At the risk of sidetracking this cool thread more here, I am curious as to what the widest wheel and tire combo anyone has been able to put on a pre-88 chassis? I think that extra wide wheel looks great on guru's car and should allow him to get some much needed rubber under that car. I am anxious to see what it looks like all done. Peace
Started working on the strut relocation at the top:
I will remove the raised lip on the top of the strut tower and make a flat triangular aluminum piece to cover the enlarged hole and mask the relocation.
Started working on the strut relocation at the top:
Couple of questions... Was modifing the strut tower to permanent as in Fog's mod or was the layers of metal a factor? I see that his mod was in an earlier model year Fiero. Was this mod not possible for a '88? https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/104511.html
Great work!!! I look forwar to your updates daily!
Nice job! Have you calculated how much of an angular change this gives to the strut?
On a stock Fiero, the strut angle I am showing is 71.8 degrees. Moving the top in, 1" changes this to 70.1 (or a 1.7 degree change).
However, I also moved the bottom in 1 5/8" (74.4 degrees if that is the only change, 72.7 degrees with the 1" move at the top), then lowered it 1 1/2" which brings it back to 72.0 degrees or about 0.2 degrees overall change, but not in the favorable direction. It is not ideal, but I will take the .2 degree change from stock to get an extra 1.5" of rear tire in the back.
[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 02-24-2012).]
I just ordered 2 of these for the back: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-141-7961GM25 With some 275/40/15 Nitto NT555R rubber. I'm using the HELD bearings for 5x4.75" pattern already and have my body widened maybe an inch along the rear fender.
Thanks, been busy getting things situated from my move in June and taking care of customer parts. I have now made 4 sets of 88 rear uprights with the 4 3/4" pattern and getting ready to do a set in 5x115 and checking out another 5 x 4 3/4" bearing that might reduce the needed machine work to make it fit (but it costs more up front).
I am hoping to get back to finishing the engine swap on the car to get it running/driving in a month or two and then will spent some time this winter finishing up all the suspension tweaks for the large tires.
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Originally posted by lou_dias:
I just ordered 2 of these for the back: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-141-7961GM25 With some 275/40/15 Nitto NT555R rubber. I'm using the HELD bearings for 5x4.75" pattern already and have my body widened maybe an inch along the rear fender.
Is your car an 88? If so did you confirm that a 17" wheel with 6" of backspacing will clear the upright/strut bolt area. On the 88's this area is higher than the 84-87's and you must run 18" to get over the top of it, on 17's this will be the area of first interferance.
The primary focus of this thread is to fit the widest wheels on an 88 w/o any widening of the body. I am currently on track to shoe horn some 305's in the rear under the stock body, so being able to run 275's with a 1" wider body doesn't contribute much to the content of the thread.
My car is an 87 with coilovers from RCC. It is currently using 16x8 1999 Camaro SS wheels with about a 1/4" to 3/8" spacer. Those wheels have 6.5 - 6.75 inches of backspacing. I was hoping to eliminate the need for the spacers by going to 6" of backspacing. I'm also not concerned with them sticking out a bit. Sorry that I am OT.
Are your 88 uprights "backwards compatible" with 87's because the HELD bearing quality is suspect. I can't tell you how many I've replaced and I'm looking for a new solution to the problem of 5x4.75" bolt pattern...
Are your 88 uprights "backwards compatible" with 87's because the HELD bearing quality is suspect. I can't tell you how many I've replaced and I'm looking for a new solution to the problem of 5x4.75" bolt pattern...
My uprights are stock 88 parts with the center bore enlarged to 3.060". They only work on 88's. I take the S10 wheel bearings and maching them down to 3.055" OD, 1.66" flange spacing, and to accept the fiero 3 bolt pattern on the upright. This whole process is quite involved... but you get a larger bearing on the 88 rear.
Just remember the same tire sizes can vary between brands by as much as an inch in width or height. When you cut it very close, it will make a difference. ie/ Dunlop may fit everywhere fine, but Goodyear wont work at all.
Just remember the same tire sizes can vary between brands by as much as an inch in width or height. When you cut it very close, it will make a difference. ie/ Dunlop may fit everywhere fine, but Goodyear wont work at all.
Most of the critical dimensions are posted on tire rack for all tires and sizes they carry. Just part of the research...
I cant believe how good those wide wheels look tucked into the fender.. I wanted to widen the body just to put wider wheels on my car.. but now im thinking of something more like this..
I kept the 16x7 wheels on the car last year so I could get the LS4/F40 swap on the road and I have been having too much fun driving it to take it back down to rework the axles and halfshaft for the wider wheels. I am currently bogged down with other projects that are taking all my time/$$$ at the moment, so it will likely be a year or so before I get back to installing the wider wheels.
[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 05-18-2014).]
I doubt I will ever get back to this method of machining wheel bearings and uprights. Just too much work for what the gains and limitations are, plus there seems to be more/wider wheels in the 5x100mm pattern than ever.
Enkei Tuning Kojin wheels come with 5x100mm in the following sizes and offsets: Front: 17x8 45et Rear 18x9.5 45et
So I am going to give them a try with 235/40/17 front tires and 285/30/18 rear tires.
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