Fiero suspension questions

[tonypaul]

I have wheel spacers on my Diablo Roadster thats on a 1988 Fiero and it handles great. I did rebuild the entire front suspension with all new bushings and a rebuilt rack, new shocks and coil overs. I drive the car 2 or 3 times a week but only have put about 4k miles on it since finishing it 2 years ago.

Unless you plan on driving your kit hard and alot of highway miles I wouldnt spend the money upfront on a wide track setup. Get the car built, running/driving/painted/ect, then if your not happy with the way it drives then look in to changing out the stock Fiero suspension.

[Linlor]

Where are you located RotaryCraig?  If you are looking at a Fiero base, there are a few already stretched and chopped or partially done Fiero projects to get you going.  Pennock's has Fiero projects all torn apart and folks are looking to dump the project as they underestimated the project or ran out of time or money. 

I have a Fiero frame that is chopped, reinforced, suspension widened, stretched 3" with big brakes and all new parts for sale.  I had a Ferrari 355 project that the panels were just too poor so I abandoned the project and gave the panels away and was left with the frame.  I ended up getting a Prova Countach project so don't need the frame any more.  I live up in Canada on the West Coast though so shipping tends to be a bit of a beast....

Good luck with your project and keep us posted with updates.
Cheers
Don

[01Lambiero]

Good enough, R...C...  Always good to have a new member.  We builders are trying to build the same mousetrap but how we build it is unique in many aspects.  One of the biggest is which engine package you choose and how big a shoehorn you are going to need ;-)  Ask questions and use the search button and members will hopefully give you excellent suggestions.

Jim

[rotarycraig]

Jim,

The money aspect is not the main issue. I dont mind spending the money. I just more or less wanted to see what everyone was doing. Trust me, I have spent enough cash on my prevuios toys that $25-$30k to build a lambo is what it is. lol.

Ill look over your build and I have been lurking on Pennoks so I will see.

[01Lambiero]

Trust me, Rotarycraig, that if you are shaky on the price of doing your front end of a Fiero, maybe you might want to stop right now.  This is a very expensive hobby.  You are probably looking at $20-25K for a economy build.  The body/paint in oem color will dent your wallet.  Oem parts will cost you also.  The cost goes up when you make your build look exactly like the real ones.  Try to stay away from spacers to move your wheels to a wider stance as this can cause very poor handling because the wheel is moving in an arc rather than in being centered on the ball joints.  http://arrautmotorsports.com/  is the new home of the previous "Held Suspension" in Nunica, MI.  The complete kit costs over a grand.  It includes sway bar, coil-overs, springs, shocks, and A-frames.  You can see mine in the "Build" section of the Diablos.   Jim

[Linlor]

You will get many responses on this question.  Several folks have used spacers.  Depending on your rims and offset etc., spacers may work well and help keep the rim centered over the bearings (again, depending on rim offset and depth etc.).  Some folks also use spacers regardless of the centering.  this can lead to bearings wearing out prematurely but I haven't seen any debates on failures yet.

In my opinion, creating widened Fiero suspension would be the way to go and I have done it for my Ferrari 355 build.  There are options out there such as extending and reinforcing the Fiero control arms, building tube extended control arms, buying Held/Arrault (not sure what the company's name is now as it has changed hands a few times since Dave Held sold it) extended control arms or whole setup including cross member.

There is also a thread over on Pennock's under the Construction zone where Bloozberry (userID) is making a custom rear setup for an '88 Fiero cradle that is very interesting and detailed.  he has gone through significant design and testing to obtain the same or better geometry and is now building everything.  It is a spectacular build thread and the suspension starts closer to the end as he also showed his N* rebuild at the beginning.

If you have a pre '88 Fiero, the rear suspension has bump steer and can be removed a couple ways with the Held bump steer remover control arms or moving the trailing arm mount out to over the control arm pivots.  I did the pivots and it removed 95%+ of the bump steer from my setup without the expense of the bump steer control arms.  '88's are pretty good as is.

sway bars etc. can be purchased for pre88 rear suspension.  or you can replace the front one with a larger aftermarket one and use the front sway bar on the rear cradle.

There are also many upgrades to brakes and hubs depending on what you are doing for rims and final look.

Your best Fiero resource is really the fiero.nl site (Pennock's) as the folks there have done pretty much everything you can and want  to to a Fiero.......   There is another Fiero site as well with good info but the folks on that one are pretty crude and seem to spend more time swearing than it suits for me.  I think it is called Realfierotech.com?

Good luck
Don

[rotarycraig]

How is everyone doing thier suspensions on the Fieros? Are you doing a wide track or just spacers? any upgrades to sway bars coil overs ect ect? Initial donor price leads me to the Fiero, but when I start looking at upgrades, it becomes VERY expensive quickly.