Fiero Autocross ownage

[Dough19]

So they finally put up the results from the event in September. For some reason I was on my game that day. The couse was geared pretty well for my car as well. Usually the Corvette guys make the couse in a way that puts me between 2nd and 3rd gear. The only car that beat me was an FM overgrown go-kart with a motorcycle engine. I beat 2 Corvettes, 1 Viper, and 1 Porsche Carrera. All were on race rubber except the Porsche, which was on Michelins.

And to think, I beat them with a 3.4L pushrod.

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/wcwagner/www/ ... esults.pdf

[Kohburn]

your raw time was awesome - but thanks to the fiero getting classed into SM2 they killed your scoring

[Jinxmutt]

Damn, way to go. I was at another autox this past weekend with some summer tires on the car this time and was actually able to match times of the miatas and sti, etc. I haven't played with my suspension setup at all because I'm not really sure on how I should aim to configure it. On my all season crppy tires that I had on just to use as a DD, I was about a full two seconds behind. Perhaps with some sticky tires and a few more events, I might actually be able to beat a car or two..

[Kohburn]

sticky tires, staggered front to rear sizing, heavy duty front sway bar and a rear sway bar, 2" lower ride height, koni shocks and you should be able to kick butt

[whipped]

Damn, you wiped their asses. :thumbleft:

The carrera, viper, and rx8 were right behind you though...

PS - Yes Shaun, fieros own in teh twisties. :la:

[Jinxmutt]

sticky tires, staggered front to rear sizing, heavy duty front sway bar and a rear sway bar, 2" lower ride height, koni shocks and you should be able to kick butt

I have only a slight stagger in tire sizes. I'm using stock front bar, and 88 rear end. I think my problem now is driver skill, stock ride height, and unadjusted konis.


I have Pzero Asymmetrico in front and Bridgestone pole-positions in the rear.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Don't lower the '88 rear, just stiffen it.

[Series8217]

When you get it stiff enough to keep the camber in check you'll definitely need to stiffen up the front to keep the weight transfer right. I ran a rear swaybar with my 3.4 DOHC to keep the rear roll down and it just oversteered worse. Gotta get a larger front swaybar or stiffen up the front springs a lot.

[Jinxmutt]

I currently have the 87 stock bar up front and I think that could be my problem. I have the front konis more on the soft side and the rears more towards hard as thats a very general statement I've heard. In anycase, the car is fairly tail happy. I'm only running 235s in the back though with 225 in front. This car is more a daily driver than it is a primary weekend racer though. I catch every autox i can, but its not a real priority yet.

[Series8217]

Yeah the 88 front bar is 28mm IIRC, with the 84-87 being 23 or 22 (I forget).

[Kohburn]

definately need to upgrade the front to the heavy duty bar

[The Dark Side of Will]

I wouldn't be so ready to upgrade the front bar. The Fiero understeers from the factory because of excessive front roll stiffness relative to the rear.

The '88 front bar also has much longer arms than the early bar does.

I have stock front bar front and stock front bar rear with strut mounted end links on my '87 and I wouldn't characterize that change as making the car "tail happy".

[Jinxmutt]

Yea, but i have the 88 rear bar, and a factory front bar. That would make the rear bar larger, whereas your bars equal. Thats not counting the length of the arms like you mentioned.

As I said earlier, it could be my driving, I could be coming into the turns too hot, but I find that with my car at my current (lack of?) skill level, just about halfway through the turn my car switches to on the edge of understeer, to slight oversteer. Before I had the pzero on the front, all the car did was understeer, so it could also be a tire balance I need to work with.

I can induce oversteer at will as I run the entire autocross in 2nd gear and the 3800sc has no problem breaking traction at pretty much any rpm.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Is the '88 rear bar larger than the factory early front bar? I thought they were the same.

[Series8217]

Is the '88 rear bar larger than the factory early front bar? I thought they were the same.

They are within 1mm, but what's the point? The suspension is completely different front to rear.

[Mr. Fiero from Norway]

Hi there.
See in your picture that you have a black scoop over the intake? Where can I get one og these?

[The Dark Side of Will]

Is the '88 rear bar larger than the factory early front bar? I thought they were the same.

They are within 1mm, but what's the point? The suspension is completely different front to rear.

In camber & steer behaviour, yes, it's different. However, I don't think the way contact patch loading changes with lateral g is different enough to merit radically different approaches to tuning the chassis.

[The Dark Side of Will]

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a260/ ... C_0516.jpg

Hi there.
See in your picture that you have a black scoop over the intake? Where can I get one og these?

Why would you want one?

[Jinxmutt]

They are within 1mm, but what's the point? The suspension is completely different front to rear.

That was my mistake, i thought the 88 rear was bigger than the early front.

[Mr. Fiero from Norway]

Why would you want one?

I think it looks good, and my friend have his intercooler in that place...