What's the best engine to use? -- Archism #9

On the question of engine choices see below:

The toughest question I'm asked, is when I'm asked to pick out "the best" engine for someone I don't know. Here is the best I can do to answer that question.

Many times I'm asked what is the best engine for a Fiero.

This is very difficult to answer. There are as many choices on engines as there are individuals doing them. Typically most people opt to use new crate engines or freshly rebuilt engines. Of these new & re-built engines, car owners have elected to leave them in more or less stock form while others have had the engines modified to a wide range of power outputs.

You ask "What vehicle would most likely have this engine?" Let me answer that like this....

Small Block Chevy engines have been in use for more than 40 years. Our kit is designed so that ANY of them could be put into a Fiero.

Your SBC engine can come out of say a '69 (any model) Chevy or a '93 Firebird/Camaro and it will fit and work just fine. Now some stock engines from a "bone-yard" are better than others in that they have different power outputs. For the most part "bone-yard" engines may need a re-build before they are used in any swap. The engine re-builder can then re-build the SBC engine to make a wide range of different power outputs, depending on the owners requirements & preferences.

There are several different engine combinations on my Customer Car Page & those cars there are only a small sampling of the available choices. I dare say that there are as many choices in SBC conversions as there are Fiero owners who are inclined to do V-8 conversions. I've done more than 120 of these conversions for myself and my customers and NO 2 of them have been EXACTLY the same.

As a sample, on my Customer Car Page http://www.v8archie.com/customer.htm you'll find the following:

Pete Macks Car...... http://www.v8archie.com/pmack.htm is a very unique car built by the owner. He chose a carburated SBC engine and wanted an in-expensive "Pocket Rocket".

David Murphy's car...... http://www.v8archie.com/murphy.htm David wanted an investments car with a wild body conversion and the power to match. He used a TPI-SBC engine that he got at a "bone yard" and had completely re-built to his specifications.

Mel Levin's car..... http://www.v8archie.com/nickc.htm was built by Nick Ciotto. Nick chose to use a ZZ3 crate engine with carburation to enhance the look & performance of his IMSA body kit.

Curt Steenson's car .... http://www.v8archie.com/steenson.htm Car should speak for it's self. Curt operates a body shop and wanted a car that, when painted Black, would show off his skills. He also wanted enough power that he wouldn't be embarrassed by Ford Escorts at traffic lights. He built his own 350 for this swap.

Jim Wolfe's car .... http://www.v8archie.com/wolfe.htm Was built by the owner who paid more attention to detail than anyone I know. Initially he put a 300HP 350 in the car and over the last few years has slowly upgraded the power adding the normal Hot Rodding items like Alum. Heads, Cam, and carburation to the car. Word is that he is now adding TPI injection. Jim built this car several years ago and, he & his wife have driven it (no trailer) to shows & Fiero events all over the Midwest and east coast.

Mike Pupillo's car .... is featured at his web site http://www.gcstation.net/~mpupillo/ , Mike is one of my first customers to use TPI and originally built the car 6 or 7 years ago.

Pat Ciarcia's car .... http://www.v8archie.com/pat.htm could be considered the ultimate Drag Race Fiero, this car was built for Drag Racing only and has run 10.30's consistently. This purpose built car is very fast and is a good display of Pat's business of building Drag Cars.

Dave Balfour's car.... http://www.v8archie.com/balfour.htm Dr. Dave as we like to call him, uses his nice 350 Chevy powered Fiero to tool around his area hitting the night spots and not being embarrassed by what he drives.

Jamie Jone's car.... Could be considered the ultimate street Fiero by some. In 1998 he considered trading in his one owner '88 coupe on a new Z-28. He then realized that for less money than that Z-28 he could have a unique "non cookie cutter" car. He put a custom interior in the car and brought it to us and we installed the IMSA body kit and a ZZ4 Chevy crate engine with TPI. Check out the Wheels, I love them and I'm getting some for my Chop Top Car.

Carl Baer's car ..... http://www.v8archie.com/baer.htm Car had his car's V-8conversion done by a car builder in OH. He has a 350 Carburated V-8 in it with lots of chrome and polished engine compartment panels. The custom paint job on this Fiero must be seen to be appreciated. You'll see him this next year at many car shows in the Ohio area.

Paul Vargyas' car..... http://www.v8archie.com/paul.htm Paul is a fellow member of NIFE and is the ultimate Fiero guy. We installed a 350 (LM1) crate engine with TPI into his beautiful '88 Formula. You'll see this one picking up trophies at Fiero events all thru the '99 season.

Gary Smith's car..... http://www.v8archie.com/gsmith.htm Gary is also a fellow member of NIFE and after he saw Paul Vargyas' car he just had to have one. This car is real similar to Paul's car except that Gary wants to keep the car looking like a true "Sleeper" to the point that he has even removed the wing from his Formula. He had us install a Camaro Muffler (where his trunk used to be) and this is the ultimate "Sleeper" in that it makes less noise than it did with the stock engine in it.

Jim Hall's car is well documented on his web page http://www.frontiernet.net/~jhall1/ Jim is a list member and his project is in process as we speak.

Harry Brattin's car..... http://www.v8archie.com/harry.htm Harry saw an internet ad for my 308 replica that I was selling. As it turns out I had sold the car before he made a decision on it's purchase. So Harry was going to send his one owner '84 Fiero out to me from San Diego. After considering what that transportation was going to cost him he decided to purchase this '87 coupe from me and have me do a swap using the LM1 crate engine with TPI (this has been a popular choice lately). Harry and his wife flew out the Monday before Christmas and drove the car back to San Diego in Sub-Zero temps & via Route 66. Yeah, that's right an initial "test drive" of like 2900 miles.

William Bolle's car .... http://www.v8archie.com/bolle.htm In Florida, Bill made a conscious decision to install a 350 CI 355 HP ZZ4 crate engine into his Fiero. Featuring Super Trapps and a double pumper. Bill put this car together in about 2 weeks. It was a project he had figured on spending the winter doing and he had it finished way early, with lots of winter left he can now spend more time with his family.

As you can see there are as many answers to your question as there are Fiero owners.

Hope this helps

Archie