88 Cradle Swap thread

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   I had a giant 2 page reply wrote up.  Then went to hit the backspace to edit something, and it shot back the entire web page and cleared my entire reply.  FRACK.

So here is the short version.

88 Suspension Great, but REALLY expensive. Roughly 10x the price of 84-87 parts.  

85GT can be made to handle as well as an 88GT however at the cost of a really really rough ride.  I own an 88GT and an 85GT.  The 88 rides like a luxury car in comparison to my 85GT.  

Fiero Racing List.  Check out www.yahoogroups.com and search for Fiero, the list is dedicated to guys that Races Fiero's.   The consensus on the 88 debate, is that the BEST Fiero suspension is an 84-87 front suspension, lowerd 1" and install all poly bushings, then install an 88 Rear suspension and drop it and install Poly.   So start with an 85-87 V6 car, install an 88 rear suspension and you are good to go.  (special note, the 84 front suspension was slightly different, so try and stay away from the 84 front stuff)   

Uhm, that is the short version of the post.   

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Capt Fiero Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Founding Member Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 4039	Post Options Post Reply Quote Capt Fiero Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 14 April 2008 at 8:27pm
	I had a giant 2 page reply wrote up. Then went to hit the backspace to edit something, and it shot back the entire web page and cleared my entire reply. FRACK. So here is the short version. 88 Suspension Great, but REALLY expensive. Roughly 10x the price of 84-87 parts. 85GT can be made to handle as well as an 88GT however at the cost of a really really rough ride. I own an 88GT and an 85GT. The 88 rides like a luxury car in comparison to my 85GT. Fiero Racing List. Check out www.yahoogroups.com and search for Fiero, the list is dedicated to guys that Races Fiero's. The consensus on the 88 debate, is that the BEST Fiero suspension is an 84-87 front suspension, lowerd 1" and install all poly bushings, then install an 88 Rear suspension and drop it and install Poly. So start with an 85-87 V6 car, install an 88 rear suspension and you are good to go. (special note, the 84 front suspension was slightly different, so try and stay away from the 84 front stuff) Uhm, that is the short version of the post.
	Capt Fiero 88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd.

CFoss Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 13 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 580	Post Options Post Reply Quote CFoss Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 15 April 2008 at 2:26pm
	Freaking network error!!! Anyone else get that after writing a book? Wiped my response out! Thanks for the post David. I'll check out the Yahoo Groups for more info. I've read somewhere that lowering the 88 doesn't yeild positive results, so it's interesting. I'm deciding on this right now. I have an 86se (Rough but good drivetrain) and an 84 in good shape which I'm going to swap the drivetrain and an 88 rear into. Now maybe I have to swap the 86 front too? Or the 88 front? Hard to decide, because I don't really want to lower it. Probably the 88's are the way to go? Chay
	86 SE 3.4

Capt Fiero Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Founding Member Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 4039	Post Options Post Reply Quote Capt Fiero Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 15 April 2008 at 2:34pm
	Don't use the 84 Front suspension unless you absolutely have to. The 84 had something wrong with it. GM did a change to it in 85. You can install an 85-87 suspension on an 84 car to correct the issue. It was something to do with the turning radius and suspension travel. I am sorry I don't have details on what they changed. Oh the cables showed up. I am back in BC now and got the package. They look very cool. I spoke to Watts about them and he said there are COM Port to USB Adapters out there. So we are going to try and find some and test them out. The only laptop I have with a com port has all but 64mb of ram removed from it so it is really slow. You did mention you had the 84 that you were going to pull the engine and trans from. When you have it dropped, I would love to check it and see if it is a 3.32 or a 4.10. Heck if you are close enough I will come and help you pull it.
	Capt Fiero 88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd.

CFoss Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 13 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 580	Post Options Post Reply Quote CFoss Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 15 April 2008 at 2:59pm
	It's in Duncan and I't's coming out probably next week. I have experience with the USB to com adapters...they are cheap and work pretty well. The old computer would probably run winaldl fine though. I'd try it unless you want to port the data to some other computer it which case lan/usb jump drives are nice to have. If there's an easy way to check the ratios? Would the VIN help? Chay
	86 SE 3.4

Capt Fiero Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Founding Member Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 4039	Post Options Post Reply Quote Capt Fiero Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 15 April 2008 at 4:08pm
	It would be on the RPO sticker on the drivers fender under the hood. I will have to look up the RPO for the 3.32 ratio trans. However these cars are 20+ years old and its really hard to tell if the parts have been swapped out or not until you get the trans right out of the car. Once it is out of the car, you can put it into 4th gear and turn the input shaft by hand and count the rotations of the output. I have all the ratio's here. Its also listed on my trans website. http://captfiero.com/transratios.htm
	Capt Fiero 88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd.