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| Somtin alittle diffrant, MidWilly (Page 1/2) |
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MidWilly
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MAY 21, 12:56 PM
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Have you ever been in the middle of a project and some life event happened, no money, no time or someone wanted what you had more than you wanted to finish it?
Well the last one was me mostly but I still wanted to build something different than the rest. It would need to be a reliable driver on the street and feel at home on the track.
Like all builds though, you always have a bunch of leftover stuff from your last projects. So I set a goal to use my leftover stuff as a priority. I'm tired of stuff that's too good to get rid of being in my way. So its now time to make some Jambalaya.
I really like Fiero's but most mods have one thing in common. The Fiero is always in the way... Some massage it, some cut it to remove the obstacles. I didn't want to cut on my clean stock GT so I sold it and decided to go with a clean sheet approach.
The stuff to keep: I have a fully modified and complete LS4 Fiero cradle, a full powertrain from a Monte Carlo SS, $$boocoo$$ of goodies to make HP on the garage shelves and a complete Fiero front crossmember assembly. Going to use all of it...
Meet MidWilly
More to follow...
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MidWilly
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MAY 21, 01:28 PM
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MidWilly
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MAY 21, 01:39 PM
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Measure twice and build once were the instructions. Going to need to cut out the step. I should of jogged 6" up to the front crossmember. The 3" is not enough and the frame doesn't sit on the ground like I want and its not level with the back...
Note: For those who have a crossmember out of the car and are trying to rebuild / refinish here's what I did. I used stainless lock wire and tided the coil springs together every other coil. wrapped each coil three times, probably used 20' of the stuff. Then I loosened both lower ball joint nuts accouple of threads and separated the ball joints on the lower control arms. Then I laid the crossmember on its side, with the lower control arms facing away. I then slowly unscrewed the nuts. The lock wire dampens the spring recoil so that little energy is left over.[This message has been edited by MidWilly (edited 05-21-2023).]
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MidWilly
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MAY 21, 02:10 PM
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I have two complete Willys pickups. Going to rebuild one fairly stock and MidWilly not so much...
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MidWilly
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MAY 21, 02:26 PM
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Ill just leave this here for inspiration... And for all to see where my aim is for this project...
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fieroguru
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MAY 22, 06:53 AM
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Looks like a fun project. Your project reminded me of this one.
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MidWilly
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MAY 22, 10:09 AM
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Sort of I guess, no rat rods for me... I've also seen the Fiero cradles used on trikes and dune buggy's.
But what I haven't seen is the use of the Fiero's front crossmember. Its very compact and IMO way better than the Mustang II frontend for street rods.
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zkhennings
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MAY 22, 10:26 AM
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Very cool, though if you can find them, use some front and rear crossmembers from an 88, much better geometry and it would be no extra work for the point you are currently at, there is just an additional attachment point for the 88 front crossmember but otherwise it all bolts up to the same frame so your design would not have to change. The front 88 wheel bearings are hard to find though, but the rear 88 subframe will give you more overall performance in comparison if you only swap in one of them.
If you do stick with what you got, drop the rear rear subframe mounts an inch or so while leaving the front rear subframe mounts where they are to dial out the pro-squat geometry in the pre-88s and add some anti-squat for better traction off the line, and less pitch during braking and accelerating. They did this with the actual Indy Pace cars used and I think the PPG cars using some spacers but don't quote me on this.
Looking good![This message has been edited by zkhennings (edited 05-22-2023).]
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MidWilly
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MAY 22, 11:28 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by zkhennings:
use some front and rear crossmembers from an 88
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I agree, the 88 suspension would be the way to go but I have first gen stuff. I'm going with a front sway bar upgrade and will use the stock front sway bar in the rear. I'm hoping with all new poly bushings and the heaver / extra sway bars it will handle well enough.
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zkhennings
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MAY 22, 12:11 PM
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If you do what I suggest and essentially tilt the rear subframe back, it will make a big difference
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