Real Fiero Tech

any options out there anymore? I know the street dreams spindles are no longer in production, and the guy who bought the tooling dropped off the face of the earth... last I saw a set of belltechs, they went for way more than the max bid I had placed...

since the answer is probably no, as a follow up question, how can I correct the geometry changed cause by lowering springs? can I make new control arms to correct? I suspect the only true fix would be to move the mounting points on the chassis down lower, which is probably not feasible.

Actually, it probably wouldn't be hard to section the crossmember to raise the entire suspension into the body. You'd have to modify the rear LCA mounts to raise them as well.

However, if you're combining the sectioned crossmember with a coil over installation using custom LCA's, custom upper coil over mounts and custom adjustable UCA's... just build the whole thing from scratch such that it can accept a more common rack, maybe with electric power steering.

Mustang II front suspension installations are common in the hot rod world, but the geometry actually isn't very good from the camber and roll center perspective.

It might be less work than sectioning, Coleman racing sells all the special hardware to make fabricated spindles, you would end up with a late model spindle size, with bigger bearings, and wildwood makes all kinds of hubs to make it work with a 5 x 4 3/4 pattern.

I wouldn't have thought of the coleman racing parts... right now, I want to stay 5x100 (just bought new wheels)

started thinking about this more and threw down and bought a suspension modeling program, and I'm gonna put my nose in the books and try and develop something to replace what I have. the big question now, is where do I start, I guess the best place is to start with the fairly hard set dimensions, track width and wheelbase can be changed slightly, but not by a ridiculous amount, but where to from there? is there any advantage starting at the front of the car, and working back, or back to front? lol, time to start the research...

What program did you get? I'll need to snag one when I get back from the 'Stan.

If you're keeping your wheels, then use the offset to convert track width into hub-hub distance. Once you decide on a spindle, you can use hub-hub distance to determine lower ball joint to lower ball joint distance, which is where you'll start your suspension design.

The other parameter you need is ride height. The location/width/height of the frame rails determines your packaging envelope available for a bolt-in system. The '84-'87 Fiero spindle is a pretty terrible design with a log of "offset". The distance from the kingpin axis to the hub flange along the axle centerline is very large. In the '88 spindle this distance is much smaller. This lets the '88 run longer control arms with the same frame rails as the early cars.

Then there are some basic rules you can follow in laying everything out. If you keep the lateral link + thrust link, which is the conceptual design of the '84-'87 LCA, then you can mount the steering rack low, right in front of the lateral links, which then puts it in-plane with the LCA, minimizing bump steer. However, if you then angle the upper arm for anti-dive, you can end up introducing bump steer at large jounce/rebound travel.

I picked this up:

http://www.susprog.com/index.htm

I'm going to try and start mapping out the fiero frame rails near for mounting points. I'm wanting to use an off the shelf power rack and pinion for the car, with an MR2 power steering pump. to eliminate the need for forward and aft lines.

I'd really like to use the C5 knuckles I have, as they're light, strong, and will be available for the foreseeable future. but they're going to require me to convert to 5x4.75 which would require new wheels. or adapters, which would result in compromises elsewhere. I may design the suspension around them, and then buy new wheels when I build it, or do something similar to this:

http://www.colemanracing.com/Hub-Adapto ... P6289.aspx

and make a 5x100 hub...

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something similar to that may be an option for 88 front wheel bearings, the concept isn't all that crazy, if there's room, which I suspect there's not.
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the biggest thing I want to try and do is use off the shelf components where ever possible with all wear components.

you mention that at large jounce/rebound, you end up with bumpsteer with the anti dive setup, how much travel are you talking? I like the idea of the anti dive setup, as long as it doesn't compromise the predictability of the car.

tomorrow night I'm gonna try and break out the service manual and see if it has any useful dimensions for the frame rails and try to start getting some ideas rolling.

ericjon262 wrote: http://www.colemanracing.com/Hub-Adapto ... P6289.aspx

and make a 5x100 hub...

That thing is awesome. I did not know those were made.

I literally bought the parts to do just that for a friends vette gran sport suspension last year.

I wonder if that spindle can be used with this hub:
http://www.colemanracing.com/Hub-Alumin ... P3550.aspx

There's one listed for the 4th gen Camaro with a slightly different spindle flange:
http://www.colemanracing.com/NEW-FOR-20 ... P6256.aspx

Wilwood offers dozen of aluminum hubs. Several are out there that can work for less than Coleman's price, and have multiple wheel patterns on them.
The bearings are 1.375 ID and .844ID on the coleman spindle. That is a later big chevy size I bellieve.

I have a spindle from coleman for the late chevy bearings. Meant for fabricating a spindle. I also have the steel street dreams 2" drop spindles. I am really inclined to cut out the fiero stub and replace it with the coleman unit.

Dooooo Eeeeeeeet!

And for the rear, (or front with stub axle)....
I bought these a long time ago, I need to dig them out and measure, but they are cartridge bearings, with tapered rollers and removable races. There is even a rebuild kit out there somewhere.
http://a.co/7VDWIEk https://www.crownautomotive.net/Front-B ... 00228.html
I want to think they were very similar or bigger in size compared to the S10 front wheel bearing.

Jeep hubs use 5x4.5" lug pattern.

A lot more wheels options are available in 5x4.5" than 5x4.75" or 5x100mm. Mustang and lots of other Fords, RX7 and other Mazdas, lots of Nissans, Toyotas, RWD Chryslers use 5x4.5. Old Generation Camaros, Firebirds, Classic GM, and the Corvettes use 5x4.75. Low end Econo-Cars use the Fiero 5x100 pattern (Base Subarus and Toyotas and J-Body GM).

I know... but then you have to have matching front hubs, wheels and brakes.

Corvette wheels work great.

Because these should be able to be dissassembled, the flange could easily be drilled for both.