The fiero is a popular car to modify. Many owners and kit car enthusiasts alike would like to have a little more power out of these vehicles. There are fiero performance upgrades out there but when people are not aware of them or want a lot of power they install larger engines. The fiero came with two engines, the 2.5 liter “iron duke” or “tech four” four cylinder engine was the base engine. The performance engine was the 2.8 liter v-6 engine found in the gt cars. The 2.5 liter engine made 105 horsepower and 135 ft/lbs of torque stock. The 2.5 l engine has been used in the nascar touring car series and was known as the “super duty” engine. The 2.5 liter has access to special high port aluminum heads which also needs a special intake manifold and the use of a carburetor instead of the stock throttle body fuel injection. There is also a cosworth produced 16 valve head which could produce a great deal of power. Both of these are costly alternatives and may cause problems if you live in an area where emissions tests need to be taken.
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Toyota has had many performance vehicles. It has had the celica, mr2 and supra. All these vehicles had astounding performance, but targeted different uses. The celica is a car that still continues today. It is a front wheel drive car that makes close to 200 horsepower in it’s sportiest configuration. At one time the celica was a contender in off road rally racing. It was a all wheel drive vehicle with a turbo to help the power output.
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The Pontiac Fiero has some very interesting qualities, good and bad. It was built by GM in 1984 through 1988. The Pontiac Fiero was going to be a true GM sports car. It was a mid engine car as most exotic sports cars are. This means that the engine sits behind the driver. Having the engine behind the driver has many advantages in a sports car. This is why they are often used today in many kit car conversions. First the front to rear weight is usually close to 50/50 which would be a perfect balance.
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Ah the rumble of the american v-8. What a beautiful sound. If you haven’t owned one you should. Muscle cars are generally considered cars from the 60’s to 70’s and are domestic cars. The styling was beauty but the competition was in the engine. These were the cars that formed drag racing into what it is today. People would spend their last dollar to beat their buddies car by buying some aftermarket racing parts. It started with building small blocks and grew into crazy, large displacement big block engines. Some cars were in excess of 400 hp stock and made huge amounts of torque. Many cars like the mustang, chevelle ls-6, hemi cuda, challenger, buick gsx, pontiac gto and many other cars found huge followings as people competed against each other.
Sport compact cars are the new evolution of hot rods. They are everything that can be bought at a reasonable price and have the aftermarket support to turn into a car with alot of power. The 80’s have done alot for sport compact cars. That was the time when japanese cars started to bridge the horsepower gap. They built light cars that handled well and didn’t weigh alot. Also the smaller engines that were now required to pass emisions were already in most of their vehicles. The technology was the way for them to make power, not displacement, which domestic cars suffered for. Mazda, Toyota, Nissan and Honda all made their cars into very competitive vehicles. For alot less money than a true exotic car, many of these cars became supercars for a much smaller price tag. The rx-7, 300zx, supra, mr-2, eclipse gsx, 3000gt and nsx were a few cars that ruled through the mid 90’s when most domestic cars became boring. Many other daily driver cars also found a following. The honda civic is a perfect example of a car that would’nt usually be a sports car. Yet today it blisters a quarter mile time that people would’nt have believed a front wheel car could have done.
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The lotus elise is a purist sportscar. This car is a steal at only $40,000. To have a car that performs the same, you would need to drop alot more money to buy a ferarri. This car has been called, possibly the best handling car ever, by many racers and magazines. But then it should be an incredible car, weighing less than 2,000 lbs. (us version) The lotus elise uses the toyota celica engine which is usually 185 horsepower but is tuned to 195 HP. The lotus elise is a mid engine car which gives it a competitive edge over many cars. I don’t think anyone would complain about the 13 second quarter mile times either! If you want a hardcore racing machine and want to turn alot of heads, this would certainly do so! All of this out of a car that can still get 38 mpg cruising down the highway!
The Buick Grand National enjoyed it’s performance success in the middle of the 80’s. The turbocharged V-6 3.8L shined like a diamond in the roughness of emission choked vehicles of the day. Slight modifications to grand nationals would provide great power gains. Emissions choked all but a few other cars. The four most popular grand national years, were all fuel injected cars from 1984-1987. The final two years of the grand national, 86-87 were also intercooled and had a much better flowing exhaust header and crossover setup.
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