Has anyone ever used slicks on their Fiero for drag racing? Wait, that's a stupid question of course someone has. But my real question is what size slick will fit in my wheelwell? I am hoping that it will be possible to use my stock 14" alloy wheels for the slicks because I have good rims as my street wheels. I'm gonna have a problem with traction in the 1/4 when my motor gets dropped in.

Thanks in advance to everyone.

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Dan
1985 Silver GT

LT1 Coming Soon.....

IF IT HOOKS HARD stuff will break
better to spin tyres that twist axles
or trans guts
anyway 16" or up forget 14" wheels with a V-8

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Question wonder and be wierd

http://www.v8archie.com/pat.htm

I would imagine the 14" or even 13" wheels with the proper rubber would kick the most arse for drag racing.

With the engine layout, I think they hook up great without even bothering. If you do Id stick with smaller slicks. Id guess that Fiero on street tires grabs better than lots of cars like Camaro, Firebird, do on slicks. Like said already, if bites too good, you snap axles, blow clutches. Something along the line has to give a little.

quote Originally posted by ray b: IF IT HOOKS HARD stuff will break better to spin tyres that twist axles or trans guts anyway 16" or up forget 14" wheels with a V-8

Considering that I know who's doing the swap for him, and that the original quote includes custom 1" half-shafts, I'd say that this is not so much a problem.

O'Course, he's gonna hafta keep a pile of spare trannies... That motor is going to be an absolute MONSTER.

lol I'm so excited, I can't wait, but I don't wanna blow trannies. Why is it there isn't a heavy duty tranny available for the Fiero that can handle the 400HP monster I'm slapping in between my rear wheels? OR is there one that I don't know about?

Now to REALLY answer yuor question.

The overall diameter is not much different on a low profile 16" tire than it is on your stock 14's. There is just more rubber between the wheel and the road. More rubber=more resiliency. Unless you get 26x10x16 or something ridiculously large (with lots of rubber to wrinkle in a wrinkle slick), you will have a better launch with a 23x7x14 than a 23x7x15 - the rubber will absorb a lot of the initial surge, then "unwind" as you launch.

The biggest difference, or advantage of thelarger rim is that you can get more choices of widths in the larger rims sizes, thus wider tires (larger footprint) are available.

I have to snicker when BubbaJoe or anybody else says to get a larger diameter rim because you will burn the rubber off a 14" wheel. I am using 14" on my street SE, had 13" on my racing Fiero.

Here is a photo of me (with my 13x10's) at the strip behind a Dart with big wrinkle slicks (I beat him anyway with my little 4 banger!!).

G

He's right.

Less rim and more sidewall equals better launch. Have you thought about just a drag radial? That would probably do well if you're trying to stick with just something you can drive on the street and track with using just one set of rims. Not real great in the rain, but neither is 400hp most of the time

Get some Nitto 555R's or BFG's.

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Well I have my current set of rims, the 15's in the picture in my sig, but I've also got my stock 14's sitting in my basement. I was hoping to put some slicks on 2 of those and use them for the strip. And those are what size? 14x6 I think? If so, will a 23x7x14 slick work well with it, and what about with the offset? Will it bee too much that it might rub?

Also is it true that a hook up that hard with that much power might cause some damage?

[This message has been edited by sloth85GT (edited 01-03-2002).]

Definitely... You're gonna rip the exhaust tips off and wreck your paint when the front-end jumps 7ft straight up

If you insist on pounding 400hp through that tranny day-in-and-day-out, It's going to blow. Funny, the only blown tranny I've seen was Tina's and the problem was that the clutch exploded.

Personally, I think you are going to have a harder time getting the clutch to grip hard enough to start wrecking trannies. Even so, a new clutch/trans every couple of 10k is a small price to pay for that kind of beastliness

The 14" drag tres will work just as well as anything.

Funny, I have an Isuzu 5 spd in my 4.9 SE, and I have trouble hooking up - the tires break loose awful easily - on the 40,000 mile (relatiely hard compound) street tires, road racing tires (very soft compound), Drag tires (soft sidewall with lots of flex). I don't expect much drivetrain failure, I will wear clutches out a little faster trying to get it to the ground!

BTW, my SE has 225/60/14 Firestone SS10's on polished 14" aluminum Chrysler rims (Neon), 14" stock rims with 195/50/14 "R" tires for track and autocrossing, and 2 BFG 225/45/14 Drag Radials for those certain Friday nights.

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George Ryan
A pair of 4.9 Cadero's
This is the SLEEPER daily driver:

4.9
5 speed
'88 cradle
Koni's/Eibach/Addco/Prothane
complete Mr. Mikes interior

You're getting new half shafts but want to save money by re-using stock wheels on a drag race car?

I hope you're also doing an 88 rear cradle swap at least!

Get good, soft, NO warranty, tyres for your car. 'DOT legal drag/race' tires if you feel the need. Plain Pzero Pirellis will launch your car like nobody's buisness.

Spend the $ and time in the suspension/bushings to make the suspension not deflect under loading.

Fieros (as other mid-engine cars) hook *fabalously* hard just on street tires.

Best!
Ben

Best!
Ben.

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Ben Cannon
88 Formula, T-top, Metalic Red. "Every Man Dies, not every man really Lives"
88 Formula, Northstar, Silver, In-Progreess. -Mel Gibson, "Braveheart"

I guess first things first is get the swap done, and see what kinda traction issues remain. And no, the 88 rear cradle swap wasn't in the schedule, what's the benefit of that?

quote Originally posted by sloth85GT: I guess first things first is get the swap done, and see what kinda traction issues remain. And no, the 88 rear cradle swap wasn't in the schedule, what's the benefit of that?

The '88 cradle uses no bushings at the 4 mounting points, it bolts directly to the chassis - - no flex in the chassis. The '88 cradle absolutely cures any bump steer problems, which is amplified using a heavier motor. The car is more driveable when driven hard.

How many posts have you read from those that put the 3.8 or SBC or any engine heavier than the 2.8 (even the N* with that tranny that weighs as much as some engines) in their car mentioning the car being difficult to drive? All the responses are relative to alignment? Yes, the alignment is a critical issue. No matter what cradle you have.

However, the early chassis cradle will still have bump steer. With your conversion, it will be amplified by the additional rear weight and distorted front-to-rear weight bias even if you swap to poly, aluminum, or steel cradle bushings. These get rid of some of the chassis flex(or all in the case of the steel/aluminum bushings)but they, in themselves, tend to accent bump steer even more!!

Switching to the '88 cradle will cure all those handling issues.

G

[This message has been edited by cadero2dmax (edited 01-04-2002).]

quote Originally posted by sloth85GT: But my real question is what size slick will fit in my wheelwell? I'm gonna have a problem with traction in the 1/4 when my motor gets dropped in.

I stuck some M/T ET 26 x 8.5 x 15(8" tread width) on my stock rims. While the tire fits in the wheel well, it rubs the spring. I have to use a 1/2" spacer to run w/ these puppies. I still experience wheel spin with my M/Ts at 16psi. I haven't had the chance to see if it'll hook up with a lower pressure. I don't know whether slicks on a 14" wheel will make a difference. It may if you use a shorter tire.

Here's a bit of advice for you if you plan on running slicks w/ a manual trans car -- use bias ply tires on the front. The car gets awefully squirrely down the 1/4 mile strip without 'em.

Rich
'87 GT

wow this thread is a blast from the past!

Thanks for the info, that really helps Mr. Farknocker. And welcome to the forum, this is great, I'm seeing new members almost daily now! What do you have under your decklid? Got pics of your car you wanna share? I like seeing other peoples rides so share em if you got em!

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Dan
1985 Silver GT

400HP LT1 Conversion has begun......

In answer to your question, yes slicks come in many shapes and sizes...
I have a set of 9 inch wide 14 inch rim wrinkle wall slicks that hook and launch great...
The shorter the tire, the lower the gear ratio applies too...

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crash... The Fierowrecker

quote Originally posted by sloth85GT: What do you have under your decklid? Got pics of your car you wanna share? I like seeing other peoples rides so share em if you got em!

O.K. Here's my first try at posting a pic...

Superfly Yellow '87 GT
355 Chevy

i only shaved about .1 off with the automatic. but a full .5 on my 4spd car.

quote Originally posted by artherd: Fieros (as other mid-engine cars) hook *fabalously* hard just on street tires.

Umm... not really. I bought some fairly soft Sumitomo HTR100's (wear rating low 200s) and ran the first half of the autocross season with them on the back. Stock (as far as I know) 87 GT with a 3.65 4-speed and a nearly new Luk clutch kit (also stock). A nice smooth launch at anything more than 2500 rpm and the Sumis go up in smoke. I imagine any V8 might make that worse.

This year I picked up spare rims and will be mounting Kumho Victoracers so that shouldn't be a problem

quote Originally posted by thomas_l: Umm... not really. I bought some fairly soft Sumitomo HTR100's (wear rating low 200s) and ran the first half of the autocross season with them on the back. Stock (as far as I know) 87 GT with a 3.65 4-speed and a nearly new Luk clutch kit (also stock). A nice smooth launch at anything more than 2500 rpm and the Sumis go up in smoke. I imagine any V8 might make that worse. This year I picked up spare rims and will be mounting Kumho Victoracers so that shouldn't be a problem

Really, my 87 GT would spin for about 1 second on street tires BF 225/60 @4000. They hooked up pretty good.

on bottle or off i rarly launched above 2500.. tire smoke is just waiting time.. and the engines in our cars make all their torque down low... you shock the system and roast a tire your down by .3

quote Originally posted by stingant0: Really, my 87 GT would spin for about 1 second on street tires BF 225/60 @4000. They hooked up pretty good.

To that end, I really don't know the history on mine. The odo reads 168k and for what its worth, it could have a 3.1 or 3.4 in it. I've not bothered to find out. Judging by the condition when I got it, mine seemed to be a very neglected and uncared-for car that really had no signs that a previous owners did anything more than put gas in it and drive it. I put the 4-speed in there, only because the junk yard shipped that instead of a 5 speed. All that being said, with street tires and 4000 launch my car will make a nice smoky burnout and then bark a decent 2nd - a nice show but a time killer on the track. The higher wear rated Pirellis that were originally on it would break loose even easier.

quote Originally posted by Mr. Farknocker: I stuck some M/T ET 26 x 8.5 x 15(8" tread width) on my stock rims. While the tire fits in the wheel well, it rubs the spring. I have to use a 1/2" spacer to run w/ these puppies

I hate using spacers with these tires. Its not the safest thing to do. If I could find a spring/shock combination that would reduce the width of the base (i.e. where the springs rests), I should be able to use the Mickey T's w/o spacers. Can anyone recommend a shock/coil combination that might work? I suppose the dimension of the spring would have to linear as opposed to conical or coned shaped.

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Superfly Yellow '87 GT
355 Chevy
....chicks dig it, men fear it.

Mr. Farknocker -----that is a beautiful car . Very nice job , just beautiful. Who makes the scoop , and wheels ????????? welcome to the forum GT GT 87

quote Originally posted by GT GT 87: Who makes the scoop , and wheels ?????????

Thanks!

The scoop is made by Unlimited Products (look for their ad in any hot rod magazine). I just glassed it in before painting.

The wheels are forged aluminum Antera Type 121 wheels, 17 x 7.5", made in Italy.

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Superfly Yellow '87 GT
355 Chevy
....chicks dig it, men fear it.

quote Originally posted by GT GT 87: Mr. Farknocker -----that is a beautiful car .

Haaaaa, Mr. Fartnocker, now that's crazy funny!

[This message has been edited by banditbalz (edited 02-01-2002).]