Replacing V6 Fuel Injectors

At some point you may need to replace your Fiero’s fuel injectors. I googled for hints and tips but didn’t really come up with anything helpful that wasn’t fairly vague. So after a bit of digging and research I found a good method and here’s how to do it.

To start with, make sure you get the right injectors. ACCEL manufactures some very nice ones which push slightly more fuel than stock (15lb per hour vs. 14lb per hour). The part number is: 150615 and here’s the link to Holley’s website: ACCEL – Fuel Injectors – 15 lb/hr – EV1 Minitimer – High Impedance – 6-Pack. If you look on Holly’s site for applications you’ll find that they say that these will only work with the 1985 and 1986 Fiero V6 but since the 1987 and 1988 year models use the same fuel injection system these should will work with the original 2.8L V6 engine no matter what year. If you look at the engine information the stock Fiero V6 engine is the Chevy L44 173/2.8L which Holley says the injectors will work with. As of the date of this post you can actually order these injectors from Jegs or Summit Racing but they all seem to be the same price. Amazon does “have” them but you’re actually ordering from Jegs via their Amazon store front. I ordered mine from Amazon and ended up with the same standard shipping as I would have if I’d order from Jegs’s website so no Prime shipping.

Before we go any further, no matter who makes or re-manufactures the replacement injectors spend plenty of time making sure they will work with your engine. Also don’t trust any old website you go to order them from; go look up the part number on the manufacturers website. Depending on who you order from they may not be right. Rockauto seems to have a few part numbers that are off for the Fiero which is why I say to be careful. I got what looked like a good deal on some Standard Motor Products fuel injectors but the part number on them doesn’t match up to anything so I elected to go with the ACCEL injectors instead just to be sure.

Another quick thing, if you need to replace your fuel injector retaining clips (the little metal ring looking things) that lock the injectors into the Fuel Rail you can get replacement ones. Holley again comes to the rescue with the Fuel Injector Retainer – PART# 534-102. These are identical to the ones that are on the original injectors. Be careful with them though as they’re fairly flimsy and bend and break pretty easily. Fortunately the kit from Holley comes with eight clips so if you break one you’re still OK. Since the replacement clips are fairly cheap I recommend you replace them with new ones.

Now, on to installation.

ACCEL 150615 Fuel Injectors

As you can see from the picture above of the fuel injectors that I received, they weren’t colored yellow and black but rather silver and black. The color doesn’t really matter so if you get some that are silver they’re the same as the yellow colored ones (the product picture on Holley’s website shows them as yellow and black.) A lot of aftermarket fuel injectors are meant for more than one engine so it’s possible you could receive some that have more than one set of grooves for the fuel injector clips. The ACCEL ones have two different sets of grooves.

ACCEL 150615 Fuel Injector Close Up

At this point things can get a little confusing since the OEM injectors only have one groove per injector so which groove do you use? Well fortunately Holley has instructions on the page for the fuel injectors so you know which groove to use: Instructions for Part #150615. You need to use the top groove for the clips so they’re properly installed. If available, use the instructions provided with the fuel injector set you bought; though some don’t come with instructions which is where you can get really confused.

ACCEL 150615 Fuel Injector Close Up Retaining Clip Installed

I also recommend that you verify the correct direction of the injector clip so that they lock correctly by looking at an old injector to make sure they’re lined up exactly the same.

Old Fuel Injector Showing Retaining Clip Position

You can get the clips installed backwards and then you’ll have to remove the injector to reposition the retaining clip. Do not skip installing the retaining clips because they ensure the injector is locked to the fuel rail and will not leak. I also recommend that you use the stock styled retaining clips since those are what the engineers designed for the fuel system. If you do reuse you’re old retaining clips you may find that they’re a bit loose and won’t lock. You can bend them closed so they lock easier but you must be very careful as they’re super flimsy. I had two clips that were a bit loose so I used a pair of pliers to close them up but I left them on the fuel injector to make sure they didn’t get bent too much and I put very little pressure on them. If you have to do this be super careful so you don’t damage the clip or the injector.

After checking the direction of the retaining clip it’s now time to install the injectors. One very important thing you should do before installing the injectors into the rail is to lubricate the o-rings. I used a little bit of break in oil on mine since I didn’t have any regular oil handy. If you don’t lubricate the o-rings you could damage them causing fuel leaks. It takes an extra 10 seconds so make sure you do it. The Haynes Manual recommends using oil on the o-rings.

Once the o-ring is lubricated gently push it in to the fuel rail. If you get much resistance stop immediately as you can damage the injector if you push it really hard while trying to install it. Double check for blockages in the fuel rail and examine the end of the injector to make sure it’s not damaged in some way. Also check to make sure that the retaining clip isn’t sitting in a way that will block the injector from going in. If you have the clip in the wrong position it’ll prevent the injector from seating in the fuel rail.

Rinse/repeat for the other five injectors and you’ll be all set with new injectors installed in to the fuel rail.

Fuel rail with six new injectors installed

The picture above shows the retaining clips in the locked position. Also note that the fuel injector plugs face outward, not inward; if you manage to install them inward you won’t be able to plug them in. I also recommend that you leave the caps on the ends of the fuel injectors until you’re ready to install the rail in the engine. This will help protect them from damage.

Hopefully this is helpful if anyone gets confused as to the proper installation procedure.

-J

August/September Updates

Last month’s update ended up drowning in all the rain that we had. We got quite a bit of rain which prevented me from doing anything on the car. However, this month has been better. I’ve managed to get most of the engine mounts and brackets cleaned, sand blasted, and repainted as you can see below.

I still need to touch up the bracket in the upper right corner as well as cleaning two or three more brackets, blasting them, and then painting them. Hopefully I can get those done in the next few days since it’s been trying to rain for the past three days.

As far as why I’m blasting them and then repainting them, several of them have spots where the paint from the factory has worn and rust has formed. I’ve been rather fortunate with the Fiero GT, as it’s been largely rust free which indicates it’s spent most of it’s life in the same area where I live: dry and hot. I’m also planning to clean the alternator brackets, and then paint them black, so they match the rest of the brackets. They’re aluminum and silver, so they really only need to be cleaned, but I like the idea of matching them.

-J

Adjustable Fuel Pressure

A little while back I replaced the GT’s fuel pump with an aftermarket one. Initially I used one which I bought from one of the local auto stores but I discovered that it was a touch too short and wouldn’t sit in the tank correctly. Fortunately I had a high volume fuel pump that I had purchased a little while back so I decided to use that one since it did fit. However, because the fuel pressure regulator limits the amount of fuel to 34-46 psi for the V6 (if you have the L4 engine the pressure is 9-14 psi) and the high volume fuel pump pushes more pressure I decided to add an adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator so I could adjust the fuel pressure manually.

As you would assume, too little or too much fuel pressure and the car won’t run because the air/fuel mixture is going to be way off. The stock regulator ensures that you get about the right amount of pressure and any extra is sent back down the fuel return line. So I does sound like there wouldn’t be any issues. The idea behind being able to control the fuel pressure is to ensure that the pressure is exactly where it should be. The kit I used is one made by Holley which I purchased through the Fiero Store: 85-86 Fuel Pressure Regulator and the kit comes complete with what you need to replace the old pressure regulator.

The installation is fairly simple. You start by removing the old pressure regulator from the fuel rail by unscrewing the six torx screws that hold it on. I used a drill with the torx bit to help me with this, set on the lowest setting so I didn’t strip out the torx heads.

After this you need to ensure that the area where the fuel pressure regulator is very clean as you don’t want to have something jam up the regulator. As you can see mine is pretty clean and I used a bit of cleaning solution to clean up the little spots where the seal sits. You also may have noticed that on the far right the cold star injector line is broken and still attached to the fuel rail. This is because the line broke and I have yet to replace it although I did obtain a used one to install. Honestly it helps to not have the line attached while replacing the regulator.

Next you have to put the new regulator in place of the old one.

Something important to note here, the fuel pressure regulators (both of them) have a two-part seal. One that sits up against the fuel pressure regulator itself and one that sits against the fuel rail. Ensure that you do not tear or damage either of these seals or you will have fuel leaking and the regulator may not work. You may have to carefully push the screws through the holes in both seals to install them. I recommend doing this before setting the regulator on the fuel rail as it makes it easier to get the screws through both seals correctly without having something pinched.

Once the fuel pressure regulator is installed, install the adjustment screw in the top so that you can open/close the regulator.

Now the adjustable fuel pressure regulator is installed.

You may be wondering about how to determine how much fuel pressure you’re using at any given time. I also purchased a fuel pressure gauge, 85-88 V6 Fuel Pressure Gauge Kit, which sits on the fuel block (it’s on the left side in the images) and will show the fuel pressure. I don’t have it installed yet since I’m putting the top half of my engine together still and I’m not sure how it will need to be positioned so that I can use it with everything else installed.

-J

Fuel PSI reference: Fuel Pump Testing

 

Repainting Valve Covers

I’m back from my six month hiatus which I took since I needed to wait for parts and for some personal reasons. However, now I’m back. So let’s take a look at some of the stuff I’ve been up to.

I decided it would be nice to start cleaning and repainting some of engine parts that I’ll be putting on the car. I also decided to start with the valve covers since they were off the car and in serious need of some love.

These valve covers have seen better days as you can tell. I spent some time cleaning them with a pressure washer to remove as much oil and grime as possible. I also soaked them in some Workshop Hero Metal Rescue Bath since the oil baffles were rusted. The valve covers themselves are made of aluminum but the baffles are steel so they rust over time.

The next step was to remove what was left of the original paint. This was accomplished by using VHT Strip Fast. I was very surprised how effective it was at removing the paint. After spraying it on the valve covers the original paint bubbled up and within 15 minutes I was able to scrape the old paint off leaving a mostly shiny surface.

I sanded each valve cover down with some 80 grit sanding blocks to get most of the junk still attached off. Some of the adhesive from the paint was still stuck and I figured it would be smart to get rid of it.

Originally I planned to wet sand the parts of the valve covers that were silver and then repaint the red and seal it all with a nice clear coat. However I found that the parts seemed to have some oxidation which ran though them and I was having trouble getting them nice and clean so I opted for plan B.

So after all the cleaning, stripping, and sanding it was time to prime the valve covers. I picked up some nice primer, also made by VHT, and painted the valve covers. I did end up having to sand one over again because I didn’t have the paint mixed quite right so it ended up with some little lumps in it. It’s actually the one on the bottom of the picture below since I took the pic before I realized I need to sand it.

As you can see, I completely coated the valve covers with the primer (I didn’t paint the underside at all since that may mess with the gaskets).

Now it was time to move on to painting the actual colors. I started by taping off the valve covers in preparation for painting silver back on to them.

I used VHT Anodized Base Coat to paint the top sections to make them look similar to how everything originally looked.

After letting the anodized coat to sit and cure overnight I removed the blue tape which left some very nice and clean lines. All that was left to do was to paint the red which after taping off the silver portions was very simple.

If you look at the picture above you can see one of the finished valve covers and an older one. The colors aren’t perfectly matched but it looks really nice and I really like the texture and color of the silver parts.

My last step was to paint everything with a clear coat. For this I used VHT satin clear. Since it provides heat protection for up to 2000 degrees (intermittent) I figure the valve covers should look nice for quite a while.

Below you can see the final product. This is the first time I’ve painted stuff like this and they came out looking pretty good. There’s a few imperfections there but they still look really good and I’m proud of how they came out. Now on to painting the upper air plenum.

-J

Sandblasting Part 01

About two months ago I was able to get a small sandblasting cabinet, JEGS Performance Bench Top Sand Blast Cabinet, for cleaning parts for the cars and I was able to test it out yesterday. Outside of a few spots that are leaking it works pretty well. The back of the blasting cabinet has a few spots that are leaking sand a bit so I’ve obtained some sealant to seal it better.

Another issue that I’ve found with it is the actual blasting medium that I got with the blaster. Since I’ve never sandblasted anything nor have I gotten any training from anyone (outside of YouTube videos) I think I may have bought the wrong kind of medium. I got a super fine blasting medium which I think isn’t quite coarse enough. However, since I did spend about 30 minutes using the blasting cabinet I did find that it does remove paint very well. The issue comes down to the fact that it looks as if the medium is a little too light to properly get back into the system so I have to stop after about 10 minutes or so and push the sand down into the return feeder.

Since I have an extra upper air intake I’ve been using that as my test bed for sandblasting. I should have more info here in the next few days on how well I’m able to clean the extra air intake.

-J

The Wrong Part

The trouble with purchasing car parts of the internet is that sometimes you might not get what you want. An prime example of this is a used part that my Mom ordered for me online. We went to order the lower air intake for the Fiero but after waiting a few extra days what I received was the upper air intake.

A Stock V-6 Fiero Upper Air Intake

While this isn’t the part I needed it is nice to have an extra one on hand. I plan to clean this part up to use on my SE.

-J

December Update

Things have been a bit slow going the last month or two so I haven’t posted anything. However I did take a look at the fuel injector harness and found a few interesting things out.

To start with the wiring harness is six pin on the engine wiring side and then splits in to the wiring for the individual injectors. Initially I thought that each injector was sent an individual signal to inject fuel, however it appears that this isn’t the case. Each side (even and odd) are wired together so electrically 1-3-5 are wired together while 2-4-6 are wired together. The last two wires are specific for the Cold Start Injector (CSI). So when a electrical signal is sent to injector 1 all odd numbered injectors get the signal. The CSI should only run when the engine is “cold” so it makes sense to be split off from the rest.

Every Fiero V6 fuel injection harness I’ve ever seen have this black wrap around them which looks like electrical tape. However, it’s not electrical tape.

The wrap is meant to protect the wiring from wear and prevent shorts. As you can see from the picture above, the connector which goes to the rest of the engine wiring harness is is pretty bad shape. I’ve been planning to rebuild the whole harness anyway so since I’m putting a rebuilt engine in the car now is a good time.

One other thing I found rather interesting with the fuel injector harness is that the wiring is connected together using splices. I expected the harness to be soldered together but after thinking about it using splices make sense since the Fiero tends to run hot.

 Since I’m going to rebuild the wiring harness I will solder the wires together but I’ll put heat shielding around them to keep any heat from causing issues with the solder. I don’t think the solder will melt but excess heat tends to cook the wiring after awhile and I don’t want to have to rebuild the harness a second time.

-J

August and September Updates

August ended up being very rainy with plenty of thundershowers so I wasn’t really able to do to much work on the Fiero. I also managed to injure my shoulder which is keeping me from doing too much. However I did get a few things done today.

I cleaned the valve covers with the pressure washer. Below you can see a picture of them; one was cleaned using soap and water with an overnight soak.

The valve cover on the top looked about the same as the one on the bottom; pretty dirty and greasy. This is the one I soaked in soapy water overnight and then I blasted it clean using the pressure washer.

Since I have had a bottle of Simple Green just hanging about I decided to use it when I cleaned the bottom valve cover.

As you can see it’s very clean. I used concentrated Simple Green and sprayed it on very heavily then I let it sit for about five minutes. After this I just hit the valve cover up with the pressure washer and you can see the results. There appears to be a bit of rust in one of the valve covers so I’ll have to see what I can do to clean that up but I made some pretty good progress today.

In addition to cleaning the insides I did clean the outsides of the valve covers. One of them lost quite a bit of paint which is fine since I plan to strip the paint anyway and repaint them.

Hopefully I’ll be able to keep going now and get more work done so that I can get my GT up and running.

-J

Oil Pan Removal

I’ve finally gotten to the oil pan on the old GT engine. It came off fairly easily (it wasn’t stuck) so removal wasn’t a chore. I wasn’t quite sure how easily it would come off but outside of a stuck bolt everything went smoothly. I did have to gently hit it on the sides to get the seal from the gasket to break but I was able to do that with just my hands which was quite nice. 

The oil pan itself is in good shape outside of being dirty. The outside has grease all over it from various leaks over the years (which after nearly 30 years is normal) but the gasket is actually in really good shape. Internally the oil pan looks about like it should with oil inside in an even coat. However, I did find some pieces of something in the bottom of the pan. 

This is actually the second time I’ve removed an oil pan from a Chevy L44 engine and found stuff in the oil pan. The engine for the 1985 SE also had pieces of stuff in the oil pan. I discovered larger pieces of stuff in the SE’s oil pan, including what appeared to be pieces of an oil cap that had been broken off. I’m not sure if it’s normal to find stuff like that in an oil pan but I would suspect it’s not. 

The picture above is the underside of the engine from the GT with the oil pan removed. Just about in the center is the oil pump screen and you can see some of the junk that was in the oil pan stuck to it, there’s still more in the bottom of the oil pan. As the engine was running the oil pressure would drop once the engine reached operating temperature because of all the crap in the oil pan sweeping up on to the screen. While the blockage caused by the stuff in the oil pan isn’t great but it’s far better than it getting in to the engine which is the reason for the oil pump screen. 

Something I found interesting when I removed the oil pan is that there are three studs in the block. So instead of having all bolts there are three nuts as well as the bolts for the rest of the pan. When I dismantled the engine from the SE there weren’t any studs in it so it was all bolts. As far as what having some studs and bolts vs. all bolts it really doesn’t mean much. I will either have to remove the studs or set something up before I store the engine. Other than that though I don’t think it will matter. 

I do have a new oil pan, oil pump, and oil screen ready to install on the rebuilt engine when I’m ready to start assembling it. The oil pump I received with the rebuilt engine is a high volume oil pump so now I have two of those since I owned one previously. I also have a new oil pan gasket in hand to install as well so I should be able to build the bottom of the rebuilt engine up very quickly. 

Now all that’s left is cleaning parts which I’m slowly doing over time. Then I’ll start the engine assembly. 

-J

Early July Update

I’ve decided that I’m going to do monthly updates close to the beginning of the month. Where are we at with the 1987 GT? Well, I have the original engine largely stripped down which includes the parts that have to be transferred over the the rebuilt engine. At this point the engine is actually still on the stand but upside down so that it could drain. All that’s left to do to put the engine in to storage is the remove the oil pan and the oil pump.

When I rotated the engine 180 degrees to drain any oil out the oil pump shaft fell out (which isn’t really surprising) and additional coolant poured out. I thought that I’d managed to get all of the coolant drained out of the engine so I was a little surprised to see more coolant come out of the engine. However, the amount of coolant that came out  was only about two or three cups. With the crazy temperatures this summer, the engine should now  be dry as a bone. Well… Sort of.

When I was disassembled the engine from my 1985 SE I was very surprised to discover that the there was still oil in parts of the engine that I didn’t expect. This is partly to do with the engine being properly broken in by the factory so that there was a bit of oil coming out of the crankshaft bearings and a few other small parts. This is actually a very good sign because even though I had removed the engine from the car about three years ago, there was still the a small amount of oil in the engine. Currently the SE engine is being stored, as best I can store it, without the heads, pistons, crankshaft, and pretty much everything else. I stripped it down to just the block and nothing else.

Now back to the GT’s engine and the car’s status. Once I get the oil pan and oil pump removed I’ll be able to put the old engine in storage and transfer the new one to the stand to build it up. I’m still cleaning parts though so I may wait on actually transferring the rebuilt engine to the stand until I have everything nice and clean and then I’ll be able to quickly build everything up.

-J