now I've gotta save my cash!

[Drifte]

whats up with your fiero keith? havent heard much about it. Seems like you did the swap a while ago.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

great thing about the LQ1, now days you can do the swap for like $200 plus the engine. ;)




whats up with your fiero keith? havent heard much about it. Seems like you did the swap a while ago.

http://iowaautoforums.com/showthread.php?6472-FIERO-swap-progress&p=177733#post177733

originally did it like 7 years ago, sold it like 5 years ago, just bought it back this last spring. Got it back with a lifter tick, the same gas it had when i sold it (nasty stuff!! LOL) and a bunch of cosmetic issues and primers.

Threw a crate motor in it a couple months back, blew out the wheel bearings, got them replaced. Thought i lost the fuel pump a couple weeks ago (actually just had a torn line inside the tank, didn't know until i yanked it) so i got a new 255lph put in last weekend. Now found out the slave cylinder is crap and there is a hole in the clutch line. Dudes screwed it up pretty bad!

[harodavid]

i did a clutch on one once and it wasnt to bad of a job except the guy who owned it kept comming in at night and trying to bleed the clutch by himself and i didnt know it until about three days of having clutch and coming in the next day to no clutch!! and my size 12 pushes the brake and gas and hits the tunnel at the same time... im just too fat for em;)

[White04GTP]

Welcome!!!!

As far as a swap goes, do an L67 or L32 swap. They have an aftermarket to go with. That and the LQ1 is a piece of shit.

[Fiero]

I would love an L67, but right now I'm going to have to stay with the stock 2.8. I'm working on a few goodies for it during the winter. Car just got done with the alignment, but I didn't want to pick it up in the storm we got today so I'm getting it on Monday. Ended up with a bunch of suspension repairs/upgrades, quite a few more than I had planned. This car is going to handle amazingly! I've just got to break in the new clutch and have the banjo adjusted and I'm ready to rock! Oh and wait for all this snow to melt :(

[Deimos]

who hit ya with all that stuff?

[sLoWnStEaDy]

L67's are for fags... Look at all the L67 fiero swaps with $3k+ in the engine running high 12's on a good day. Then Look at Eriks pretty much bone stockk (and yes, still N/A) LQ1 running low 12's all day. LQ1's are way more fun too, 200+ WHP bone stock (dyno proven a few different time on .nl) and a 7k+ redline. Even with forced induction i am pretty sure the L67's dont do that.

There is a large aftermarket for the 3800's, thats for sure. However, do equal mods and the LQ1 will win every time, IMO. It sucks the aftermarket for the LQ1's is pretty minimal but looking at the vehicles they came in, not to surprising the aftermarket didn't go too far. Do some research, there is an article somewhere talking about the LQ1 and all the stuff they did to choke it down as far as they did...

[Stutz]

Yeah do a LQ1 swap! Slow n steady did one in his fiero and put a turbo on it, i think it only took him a couple days to do and it ran like 11s and has been for the last 5 years.

[White04GTP]

Yeah... 210hp at the CRANK, you retard... and what? 220tq? Big fuckin deal, a stock 3.8 NA has 200/240, and an l67 has 240/280 stock. your argument has no validity, because no one has EVER run an 11 on a "bone stock" LQ1. not unless hes got a full carbon fiber body. which still wont happen. And good luck doing as much to a LQ1 as an L67, there is NO aftermarket for the LQ1. i had one in my 92 GP guess what? slow as fuck and it was a piece of shit. Oh and your lifter tap you were hearing, youre having oiling issues. better get ready for the BOOM. oh on the nice new one you have too. but im sure you knew that, since you know everything..

[White04GTP]

And i love how you say "An article, Somewhere.."

[86svo9L]

GM screwed the pooch on the LQ1. GM wanted a minimum 275hp engine, built the engine(LQ1) but then found that the transmissions did not hold up to the abuse. So GM dialed them back to make them reliable. Still does not change the fact that there is no aftermarket for these engines and your basically locked at 275hp unless you have mad fab skills or want to spend a bunch of money. The L67 on the other hand has a ton of easy to find parts and more power is a SC upgrade away. Every engine has its attributes, it all depends on how much you want to spend and where you want to go.

[White04GTP]

I agree, But in the main scheme of things, that engine is still completely unreliable.

[Stutz]

i had one in my 92 GP guess what? slow as fuck and it was a piece of shit.

I recall my old 97 grand prix gt putting bus lengths on that bitch, i think you're just mad about that and that is where all your hate on the LQ1 come from. Like slow n steady said LQ1s will redline higher and thats all that really matters

[White04GTP]

hey, mybe youre right.. Or maybe its because the engine grenaded with 36k miles on it. one of the two. but hey if you red line higher, i guess i cant beat that. You'll make so much more power in that 1k rpm advantage.

[Clinical]

Keith I usually while I don't speak up I feel for you and your decisions since I'm the same way with the way I go through shit.

But the L67 imo is way superior to the LQ1.
I just see an LQ1 fiero as a swap where someone couldn't afford an L67 drivetrain.

[Clinical]

btw you L67 guys, find me a L67 car for 3k area with less than 150k miles.

I think I want one. I'm selling the talon and might have my eclipse sold as well, I'd love to pick one up. Always wanted one, can't believe I haven't owned one yet.

[Stutz]

btw you L67 guys, find me a L67 car for 3k area with less than 150k miles.

I think I want one. I'm selling the talon and might have my eclipse sold as well, I'd love to pick one up. Always wanted one, can't believe I haven't owned one yet.

Good luck finding one. All the ones for sale have more like 170k and they still want more then 3k. When you look at one make sure to look at the rockers (especially on the sunroof cars) and also pull the carpet back in the trunk and look at the rear strut towers. I have seen a lot of them rusted to shit there.


oooh buy this one
http://iowacity.craigslist.org/ctd/2807473922.html

thats my old car but this is what it looked like when i had it
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/trickystutz/Picture091.jpg

[sLoWnStEaDy]

white04gtp, not going to waste time arguing with you. You are cllearly on of those retards who thinks "rated hp numbers" are set in stone and that Horsepower/torque is all that matters.

I cannot argue the l67 has a FAR superioor aftermarket but that doesn't determine (to me) the "worth" of an engine. Erik runs 12's with a mostly stock LQ1, in a FIERO, light-weight,mid engine, rwd with a 4.10 muncie 4-speed. Matt Hawkins (as well as aaron and a handful of others) boosted a stock LQ1 to 400whp+ and has been running it for years without an issue. He has a bit of money in it because of the turbonetics turbo, injectors, intercooler and tuning but the same result can be had ith less expensive parts.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

mamamia, thats like saying any swap other than the lsx is a budget thing. People have personal preferences. Believe it or not, 7 years ago when i did this swap originally, the SBC, LSx, and L67 were very common and had a bunch of swap kits, many documented swaps, etc... The LQ1 back then as a "rare" swap, i think i was one of the first dozen or so people to do a documented swap with an LQ1.

I just got my eprom back with the new tune and she should be good to go. I will take it to the track and see what it does. I dont personally expect much better than 14's but...

[85XR7Project]

Honestly, kudos to you Keith for being different. Why does everyone insist on doin the L67?

[Fiero]

Just a little update on my car. Got her back on the road, entire new front suspension/bushings/shocks and struts/clutch got her aligned and everything. Got to drive for only a day. When I would drive and shift gears it would sometimes pop out of gear when I would start up or shift into 5th. I brought it to my guy for some help with the banjo and we started adjusting the linkage to the tranny also. While we were doing that something broke inside because now you can shift in and out of gear without the clutch, and you can't move the car. Looks like we've gotta take the whole thing back out and take the transmission in to get fixed. Great.

[86svo9L]

That has got to be frustrating. At least your making some progress and it did not happen when its nice. Now you have plenty of time to get it fixed before the warm season starts.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

that sucks!! Probably be cheaper to just get a different transmission. You can pick them up fairly cheap these days.

I am buy no means an "expert" but have owned 7-8 fieros and havebeen into them for about 10 years now. If there is anythig i can do to help, or you have any questions, let me know.

[Fiero]

Yeah I'm glad it went out in the shop and at this time of the year rather than during the summer, but I would have preferred it not to happen at all! Oh well. I've gotta try and get this done for as cheep as possible, If I have to spend much more on this car right now my parents are going to be mad. Right now the car is sitting at a local Fiero guru's shop. He's done countless engine swaps, but I don't believe hes on these forums. Real nice guy, he helped me find this car. Thanks for the offer SlownSteady, I'll keep that in mind! I'm just wondering, Is your car turbo? I hear it's pretty fast

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Yeah I'm glad it went out in the shop and at this time of the year rather than during the summer, but I would have preferred it not to happen at all! Oh well. I've gotta try and get this done for as cheep as possible, If I have to spend much more on this car right now my parents are going to be mad. Right now the car is sitting at a local Fiero guru's shop. He's done countless engine swaps, but I don't believe hes on these forums. Real nice guy, he helped me find this car. Thanks for the offer SlownSteady, I'll keep that in mind! I'm just wondering, Is your car turbo? I hear it's pretty fast

he was being a dick when he said that, it had a turbo setup at one time though. Bone stock for the most part right now though. It's still a fun car though, .nl member got his engine at the same time, from the same place and threw down like 205hp at the wheels through an auto. Not going to guess on mine but plan to dyno it laters this year and probably take it to the track just for shits and giggles. Not really the best platform to try and go too fast IMO. Erik does run 12's with his though, same as mine but with a muncie 4-speed.

[Fiero]

I was thinking about turboing my 2.8, but I'm pretty sure my piston rings are starting to go bad. I've gotta keep this engine till I get out of school. Right now I've got a dual throttle body in the works, and I'm thinking about making my own headers if I have time. Trying to get a bit more performance out of this little guy while I'm stuck with the 2.8

[Drifte]

I almost guarantee you can spend the rest of your school life catching up on maintanance and blow your whole budget on just that. Kinda sounds like the shop screwed up your trans. Just keep it reliable and fun.

[Fiero]

I don't think the shop screwed up my tranny, It's only one guy who works on the car and I know him personally. He even let me help him take the tranny out of the car and didn't make me pay for the time it took both of us to take it out because I was learning. It was 25 years old and to be honest... I haven't been the nicest to it... haha. I got a middle intake for free, and I'm in a mettle working class so I have access to an entire machine shop. Figured it couldn't hurt to give the dtb a shot. But yes, just maintaining this car has been very expensive. But I guess whats what I get for finding a unique old car unlike most kids my age who are in cavaliers or mustangs and what not.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

shooooooot. Fieros are cheap as balls to maintain. Theres a million of every part out there and cheap as hell most of the time unless you want interior or exterior pieces. Drivetrain stuff is literally given away more often then not. I had a storage unit almost full of 2.8s, iron dukes, transmissions etc... All of which i had given to me at some point. Then i ended up giving it all away as well except a couple trannys i hung onto for a while.

FYI, hardest thing about DTBs is the linkage

[Fiero]

Where do I sign up for these free 2.8's? haha. I spent most of my money on new suspension parts and labor. Because I don't have the capabilities to remove the transmission myself. But really if you have any extra 2.8's I would gladly take them off your hands. I could use a spare one incase this one goes bad, and I'd also like to try tearing one apart for the experience and to change gaskets and maybe a few other things.

Btw I may have messed up the DTB already... the intake slid on the mill and i made a really bad cut. Hopefully it can be salvaged!