quote Originally posted by darkhorizon: I see you complaining about suspension being "old and crappy" all over the place.. and I wanted to add that I have a total of $20 into my 120k suspension on my 10 second fiero... and it works pretty decent. I am going to be installing poly bushings soon, but other than that its stock right now.

How many front wheel horsepower is your car pushing? How many corners are there on your 10 second autocross runs? The front suspension on this car is doing a lot more than getting pushed down the 1/4 mile. Add 400 pounds, two drive wheels, some crappy Honda dampers, and very unequal length axles to your front suspension and let me know if your $20 suspension is still getting the job done.

Edit: On second thought, here's another way of looking at it. If you've got any $20 suggestions on how I can improve my suspension, I'm all ears. I would never tell somebody there's not a cheap, effective way of getting things done...I'm glad to listen and try things! However, I think there's more to the suspension dynamics on this car than you're realizing.

Bryce

[This message has been edited by Nashco (edited 11-30-2010).]

quote Originally posted by darkhorizon: I see you complaining about suspension being "old and crappy" all over the place.. and I wanted to add that I have a total of $20 into my 120k suspension on my 10 second fiero... and it works pretty decent. I am going to be installing poly bushings soon, but other than that its stock right now.

Yeah, but we all know you built your entire car for 31.99

Short of redesigning a-arms, what is stopping you from installing a non-"crappy honda strut/shock"? There are quite a few different shocks out there that could help with wheel hop in a stock fiero suspension from cars like mustangs/camaros, as would adding in a "traction bar" typically found on hondas. A traction bar goes from a point in the very front of the car, and runs back to the outer part of the lower control arm, and is held in place with rod ends.

Coil over springs are not that expensive, and the mounting equipment for them is equally cheap, which could open up options for alternate spring rates.

quote Originally posted by darkhorizon: Short of redesigning a-arms, what is stopping you from installing a non-"crappy honda strut/shock"? There are quite a few different shocks out there that could help with wheel hop in a stock fiero suspension from cars like mustangs/camaros, as would adding in a "traction bar" typically found on hondas. A traction bar goes from a point in the very front of the car, and runs back to the outer part of the lower control arm, and is held in place with rod ends. Coil over springs are not that expensive, and the mounting equipment for them is equally cheap, which could open up options for alternate spring rates.

I have adjustable spring sleeves on it now and some eBay special springs that are the most appropriate rate I had in my pile of parts based on some calculations I made. The Honda struts are required to mate with the Honda wishbone that is used for the front suspension. If you look in my build thread, you'll see that the stock Fiero suspension took some major modifications to allow front drive shafts...the stock spring and damper previously occupied the area that is now occupied by a drive shaft. You mention making custom A-arms to support a different type of damper/spring...I'm completely open to (specific) ideas on why this would be better than what I have now.

I have poly bushings that I haven't installed yet. Short of installing better dampers (preferably some adjustable ones, but anything stiffer than stock Honda stuff would be a start) I don't have a lot of cheap options left after that. It sounds like your ideas are heavily leaning toward drag racing, but this car needs to do more than drag racing.

Bryce

quote Originally posted by Nashco: However, I think there's more to the suspension dynamics on this car than you're realizing. Bryce

Waaaaay more! DH almost always talks in drag race terms. I'm not sure if he knows how to build a car that is more multipurposed then that. Drag suspension = easy. Combination autocross/drag/street suspension = not so much. Not to mention this car has very little in common with most fieros when it comes to the front suspension. I'm not worried, your just the right guy to figure it out. Later Bryce,

C

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 12-01-2010).]

A traction bar is by no means "drag only"... it could easily increase front end response at the cost for some nimbleness of large suspension travel.

Sorry I can not be more specific with the other shock options, I was just suggesting that you could possibly modify another shock that closer matched what you were looking for.

For those who might be interested, I'm building another GRM Challenger. It's not a Fiero, but it will be interesting to most gearheads.

http://grassrootsmotorsport...llenger/33452/page1/

Since it's not Fiero related, I won't be posting any more updates here, but encourage you to keep an eye on it over at GRM if you like the project.

Bryce

Very cool, thanks for the heads up.

http://grassrootsmotorsport...9/page15/#post564613

quote I fixed my inverter! As a reminder, this happened in Florida: I have been borrowing a replacement inverter from Al for a long, long time...since the $2009 Challenge in Florida. I was actually procrastinating pretty bad because I was afraid if I tried to fix it and found something irreplaceable was permanently damaged, it'd be too damn depressing. I finally gathered the gumption to start fixing it last week. Last week I probed it (ha!) for a good long while with the multimeter and tried to figure out what was going on with my resistor board. Obviously, those resistors that got smoked in Florida had to go, but I wasn't sure if there was collateral damage. After some investigation, the board seemed OK otherwise. No more smoked parts, no funky resistance values on transistors/resistors, no failed diodes, no burned traces, etc. I cut all of the resistors out and at that point it matched the one that I've been using in the car since the $2009 competition. The resistors are used to discharge the high voltage inside the inverter to make it almost immediately safe to work on after disconnecting the batteries; without the resistors, I have to be a lot more careful about when and how I work on the high voltage! So, cut to the chase and last night I tested the car to make sure everything was working properly. After I confirmed that, I pulled the loaner inverter out of the Fiero and put my repaired inverter back in. I tested it out and it works! That's really good news, as the inverter that's been on loan can finally be returned to it's home and I know mine is all healthy again. I'll be replacing the resistors that got burned out soon so that it discharges as it should again. With that said, the hybrid Fiero is going to a new home very soon. I've had fun with it, but my interest in the AWD Fiero is waning. I just have too many other fun projects! Al is taking delivery of the car very soon and it will live on with his EV hardware in Michigan. Same car, different owner. It's a win-win, as the car will have a new owner that will have a fresh look on the project, Al now gets to play with his EV hardware (same parts as mine) that's been collecting dust for years, and I will keep my EV hardware to collect more dust until my next project. I recently bought a Honda Insight...it might be the next shell to hold onto my EV hardware in a full-EV design. Or...who knows? I've got auto ADD, so by the time I get around to doing something with my EV hardware, I might have some other project in mind. I'll try to get some video of the "how it works" version of the car before it leaves.

Bryce

http://grassrootsmotorsport...9/page15/#post574589

quote I put together a video showing how some of the hybrid Fiero stuff works. It's not going to be winning anything at the film festivals this year, but it should give some more insight to how things work than my past updates. In just a couple of hours, I'll be taking the car to the auto transporter to go to its new home. I'm sad to see it go, but hopefully some fresh blood on the project will make it more awesome than before.

Bryce

In case anybody cares, the $2011 Honda N600 is 99% complete:

http://grassrootsmotorsport...52/page6/#post681175

Bryce

[This message has been edited by Nashco (edited 09-22-2011).]

Very nice Bryce! I love the N600 (I've owned a few), so very good choice of build cars. I say this with all sincerity.....if you ever decide to sell this car let me know. I would love to own it!

Very Cool! I have a Honda z600. I love those little cars.

quote Originally posted by mrfiero: Very nice Bryce! I love the N600 (I've owned a few), so very good choice of build cars. I say this with all sincerity.....if you ever decide to sell this car let me know. I would love to own it!

Thanks for the compliment. I've been very surprised how many people have told me they want to buy it, many before it was even finished! Now that it's all together, it really does leave a lasting impression.

Bryce

Very very cool.

quote Originally posted by Nashco: Thanks for the compliment. I've been very surprised how many people have told me they want to buy it, many before it was even finished! Now that it's all together, it really does leave a lasting impression. Bryce

Heh....I figured I wasn't the only one who loved this car. A stock N600 is an attention grabber......this one would blow people's minds at car shows.

I suppose I *could* just send you an N600 and $2011 for you to build me an identical car.

quote Nashco wrote: Current weight: 1250 (expected to be a bit over 1300 complete plus driver with about a 40/60 weight split) Current power: 182 hp (at the wheels, uncorrected, E85 w/ ~10 lbs boost)

quote stuart in mn wrote:That figures out to 6.8 lb / hp. I typed that into Google, and it turns out a 2005 Ferrari F430 has the same power to weight ratio.

That is awesome.