Any way to make the Pontiac Fiero an ongoing success?

Admiral Beez said:
What Pontiac should have done is start with the engine and transmission, and then build the car around that. Start with the Buick Grand National's turbo V6.
:eek: That would have been awesome.:cool::cool: A car with great lines & 200hp in a car weighing about 1000pd less than the GNR?:eek:
 
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:eek: That would have been awesome.:cool::cool: A car with great lines & 200hp in a car weighing about 1000pd less than the GNR?:eek:
And for goodness' sake put a manual five or six speed manual in it. Even today I shudder when I pass a pre-flappy paddle era Porsche 911 only to see the automatic.
 
All of them would easily fit. So would GM's 305 & 350 V8 (350 seems a bit overkill...), or the aluminum 4.1 Cad V8.

If you want to make out the Fiero is a sports car, you want something more like the 24v 3.4, or maybe the Saab turbo. Except, if you're going to use the Saab, IMO, you'd probably need to use it in more than the Fiero... Say, in all the J-bodies? (In particular the Cav...:cool:)

The 4.1 Caddy aluminum V8 would do nicely, sir.

Very nicely.

Heh. If that worked and kept Fiero/et al vibrant into the 1990s, the Northstar motor would be very very difficult to resist as an upgrade.

Now then... a Fiero-based Saab Sonnet IV with the Aero motor... mother of pearl, that could be fun.
 
Let's say Chevy gets a Fiero. For power use a Chevy II four cylinder with a head based on the 283 small block. Same bore size, same bore spacing. I'm not sure but the head bolt spacing might work also. Hot Rodders and drag racers have taken two small block heads, cut one cylinder off and welded them together to install on chevy six cylinder engines. There are even people looking into doing the same thing with the Pontiac SOHC and the DOHC 4 valve heads from the 24 valve 3.4 V6. So the idea of a Chevy powered version of the Fiero isn't too far fetched along with a decent aftermarket source of performance parts. There a reason the SBC V8 is so popular with engine swappers and hot rodders. One is it is realitively cheap in terms of cost. Plus good power can be produced without breaking the bank. Maybe a More sucessful Fiero inspires Dodge to produce a mid engined sports car based on either the K Car transverse drive train or the Intrepid/Concorde/Eagle 3.3/3.5 and transaxle. Maybe Buick gets into the act with the Wildcat. GM's designers and engineers can do some really great work. But when the Bean countersget involved it all goes to shit. And in that pretty much sums up the basic problem of manufacturing in the US. If we can make the part really great for a dollar and crappy for $.98 then let's make it for 97 cents


I was reading pretty enthusiastically until you had to mention reality.

A cheaper mid-engine sports car versus the Corvette-priced Prowler, I know how I would have voted.


Edit: I've wanted for quite some time to see what a SBC-based inline six would be like! American Jag or something like that. (As you probably know, the first Corvette was almost a clone of the XK120 dimensions-wise, not a coincidence.)
 
modelcitizen said:
The 4.1 Caddy aluminum V8 would do nicely, sir.

Very nicely.

Heh. If that worked and kept Fiero/et al vibrant into the 1990s, the Northstar motor would be very very difficult to resist as an upgrade.
Agreed. The drawbacks I see are cost of Cad parts for owners (which would need to be brought down) & the lack of hi-performance parts. If this is a Poncho project, perhaps there'd be division-developed bits that would also fit the factory Cad, but rarely/never be seen on a Cad? (Except by slightly nutty rodders?:p)
 
Edit: I've wanted for quite some time to see what a SBC-based inline six would be like! American Jag or something like that. (As you probably know, the first Corvette was almost a clone of the XK120 dimensions-wise, not a coincidence.)


One option for this would be cut two LS-X heads apart and weld them together to get an inline six head. Hot Rodders have done it. Darg Raccers have doned it. Then mount that on top of a 230 or 250 Chevy Six. Another base engine to use would be an AMC 4.0 with either SBC or SBF heads. SBC has a 4.400" bore center and the AMC & SBF are 4.380. Plus the head bolt patterns aren't that far off. Instead of welding heads just have Edelbrock cast six cylinder versions. The big thing stopping anybody from doing this today is CARB. Not worth the effort to tool up for the small market. Plus its more than just the head. New cam, intake for either fuel injection or webers. But compare either of the sixes mentioned to a BMW, Nissan or Toyota six. They're huge primarily because of the bore centers.

My favorite for this would be a 4.0 bored to 4.000 with a 199 crank. 3.75 liters for 75% the displacement of a Boss 302 or '69 Z-28
 
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