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  • JFX001

    March 18, 2010 2:09 p.m. JFX001 Dork

    Was actually reading a January 1990 issue of Motor Trend today when I came across the "Second Opinion" blurb on a new Allante:

    "..Today's Allante is a car that the enthusiast driver will enjoy,yet it won't turn off the luxury car buyer with a harsh ride and noisy engine.The problem is, like many General Motors cars of recent memory, this excellence is late arriving.For some reason, GM seems to be leaving a lot of it's development work to it's first round of customers.This phenomenon killed the Pontiac Fiero and has caused Allante sales to fall below expectations." -Jack R. Nerad

  • racerdave600

    March 18, 2010 5:20 p.m. racerdave600 Reader

    John Brown wrote:

    Trans_Maro wrote:

    John Brown wrote:

    Their best products are not usually their most profitable. I know I would rather sell 100,000 units at $2500 profit than 25,000 units at $1500.

    It was outselling the Corvette.

    It was cancelled due to "poor sales volume"

    I bet a parts-bin car makes them more money than the specialty-part-filled 'vette.

    Shawn

    I don't disagree, but how much did they make per unit on the Vette versus the Fiero?

    I would guess that the Corvette is a loss leader to some extent, but the Fiero was a must make money car.

  • Gearheadotaku

    March 18, 2010 5:31 p.m. Gearheadotaku Dork

    yeah, the Quad was planned for the Fiero in 89 or 90. Then again the quad wasn't the greastest engine either. I liked the v-6. Simple, reliable, good low end torque. If you look at the fail rate of the Quad 4, folks would have kept on complaining. I talked to several Quad 4 swappers back in the day (mid 90's) and no one seemed to happy with them. 3800 V-6 swaps were all smiles. Interesting side note. The next gen Fiero was going to be a 4-seater, a little like the RX-8. The protype was called the stealth....

  • PHerder

    March 18, 2010 7:04 p.m. PHerder New Reader

    I did one in the mid/late 90's to a 88 Fiero Coupe.

    175 (+) HP that got 38 MPG on the highway.

    I had planned on cutting off the roof and putting a convertible top on the car and calling it a 1990 prototype (i.e. 1990 Pontiac Fiero Spyder and even had a look-alike factory window sticker with bogus info and prices on it for car shows) but the guy that was building the pieces never came through with the top.

    I hadn't cut the roof off, yet so I put the car back together and kept it as a Coupe.

    FYI the bell housing for the Q4 is different than the 2.8/2.5 engines that were in the Fiero so the FWD transaxle that came with the Q4 had to be used. I found that I could use an Isuzu 5 speed shifting mechanism (came with the 2.5L 4 cylinder in the Fiero) on the Q4's Isuzu 5 speed and make it work in the Fiero without too much trouble. The Isuzu 5 speed had a FDR of I believe 3.55:1 so that is why it got the great gas mileage.

    The car still took off like a bat out of a very hot place once the rpm were kept high.

    That car was built in Texas. I moved it up to Kansas when I moved back to Kansas. Sold it to a guy in Minnesota when I got out of the Fiero hobby. Last I heard it was sold to a friend in Colorado.

  • 96DXCivic

    March 18, 2010 7:06 p.m. 96DXCivic HalfDork

    Are there any worries with a Quad 4 engine?

  • Vigo

    March 18, 2010 8:01 p.m. Vigo Reader

    water pump and headgasket, iirc?

  • Vigo

    March 18, 2010 8:01 p.m. Vigo Reader

    water pump and headgasket, iirc?

  • zomby woof

    March 18, 2010 8:22 p.m. zomby woof HalfDork

    The water pump wasn't a problem, it was just a big job to change, although I've done it, and it wasn't as bad as everybody says. Head gaskets on early ones, IIRC. The later 2.4 Twincam was (I think) a better motor, but many have spun #3 rod bearing Good quality clean oil will go a long way toward preventing that. I had 2, 2.4's, and really liked them.

  • Jensenman

    March 18, 2010 8:56 p.m. Jensenman SuperDork

    Yes, the early Q4's were bad on head gaskets, even worse they would badly 'brinnel' the head where the 'fire ring' seated thus making the head useless.

    IIRC GM actually built two 'skunk works' Q4 Fieros. Some few of the automotive press drove them and were mightily impressed; more power and lighter than the Iron duke or 60 degree V6 versions. But GM's corporate infighting killed a production version.

    Something similar happened with the '80's Thunderbird; some Ford engineers, on their own time, put a Mustang GT 5.0 and 5 speed in a Turbo Coupe body, used Lincoln LSC brakes etc, basically everything was off the shelf parts meaning the car could easily be built. A couple of journalists tried it and loved it, Ford brass killed the idea.

  • 96DXCivic

    March 18, 2010 9:17 p.m. 96DXCivic HalfDork

    Do the early ones include the LG0?

  • mad_machine

    March 18, 2010 10:40 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork

    Jensenman wrote:

    Yes, the early Q4's were bad on head gaskets, even worse they would badly 'brinnel' the head where the 'fire ring' seated thus making the head useless.

    IIRC GM actually built two 'skunk works' Q4 Fieros. Some few of the automotive press drove them and were mightily impressed; more power and lighter than the Iron duke or 60 degree V6 versions. But GM's corporate infighting killed a production version.

    Something similar happened with the '80's Thunderbird; some Ford engineers, on their own time, put a Mustang GT 5.0 and 5 speed in a Turbo Coupe body, used Lincoln LSC brakes etc, basically everything was off the shelf parts meaning the car could easily be built. A couple of journalists tried it and loved it, Ford brass killed the idea.

    Of course they did.. it came too close to dethroning the almighty mustang

  • John Brown

    March 19, 2010 8:01 a.m. John Brown SuperDork

    I rode in a 351 FI Mule 1987 Capri (Technically the body was a 1985 Capri, it had a Mercury version of the 1987^ Mustang front bumper/lamps/interior and Tail lamps that were similar to the 1987 GTs except with no paint) The car was final assembly quality and had a roller cam fuel injected 5.8L with a T5, You could see where the interior was modified to hold test equipment.

    Mind you it was not 2010 fast but compared to what was out there in 1987 that thing would have been king.

    The car is still in the Dearborn area.

  • orphancars

    March 19, 2010 11:39 a.m. orphancars New Reader

    The seemingly hot ticket for the Fiero modders today seems to be the 3800 SC motor. Aside from that, there are a few folks out there trying to go with the Ecotec.

    I think the Q4 was a good option for the times.......if I were looking at building another Fiero, I'd look into one of the abnormally aspirated Ecotecs that came in the Cobalt SS. Not a bad package with more unlocked potential than the Q4.

  • 93celicaGT2

    March 19, 2010 11:59 a.m. 93celicaGT2 SuperDork

    There's an n/a Ecotec powered Fiero here locally. It is one of THE LOUDEST cars i have ever heard in my life.

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