i have done the 4.9 Cadillac swap in my f40 replica. it was lots of work but really not that hard. wiring is the hardest part but there are plenty of people who make harnesses but really not that hard to make your own.all the parts you will need are available as 3800 is the most popular swap. remember you will have to get your icm reprogrammed also any info or help or parts you will need you can find on pennocks fiero forum or mad mechanics forum. i think you will enjoy it after you are done. mine with the 4.9 and four speed is crazy fast, great on the highway although would like to put in the 5 speed one day. did my swap over a winter

88 is the better one it had the lotus suspension

Canadian Poncho wrote:

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I'm a big fan of the SC3800 and I've been following a lot of swaps on a Facebook page I joined. A stick would be really nice but it's obviously a bit more work. We'll see how things pan out this summer. I'd prefer a later model GT as I like the looks of them but they are harder to find (and climbing in value)

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 Just remembered I knew a dentist in Charlottetown who had a v6 Fiero. Were they the GT?

They are cool.
As much as I like them I have to say that honestly, these days a boosted ecotec might make more sense.

unruhjonny wrote:

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They are cool.
As much as I like them I have to say that honestly, these days a boosted ecotec might make more sense.

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 Perhaps. I don't know too much about the Ecotec engines however. 

Canadian Poncho wrote:

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 I don't know too much about the Ecotec engines however. 

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Well, let me help you out there with a reader's digest, condensed history;

GM's first foray into DOHC four cylinders was the 'Quad4' that Oldsmobile developed, and released on some special 1987 Calais's;
The Quad4 was making 150hp, in a day and age when it was common place for V8's to make that power.
In "HO" trim (1989.5-1992), the Quad4 made 180hp (175hp 1993; 170hp 1994).
In "W41" trim (1991-1992), the Quad4 made 190hp (185hp in 1993).

Noteable Quad4HO vehicles were:

Oldmobile Cutlass Calais Quad442 (yes, that IS a mouthful)

Chevrolet Beretta GTZ (some were built with a V6/auto drivetrain)

Pontiac Grand Am

A non-production turbocharged version of the Quad4 was used to pace Indy in 1989(?), and reportedly made 250hp with a paltry 8lbs of boost.

The Quad4 had many of GM's "firsts", so there were toothing problems that gave it a bad rap;
The biggest was the OEM composite gasket had a high failure rate because of the iron block and aluminum cylinder heads - going away from the composite gasket fixed that issue, but not before it got a bad reputation for blowing head gaskets.
The Quad4 also was a noisy engine, and GM started adding balance shafts, and detuning it to make it quieter;
The fully revised Quad4 was dubbed the "Twin Cam" and was produced from 1996-2002.

GM realized that the Quad4 engine had a bad rap, and decided to move away from that engine design, and instead chose to adopt the Ecotec engine for the North American market - this engine was previously designed and used by GM-Europes Opel division.

The Ecotec engine family is ALL of GM's current four cylinder engines offered in all of it's North American offerings.

The Ecotec was first offered in 2002 (the swan song year of the Quad4/Twin Cam; I just learned that this engine was offered for 200-2001 in the Saturn L-series);
Initially offered only as a 2.2L 'L61' and made approximately 150hp - I need to point out that this is essentially the same engine configuration, displacement, and same horsepower as the outgoing 'Twin Cam'.

The 2004 Saturn Ion Redline was the debut of the 2.0L Supercharged 'LSJ' motor which was (under)rated at 205hp/200ft-lbs - this horsepower rating made it eligible for the racing series that was dominated by the Neon SRT4; period dyno testing showed that they made more than 205hp at the wheels.
The LSJ was the only engine offered in 2005-2007 Cobalt SS-Supercharged* and Saturn Ion Redline.
GM offered "Stage" kits for these cars, and the "Stage III" parts & tune offered an (off-road use only - with A/C disabled) 260hp on 100 octane fuel (248hp on regular), and had provisions for a fifty shot of nitrous.

For the 2007 model year the 2.0L 'LNF' engine was released for the Pontiac Solstice GXP;
The LNF engine was torque limited, and was rated at 260hp/260ft-lbs.
For 2008 the Saturn Sky Redline and Chevrolet HHR SS were offered with this engine, then late in 2008 the Cobalt SS was added.
GM offered a Stage I kit for LNF vehicles, but further stages were stillborn (I believe that the Stage II was an intake with revised tune; all indications point to three stage kits were already ready to market) - GM employees are STILL tight lipped on what the other stages were - I was told that they were cancelled because of low sales (which were largely a result of the economic downturn);
The GM Stage I kit for the LNF had different ratings depending on platform (citing intake restrictions) but the most common rating was 290hp/320ft-lbs;
The FWD "F35" was rated at 260ft-lbs till the satge I kit was released, there after it was re-rated for 320ft-lbs.
The LNF is essentially the same engine still offered in 2.0L-Turbocharged version to this date.

There, you should be a handily up to speed.

When 3800sc swaps were common in Fiero's, just as common was a Quad4HO swap;
The Quad4HO offered nearly the same power as a stock 3800SC engine, and weighed less which in turn offered better weight balance than either the Iron Duke, or the V6 - and it used the same transmission that the V6/5spd cars used (with essentially a different bellhousing).
And being an enthusiast, I feel obligated to mention the Quad4.

This picture should explain my enthusiasm:

-- Edited by unruhjonny on Thursday 27th of January 2022 12:29:34 PM

When the ecotecs first came out, there was a performance handbook that the GM Performance Division printed, and they had a bunch of hop up items for building a 200hp 2.2L engine.
The LNF, in bone stock trim (and stock computer) is simply a tune away from 300whp.
Once going much more than a stock tune (max 20psi), you really need to change the map sensors to get reliable readings - differnt MAP sensors, pigtails for them, and a reflash were GM Stage I for the LNF.
People have made retarded levels of power on them - or turbo swapped LSJ motors.

THIS link cites the highest recorded horsepower on what was the largest Cobalt SS site for a good while.

LSJ (with stock supercharger; no power adders) 315whp/282wtq
LSJ (supercharged; anything goes) 424whp/291wtq
LSJ (turbocharged; anything goes) 898whp/733wtq
LNF (stock turbo; no power adders) 367whp/445wtq
LNF (turbocharged; anything goes) 607whp/547wtq

For FWD cars, those are plain nuts.
There is also a 2.4L ecotec that I neglected to mention earlier, it's sort of the "HO" for the ecotech;
GM made nothing to support these engines as far as hop up items ect, honestly, I think these are a bit lame considering what a stock tune Quad4HO can do.

HERE is a youtube video of my (at the time) bone stock Quad4HO Grand Am running against a mouthy kid who thought his hopped up 2.4L Cobalt SS (5spd) car was all that;
I didn't care for the kid, he always came off as a punk, and when I would meet up with some local Cobalt SS guys (before I bought mine) he was incredibly rude at telling me how much of a POS my car was compared to his;
On this evening he was doing as per usual, and I agreed to race him with one condition - he had to race me three times, so that "neither of us could blame missing a shift or something else lame like that".
I murdered him three for three, and he never bothered me again.

-- Edited by unruhjonny on Thursday 27th of January 2022 02:38:26 PM

Canadian Poncho wrote:

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I remember running my Quad 4 (stock) Grand Am and the best I could do was low 17's lol. The only issue with putting on Ecotec in a Fiero is there's nothing being made for the conversion. You are on your own regarding mounts, headers, wiring etc.

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Was yours an automatic?
That sounds like an 150hp automatic one - they could be doggy compared to the HO cars;
If I recall correctly, the three speed automatic that the Quad4(LO) had was hampered by a two series FDR.
The 1989.5-1991 Quad4HO cars all had a 3.61:1 FDR;
The 1993-1994 Quad4HO cars had 3.94:1 FDR;
1992 was supposed to use the lower FDR, but by all accounts, most used the higher ratio.

Edit: It took me a while to find this, but that the three speed automatic had a 2.84:1 FDR.
The 1990 & 1991 literature have the quarter mile e/t for the Quad4HO car as 15.1 seconds.

The 1987-1989 Quad4 had a tubular intake, and a stainless steel header type exhaust manifold;
The 1990 Quad4 (bot 'LO' and HO) had a different higher flowing intake manifold, and cast exhaust manifolds - the HO exhaust manifold was MUCH bigger.
The Quad4HO also had a slightly larger exhaust, an extra half point of compression (different pistons), and larger camshafts.
The Oldsmobile W41 differed from the HO by yet bigger camshafts, and a specific EEPROM (chip with factory set tune).

Come to think of it, I believe I had a custom exhaust on the Grand Am at the time of that video - which is why it was louder than stock.

-- Edited by unruhjonny on Thursday 27th of January 2022 06:48:42 PM

My Grand Am was not an HO and was an auto. Those engines really liked to rev.

Is there not a V8 conversion available? (still kicking myself for not jumping on that Monster Miata in PEI a couple of years ago...)

Maybe I'm too stuck in my old ways, but damn, nothing sounds nicer than a V8 in anything...

There's Fiero's with Northstar V8's. There are likely some with SBC as well. I like the SC3800's and that supercharger whine.