262's 85 Fiero SE LX9 F23 swap thread lots of pics

[ericjon262]

more mount progress, I'm getting quite a bit better at running the TIG, but still not great...



The portion that isn't welded in the following picture is going to be cut back, and a re enforcing strap welded on perpendicular to the flat stock to help with lateral support.



There's another bolt hole on the bellhousing below the starter, I'm contemplating whether or not to use it, if I don't, i'll trim the bottom of the bracket.



I think I can have this one done tomorrow, hopefully I'll have it and the other trans mount at a minimum done by the end of the weekend.

[ericjon262]

well, the powertrain side of the mounts is pretty much done, I'm going to add some bracing to the front transmission mount, but it would function as is. I did re work the front transmission mount, I got the sleeve lower and closer to coaxial to the other mount. hindsight being 20:20, I could have made them coaxial, but I'm not going to cut a 3rd one to make it happen. I also got the rear chassis side of the mounts done, I was going to power through and get the fronts done, but it's gonna wait, hopefully tomorrow I can nail them down after work.

I'm pretty excited because the new front mount is so much more well designed, I'll be able to route the exhaust under the engine, similar to the stock fiero routing, even @ 3"+ diameter, which should allow for more options for turbo location and orientation, I'm hoping I can package the turbo kit way better than what I had.

I'm pretty much settled on a 6266, I think it's the best for what I'm looking for. once I get my 0% interest loan back from the government, I'll probably pick one up.

[ericjon262]

Paint and maybe a little bit more contour work with the grinder is all that's left for the engine side of the mounts. the cradle has tabs welded on for the mounts, but they will need a little bit of work still before they're done, mainly radiusing some corners.

the new mounts are smaller, lighter, and probably almost definitely stronger than the old mounts

the new engine mount tucks much higher in the chassis, as well as leaves room under the oil pan for the exhaust. realistically, there's no reason I couldn't cram a 3.5" exhaust under here, but I think a single 3" is in store for the car.





the rear transmission mount was the only mount of the old ones that I wouldn't have minded keeping, but the new transmission doesn't have the same bolt bosses, so it had to go. again, new is much smaller, and probably stronger.





here is what I'm happiest with at the moment, the front transmission mount, it's WAY smaller, and I am certain that it's substantially stronger, between this and the new front mount, I have so much more room for routing the exhaust, and coolant lines from the engine. I am very happy with the result. the idea behind the old front mount, was that it would double as a "scattershield" in the event of catastrophic failure of the clutch or flywheel... I don't think it would have offered any read protection from anything.

[manbearpig]

Awesome project. I went through the belt routing thing on my 2.2L as well... actually, I plan on going to a 55a Geo Metro alternator mounted lower and ditching the automatic tensioner for the old fashion "slot in the bracket" setup. Here's what I have right now:



I have a 3.1L in a Grand Am I am "restoring", but that probably won't get anything radical done to it. Will be following this project, though.

[ericjon262]

Thanks!

I would advise against going the old fashioned way unless the belt is super short, the longer the belt, the more stretch is a problem. there's a reason no manufacturer uses static belt tension anymore.

[ericjon262]

Big day today, the car FINALLY has a decklid again. big thanks to Fieroguru for posting his hinge box delete instructions, if I hadn't cut my hinge boxes out like an idiot I wouldn't have needed something like it, but it came in clutch, and was probably easier than installing a "new" set of boxes.

the old decklid, note that there aren't any supports on the front end where the hinges are supposed to bolt to...



The "new" hotness! at some point, someone tried breaking the lock cylinder out of it. realistically, I'll probably find another lid in better shape, but beggars can't be choosers...







In other news, the new turbo is on order, it's a Precision 6266 CEA Gen 1. I also ordered a wastegate, and the material to finish the hotside. I have not yet started to look at the downpipe.

I started work on one of the new manifolds yesterday, but I got a little bit heavy handed with the grinder and ended up cutting one of the runners way to short,and as luck would have it, I don't have enough to account for mistake, so I have to wait to finish it until more material shows up(extra ordered this time...). Tomorrow, I'll start a manifold since I do have enough to complete one of them.

[ericjon262]

I decided not to work on the manifold until I had the parts in to do both of them, instead, I started work on the wiring and plumbing.

I reinstalled the fuel rail I had on the car originally, I don't have time to mess with the other rail, and I know this one works.



or does it...

the rail fittings were hitting the throttle, this makes it a total no-go...





I pulled the plenum back off and realized I hadn't seated the fuel rail in the manifold :crazy:



I gave the snugged down the rail and gained just enough clearance, there's also no gasket, so I have a smidgen more left to gain.



I then turned my attention to the regulator and flex fuel sensor, after a while of playing with fittings and lots of trial and error, I came up with this:



and then I remembered the flex sensor is bidirectional, so I flipped it around and now it tucks under the throttle much deeper, and way further out of the way. I'm going to make a small bracket that catches the two lower bolts of the throttle body to hold the sensor in place. I plan to make the feed and return lines out of stainless tube vice the hose pictured, the tube has a smaller OD for a comparable ID, and can fit tighter. there will be a section of hose to allow for some flexibility.



I also made a subharness for the injectors, I need to find a 7 pin connector I can put on the end to allow for the injectors to be changed to a different type without having to cut the harness.



Other than that, I started terminating the wires into the connectors for the MS3 pro, and made a decision on mounting for the MS3, the MS3 will be mounted under the center console, where the "glovebox" is. this mounting position will require me to no longer have the box, but I don't think I have ever put anything in it anyways, it's kinda awkwardly shaped and positioned.

[manbearpig]

Just curious, are you going to coil-on-plug with MS3? I see you're going to be doing drive-by-wire. These are things I'd like to do with my 2.2L (my 3.1L is staying stock).

[ericjon262]

Just curious, are you going to coil-on-plug with MS3? I see you're going to be doing drive-by-wire. These are things I'd like to do with my 2.2L (my 3.1L is staying stock).

I'm going to be running 6 GM truck coils. DBW isn't directly supported by the MS3 alone, you need a controler, I'm using the DBWx2

https://www.dbwx2.com/

I haven't wired it up yet though. I'm also going to be running an MS3 Pro Ultimate. also, FWIW, MS supports the LX9 crank trigger.

[ericjon262]

if the intake design wasn't last priority yesterday, it is today! got some toys in!



and these:



(wow that picture looks like crap...)

Precision 6266 CEA (gen 1), and a Turbosmart Compgate 40, along with a bunch of weld els, and some V bands. not pictured, I have a bellows that I plan to install in the hotside from on the pipe that will come from the rear bank, to the turbo. I made a bunch of progress on the front manifold, some of the fitup is pretty rough, and some of the welds are... well they suck, but they're better than my last set of manifolds. I started with the front manifold so that when when I make the rear, which will be way more visible, I can incorporate lessons learned with the front manifold and have one of them looking great. I didn't take any pictures yet, I'll get some tomorrow when I finish it and start the rear...

[manbearpig]

Looks like you've got plenty of work in front of you!

Might be a stupid question, but how did you get the AN stuff to fit on the stock fuel rail? This is something I've been contemplating doing myself.

[ericjon262]

Looks like you've got plenty of work in front of you!

Might be a stupid question, but how did you get the AN stuff to fit on the stock fuel rail? This is something I've been contemplating doing myself.

I have a ton of work to do, but I'm making fast progress, I'll post pictures later. That's not a stupid question, I adapted them with fittings from a company called TCE, unfortunately, I don't think they are available anymore.

[ericjon262]

Got a ton of work done on the manifolds today, at this point, I'd say I'm about 75% done, I still need to weld the tops of the runners, and a couple of other joints. I started by making the front log, which would be mostly out of sight, that way if I could learn how not to do it for the one that would be visible.

I also ordered a set of long shank carbide burrs, I left the inside of the logs slightly small, as it's easier to grind them out from the inside, than to fill a huge gap with weld.

There were a couple of spot where I let the heat get away from me, but overall I think they're OK. I'm going to finish the welding up in the morning, and then I'll figure out where I'm going to put the turbo, and I'll start tacking pipe together and working on the rest of the hotside. I have the basic idea of what I want to do for the hotside, unfortunately, I don't have the pipe yet, hopefully it gets here soon.

[ericjon262]

what a day... Called my metal supplier about the pipe for the rest of the hotside:

"it'll ship out sometime late next week..."

WTF. I ordered it last week. I called around, and Online metals, which has a warehouse about an hour and a half from me had it! I placed the order for pickup, and they said they would email when it was ready.

1 hour, nothing...

2 hours, nothing...

3 hours,... OK I'll call them...

We're having trouble locating all of the order, we'll call you when we find all of it.

an hour later, I figure I better start on the way to pick whatever they do have up so I can get SOMETHING done this weekend.

hour and a half later, as I'm pulling up to the warehouse, I get an email:

"Hey, we don't have any of it..."

! *Visible frustration*

Keep in mind, I drove the pig rig over there, so there goes 3 hours of driving, and a 1/2 tank of gas... I emailed them back, telling them I just canceled an order because it would take too long, and now (4:00 PM) even if I could find someone else kinda local, there's minimal chance I'll get there before doors close. thankfully they were understanding of my frustration, and they offered to overnight my order to me from one of their east coast warehouses. unfortunately, I still won't have any material until Wednesday, because their office was closed over there, so the order has to be placed, then get to shipping, then to me... DOH.

tomorrow, I plan to work on a mount to hold the turbo, I plan to bolt it to the top of the trans on the ecotec front mount boss, and maybe make a trip to the junkyard to try and find a better pedal for the DBW throttle. I might also notch the front engine crossmember to allow more clearance for the exhaust. the other big ticket I need to tackle is the shifter, my current one won't work with the new turbo kit, but that's ok, because it was kinda ugly anyways. the new one will have the cables approach from outboard on the driver's side, so they allow a ton of clearance, instead of my old setup that cut down the middle.

[1QUICKHATCH]

Those manifolds look great! Did you contour the primary's with the angle grinder?