legacy conquest: 88 Fiero

[RU482]

I've toyed with the idea of getting a Fiero for many years now...ever since one of my elementary school friends dad bought one new back in 84 in fact.

I've got the opportunity to buy a clean, leak free, 88 base Fiero with 4cyl 5-speed drivetrain for pocket change. Obviously not a beast, more of a tooling around, spare car, satisfaction of the curiosity kind of thing.

Any suggestions/tips from previous Fiero owners?

 

[Andrew1990]

From what I heard, get an 88 GT. They have better suspension and of course a more powerful V6 rated at 140HP instead of the 98hp of the 4 cyl.

 

[Vette73]

The suspension of the 4cyl and V6 in 88 is the same.
84-87 had the orignal suspension and 88 got the Lotus upgrade.

OP, the car, if running well, will get very good gas milage. I had someone that drove one for pizza hauling.
But if you really want to have some fun get a ecotech 4cyl motor and trans from a Cobalt (or other FWD GM small car) and put that in. Great gas milage and more power than the v6 without the weight.
Also there are a pile of upgrades for the suspension as well. But the 88 is the best one to get to upgrade.

 

[Falloutboy]

88 fiero was my first car, still have a sweet spot in my heart for it. but if I got one today I would find the nicest notchback 4cyl I could find (good body and frame) for cheap. rup the engine out and drop in a LS1 or supercharged 3800, or if I could source a cheap one a northstar 4.6 out of a caddy.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

You want an 88 if you can get it. The pervious years had a issue with catching on fire.
Though if you do what I would do it doesn't matter. Pull the stock motor and put a 305 in it.

You can source 305 motors from the F-body guys for dirt cheap.
http://www.v8archie.com/v8Archie/home.htm

 

[RU482]

I like the sounds of the ecotech upgrade. reasonable power, great economy. now off to research the topic!

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I like the sounds of the ecotech upgrade. reasonable power, great economy. now off to research the topic!

Seriously, for what you'd spend on an ecotech and the power you'd get from it, you'd still save money by doing the V8 swap.
You can get prefectly good running 305TPI motors for a few hundred dollars.

 

[Vette73]

You want an 88 if you can get it. The pervious years had a issue with catching on fire.
Though if you do what I would do it doesn't matter. Pull the stock motor and put a 305 in it.

You can source 305 motors from the F-body guys for dirt cheap.
http://www.v8archie.com/v8Archie/home.htm

No they did not all have problems with fires.

The problem was in 1984 and people did not put enough oil in the cars and it would cause them to throw a rod and oil would leak out the hugh hole in the motor. The only thing wrong was GM said it took 3 quarts of oil in the writing but most knew that was wrong based on the iron duke motor. So it only affected those that did not add enough oil and did not check it enough to make sure it did not leak/burn down to low levels.

 

[Vette73]

Seriously, for what you'd spend on an ecotech and the power you'd get from it, you'd still save money by doing the V8 swap.
You can get prefectly good running 305TPI motors for a few hundred dollars.

And that would throw the weight off greatly and also have issues from cooling to being a older and not as reliable design.

An Ecotec motor setup or even a 3.8L would work much better and be more reliable.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

And that would throw the weight off greatly and also have issues from cooling to being a older and not as reliable design.

An Ecotec motor setup or even a 3.8L would work much better and be more reliable.

Wait, did you just say a SBC is not a reliable motor? There's a reason the SBC has been the longest running production motor in history. It's cheap, easy to work on and RELIABLE WTF are you smoking? Also they don't throw the weight off that much.

I know the 3800 series motors 95-05 used plastic intake manifolds and were prone to coolant leaks because the EGR tube that runs through the intake is metal, and eventually melts enough material away from the intake and allow coolant to leak into oil. The beauty of the design is you wouldn't know about it until the engine died on you.

 

[Vette73]

Wait, did you just say a SBC is not a reliable motor? There's a reason the SBC has been the longest running production motor in history. It's cheap, easy to work on and RELIABLE WTF are you smoking? Also they don't throw the weight off that much.

I know the 3800 series motors 95-05 used plastic intake manifolds and were prone to coolant leaks because the EGR tube that runs through the intake is metal, and eventually melts enough material away from the intake and allow coolant to leak into oil. The beauty of the design is you wouldn't know about it until the engine died on you.

YOU talked about a TPI motor. The BLOCK is ok but the Injection system can have many issues. I was an auto tech and my first line I worked on was TPI GM cars, so I know the TPI system well. It was good for the early 80's but got long in the tooth quick. And yes in a Fiero it would be even worse. The motors ran warm enough in F-Bodies, let alone a Fiero.

Teh Eco-Tech makes as much or more power than the V6 that came in the fiero but gets good gas milage, which the OP seems to want. Let alone much more reliable then a TPI motor and less weight. As such the Ecotech motor would work much better for the OP and what he wants.

 

[Homer Simpson]

Wait, did you just say a SBC is not a reliable motor? There's a reason the SBC has been the longest running production motor in history. It's cheap, easy to work on and RELIABLE WTF are you smoking? Also they don't throw the weight off that much.

I know the 3800 series motors 95-05 used plastic intake manifolds and were prone to coolant leaks because the EGR tube that runs through the intake is metal, and eventually melts enough material away from the intake and allow coolant to leak into oil. The beauty of the design is you wouldn't know about it until the engine died on you.

dont do a base 3800. do supercharged one (series 3 and 4 i believe were in the 97+ and 2004+ cars respectively). the blown motors have an aluminum intake so no worries there. also, FWD motors will likely be easier to swap in. if im not mistaken, the engine sits transversely in the back. while im sure a regular rwd motor will work, it might take additional fab work, especially if its a v8 which would be much longer than a v6. just some thoughts.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Would a V8 even fit in a Fiero?

 

[Zargon]

Would a V8 even fit in a Fiero?

yes.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

YOU talked about a TPI motor. The BLOCK is ok but the Injection system can have many issues. I was an auto tech and my first line I worked on was TPI GM cars, so I know the TPI system well. It was good for the early 80's but got long in the tooth quick. And yes in a Fiero it would be even worse. The motors ran warm enough in F-Bodies, let alone a Fiero.

Teh Eco-Tech makes as much or more power than the V6 that came in the fiero but gets good gas milage, which the OP seems to want. Let alone much more reliable then a TPI motor and less weight. As such the Ecotech motor would work much better for the OP and what he wants.

It has many issues? Such as? I've had several 350 TPI setups and have never had an issue. I know the pre-91 models with MAF some had MAFs that would crap out, but if you go with a 91-92 it's speed density so no MAF. My current T/A is a 350 TPI with exhaust, custom cold air intake, ported plenum and runners (still need to do the base plate), ECU tuning, under drive pullies is right around 300HP, 450 on the bottle, and that's with stock heads and cooling system. I want to put some ported aluminum L98 heads on it, an LT1 cam and 1.6RR. After that comes the turbo charging.

there's no doubt the ecotech makes more power than the stock motors that came in the Fiero, but personally, having driven a 350 powered Fiero, it's a hell of a lot of fun, and in the fiero, low to mid 20 mpg isn't unreachable with a 5.7L motor.
But, I will say if you're buying a project/toy/fun car and are worried about fuel economy you are going to be disappointed in the end when you find out how much money you wasted getting to the point vs, buying something that already had good MPG.
Doing projects like this are money pits. You'll never recoup your costs.

Would a V8 even fit in a Fiero?

Check my link above. They have FAQ's that list every part and bolt you will need to do a swap.

 

[TwinsenTacquito]

Would a V8 even fit in a Fiero?

Take a look at a good American v8 next an overhead cam L4 sometime. Specifically the Honda ones that they spout about making so much power per liter of displacement. Because those engines are huge.

 

[Plugers]

If you're going V8, go Northstar. no need to spend $3k just for a swap kit.
Motor bolts up to the stock trans.