anyone know anything about this Fiero

[jeffwilson34]

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/5208807528.html
I am thinking of buying it and picking it up this weekend.
Just wondering if anyone has saw it and hat your opinion on the engine swap is.

[Fierofool]

Looks good if those are current pictures and it can be driven daily.  Is it being used for autocross? 

[Raydar]

It belongs to masospaghetti on Pennocks.
You can probably search his user name and find out lots of stuff about it, by reading his threads.

Here's his for sale thread, with a lot of close up pics.
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum4/HTML/072722.html

I even commented on the swap, since I want to do something similar with a 3.9.

[f85gtron]

Swap is already done....so that's a huge plus. I would change the air intake back to the original cold air pickup and get rid of the hot air pickup He's got going on. That's about the only cha.......wait.... I would also cut down the truck shifter a couple inches at least. I forgot how tall the original shifter is!
Ron

[jeffwilson34]

Think I will get it.
I am still having wiring issues with mine where some idiot cut the harness.
I had most of it working till tonight, hen things got interesting.

See my post in Tech Q and A for that story.
http://www.gafiero.org/bbs/index.php?topic=2184.0

[pgackerman]

Thought you were looking for a nice '88?

Pennocks' says the car pulls when braking.  Check for a straight body.  Might not have been in a wreck, but that doesn't mean it didn't fall off a truck.

[jeffwilson34]

I was or am but I can not find one in my price range that is worth buying.   That one has a pretty well documented engine  swap and brake upgrade.

The handling and suspension on an 88 may be better but even though the older years were based on older cars not meant to be sports cars, just the nature of the way the Fieros are set up makes them great handling cars.   The only things I have driven with better handling are a C5 Corvette and a Sprint cup car at Daytona  which could easily go up or down the track in the corners at 180MPH and not even feel loose.    Never had the Vette at Daytona but I did have it at Bristol where 125 through the turns  was easy on the car but almost broke my neck trying to hold my head straight.
The spring cup car my head could not move more than an inch in any direction because of the safety straps and seat.

[jeffwilson34]

I bought it last week.   the paint job is a bit cheap but everything else is done very well
It runs much better than I expected.  The power it has took getting used to.  I squealed the tires several times the day I got it.
I am very happy with it
 I have owned 6 Fieros,  two 87GT's (2008-2010 traded one for a Vette and the other caught fire and burned the right front  from nose to windshield.   We were on vacation  and had been gone for 3 days when it caught fire. No one including insurance investigators or police arson could find a cause.  Caught fire in the middle of the day and when I got home and put the key in she started up and the engine sounded fine)  an 86 2m4 (actually my 1st what I call real  car back in 1987 I had a few junkers like a 71 maverick that was more rust than car before ) an 84 base (bought it cheap back in 1990 and did some body work, replaced a fender and a cheap paint job then sold it for a nice profit.  I also currently own an 86 SE 4cyl that that had and still has some of worst redneck engineering I have ever saw.
I have tried off and on for a month to get it right. and still it only half works.  I unhook the battery every time I park it because I just know I will come out and see it in flames.  See my other posts about it.
Back to this one.  I am very impressed with his work in getting everything to work.  Not to mention the power.  It took me a while to get used to it after having driven the others.  I smoked the tires several times not to mention hitting the rev limiter accidentally a few times  not just in 1st gear but in 2nd and 3rd.
I am a big guy and add extra weight to it but it still pulls up fairly steep hills in 5th without any problems. 
There is no doubt in my mind that if it had much wider tires on it so that it would hook up it would embarrass my c5 vette that has well over 400HP.
 When I did a burnout meaning to, just to see what it would do, it would hit the limiter while smoking the tires with very little forward movement and my foot off the brake the whole time. 
I may look into trying to put a higher gear in it because now in 1st it hits the limiter before making it halfway across an intersection,
I had it in Pigeon Forge this past weekend for the rod runs and it got lots of attention.  Just listing to people walk by it not letting on that I owned it I was surprised at how many younger people did not know what it was.  Most thought it was a newer Honda or Toyota at 1st then they saw antique tags on it and I heard more than one say that there was no way that new of a car qualified for antique tags.

[Raydar]

I'm happy that you got this car, and that it's a good one. (I knew not much about it, other than his thread on Pennocks.)
I'm also encouraged hearing about how much power the swap has, since I am planning something similar.

[jeffwilson34]

I'm happy that you got this car, and that it's a good one. (I knew not much about it, other than his thread on Pennocks.)
I'm also encouraged hearing about how much power the swap has, since I am planning something similar.

The engine in the car as it is right now has too much power.    It either needs a much higher gear ratio or a very wide soft rear tire.  If I could get it to hook up and not just burn the rubber I could really take the smiles off most of the mustangs and stock C4 and some C5 Vettes in a 1/8 maybe 1/4 but my top speed can be 140 in 5th and that is hitting the rev limiter which I think is 8600-9000 RPM which it has no problem doing that is with my far @$$ in it.
Put a skinney guy in it and it would no doubt go faster.   I am considering buying as several sand bags and weighing the rear don more to try and get a better grip till I figure something else out.    as far as looks, the engine looks natural back there but it has a nice sound that I was surprised to hear  coming from a V6.  Not as mean sounding as my vetter with headers and straight pipes back to the quad tip borla mufflers.   The interior is pretty nice with a new headliner and seats reupholstered.  there are some crack in the lower part of the driver side dash near the Vent             
I personally would like a higher gear for gas and top end speed.

[jeffwilson34]

It definitely has more power than the car can handle as it is right now.
I took it down to an airport runway that is closed at night but a buddy is part owner and I am allowed to take a car down there every once in a while as long as I do not make a habit of it.
I put it through some tough turns and the rear got loose several times.
I put it into a sharper turn at about 90 and the rear end passed the front so I dropped a gear and gunned it and headed the other way.  Any faster and it would have been more than a 180  degree slip.
The narrow tires do not have the grip needed for the power of the engine.

For the record I had a helmet as well as a 5 point harness on.
I have a bad habit of wanting to push any car I own to its limit just to see what it can do.

[Raydar]

I don't know what tires yours has on it, but I have 235/45-17 Kumho SPTs on mine. They're pretty soft, with a treadwear of ~280 or so.
I can spin the tires in first gear for a bit; and traveling in 2nd, and turning, I can mat the gas and kick it sideways for 15 feet or so, but then it just squats and hooks up. (I don't do clutch dumps, since shock loading - and a bunch of torque - seems to be what kills Getrags. I've already killed one with a built 3.4.)
The engine is a 4.9 with Allante intake. Based upon the hardware, it should be making about 220 HP and about 300 lb.ft. I have not dynoed it, however, so that's pure speculation. The Getrag is supposed to have stock Fiero gearing in it. Based on speed vs RPM, I have to believe that supposition is correct.
I have the EP limited slip, but I'm not sure how much that really helps in a Fiero.