Project L67 Fiero

[Jfrost]

Ordered some parts last night:

Poly engine & trans mounts
Aluminum cradle bushings
Slave cylinder
Rear decklid strut kit (to eliminate the torsion springs)

Still waiting to hear back about the low alt mount, flywheel and engine mount.

Also contacted a vendor to get a headliner kit and refurbished sun visors.

 

[79vette]

nice project! I love fiero's. I been wanting to build one of these to road race.

 

[Oreif]

Cool project. Looks like it's coming along very nicely.
I went the V-8 route back in 2004.
If there is any parts or info you need let me know.
I am also the activity director of the local Fiero club. (Northern Illinois Fiero Enthusiasts)
If you are interested we have a Fiero club meeting on Saturday March 17th at the Lisle Library from 1pm until 4pm.
Check out www.fierofocus.com

Pic's and info on my car can be seen here: http://www.fquick.com/garages/Pontiac/Fiero/1986/29429

 

[Jfrost]

A busy day at work was instantly made better by a box of swap parts waiting for me at home tonight!

Aluminum rear cradle bushings

Poly transmission and engine mounts

New slave cylinder

Rear decklid shock kit.

I ordered the headliner kit and refurbished sun shades, that should be arriving soon. Tomorrow I'll be ordering the low mount alternator bracket, L67 engine mount and cut/balanced flywheel. Starting to acquire most of the need parts and I can start the mock up on the engine.

nice project! I love fiero's. I been wanting to build one of these to road race.

Thanks! I want to build one too, but that comes after this project.

Cool project. Looks like it's coming along very nicely.
I went the V-8 route back in 2004.
If there is any parts or info you need let me know.
I am also the activity director of the local Fiero club. (Northern Illinois Fiero Enthusiasts)
If you are interested we have a Fiero club meeting on Saturday March 17th at the Lisle Library from 1pm until 4pm.
Check out www.fierofocus.com

Pic's and info on my car can be seen here: http://www.fquick.com/garages/Pontiac/Fiero/1986/29429

Thanks. I was a member but haven't renewed my membership yet. I've been meaning to come to a meeting, and now that I've moved back I should be able to make this one. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Jfrost]

Just ordered the flywheel, low alt mount and engine mount. My bank account is starting to hurt but its worth it

 

[Jfrost]

Still waiting for more parts to arrive, but I was able to finally send the junk Fiero to the scrapyard.

Before

After

Junkyard wouldn't pick up the car without wheels so I had to improvise to get it there.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

That looks like a dune buggy before you stripped all the suspension parts off. Should have made a Mad Max style ride.

 

[Dasfinc]

Who wouldn't take it? I've had City Auto pickup cars twice from me without wheels or axles...?

 

[Dasfinc]

Cool project. Looks like it's coming along very nicely.
I went the V-8 route back in 2004.
If there is any parts or info you need let me know.
I am also the activity director of the local Fiero club. (Northern Illinois Fiero Enthusiasts)
If you are interested we have a Fiero club meeting on Saturday March 17th at the Lisle Library from 1pm until 4pm.
Check out www.fierofocus.com

Pic's and info on my car can be seen here: http://www.fquick.com/garages/Pontiac/Fiero/1986/29429

I was WONDERING what was with all the guys in Fiero jackets at the Lisle Library a few weeks back.

 

[Jfrost]

That looks like a dune buggy before you stripped all the suspension parts off. Should have made a Mad Max style ride.

It crossed my mind a few times, but I would have no place to store it.

Who wouldn't take it? I've had City Auto pickup cars twice from me without wheels or axles...?

The car was in central Illinois, the local junkyards are pretty disappointing. Initially they said they would pick it up sans wheels/suspension but changed the story when I called for the pick up.

Trailer rental was $66 and the scrapyard gave me $62 for the shell

 

[Jfrost]

Not a huge updated but I installed a newer headlight harness today. I had to solder connectors in on the old one and must have mismatched a few wires (one connector alone had 3 identical red wires) as the headlights wouldn't pop up and I had parasitic draw. Now one headlight pops up, the other one I believe the motor/relay is shot. Progress none the less. Hopefully the parasitic draw goes away too.

Also, got a new distributor cap installed and the engine idles and drives a lot better now.

 

[Jfrost]

More parts arrived. Don't have much else to update as I've been planning a Hawaii trip and a bachelor party. After I get back from Hawaii I'll have more to update as I'll start pulling the stock engine out to get things prepped for the swap. Found out a friends brother is handy with a welder as well so I'll be able to start on the exhaust system soon too.

Here's what arrived:

Cut and balanced flywheel

Engine mount

Low mount alternator kit

 

[Jfrost]

An update has been long overdue....

I have acquired the majority of the parts needed to complete the L67 swap. Staring Monday September 10th through Sunday the 16th I have taken off work to put everything together and install the engine in the Fiero. More information is to follow in the coming week....my best friend is getting married September the 8th so I'm pretty well busy up until then.

Here's a few pictures to keep everyone interested:

The tired old 2.8 V6 is out

Built an engine cradle dolly to help with the engine swap

The old engine cradle after everything is removed

A shop patched a rusted spot before the cradle got powder coated.

Gift wrapped goodness back from powder coating

Engine cradle unwrapped

Engine cradle on the dolly awaiting the engine/trans mounts....

More pictures coming soon!

 

[RICH17]

Wow that looks awesome!!


Curious tho, how much to coat the cradle?

 

[Jfrost]

$275 from Vanilla Gorilla. Great work for the price and I highly recommend him. Dropped the cradle off on a Monday and it was ready late Wednesday night of that week. I'm going to have him powder coat the rear control arms and sway bar for my Fiero here soon.

 

[Euro]

Very nice, that's not a bad price at all for the PC'ing. CAn't wait to see the motor in

 

[BrianG]

Sexy stuff going on there! Love the aluminum bushings and the powdercoating!

 

[GearsForYourRears]

Sweet. Cant wait to see it done!

 

[Midn1ght Driv3r]

Awesome build I can't wait till it's finished! Why did you decide on aluminum bushings over polyurethane?

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Like the powder coat, definitely makes it so that you can keep it around for a nice long time. Can't wait to see the blown goodness going into this beast.

 

[Jfrost]

Awesome build I can't wait till it's finished! Why did you decide on aluminum bushings over polyurethane?

The 1988 Fiero's used solid mounts for the engine cradle to the frame. Since that was the best year for the Fiero's as far as performance and handling goes, I'd figure I'd set up the cradle the same way.

Like the powder coat, definitely makes it so that you can keep it around for a nice long time. Can't wait to see the blown goodness going into this beast.

Thanks man. That was my idea behind the powder coating, get it done right the first time so I can swap it and the drivetrain into a cleaner Fiero in the future if needed. This build has been 2 years in the making so I am very anxious to put it all together.

Just got a set of poly lower control arm bushings and a new release bearing for the trans yesterday. I'll have a few more parts to order this week if my bank account can handle it. My best friends wedding is next weekend and I've started seeing a new girl, so my savings are already stressed haha.

 

[Jfrost]

Here are some more pictures...

The engine cradle with the mounts test fitted.

Trans release bearing and poly rear lower control arm bushings.

105 amp alternator, a/c delete pulley and new AC Delco EP 381 fuel pump.

Clutch Net pressure plate and clutch disc.

 

[Jfrost]

Today marked the first day of my so called build week. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, I partially blame that on still recovering from a wedding this weekend. I did however manage to sand and prime the engine oil pan and gas tank for paint, cleaned up the stock exhaust manifolds a bit. The major accomplishment of the day was installing the front mount battery kit and running the (+) cable to the rear of the vehicle and mounting the (-) cable. I was originally going to run the (-) cable to a bolt on the sway bar bracket, but the bolt head sheared off....I found another bolt near by but now I have a busted bolt to attend to later. Here are a few pics of the battery install:

Also of note: I found a Fiero in a local junkyard (1984) and it had the full spare tire set up on it as well as a few other nice items. The spare tire jack/mount on the 84's are a bit different than the later years but at least I now I have the spare tire to complete the battery install.

On the agenda for tomorrow:

Paint engine oil pan
Get bolts to mount pressure plate to flywheel
Install flywheel and clutch assembly
Mount engine and trans together then to engine cradle
Misc assembly of parts onto engine/trans

 

[RICH17]

Sweet man!

Is that bolt going to be a good enough ground? I ran both (+&-) wires from the trunk to the motor because GM uses mostly glue to put the panels together.

 

[Jfrost]

Sweet man!

Is that bolt going to be a good enough ground? I ran both (+&-) wires from the trunk to the motor because GM uses mostly glue to put the panels together.

I originally planned on doing that, but the instructions from the kit actually recommend using that sway bar bracket bolt, it bolts directly into the frame of the car. The bolt I ended up using is just a few inches ahead of it on the same frame section. If the engine won't turn over the first thing I'll look at will be that (-) cable. I'll do some more research to see what other Fiero owners have done cable wise with front mount set ups.