Craigslist, the internet land of all things strange to sell privately. We could sit on the site for hours looking at obscure vehicles in search of a new home, but sometimes, a vehicle really stands out.
This Pontiac Fiero race car is one of them, no doubt. The seller states the project started as Fiero, without a model year for our reference. Now, it’s a full-blown race vehicle, sporting an LS3 V8 engine and five-speed manual gearbox. Only 5,000 miles sit on the new powertrain combination.
Specifics are limited (surprise) but the seller also states the car has quality components, and judging from the photos, it looks pretty legitimate to us. It could be a track day bargain, too, as the current asking price is merely $9,500. Check out the full listing right here.
Comments
Imagine if the Fiero was still being built and it’s heavy steel skeletal frame has been replaced with one made of aluminum which will drop the curb weight of the Fiero by 35-40 percent and the top tier motor is the 275-horsepower LTG 2.0L DOHC-4v 4-cyl turbo that’s matched with GM’s new 9-speed automatic of the Chevy Malibu.
They did make two Aluminum space framed cars but the weight while it dropped did not go to 40% less. Aluminum in structure like this can save some weight but not as much as nearly half.
They used a Quad 4 engine in them and tested them. I expect they may have been able to use them in the future if they had not killed the car. Alcola was lobbing GM to move to it.
Even at that the Fiero only was 2600-2700 pounds with the heavy V6 in it as it was.
Mine with the standard body but V6 package is under 2700 pounds.
The Turbo engine would be interesting but the heat would be a problem. Back then they tested several Turbo engines and they had issues with heat. My friend owns two of these cars and oil temps on the one when Cart used it for a pace car could climb to 300 degrees in traffic. Things have improved today but heat in a mid engine is a problem even yet for Ferrari at times and you have to use a lot of care on heat management or they will burn.
There are a couple LNF cars out there now that people have built and they perform well. Inter cooler placement is a major issue. GM used to put them in the wing on the 2.9 Turbo’s they built.
Compared to the 300ZX None Turbo, the Fiero was much lighter…and performed better….And the 2nd gen MR2- which grew to the >Same size< as the Fiero- weighed the same as the V6 Fiero…..But it had a 4……The Fiero STILL, Today, passes all of the NEW crash tests- except it doesn't have a bag exploding in your face…..