Colinb17's Little Red Rocket Build: 1988 Fiero

Sum' bitch!

 

hoping to pick up parts tonight to cut out the old cat from the red rocket. car is far too quiet, and at 28 years old, I'm sure the cat is all kinds screwed up.

there are a couple of flanges in the exhaust, connecting the different components, but nothing flexible. between that and the very short exhaust run, an essentially "solid" exhaust is a problem. not only do I not like the force it puts on the manifold studs and gasket, but with the new, larger exhaust tips, if I really get on it, there is enough movement in the motor, that the tips contact the bumper.

to alleviate both items, I'm going to look into a flex pipe to fill the place of the catalytic converter.

something similar to this

 

Smart move mate. There are still some cheap exhaust out there which over look that crucial component.

 

except for the fact that the new exhaust I put on is dual out, whereas stock was single, the routing and support is identical to stock. I would imagine that this caused a lot of stress and cracked or leaky manifolds over the last 30 years.

 

I match your NRG bucket seat.

 

Sonofabitch! You haz big boy shoulder bolsters

 

That's the "GT" series. Basically the wider version than the non GT. My shoulders definitely need it.

 

Definitely not fiero seats then. I had to scour the depths of the interwebz to find seats narrow enough, and low enough to fit in this thing

 

I'm still looking for a seat that won't break the bank and can fit a 38 waist in it. hard to come by for some reason

 

The NRG seats will probably be your best bet then, Gaunt. They fit Lucario Runner's waist, and his is between 36-40.

 

#FalsePedalKiller

 

Lmao!!!! Just remembered the reference.

 

Exhaust work is probably my least favorite thing to do, but last night was very much worth the hassle.

Catalytic converter had seen far better days. Cut it out and put in my flex pipe last night.

What a difference. Catalytic converter was a good 20+ pounds. Flex pipe is ~3. When I flipped the cat up on end, all of the catalyst material fell out. So it wasn't doing much more than restricting flow.

Biggest change is the exhaust note. It may not be the fastest car, but it sure as shit sounds like it is now.

I just have to add another hanger and it'll be all set. Without the rigid cat, the weight on the muffler side pulls down the flex pipe a little on that end.

 

Oh wow. I didn't even think of the shape that cat was in. So the engine should now be putting a few more ponies to the ground now. Have you only revved it, or have you also test driven it?

 

I drove it to work this morning, but my route to work at 4:30am is on low speed back roads, littered with deer that make bad decisions. My drive home in 2 hours will be on a main road, with the sun still out. I'll give it a test then. At the very least, mileage should go up a little with what I would assume is a significant reduction in back pressure.

Speaking of mileage, I made my first full fill-up Friday. I have by no means been easy on the accelerator the last two weeks, and still spit out 33 mpg. I always thought people were bullshitting when they said they can 40+ mpg, but I'm starting to believe them. It's a far cry from the Tacoma on that front. Pretty cool to be able to go over 300 miles on 9 gallons of fuel, and have fun while doing it.

 

Butt Dyno says "MO POWAH!!!!"

Brain Dyno says "shut the hell up butt dyno"

more power or not, there hare some really nice side affects of the Cat removal that were not intended, but I'll gladly take.
the old cat must have been restricting flow a lot more than I thought.

-Car used to have a fluctuating idle, where the RPM needle would bounce between about 700 and 1200 RPM. the engine would never cut out, but that is quite the swing. sans catalytic converter, the idle is solid, between 800 and 1000 rpm.

-cold starts with the cat would take 4-6 cranks. I always just though it was a tired, 28 year old starter. sans cat, cold starts are not consistently 2-4 cranks.

-for its size, the car has a lot of workable space in the engine bay, coming in from the top. due to the routing of the exhaust, coming in from the bottom really isn't feasible. it's is extremely tight on clearance, the whole way through the routing. as stated before, these tight tolerances meant that with the larger ID of the new exhaust, I was getting to clunking and rubbing, when the motor mounts would flex under load, and smack the exhaust into the frame or body. with a flexible "hose" in place of the rigid cat, this issue has 100% disappeared. now it doesn't sound like the car is falling apart when I slam the fun pedal.

looking back, since I don't have access to a dynometer, I should have done a number of timed point A to point B runs from a stand still, and averaged them. then do it again without the cat, and compare average times. while I hate even considering the butt dyno as anything more than a deceiving asshole, based on the condition of the cat, and the other (measurable) results I saw, I am inclined to believe my behind more than normal. also, while a couple ponies on a Tacoma isn't going to be noticeable, if you catch a couple extra on an engine only putting out 92hp to start, there's a far better chance of the feeling not just being in your head.

.........but who knows, I'm enjoying the car more than I was prior to the modification, so it's money well spent in my book

 

I blame the government. For installing deer crossing signs where there isn't an intersection. Idiots.

 

So you were getting 33 MPG's with the cat, or without?

 

surprisingly, that was with.

 

What other engine maintenance has been done by this point?