Forgot to mention I got these shocks built by Leary Racing Mike, the owner, was awesome to deal with. These where not cheap though, cost me $426 shipped for the shocks and coil over kit. The old kit could not be reused so I had to get a new one.
As for alignments I bought a lifetime alignment from a local firestone store 2 years ago as I have been slowly replacing bushings and things. Cost like $200 and I have had it back for alignments 4-5 times already with more to come. It is a great deal if you have a firestone store close by.
I like this height right now but I wont really know until i drive it around. That will not be for a little while longer until I finish up the motor and rear suspension. I had to go with a bigger rim to fit. I had Beretta GTZ rims from the donor car.
The plan is to get the Berreta rims powder coated gun metal at some point.
[This message has been edited by Spadesluck (edited 11-25-2017).]
Nice job, looking good. There are 2 problems with this suspension system that you need to check for before you get it alligned:
Bottoming out- check how much travel you have left till the shock bottoms out now that the car is on the ground. If the shock looks likes it is close to bottoming , it probably will. If it hits hard enough it will break the shock. You can raise the ride height or install a longer stiffer spring to prevent this. QA-1 also makes a rubber bump stop that can be put on the shock shaft to soften the blow.
Getting some negative camber- I actually shortened my upper arms to get the negative camber I wanted. To get some negative camber without going to the extremes that I have, you will need too elongate the upper ball joint mounting holes. Get a dial protractor to get it set before you go to the allignment shop. Much cheaper that way.
Figured I would bring this back up and post what has and has not worked for me. I should have listened to wftb about the spring choices. I stuck with the original 300lb springs and quickly found out they just were not up to the task for the ride height that I desired. I decided to go ahead and run 450lb QA1 springs. Not pictured, I also purchased a rubber bump stop for the top of the spring.
While the 450lb spring made a huge postivie difference I was just not happy with the amount or lack of suspension travel I still had at the ride height I desired. So I decided to modify the spring perch at the top.
Stock on the right, started one on the left:
Here is one all finished up. We did weld another triangle brace to the top of it after this picture. Also it was cleaned up and powder coated:
Here it is installed:
What this did is give me about another 1 1/2 inches of more suspension travel.
[This message has been edited by Spadesluck (edited 02-20-2019).]
While I was changing out suspension bits I figured I would throw a new swaybar on as well. Fiero Store style:
Figured I would show the difference between my stock 87 swaybar and the Fiero store one:
Lastly installed:
I have not driven the car yet with these last modifications minus the new springs. I am changing out the radiator for a 3 core and some other things as well. Will report back how it all works when I do.
I don't know if you know this, but there's supposed to be a metal bracket attaching the the end of the steel brake line to the spacefame.
Do you think that the modified coilover mounting point is sturdy enough?
I do know it yes, but thank you for showing your concern. Problem is the braided line is not long enough to allow the hard line to bolt to the frame like stock. I drilled it out and have a nut/bolt combo holding it down. The self tapping sheet metal screw did not give me a warm fuzzy.
To answer your question about the mounting point, yes I do believe it is strong enough. Compared to stock I would put money on saying that it is stronger. I did not take a great picture of the finished product but on the inside of both mounting points is a fitted piece of thicker metal fills the empty space between the mounting points. (does that make sense?) This also allowed a better foundation to weld to for moving the mounting points up. Its not just some flimsy piece of metal anymore.
[This message has been edited by Spadesluck (edited 02-20-2019).]
Originally posted by Spadesluck: The self tapping sheet metal screw did not give me a warm fuzzy.
As I encounter these stripped self-tapping-screw holes in my Fiero (not just for brakes; they're used everywhere), I've been replacing them with regular bolts + rivnuts.
As I encounter these stripped self-tapping-screw holes in my Fiero (not just for brakes; they're used everywhere), I've been replacing them with regular bolts + rivnuts.
As I encounter these stripped self-tapping-screw holes in my Fiero (not just for brakes; they're used everywhere), I've been replacing them with regular bolts + rivnuts.
I ended up buying exactly the same rivnut kit as GT-RIC.
It's the kind of tool, that for auto repair/restoration, once I had it, I wondered how I did all those years without.
Riv-Nuts are fantastic. I found stainless hexagonal ones, but they require having the holes filed out from round to hexagonal. The plus is that even if they're exposed to weather, they'll never (well... in any reasonable circumstance) spin instead of unscrewing.
Hey Spades- With the modifications you made to the upper mounting bracket, and the drop spindles, do you know how much extra travel (inches) you acquired before bottoming on the shock (with or without the rubber bumper installed)? Looks like about 1.5" or so from the bracket mod alone.
Now, do you find the wheel hits the fender before the bumper is contacted with all that extra travel?
Seems like a pretty big oversight for the original kit design if it is risking bottoming / damaging the shock. Maybe the kit is designed only for 1" drop, or less. Note: I got the same exact shocks you have from QA1 with the kit.
I also assume you had to go with the heavy 450 lb springs due to ride height being pretty low / avoiding bottoming. Looking around I found people saying the stock springs are closer to 200 lb/in and the ones that came with my kit are 260 lb/in.
Hey Spades- With the modifications you made to the upper mounting bracket, and the drop spindles, do you know how much extra travel (inches) you acquired before bottoming on the shock (with or without the rubber bumper installed)? Looks like about 1.5" or so from the bracket mod alone.
Now, do you find the wheel hits the fender before the bumper is contacted with all that extra travel?
Seems like a pretty big oversight for the original kit design if it is risking bottoming / damaging the shock. Maybe the kit is designed only for 1" drop, or less. Note: I got the same exact shocks you have from QA1 with the kit.
I also assume you had to go with the heavy 450 lb springs due to ride height being pretty low / avoiding bottoming. Looking around I found people saying the stock springs are closer to 200 lb/in and the ones that came with my kit are 260 lb/in.
Just for some clarification, I do not have drop spindles. My spindles are stock. I just have the upper and lower aftermarket control arms.
Yes, I have the bigger spring (450) because of the limited shock travel. With the 300 spring that was already on the suspension it was not enough to keep it from bottoming out. I never hit the fender that I can see, it stopped at the shock. This is also all dependent on the stance of your car. I could raise it up to give me more suspension travel but I do not like the looks of it that high. My goal was to increase the shock travel along with keeping the stance that I like. With the upper spring perch modification I would guess the added travel is around 1.5" increase. I still have a bump stop on top of the shock in case of that big hit. It is just a little rubber o-ring from QA1.
Additionally after my 4,000 mile road trip last month I am going to tweak the suspension further. I am now changing out my upper and lower ball joints to Rodneys 1" drop ball joint. This will give me another 1" of travel as well.
[This message has been edited by Spadesluck (edited 08-17-2019).]
Hey spades, Couldn't help but notice you ended up flipped the upper control arms back over in your latest pics after you installed the heavier springs- with the plate on top of the tube. Previously I saw pics with the control arms upside down, where the plate is on the bottom of the tubes.
Any reason why you did this? I did it with the plates on top, but I'm having trouble achieving needed camber range for alignment... It's way too negative. The flange of the ball joint hits the back lip of the plate and limits further adjustment.
Hey spades, Couldn't help but notice you ended up flipped the upper control arms back over in your latest pics after you installed the heavier springs- with the plate on top of the tube. Previously I saw pics with the control arms upside down, where the plate is on the bottom of the tubes.
Any reason why you did this? I did it with the plates on top, but I'm having trouble achieving needed camber range for alignment... It's way too negative. The flange of the ball joint hits the back lip of the plate and limits further adjustment.
Yes you are right I did move them back. I was actually experimenting with getting more shock travel. In my little brain I was thinking that would make some difference, it did not. I had the car aligned this way and I just never switched them back around. However I am now going to filp them around again when i install some new parts here soon. Take some pictures so we can see what you got going on.
[This message has been edited by Spadesluck (edited 08-18-2019).]
I am not changing out my upper and lower ball joints to Rodneys 1" drop ball joint. This will give me another 1" of travel as well.
quote
Originally posted by Spadesluck:
I had the car aligned this way and I just never switched them back around. However I am not going to filp them around again when i install some new parts here soon.
There may be more instances of this, but I believe the examples above are two typos which dramatically change what you actually meant. Seems to me that "not" has been used instead of "now". You might wish to edit and correct those posts.
Here's the link to my other thread lower control arm issue ...like I said there, I'm going to flip them over tomorrow. I don't think there's any way for me to get my camber right with them like this. They're close, but not quite good enough.
