Real tech discussion on design, fabrication, testing, development of custom or adapted parts for Pontiac Fieros. Not questions about the power a CAI will give.
Chase Race wrote:
And rear tie rods or not, that suspension works, and works well.
I'll take your word for it, never been in one.
I just see GM cheaping out again... Solid rotors in the rear and tie rods... Just seems wrong for a car they are passing off as a sports car.
Do the turbo versions have better brakes?
Just because a toe-link rear suspension was badly implemented in the Fiero doesn't mean that it's not a sound design. It's well enough executed in the Corvette, for instance.
It's also a production consideration. The Corvette (and I assume the Slostice) use the same knuckles front and rear. The tie rods are simply anchored to the frame at the rear, just like they are in the Fiero.
Also consider that the Solstice uses two arms on the rear instead of the one+strut that the Fiero has. Much easier to deal with bump-steer design that way.
So who's going to adapt a 'Vette leaf to the rear of the Fiero? Do it right and need no swaybar!
This topic went to aluminum suspension parts pretty quickly, but there area lot of other possibilities that should be looked at...
A lot of modern GM's have aluminum impat beams on the front & rear. 4th Gen F-bodies have tubular side impact beams that are probably weaker than the Fiero's, but are a lot lighter.
I think it would be dirt simple to fab aluminum impact beams that would be as effective as the stock steel ones but lighter. There's probably an extrusion in somebody's catalog that would work great. AMC Eagles have extruded aluminum bumpers.
Not that the stock steel impact beams are *that* heavy.
The Dark Side of Will wrote: There's probably an extrusion in somebody's catalog that would work great. AMC Eagles have extruded aluminum bumpers.
Not that the stock steel impact beams are *that* heavy.
If anybody's getting serious about any of this, check out trailer crossmembers. I work for a shipping company, and some of the simpler ones are ridiculously cheap.
We get 102" aluminum I-beams (4" X 2 1/4", 3/16" thick) for around $50.
And since we can't repair damaged ones, they just get replaced; the damage is usually confined to a small section of the beam itself, so you may be able to get really cheap leftovers from a heavy duty repair shop.