Can anybody give any feedback on what (if any) modifications are being do to the 88 hub bearings and assemblies to accomidate northstar w/ 4t80e. Has anyone had any trouble from the stock bearings? I have the hubs from the 95 seville sls but i haven't been able to do a side by side yet. I wondered how close they were to the 88's hubs.

Thanks
Totty

I think that someone has machined '88 hub carriers to accept the larger 5x115 bearing cartridges, but I would recommend against this as you end up with insufficient wall thickness, IMO.

thanks will,
hey kinda off topic but do you have a model year for the corvette pump, or a part #..i think i will go that way instead of the fuel cell.

anybody else on the hubs? what is everyone using..(88's that is)

LT1 Corvette.... '92-'96

i'm still looking for a little bit of feedback on the hubs. anyone?

Stay away from the eBearing front hubs if you're going to drive the car hard. They're junk.

quote Originally posted by Totty: Can anybody give any feedback on what (if any) modifications are being do to the 88 hub bearings and assemblies to accomidate northstar w/ 4t80e. Has anyone had any trouble from the stock bearings? I have the hubs from the 95 seville sls but i haven't been able to do a side by side yet. I wondered how close they were to the 88's hubs. Thanks Totty

I know this is off topic but, I am currently fixing a headgasket issue with the 97 Seville N* and I am just amazed at how piggishly huge the 4T80 E is. It is hard to imagine it in a Fiero visually and weight wise. I could take apicture of the 88 hub if you want to compare hubs visually as I have a spare cradle setting out back with no axles going through .

uh...88 rear hubs are the same as the other years....

on another note:

quote Originally posted by Will: Stay away from the eBearing front hubs if you're going to drive the car hard. They're junk.

...if you are talking about the 88 front units, well, hate to tell you, but they are the only new one you can buy. No one else makes a front hub unit for the 88...the only other option is to switch over to Helds drop spindles...

quote Originally posted by Will: Stay away from the eBearing front hubs if you're going to drive the car hard. They're junk.

This is the first I've heard of any bad feedback, and I've talked to a few people who've installed them on multiple 88s. Can you go into more detail?

People on the Fiero Racing List have experienced failures of eBearing hubs in as little as 30 minutes of track time. It's so bad that they hunt down used stock hubs because they always have enough life left to outlive eBearing units.

A few people have been in contact with eBearing, but they try to feed us a line of bullsh!t about the control arms and cross member being in line for fatigue failure if the hubs were any stronger.

Do they have any type of warranty?
Are the only failures you've heard about in racing?

I'm only concerned because used hubs are getting harder and harder to find and this is the only new option. How about for street cars?

(why can't mfgr's just make decent products?!?!?!)

The failures have occured on Fieros that are raced with stock drive train, and somewhat beefed up suspension. The 88s are raced at 2780lbs including the driver. The cars are lowered to 5" ride height. Higher spring rate front and rear, larger swaybars, poly or UHMW bushings, Koni racing shocks, and agressive alignment are typical. Open exhaust and limited porting is allowed. The fact that the failures occured in such a short time would place their reliability in street use in a higher powered Fiero questionable. The run of the mill 20 year old daily driver would probably be ok, but honestly how many of us with a high horespower Fiero will drive like a commuter? The failed parts that I have seen have failed at the hub flange not in the bearing. The flange remaimed bolted to the wheel, and the rotor prevented a catastrophe. The life expectancy of a new GM front hub is approximately one to two seasons of racing.
Take this for what it's worth. Nothing scientific here. Just a laymans observations

Chuck

I think that analyses of failed hubs have shown that it was the bearings that failed. There has been conjecture that repacking them with good quality heat resistant grease might helps significantly. One person might already have done it... not sure.

You're thinking of aftermarket REAR hubs from which the flange separated.

quote Originally posted by Will: Stay away from the eBearing front hubs if you're going to drive the car hard. They're junk.

What options do we have? No one else makes them!

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RickN
White 88GT 5spd
White 85GT Auto

quote Originally posted by Will: I think that analyses of failed hubs have shown that it was the bearings that failed. There has been conjecture that repacking them with good quality heat resistant grease might helps significantly. One person might already have done it... not sure.

Interesting.. according to eBearing, the internal bearings are OEM units. Besides putting a different grease in there, I can't see why they'd be any more prone to failure. I'm not doubting the validity of the racers' claims, I just wonder why they would fail besides the fact that they may have an inferior grease compared to the original GM stuff.
Have those on the racing list tried repacking a brand new eBearing unit and testing the durability?

[This message has been edited by Steven Snyder (edited 07-29-2005).]

I just pop the dust cap off the rear of the origanal berring, flush the old grease out and repack with new grease. no problims yet and one berring I have has over 260,000 miles on it and is still going strong.-B-

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88 coupe 4.9 Izusu 5-speed Rockcrawl chip. True duels.No A/C .KYB GR-2 on all 4 corners Built to run.

quote Originally posted by Steven Snyder: Interesting.. according to eBearing, the internal bearings are OEM units. Besides putting a different grease in there, I can't see why they'd be any more prone to failure. I'm not doubting the validity of the racers' claims, I just wonder why they would fail besides the fact that they may have an inferior grease compared to the original GM stuff. Have those on the racing list tried repacking a brand new eBearing unit and testing the durability?

Because cheap grease gets hot, stops lubricating, and the bearing fails.
Like I said, I think someone has repacked them, but I'm not sure. I need to go back through the archives when I have a little time.

quote Originally posted by Will: I think that analyses of failed hubs have shown that it was the bearings that failed. There has been conjecture that repacking them with good quality heat resistant grease might helps significantly. One person might already have done it... not sure. You're thinking of aftermarket REAR hubs from which the flange separated.

I got around to looking into this some more myself. Apparently its not just the bearings that are failing!
http://www.vindkraft.com/fiero/formula88%20front%20hub%20failure.htm
Ouch.