Real Fiero Tech

Install went fairly well with one little hiccup. I vaguely remember this from another thread but can't be certain. The tie rod ends used in the Fiero Track Rod have the same taper but are slightly smaller than the HD A-Body tie rod. It might be OK but looks like it might bind at the ends of suspensi...

Don't forget to put zip-ties on each of the CV boot folds to keep the boots from growing at speed. That's interesting. I'd never heard of that. What problem does this prevent? Does this apply if the boots are plastic and not rubber like the newer stuff. Since we're talking about boots. I was able t...

Interesting; mine has a negative camber curve and the only thing I've done other than the slotted upper ball joints for camber adjustment is lower it. It cambers hard in the last bit of travel as the tires tuck up into the wheel wells. If you looked at the video you can see that my tires are about ...

I managed to get a pair of HD A-Body outer CVs on Monday and got my axles together last night. Everything appears to fit together. The plan is to get this in the car this weekend.

Is there any particular detail that would be helpful to get a picture of?

Are you referring to the interface where the male spline on the CV joint housing slides into the hub cartridge? The S10 spline is bigger? Have you looked at Dustbuster minivan (U-body) outer CV's for compatibility? The fit problem is where the axle shaft from the disassembled Fiero axle assembly wo...

I have sufficient camber gain with my stock '87 front end. I slotted the upper control arms to make the upper ball joints movable and can get about -2.5 camber but usually run -1.8 to -2.0 with 225/45/17 front tires on 17 x 8 rims. Dive with cut stock springs was a major issue, causing excessive ne...

I race a Fiero in Chump and I use the P6000 HD spindles and hubs, bolt pattern is 5 x 114.5 which is a common tuner size. I usually can pick up a set of 17 x 8s and 9s for less than $300. All bolt-in parts, cheap and easy to find. Have about 80 hrs on one set of wheel bearings with no signs of issu...

So the shaft spline into the outer CV is larger on the S10?

That's correct. I measured the snap ring groove which is close or identical to the spline root.

Fiero 0.970"
S10 1.020"

IIRC, the Fiero races, go in the S10 outer joints and you use the stock fiero axle shaft. Unfortunately I tried this. The CV spider, cage, and ball bearings are all larger on the S10. I only got so far as to put the Fiero cage in the S10 outer shaft but it rattled around. I measured the Fiero ball ...

SO! I screwed up by assuming that the S10 CV center shaft was the same diameter as the Fiero manual CV center shaft. This means that I need to get new outer CV joints from an HD A-Body or other car with the right spline for the Fiero shaft and S10 bearing. I guess the S10 outer CV would be a good op...

I managed to get all the mill work done yesterday. I need to smooth out some edges with a burr and build the axles and then I'll be ready for assembly. I managed to find a pair of axles on the shelf at the local JY and I own them now. Notes: I made two patterns on my fixture but only used the smalle...

Aren't you building a LeMons car? Shouldn't junk yard axles be your default choice for that application? Short answer is yes, the real answer is time to get to a JY when they're open is scarce. I can also send any team member to a parts store with a part number. If some one goes to the junkyard hal...

I had figured they wouldn't be OEM quality but I was a little surprised at what was different. I also don't need shafts capable of 400hp. I didn't see any shafts from GM or AC Delco from my usual part sources. Where is everyone buying these now? Here is what I found: Driveshaft shop 400hp axles - ov...

I said I didn't want to talk a lot about axles and I don't. However, I came across an annoying fact that is worth mentioning. The Autozone "new" axles are crap, which is not terribly surprising but why they are crap is pertinent. The retaining clip is in a different spot and is cut in such...

It was a very hot and wet weekend to be racing but at least it was fun. We did have an axle seal go on Saturday. I had intended to replace it Friday night but with the rain and the heat my teammates preferred to go home to the AC instead. It did make the rest of the weekend a little more relaxing. T...

The first race of the year is the 13-14 of August. We've been racing it since 2010 but up until now I've focused on other areas of the car. The only thing that I'll be able to implement before the August race is increased front camber. Changes don't happen very fast when the car is stored 2 hours aw...

There was an 85 Corvette (C4) in the junk yard when I was looking for parts this last weekend. I grabbed the front calipers/brackets but I noticed that the knuckle was almost exactly what I was looking for. Has anyone mocked one of these up on an 84-87 Fiero?

Hi! I'm looking to switch to the 5 on 4.75" lug pattern because cheap wide OEM wheels are available, I get a bigger rear wheel bearing, stronger outboard CV, and other reasons. I've found some info about this swap but it is pretty scattered and I see occasional comments about problems or forese...

The bandaid for geometry is static camber, not springrate. While that will help, a higher spring rate will cause less compression and thus less unwanted camber change. This is the explanation I got from the e30 guys as to why they run such heavy springs in the back. Hence "The best way to make...

That's definitely on my homework list along with tire width stagger. I don't usually get to that list until December but hopefully this year will be different! I've also got a project that I'm pretty excited about that involves a wheel bolt pattern switch to 4.75" but that's still in the oven...