I finally have the donor car for my Beretta, so I'll track progress for those interested here. No pics yet, I want to get better hosting than photobucket for my car albums (I know a guy that does good hosting for cheap). So what's on the list for the car? Here's a rough outline for the build:

3.1L MPFI Engine
Ebay intake
Custom exhaust
Cam kit
1.6" rocker arms
Possibly a set of headers, if I can get them made for the right price
Eibach lowering springs
KYB shocks and struts
energy suspension sway bar bushings
MRZ performance F&R strut bars
MRZ brushed door sills
MRZ 62 mm throttle body
If I can get one, 5 spd swap (god help you all if I get that)
Possible custom graphic wrap (not cheesy like F&F BS, but a good one I have in mind. Think Judas Priest's Nightvrawler song and you might get a vague idea of my idea, but something more twisted than you might imagine...)
Addco sway bars
Grant steering wheel
Any other details I think of along the way


2010 Honda Fit LX

No 3400?
No C/F body brakes?




1989 Z24 Convertible - Dust Covered
2006 tC - Dust Covered, but driven more

I'll be honest with you, on the 3.1 mpfi you must focus on getting it to flow more air if you want to make power. This means getting the upper and lower intake manifolds ported, and having the heads ported slightly would be a great idea too. Combine that with a good cam, there are quite a few to choose from, and add bolt ons from there. Headers for a good price are going to be tough to come by, but 3400 exhaust manifolds aren't and they'll have to flow better than you could make the 3.1 stock exhaust manifolds flow.

I'll just do a list of my ideal 3.1 build
*intake of some sort with a quality filter
*larger throttle body, I think 62mm is too big personally - but there aren't many options. Have the intake manifold inlet port matched to the larger tb
*ported upper and lower intake manifolds - this is the bottle neck on these engines, they must receive work.
*porting and polishing of the heads, have someone skilled at headwork do it, you can screw it up if you're a newb
*aftermarket cam, I think the Comp 272 would be a perfect choice
*headers if possible, if not try to use 3400 exhaust manifolds, have your heads exhaust ports matched to the 3400 size if possible...
*custom 2.5" downpipe and full 2.5" mandrel bent if possible exhaust
*chip from ben phelps (http://wot-tech.com/shop/)
*underdriven crank pulley, find a used FFP one if possible, MRZ is supposed to be working on one though

Match that with a 5 speed, and a good clutch. That combo should be able to hit close to a 14.9 under ideal conditions... If you want to have fun put a wet 50 shot of nitrous on that engine, hello low 14s and hopefully 200ish whp... Seriously, that's it. The intake manifolds kill these engines.

Honestly a 3400 swap will make you faster for cheaper (not counting the nitrous idea), look in my profile at my Beretta, you can see how nice my old 3.1 was... I'm going 3400 now, and with my mods without nitrous I'm hoping for 220whp.

To edit one more time, check my registry for ideas on suspension too. I've had my Beretta for like 8 years now, I've wasted plenty of money and could save you from going through bad set ups.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, June 11, 2008 8:59 PM

Thanks for the tips, KFLO. The initial build on this car is budget. The body/frame was given to me (very little rust, just some around the fenders and a bit on the sides) as a gift to use as a project car. 3400s still go for $1200 up here (this is bizarro world, where everything seems to be 2-3x the cost of the rest of the planet), and a co-worker is willing to sell me a 1992 cav with a 3.1L MPFI in it for $500. I can get her $500 in increments. I can't come up with a free and clear $1200 all at once (no pick-a-part here, either). As much as I'd love to just drop in a 3400, it's not feasible. I doubt I'll even start modding it more than the eBay intake and possibly the STBs by the end of the summer due to budget restrictions.

I forgot to mention the brake setup and the MRZ pulleys (they have underdriven crank and alt pulleys available, the crank pulley weighs a mere pound, while the alt pulley weighs 3.3 oz, and it fits the 2.8/3.1/3100/3400 according to the wobsite), but they're in the plan, too. Come to think of it, the alt pulley would probably only come to $70 or so with shipping, so I might snag that up. Not a huge power gain or anything, but it's a start. eBay intakes for the 3.1L usually come with a K&N filter, and if not, I'll just buy one and slap it on.

As far as suspension goes, the setup in you '93 in your profile is pretty much the idea I have. except I'm thinking of using 16" trak_lites if I can ever afford them (once I get a 2nd job, man...). The reduced weight is key in this kind of build, since the engine is so restricted, and so close to it's potential in stock form (without the aid of turbo, but boost is too complex for me, and I don't like the idea of not having the added power across the board)

This car will mostly be used to experiment and learn on, and partly because, lets face it, the Beretta is way sexier than a 2nd gen J (no offense to the gen 2 guys, because gen 2 Js are sexy, but the Beretta is just sexier. It just happens that 9 times out of 10, JBO has more answers than Beretta forums do, so I post here). My interests aren't really in drag racing, but I guess I'll be stuck with that as my only source of racing. There aren't many drag events around here (when you live in the sticks, there aren't tracks, just annual airport runway drag events in various hick towns), either, so I may just have to go down to Deadmonton once in a while. There's a guy I want to race down there anyways.

As for getting parts machined, I have a few spare parts off the old 2.8 that seized up in there. I may be able to re-use some of the manifolds, etc. depending on the condition they're in.

Just throwing out a simple aesthetic question here, but I have my bowtie emblem sitting on my floor here. Should I leave it off, or paint it something colored? It's a black car. I was thinking of leaving it off, but if someone makes a good suggestion for a color, I may paint it and stick it back on.


2010 Honda Fit LX

Save the alternator pulley money for the crank pulley, trust me. The alternator pulley isn't for making power, its for using in conjunction with the crank pulley so you don't have too low of an output from spinning your alternator slower. Which really isn't an issue as long as you don't have a big stereo. Heck, I ran 2 amps on my Beretta while I was using the FFP crank pulley with the stock alternator pulley and I had little to no issues. Plus the crank pulley makes lots of fun, noticeable power.

Ballocks to audio. I'm almost inclined to rip the stereo out, but I occasionally like to have the radio on when ominous looking storm clouds come rolling over the horizon, or if I start to get tired. You do have a good point, though. As a side note, someone offered $1000 for my parts car. If it hadn't been for the fact that I need the parts in it, I could've had most of the car done with that money. Funny how that works...


2010 Honda Fit LX

Stock stereo, or even a cd headunit, and replacement speakers that have more power will still run absolutely fine with the crank pulley only.

$1000 is a lot for a parts car, I hope you got a number to call these people haha.

KFLO wrote:Stock stereo, or even a cd headunit, and replacement speakers that have more power will still run absolutely fine with the crank pulley only.

$1000 is a lot for a parts car, I hope you got a number to call these people haha.

If you read the post above about prices up here, then you'll understand. $1000 is the minimum price you'll pay for a vehicle. Someone wanted to sell a '97 cavalier Z24 with a blown engine (the bad kind, not the boost kind), shot brakes and a ratty interior for $1200. There was a 2.2 powered '93 S10 for sale, in horrible shape, for $3400. My favorite ad though, has to the '07 cobalt for $22,000. It's one of the el cheapo base model coupes with the only options chosen being the pioneer stereo and factory alloys.

In short, if you want to sell a vehicle for good money, bring it up here.


2010 Honda Fit LX

Heh, the 2:59am CST reply time explains my poor response... at the time all I could comprehend was $1k for a parts car.

That is crazy about prices in you area. Let me know what I could get for a 99 Z24, 2.4 5 speed, power everything, cold a/c, 85k miles. Bomb ass daily driver, 25+ mpg in town, 30+ highway. Mods can be included or left out.




Edited 2 time(s). Last edited Friday, June 13, 2008 3:32 PM

As for $7500, and you could get at least $6500, if they don't take $7500. Someone bought a '97 OHV powered Sunfire with a turbo in it and over 300,000 kms on it for $12,500, so offering ~$8k for a slightly built LD9 wouldn't be completely out of it. The city is in a "recession" right now, so some of the sellers are actually listing around or below blue book prices, but come late summer/fall, prices will shoot up again.

Car prices aside, I'm probably going up to my car tomorrow, so there might be some progress happening! Yay me!


2010 Honda Fit LX

So I saw the car today, with the donor car. Never did anything with it because of weather. When it did clear up, I took a look at my donor, the 'retta, and am currently doing some thinking. If I sell that donor for $1000, then I can get ahead a little. As much as I'd love to just get it going and run with it, it's just not a great idea. For one, it just costs me more money before it's done to drive it around. For another, the girl who offered me the money for the car is in desperate need of a running, inspectable vehicle. Finally, I realized today, that I wouldn't be happy with a 3.1L build. I thought I could get it going right, but looking at it, it's a bit of a monstrosity. The 3.1L is just as much a good engine as it is useless to me.

So I think I'm going to sell the donor car for now, and focus on the rest of the car. There are so many power options to use, and the guy helping me is so good with mechanics, I could do whatever I want and we could rig it up to work. So, my goal now is to work on the suspension/chassis/restoring the body, then put in either a 3400, or a 3800 S/C.

So no power, but watch for progress anyways. I need to take my time with this, work my way out of all my problems first, and have it running later.

Also, I didn't realize just how much shorter the Beretta is to a J-Body.

So, my revised list of goodies to start, hoping to get some of this done by the end of this summer, and save money over the winter (once we move into a place with lower rent) for the engine.

MRZ front and rear strut tower bars
Energy suspension end links, tie rod ends, etc. (all the goodies they make, pretty well)
Addco sway bars
Eibach springs
Grant steering wheel and hub
A set of winter tires for the stock rims (they're the 14" 5 spoke ones, so 195/70/14, iirc, which works well in the snow)
A set of pedal covers
All season mats
possibly new carpet
Build a battery relocation kit

Restoration stuff:

Check the floor, seal up any missing parts (I remember reading somewhere that the floors weren't welded properly)
CLEAN THE B*ST*RD
Fix up/replace the hood (whatever works out best/is the cheapest)
Fiberglass fenders (I know someone makes them)
New paint (Anyone else's Beretta get that hideous paint peel problem?)
New console lid (mine's a complete mess. I think it was used as a hammer at some point)
Patch the front bumper (has a tiny crack in it)
Anything I've missed so far in my thorough overview.


2010 Honda Fit LX

Not really a build update, but I did end up getting a second job. The pay is low, the work is a giant pain, but it's money. Hopefully, I'll have some new progress updates soon. I have to pay the rent friday, but I may have some left over at the middle of the month. If so, I'm going to get some all season mats (a must up here, really), a Grant hub, and possibly the pedal covers (selection here is limited, and the internet is wanting a lot for shipping from most places for ones I like). I'd do more, but I also want to get a K&N filter for the Corolla, and a spark plug gapping tool.

I might also spend a day cleaning the interior with the green machine, and the sample of interior cleaner I got from the touchless car wash we take the corolla to (no cleaning the car in the rental parking space).

Here's hoping!


2010 Honda Fit LX

Okay, I'm officially REALLY BAD at building a project car. First I have no money, then I get money, and have no idea what to put it into. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm only doing suspension/brake/body right now. But unfortunately, like an ADD kid loaded up with red bull, I can't decide what to buy first.Might load up the wife's credit card to get some summit goodies across the border (they apparently only accept paypal if something is being shipped to a USian address), or I may go eBaying. I'll decide by Monday or Tuesday.

While this is up on the top page, anyone have experience with eBay purchased steel braided brake lines? They're a good $50 less than the Goodridge lines, but I'm always weary of eBay.

Now, if I'm lucky I'll start having money for this more often. Then I just need time to go up and do work on my car. I swear next visit, I'm cleaning the interior, pulling the wiring harness and windshield washer tank, and getting some pics.


2010 Honda Fit LX

Scott Ryman wrote:

While this is up on the top page, anyone have experience with eBay purchased steel braided brake lines? They're a good $50 less than the Goodridge lines, but I'm always weary of eBay.

If my car doesn't start I'm mad. If I don't get the power I wanted out of a part i'm disappointed. If my car doesn't stop that's a whole different bad day right there. Brakes are one thing on a car I don't like to risk or play around with. Don't cheap out on your brakes. Like I said if you cheap out on a CAI or suspension you don't get the power you wanted or a rough ride. Cheap out on the brakes and it may end your whole project sooner than you think. Who knows they might be great but would you want to risk it?

Good point, man. I'll take the hit and get the Goodridge ones. Back to hoarding cash for me (want to save my MRZ run for at least three things at once, maybe more to save on shipping, and everything in my current budget could be had from their catalog).


2010 Honda Fit LX