Thats good to hear about the Timken bearings. I would have went and bought GM bearings.
I think the plan to kill pontiac started way back in the 80's. They had the cooler looking cars ( Trans Am, Grand Prix, Fiero ). Then it was like GM tried hard to screw them over. The Fiero sales were down du to the car needing a serious makeover. The prototype Fiero was cool and according to specs, was a better car than the Corvette......just half as much. GM couldn't let their flagship car be outdown by a car that was much cheaper. The GTO is another perfect example. The protoype was cool. The actual car was just a bland Australian looking thing. Mechanically speaking, it was a great car, but, just plain as plain can be.
Yes, I am a Fiero fan. If I could find a good 5 speed that would bolt up and hold upto the 3.8 SC putting out around 350-400 HP I would buy another and convert it. I had a twin turbo Fiero GT with the 3.1 installed. It destroyed a couple of the Muncie-Getrag 5 speeds. I had to go back to the Muncie 4 speed, but, I missed that extra gear.