McLaren 3.1L Turbo V6 + Fiero = Oh yeah...

[robertisaar]

mine survived.... until it disappeared...

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

yeah, ive never ever ever seen one. ever. untill i came here i didnt know it was even an option for that car! lol ive heard of 3.4s in em... i swear a 3.8 or two... but i could be thinking of the Thunderbucket SC. (which i happen to think is one helluva car) idk its been an action packed weekend and my brain isnt quite firing on all cylinders right now...

i even saw an early 90s cavalier rockin a 3.4DOHC today. (in the junkyard not finished it looked like) lol

but never ever in a goats life time have i seen a 2.8 camaro.

[walterdude]

I had an 85 T-Top Camaro with a 2.8 and 5 speed. By sheer bad luck ALL of the cars I had owned for many years were automatics.. So my friend owned a towing business and he towed this abandoned T-Top,, I got it from him for pretty cheap and he did all the paperwork for an ABA and got me a new title... Before I completely got the car together I ended up losing my clutch leg.. Got this nifty item made of carbon fiber and a few exotic metals... Alas, don't work so hot for clutchin'.... I ended up just giving the thing to a friend in need and he drove it for years! I never even drove it anywhere!! Man,, that hurts!!!
At any rate,the 2.8s were VERY common..
Tom....

[Superdave]

This was a 2.8 '89 RS..

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

This was a 2.8 '89 RS..

did it have all the body cladding too with the 2.8 in it? i know the hood is aftermarket

[Superdave]

Yep, everything else is stock except for the hood and rims.

[Mr_jacob7]

uh, guys? fiero, not camaro... ;]

now, when you guys talk about upgrading the heads, do you mean, like, boring out the cylinder, or a new head altogether? as far as the earlier comment (on page one) a bigger snail would be nice, but the fiero-fund is in the negatives, already, pretty much... (same thing with the heads, but you know...)

thanks for the info, guys.



^(a really nice) fiero's 2.8

[IsaacHayes]

Upgrading heads would be going to gen3 FWD aluminum heads, intakes, and swap to DIS (waaay more flow). Or a whole gen3 motor. The Fiero motor has iron heads, which are the same as a camaro 2.8/3.1/3.4 basically. The intakes don't flow much past 4000 RPM either.

The FWD motor are way more efficient, example, 3500 is 200hp stock form.

[RedZMonte]

like the swap! i miss my TGP! you may want to consider mounting the IC under the drivers side under the Vents (if you have the GT Vents) if there is room. less piping and less chance of damage from rocks, speed bumps ect.

The TGP engine is a good engine, i would worry about getting it running 100% and enjoy it before you start any other upgrades.. The Chips for the TGP are a little spendy but are a great investment. My TGP had a chip, most likely the "JeffM Top Gun Chip" and it ran very well. The turbo is a good turbo, i would look at replacing the X-over flex's before anything else they tend to crack and give driveability issues.

S

[DefEddie]

Hey Mr. Jacobs.
I'm following you

Trying to get as much info as I can before I swap in mine.

[Mr_jacob7]

hello, again, guys. thanks, by the way, for all the info, so far... if you check the beginning link again, you'll see that we've made a lot of headway since last post.

i do have a question, though... does anybody, anywhere have a vacuum diagram for this motor? i can't find one anywhere, and i'm wondering if they even exist. shopkey... internet... none.

so, if you have a vacuum diagram, or could tell me where the hoses on the electronic boost control valve go, then i would be very appreciative.

-Jacob

[DefEddie]

Hey jacob,just wondering what you were going to do intercooler wise?
I'm dumping the TGP intercooler and have a design in my head for installing a water/air cooler utilizing a small radiator and orifice to try and get heat transfer similar to how the A/C works
(I thought about repiping my A/C routing to take advantage of it,but want a separate system)
Not sure how far i'll go,but i've definately decided to go water/air since the path to the front would drop too much pressure,I don't want an indy scoop and the only other thing I can think of is building a crazy one-off wing piped as an intercooler.
(design is awesome,but not cost effective and hard to make it look not like crap)

We sure don't have alot of room to work with do we.

[Joseph Upson]

like the swap! i miss my TGP! you may want to consider mounting the IC under the drivers side under the Vents (if you have the GT Vents) if there is room. less piping and less chance of damage from rocks, speed bumps ect.

Bad idea, the heat flowing through the vents is phenomenal and after a short bit of driving the vents are hot enough to burn you, so putting an intercooler there unless it's partitioned off from the engine bay defeats the purpose. I have put an intercooler there before and immediately realized that quite a bit of heat flowed through it.

Not sure how far i'll go,but i've definately decided to go water/air since the path to the front would drop too much pressure,I don't want an indy scoop and the only other thing I can think of is building a crazy one-off wing piped as an intercooler. (design is awesome,but not cost effective and hard to make it look not like crap) We sure don't have alot of room to work with do we.

I'm sharing these points because I started turbocharging Fieros around 1996 and have made many mistakes and discoveries. Currently my intercooler is up front (probably the first and only of its kind) and my boost pressure increased slightly (less than 1 psi) over when I ran a short connector pipe directly from the turbos to the intake. That's plumbing running in the rocker panel skirts all the way to the front and then back. Pressure drop is a function of the system efficiency as well as the distance. I run an external wastegate with the same spring so the boost level was not adjusted.

I'm going to undo this because I'm a little manic when it comes to creativity and I get carried away such is the case here. I'm not willing to notch the rocker panel metal to recess the pipes more for proper connectivity of the lower part of the skirts so I'm going to remove it.

The inter cooler core is 6x3.5x18 and will fit nicely just in front of the cradle with a scoop to skim the under passing air and probably a couple of ebay electric fans set to activate with boost.

I'm also going to install pre and post turbo watermeth nozzles, like turbos alcohol injection was ignored and also frowned upon but more and more the benefits are getting harder and harder to ignore. Dual nozzle setups are so effective in some instances that the stock intercoolers on some cars that come equipped with them are being removed because they are not necessary.

Plan your project well, ask yourself "what am I trying to accomplish" and yield to that. You can save yourself an awful lot of excess and redoing if you do.

Air water systems work well but not in all instances, make sure you do your math. You may find that it is not as efficient as a good size air to air intercooler lying flat in the back, particularly since there is no "middle man" for heat exhchange.

By the way, my intake temps were reduced from 212 deg to 100 or less. My datalog on the interstate was corrupted so I never got a chance to view those temps and compare them to the low to moderate speed driving in town.

Build for efficiency and dependability and approach the project as if it were a business.

[DefEddie]

The spot at the cradle your talking about was my other option for the air/air.
I was concerned with the disruption of the airflow underneath the car though.
It would be basically hitting a brick wall at the engine and then again on the decklid right?
I plan some vents,but just didn't like the idea (am I arguing semantics?)
I could easily plumb up a water/air cooler and have almost everything to do it.
I mainly wanted to stay away from all the extra plumbing and routing of putting one in the front really.
I've got plans for the front and don't want to mount an intercooler there also.
I also have plans for an after turbo water/meth system,mainly because I have most if not all of the parts laying around to do one already.
Luckily I have all the tools available like infared temp guns and temp probes etc.. and plan to simply play with intake temps while monitoring.
Plan to do the same with the underhood temps.
If you have any tips,links or sites to help educate my ignorance on the intercooler and efficiency situation I would appreciate it.
I'd also like to know more about this dual nozzle meth system.
We are basically on the same page,I have a goal in mind power wise but it is second to driveability,reliability and efficiency.
But if I get the efficiency right then the power will be there I know also.
Thanks for your advice,keep it comin'.