Turbo Charged L32 3800 Fiero

Sorry if this isn't the right place for this. I was looking for a specific section for build threads, but this one seems to be the "catch-all" section...

Allow me to introduce myself. My name's Chuck and I live in Orlando, FL. I am a Fiero geek. I also have a Camaro that I used to autocross but haven't got out much in the past couple years.

I met a few of you folks at the Rolex24 and talked for hours about my wife's 88 Fiero with the supercharged 3800 in it. Now a couple of you know who I am... :)

Anyway, I'm starting on my next project and thought I would share the progress here.

The background info: A friend of mine had an 86 Fiero GT that he stuffed a 3800 supercharged Series 2 Grand Prix motor into. He went on to add bigger and bigger superchargers, nitrous and eventually a monster turbo. He was running low 11s in the quarter before the turbo. After the turbo his fuel pump couldn't keep up so he tore it apart to tweak the fuel system. While it was apart he also had the heads ported and added a custom ground cam.

Then he got interested in other things (motorcycles, jet skis, etc...) and the Fiero sat for a couple years... He sold the turbo and intake somewhere along the way. He finally got tired of seeing it sink into the field where it was parked so he tried to sell it. No takers. So he sold it to me for cheap and I have been parting it out for the last few months.

The plan: I'm building another Fiero race car. 88 Fieros have the best suspension. So it has to be an 88. I want to use it for autocross, HPDE and the occasional trip down the drag strip. Keep it street legal (barely) so I can drive it to events and keep it parked at my house. Shave every ounce of weight possible. Use every Fiero suspension trick I have learned over the years.

The power train: His 3800 has water damage. I don't trust it. Start with an L32 (Series3 supercharged 3800). Remove the heads, intake and blower. Replace with L26 (Series3 NA 3800) intake and heads, cam from previous engine. Reuse the 4T65E-HD transmission. Already tweaked. Liquid to air intercooler. 72mm Turbo with ceramic bearings. Nitrous.

So far I have: Nitrous kit with nozzles, warmer, solenoids and switches. Line lock. Transmission. bad engine. misc bits. No car yet.

Shooting for the $2,012 budget would be a pipe dream. So that's not even a consideration.

I can't provide any help, but I can't wait to see where you take this one!

LIKE! L67?

welcome. but this thread needs moar pictures!

Interested. Very.

I can't visualize what you're trying to do, maybe you should post some pictures...

definatly needs pictures!

Why a 72mm turbo? Seems like overkill. Your 'kill setting' is going to be on nitrous, so unless you plan on using all 800 hp of a 72mm turbo AND that, all it's doing is costing you a little spool time 99.5% of the time.

Otherwise, sounds good. Post pics.

I'm going to assume you know about Dave?

http://hausofguru.com/

He's pretty knowledgeable when it comes to insane Fiero builds.

Oh yeah, I know about Dave. He builds some nice stuff.

The reason for the 72mm turbo is really just because it had a 74 on it before. I am shooting for a very high power rating. There's only one Fiero in the 9's so far and it's an elcetric car. That's one of my pipe dreams. If I can get close, I'll be happy. But if I can get all the way there, I'll be king of the world... The other reason is because I know a friend who is selling a brand new 72mm ceramic bearing Magnum turbo from his speedshop for around $800. It's been sitting on the shelf for a while and he wants it gone.

Pictures? There's really nothing there yet. Here's the car that had the stuff in it... Here's a picture of the 88 GT that I'm fixing up to raise money for the build... The wife's Fiero is behind that. My orange Camaro is behind that. Here's the wife's engine, last time I had it out...

2002z28ssconv wrote:

These cars look SO good wingless . . .

Got the turbo today.

Magnum T72 turbo with .68AR and ceramic ball bearings. I'm planning on running about 20psi through a V6 Camaro's intake, into a Grand Prix's 3800 V6 with custom cam & ported heads and modified Pacesetter headers.

Got an upper and lower intake from a Camaro because the air intake wouldn't fit on the same side of the engine as the turbo. $80 including shipping...

This is what 3 days of grinding, sanding and polishing will get ya. It's not perfect but it's still pretty darn nice.

Just so you can get an idea of the shine...

Strike_Zero wrote:

2002z28ssconv wrote:

These cars look SO good wingless . . .

damn.. you are right. It is a sin to put a spoiler on them (actually it is a sin to put a spoiler on most cars)

I have a roll cage question... So I drew some pictures... In the following drawings, the broken blue line represents the rear window and the firewall.

This is what I think most cages resemble. I'm pretty sure this way will keep you NHRA legal.

This is another idea I had, moving the rear support outside the firewall and onto the rear frame rails. I see this as being a much stronger anchor than the floor's thin sheet metal.

Here is the one that I'd really like to try but I have my doubts about its legality. The rear hoop is relocated on the outside of the rear window.

Anybody know?

As long as the hoop is within 6" of your head, being outside shouldn't matter. But I would talk to a NHRA tech inspector first to be sure. Also, I believe, in side view, that the main hoop has to be straight, no bends. Third drawing is okay on this, other two look like it is bent from side view.

Cool project, I would love to do something similar. 3800 NA in my 99 Bonneville isn't very fast, but no money for supercharged 3800 swap either.

Thanks!

Yeah, I'm planning on talking to them before I build anything. I just prefer to have some idea of what they are going to say first. That way I'll hopefully have a design that can be approved when I talk to them rather than going back and forth.

This weekend's progress... I bolted everything together for a mock up. I'm going to sawzall the engine bay off of an already chopped up Fiero and attach it to the cradle (that's what we call the subframe assembly that holds the engine) so that I'll have a good idea of the available space. I'm pretty sure that the crossover tube between the headers will need to be revised to bring the turbo closer to the intake manifold.

awesome!

2002z28ssconv wrote: Got an upper and lower intake from a Camaro because the air intake wouldn't fit on the same side of the engine as the turbo. $80 including shipping...

2002z28ssconv wrote: This is what 3 days of grinding, sanding and polishing will get ya. It's not perfect but it's still pretty darn nice.

That came out REALLY nice. Did you use an angle grinder to take the lettering off that square area?

Yep - It also removed a large amount of my right index finger's knucle. That's when I switched to a belt sander and a random orbital sander. Progressively finer grit... This was taken down to 1500, then polished. Since then, I've been repolishing the wheels on my Camaro and bought some 2000 and a piece of 3000 just for testing. I've only used the 3000 on that square section so far but after another quick polish, I could shave in it now. So I'd say the test was a success. The compressor side of the turbo has now recieved similar treatment but isn't quite finished yet. Polishing isn't terribly difficult. It just take s A LOT of time.

I realize that you're still a long way from completion, but please let me know when you're ready to run that beast in an autocross. I'd love to see it in person. We'll see how it stacks up against the turbo Sentra.