..
My Fiero:  

concept
 

current condition
 

back view of corvette lights
 
My Fiero is probably the biggest pain in the ass in my life, but its also the most fun.  I never was into cars until I bought my 1988 Pontiac Fiero Sport Coupe.  It somehow turned me into a gear head.  I'm not sure how it happened, but I am totally into cars now, and more specifically into Fieros.  Most people think the Fiero is just a piece of crap, but little do they know they are excellent cars that can be beautiful, different, and perform.  Compared with any other car in the price range and category its a great project.  Its a small two-seater mid-engine sports car.  I'ts hard to see the potential however, because of the age and condition of most Fieros left on the road today.  Suspend your preconceptions for a minute and look at this car on the left.

This image portrays very closely what I am going to end up with when my car is finished. This is a photochopped image of what my car will look like when finished using all the parts I have installed or will install. The color is 2004 350Z blue , but alas I have too much work to do before paint still.

 
The Build:  
My car started its life as a 1988 Pontiac Fiero Sport Coupe. I bought it for $1100.00 and it was in bad shape. There was a huge black mark down the side of the car, the spoiler was a aftermarket stock reproduction and cracked down the middle, the suspension was shot, the engine was tired, the tires were bald, the interior was falling apart, the seats were ripped, the headlight motors were on their last legs, but.... I loved her anyway. I bought it and drove about 60 miles home with one headlight, the wrong plates, floating all over the highway because of the suspension, and not much power.

I told myself it would last long enough for me to work on the body and get it just up to good working condition. I started fixing the interior, I bondoed the spoiler, I buffed off the black streak on the door, and started on a tune up. Then on my way home from work on the highway a few days later the engine just shut down. It wouldn't start up and I knew I was in trouble. After a good friend of mine Paul towed me home for free, me and my father took a look at the car and came to the conclusion that the timing gears had stripped.... not good....

Everyone I know told me to scrap the car because it wasn't worth it, but I just couldn't let go of it. I asked my father whether we could fix it and he told me that there was a possibility of bent valves from the engine seizing. Little did we know that the nylon gears on the 2.5 just shave off and rarely cause any further damage. So I decided to replace the engine. I wanted to go with a Quad 4, but my father wanted to go stock because he would be doing most of the work since I was a car newbie. So I convinced him to go with a 2.8 V6 as a compromise, because after all the 2.8 IS stock on the GT models.

It turned out to be much harder than we anticipated because of all the odds and ends involved in going from a 2.5 to a 2.8. I bought a used 2.8 and all the necessary parts needed to swap to a 2.8 from a 2.5 from Bob at kill hill farm. Which turned out to have low compression in the #5 cylinder, but I'll get back to that later. Also we decided to go ahead and do some restoration while the car was apart. I replaced the rotted battery tray with a new one from the Fiero Store, we rebuilt the whole rear suspension including installing polyurethane bushings, we replaced all the e brake cables, I completely restored the interior and eventually changed to a black silver and blue theme, and of course I ported the exhaust manifolds for some extra HP. I also had many parts media blasted and then I clear coated them for a nice clean look. I also installed a brand new black carpet in place of the old stock grey, fixed the headlight motors, fixed the trunk rust problem, and a ton more stuff like the aftermarket corvette taillight panel and vette lights.

After a few hiccups we got the thing running and I started in on the body work, interior change, and performance modifications. One of which was the addition of a N20 setup. I knew I had low compression in one cylinder but figured the 2.8 would hold up since it only had 75,000 miles on it. It was fun for a while. I was running a 35-50 shot of N20 on my 2.8 that had some minor bolt ons already like an under drive pulley, MSD coil, ported exhaust manifolds, and no CAT exhaust. So I was probably pushing anywhere from 170-190HP with the N20 at the crank; which isn't bad for a small car like the Fiero. But then the fuel solenoid must have stopped working which gave me a lean condition on the nitrous and eventually shattered my oil ring on piston #5.

But before the piston ring shattered I got a lot done on the body and interior. I completely removed every body panel from the car and rebodied it with a mix of parts from an 87 SE and an 86 GT. So I went from notchback style to fastback style, got a factory wing and raised it 4 inches, added a sunroof, and started on replacing the sport coupe runners and fascias with SE/GT/Indy style runners and fascias. Oh and I can't forget the addition of 17" Enkei sportline rims and tires that I took off of the 87 SE I stripped for parts.

I wanted to go with a 3.4 from a camaro this time, but I had no place to do the work. Since I didn't have a place to work on my car for a weeks at a time I decided to go with a remanufactured 2.8, and dress it up a bit. Since it was another 2.8 I could do the engine replacement in a matter of days instead of weeks, and my parents allowed me to use thier garage for 1 week.

I installed an oil pan windage tray to keep the engine oiled during turning and acceleration, I installed 1.6 roller ratio rocker arms, and a ported Throttle body and upper intake. In addition to those mods I also used my MSD coil, ported exhaust manifolds, Ocelot No CAT exhaust, under drive power pulley, and I still have my Nitrous kit waiting to be installed. Also I went ahead and painted everything I could and ripped out all the old engine bay insulation and repainted the engine bay.

After all the ups and downs of getting a new engine to run correctly I started work on the body and interior again. I reupholstered the doors and the headliner in black vinyl, replaced the scratched drivers side window, added the GT ground effects, installed the aftermarket rear 1/4 panel scoops, and got a new MP3 player and speakers.

Right now I am waiting for time to rebuild my front suspension and brake system with all poly and steel braided lines. I also have to install a adjustable fuel pressure regulator, fuel safety switch which turns off the N20 if fuel pressure drops, and of course the Nitrous setup itself. I also need to install my 1/4 window turbo scoops and do all the body repairs before sanding and sending it to paint. I am SOOO close now I just can't wait.

Here it is right now...
 

This was my car right after swapping out the 2.5 ltr 4 cyl engine, and replacing with a 2.8 ltr 6 cyl engine.
 

This was an 87SE I bought for $800 in order to take the rims and body panels.
 

Here is a picture of my car door interior that I created out of paint and vinyl.  It was originally a grey color with carpet.
 

This is an intermediate stage of my car including the old notchback clip and some new parts from the 87SE.
 
 
Links Contact info Last updated November 29th, 2005