88 cradle in pre 88 car

[p8ntman442]

no bitching and no debates over wether its worth it or not, and no posts from anyone who has never dropped a cradle from their car. Prefereably I would like people whom have dropped both cradles to chime in.

To swap over, is it that difficult, I know the strut tower has to be modified to accept the 3 bolts, but other than that, do the other 4 mounting points line up? Im gonna be building my dohc /al block motor on a cradle to put in the car, might as well spring for the best cradle to put in if its reasonably achievable. Nothing on the car looks stock anyways.

First person to say, sell your car and put it in an 88 gets a negative.

[eHoward]

you can spend $100 and get adaptors for the strut towers from held.

you'll need to use coil-overs and not stock springs.

brake lines need to be changed.


have an 88 cradle in my garage, ubt haven't done the swap yet.

[p8ntman442]

thank you.

[neverendingproject]

I wouldn't bother buying the adapters from Held. I bought some and they were crap. I had to remove a couple inches of material to get them to fit under the strut tower. With something so simple it's worth it to make them yourself. Yes all 4 bolts line up.

[The Dark Side of Will]

You'll need to slot the hole for the strop top, since it will be located further inboard than it is now.

[The Dark Side of Will]

With something so simple it's worth it to make them yourself.

Assuming you can make them correctly... You need BOTH early and '88 shop manuals to get the right dimensions because the strut tops are in different locations.

[Dough19]

I went ahead and got the plates from held and then bought sleaves and springs to make my own coilovers. Here is a link to a useful website on what has to be done. http://www.mindspring.com/~martinwhite/ ... index.html

Mark

[SappySE107]

.

[p8ntman442]

awesome help here guys, plusses all around.

[rockcrawl]

Even with the Held adapters you need to modify the strut towers. It's hard to do without making it look like a hack job.

edit: I shouldn't say it's hard, but it will take some time to do if you want it to look good.

[The Dark Side of Will]

What do you have to modify besides drilling the extra hole in the top?

[eHoward]

I like pictures. You have any detail shots of what you had to do?

Even with the Held adapters you need to modify the strut towers. It's hard to do without making it look like a hack job.

edit: I shouldn't say it's hard, but it will take some time to do if you want it to look good.

[rockcrawl]

Just a hole. A big hole. The hole needs to be 2-7/8" to clear the welds on the ring that holds the bushing in place on top of the adapter. The new hole comes very close to an existing bolt hole. Looking at the adapter it doesn't look too close, but on the actual Fiero chassis that inboard bolt hole is overly large. Then you have to hack up the deck vent support brackets to try and make them fit. Maybe I'm just anal, but to me it looks hacked up. I don't have any pictures of the one I completed.

[eHoward]

Thanks Jon. You're the best.

[Jinxmutt]

Just cut up my strut towers. That damn hole is hella close to the inboard strut tower bolt. I don't see why held doesn't add an 'ear' to the uppper top plate for an additional hole. The rear two holes are tight around the bolts, so they center it up pretty well. After cutting those two holes, drilling a hole for an addional bolt wouldn't be bad at all...

These pictures suck, guess I should have been in macro mode, it focused too far away...




Koni all cut up, before paint:


Also, you don't have to grind down the body flush where the welds for the spring perch used to be. You also don't have to grind down the top 'nut' thing when using the held kit. The sleeves WILL fit over both that larger top piece, and the bit of weld that I have left in place.

[MNFatz]

Funny. Must be something in the air.

I did this one last night. It's got to come out again for additional clearancing around the welds.

I picked up another hole saw tonite to do the passenger side. The drivers side was a major bitch trying to get through the two layers of metal.



Well..out to the garage I go. I'll post a pic of the additional cutting I've got to do for the welds. I bought these sometime around christmas and I've got no bitches about the quality. I'm completely disenchanted with Held for other reasons. If those issues aren't resolved you'll hear about it.

[Jinxmutt]

The driver side goes alot easier. I went with a hole saw that would give clearance for the welds as well. rather than just cutting for the center piece, and using a carbide bit after to notch out for the welds. That idea would make for a much better looking setup I'd bet, perhaps if I ever do another car...

[MNFatz]

Yep--the passenger was ALOT easier.

I bought a name brank hole saw and it went through the steel literally in about 15 seconds. I missed by 2-3mm and had to deal with the welds, but not a big deal.

I just realized I need longer brake lines. Can someone give me (or us) a part number?

[The Dark Side of Will]

Are you guys sure those are right? I thought the strut tops move BACK for the '88's... not forward.

[Jinxmutt]

the brackets are marked right and left, they only fit that way. Everything I've read says forward and inward. The outlined pics above and the martinwhite site also show forward.