Stronger front 88 bearing/hub options

[The Dark Side of Will]

The 1988 Fiero lower ball joint taper appears to be 2 inches per foot (~4.75 degrees half-angle), which is kind of weird. Now to find a 2in/ft tapered reamer to fix the lower ball joint taper in my right knuckle...

[The Dark Side of Will]

'88 Upper ball joint taper is 10 degrees.

[The Dark Side of Will]

'88 Assembled Knuckle progress.
The main plate can be water jet cut from 1" aluminum, while the ball joint blocks can be water jet cut from 1.25" aluminum.

[draven]

I'm all in for this if my custom 88 stub snout/bearings do not work as expected...

1.) Any plans to build these with a 1" or more drop?

2.) What is your bearing cartridge of choice for these?

[The Dark Side of Will]

I'm all in for this if my custom 88 stub snout/bearings do not work as expected...

1.) Any plans to build these with a 1" or more drop?

DarkHorizon asked the same question on Old Europe... I could do that but I'd need to make the upper ball joint boss a bit elaborate. Fieros have very short knuckles in terms of the distance between the ball joints. There's only so much space for even the stock bearing and there's that much less space for a significantly larger bearing.

2.) What is your bearing cartridge of choice for these?

C5/6/7(/8?) Corvette front.

[Jalisurr]

New member, curious, did anything ever come of either of these ideas? Either the custom uprights or the coleman spindle conversion? I'm working on an 88 Fiero track car build and it seems like the wheel bearings are the main thing holding it back, everything else is more or less solved. I'd love to be able to bolt on the SKF C6 Racing bearings and not need to worry about it.

[The Dark Side of Will]

New member, curious, did anything ever come of either of these ideas? Either the custom uprights or the coleman spindle conversion? I'm working on an 88 Fiero track car build and it seems like the wheel bearings are the main thing holding it back, everything else is more or less solved. I'd love to be able to bolt on the SKF C6 Racing bearings and not need to worry about it.

You could probably order another set of these from Coleman:

Pics

I have other things on my plate right now, but may have the prototypes of my knuckle design built by the end of the year.

[Jalisurr]

Update: I've contacted Coleman Racing and they are indeed still able to make the spindle conversion kits for 88 Fieros in 5x100. It's around $500/corner.

I've also been looking at Rodney's new design, rebuildable hubs. I think this is a new revision since the initial tapered roller hubs that I've seen mentioned here, these ones have replaceable bearings and I believe a stronger flange. He does specifically say 'Not for racing' but I gather that may be more of a result of drama on the other forum.

Comparing the two, the bearings look to be almost identical. Is there something about the design of the spindle style bearings that would make them inherently stronger than the hub design?

Here's the comparative dimensions of the bearings:



Thoughts?

[draven]

I still have the spindles on a front crossmember with corvette steering rack waiting to go in but I'm in the middle of an engine swap at the moment.. During test fit I did have to hone out the lip on the motegi mr116's that retain the center cap as that interfered with the hub conical section.. just a millimeter or so... not much..

[The Dark Side of Will]

Update: I've contacted Coleman Racing and they are indeed still able to make the spindle conversion kits for 88 Fieros in 5x100. It's around $500/corner.

I've also been looking at Rodney's new design, rebuildable hubs. I think this is a new revision since the initial tapered roller hubs that I've seen mentioned here, these ones have replaceable bearings and I believe a stronger flange. He does specifically say 'Not for racing' but I gather that may be more of a result of drama on the other forum.

Comparing the two, the bearings look to be almost identical. Is there something about the design of the spindle style bearings that would make them inherently stronger than the hub design?

Here's the comparative dimensions of the bearings:



Thoughts?

The separation between the two bearings is actually the big factor. Rodney's bearings are on the right rack with extending the back side of the cartridge toward the spring in order to increase the separation between the inner and outer bearings. (I wonder where he got that idea! )

Rodney's a great bracket maker, but he's struggled with more advanced assemblies. Bearing design isn't easy, and he's had some fits and starts. I think Steven had an early set of Rodney's stock depth tapered roller cartridges, and the dust cap popped off on its own after a track day.

[Jalisurr]

The separation between the two bearings is actually the big factor. Rodney's bearings are on the right rack with extending the back side of the cartridge toward the spring in order to increase the separation between the inner and outer bearings. (I wonder where he got that idea! )

Rodney's a great bracket maker, but he's struggled with more advanced assemblies. Bearing design isn't easy, and he's had some fits and starts. I think Steven had an early set of Rodney's stock depth tapered roller cartridges, and the dust cap popped off on its own after a track day.

Interesting. I may need to order both parts to compare out of curiousity's sake. I wouldn't have thought that the spindle style would be able to have significantly more separation between the two bearings if they are maintaining the stock fiero offset

[Jalisurr]

Just a quick update from me - I did order a set of the Coleman racing spindle adapters for my 88. Picked them up this weekend.

They look very sturdy. As draven mentioned, the hub section does extend quite a ways through the wheel, and require a 70mm center bore on the wheel and brake rotor (standard Corvette size). My Enkei RPF1s have a 73mm center bore at the back, but have a section on the front where the center cap would normally go that drops down to 64mm, so they don't fit on the hub stock. I'll be boring that out to 70mm to clear.

Unfortunately I'm told I got the last set that Coleman had and they aren't producing more, so if it works out well for my build...sorry? I'll update again regardless once I've got them on the car and get a chance to see how they hold up on track.

[draven]

Just a quick update from me - I did order a set of the Coleman racing spindle adapters for my 88. Picked them up this weekend.

They look very sturdy. As draven mentioned, the hub section does extend quite a ways through the wheel, and require a 70mm center bore on the wheel and brake rotor (standard Corvette size). My Enkei RPF1s have a 73mm center bore at the back, but have a section on the front where the center cap would normally go that drops down to 64mm, so they don't fit on the hub stock. I'll be boring that out to 70mm to clear.

Unfortunately I'm told I got the last set that Coleman had and they aren't producing more, so if it works out well for my build...sorry? I'll update again regardless once I've got them on the car and get a chance to see how they hold up on track.

I had to bore out the center of my motegi's as well....exactly as you are doing...

Funny, didn't realize they were keeping any in stock... I do have the cad drawings so I think they could be reproduced... Will I think I sent you a copy as well, did I not?

[The Dark Side of Will]

Just a quick update from me - I did order a set of the Coleman racing spindle adapters for my 88. Picked them up this weekend.

They look very sturdy. As draven mentioned, the hub section does extend quite a ways through the wheel, and require a 70mm center bore on the wheel and brake rotor (standard Corvette size). My Enkei RPF1s have a 73mm center bore at the back, but have a section on the front where the center cap would normally go that drops down to 64mm, so they don't fit on the hub stock. I'll be boring that out to 70mm to clear.

Unfortunately I'm told I got the last set that Coleman had and they aren't producing more, so if it works out well for my build...sorry? I'll update again regardless once I've got them on the car and get a chance to see how they hold up on track.

I had to bore out the center of my motegi's as well....exactly as you are doing...

Funny, didn't realize they were keeping any in stock... I do have the cad drawings so I think they could be reproduced... Will I think I sent you a copy as well, did I not?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have them in the stash someplace.
I'm also pretty sure that Coleman will make more for money.