New to the party - ITA Fiero GT

[mossaidis]

Great looking car! Good luck at testing and we hope to see you at NARRC/LRP June 18-19.

[Gary L]

I've stated so on these pages before, and I'll say it again - the Fiero has the potential to be a class leader in ITA, given just a bit of development and a decent pilot (you guys that like front wheel drive will have to make some adjustments ). I personally think you need to start with the '88 chassis, but who knows? Incidentally Dano - it was Chevette front suspension on the early ('84-'87) cars, not Vega.

Anyhow, in 2004 (before I found the love of my life in the form of a prepped 142E), I took my street '88 GT to Hallett. We had performed only the mods listed below to the stock machine. I've owned it since new, so I know what's been monkeyed with and what hasn't. The idea was to have some fun hot-lapping, and investigate the possibility of building an ITA car:

- Muffler removed (cat intact)
- 15x7 Kosei
- Used (many cycles) R4 Hoosiers
- Lowered front & rear (chopped stock springs)
- Orange Koni's (installed in 1990!)
- Decambered front & rear

Absolutely nothing else was done to the car. With an as-delivered engine (no chips, no tweaking whatsoever... the engine has never had a valve cover removed), we ran 3 1/2 seconds off the then-current (Bob Stretch) ITA lap record. And oh, BTW... we were running 350-375 lbs above the current 2600 lb minimum for the car!

[benspeed]

There are some very encouring remarks about the Fiero - great to hear! I know Greg has spared no expense on his car - he can't wait to hit the track!

[iambhooper]

Damn... I'm 2 month's into SM ownership..I can't start thinking about my past and how I would love to do a mid engine car again.... NOOOOOOOOOO.................. this is rally like looking at that new (insert size here) LED 3d TV and saying "I have 399" of flat panel's but what's a nother 75 going to hurt?

[billdill]

Hey Tom,,,, Give me SOME credit. I do AT LEAST 20 mph around the turns at Road Atlanta.
Bill

[Robert Zecca]

Anyone know what happened to Greg at NJMP this weekend? I heard he dropped out after one lap.....

[billdill]

Here is my 15 mph Fiero at R/A... I believe I am doing at least 18 mph here.

[quadzjr]

I've seen your car bill. I want to say I saw it at Sebring.. But I coudl be wrong. Either way cool.

[billdill]

I was building one and found this car in New York, had it shipped here and now it's got a Southern Accent You may have seen the car in Daytona. The car is great on that track. Its a handfull to drive, but it's a hoot!

[Simon T.]

Bill do you manage the PDXs at Road Atlanta?

[billdill]

Yep, That would be me.

[Terry Hanushek]

Anyone know what happened to Greg at NJMP this weekend? I heard he dropped out after one lap.....

Greg had overheating problems during qualifying and elected to not race. Look for Greg to be back at Summit Point in three weeks.

Terry

[tnord]

the 88 Fiero GT out in MiDiv is also a new car that made it through the whole weekend. looks good too.

[ScotMac]

Car looks great!!

One of those is def on my list of cars to own at some point! Typical GM, finally get it right and then kill it! :/

Anyone race an iron duke? In a Fiero, or otherwise? Is it worth a damn? Seems like it would atleast handle better as a lighter B car... might depend on the tracks you planned to race?

I hear they're hard to keep a motor in.

Hmmm....yes, that is a fair statement.

I think there are VERY few ITB fieros being raced. I used mine to get thru driving school and novice races. It made it thru a few more races before blowing a head gasket, and then bent some push rods and valve stems. I did a full head rebuild, and am testing it this thurs. Wish me luck.

[greg simpson]

Im running 400 pound springs all around with koni reds and it handles great!

[quadzjr]

what is the minimum weight on this thing in ITB? I am too lazy to look it up.

edit: a 2.5L mid enigne car weighing at over 200lbs less than my 1.6L mid engine car?!?! #$%^#$&#! I give up

Though there are some differences but with my MR2 at 2340# it felt great with 450# on all corners and koni 8611 DA's

[lateapex911]

what is the minimum weight on this thing in ITB? I am too lazy to look it up.

edit: a 2.5L mid enigne car weighing at over 200lbs less than my 1.6L mid engine car?!?! #$%^#$&#! I give up

But yours has a Toyota Formula Atlantic engine in it!

[ScotMac]

what is the minimum weight on this thing in ITB? I am too lazy to look it up.

edit: a 2.5L mid enigne car weighing at over 200lbs less than my 1.6L mid engine car?!?! #$%^#$&#! I give up

Though there are some differences but with my MR2 at 2340# it felt great with 450# on all corners and koni 8611 DA's

I assume you are talking about an MR2. Don't let the size of the engine fool you. An MR2 has significantly more horsepower than a fiero. Wasn't it recently an ITA car? It may not have been a front runner in ITA, but a duke based fiero would be totally outclassed in ITA. Here is what wiki said about the two:

"The engine had already been introduced earlier on the AE86 Corolla, gathering a lot of positive publicity. Road tests delivered 0-60 mph times in the mid- to high-8 second range, and 1/4 mile times in the mid- to high-16 second range, significantly faster than the four-cylinder Pontiac Fiero or Fiat X1/9."

The best fiero based duke was only rated at 98 hp (flywheel). W/ a hooker competition header, 040 overbore, and some intake and exhaust porting, the best i did was 94 at the wheels. Admittedly, ECU work would yield some more power, but not a lot more.

I switched the rear suspension to 400lb springs, and put in coilover sleeves. Should be a great improvement. However, the i haven't done the front yet, so it may be a bit unbalanced!

[quadzjr]

The best fiero based duke was only rated at 98 hp (flywheel). W/ a hooker competition header, 040 overbore, and some intake and exhaust porting, the best i did was 94 at the wheels. Admittedly, ECU work would yield some more power, but not a lot more.

I switched the rear suspension to 400lb springs, and put in coilover sleeves. Should be a great improvement. However, the i haven't done the front yet, so it may be a bit unbalanced!

All to familiar with anything MR2/4AGE based.
Yeah your gains (13% according to the numbers you posted) not that bad but still not good really, still some more could be found with the ECU. I mean both of us are not working with a honda. I have a similiar build an utilized everything from clearances, to rings and still resulted in a 10% gain. Both of us are chuggin aroudn with roughly 24.x lbs per hp, when the class goal is 17:1 . I would imagine your tq curve looks pretty decent however.

I don't know if there is a plethera of dyno graphs for the 2.5L iron duke in IT trim. I have seen more than a few for roundy round builds, but it looks like your car could use a weight break or reclass if your car cannot get to a lower weight. Unfortunately so little ITB fieros exist that it would be hard to make your case.


back to sweet ITA Fiero action.

[repietz]

That thing looks sick!! WOW! Best of luck!

Some of you might remember my foray into building a Fiero GT - I gave up on the project but my teamate Greg Simpson spent about 2 years getting this car built and developed.

He'll be testing it all day Friday and doing his first race on Sunday in the Pro IT - check it out!!!


Video - hear the power of the 2.8 V6 with crushing torque