Ok heres my list.

1. Where can I get the Big Brake kit? I have seen Archies and WCFs but I believe there are other kits out there just don't know where.

2. I have an after market HU and to set some of the settings you have to have it hooked up to the brakes. Did I miss those wires or is there a special way to do it. It has to be hooked up to the brake pedal and the E brake.

3. I have scratches on the side windows. I replaced the dew (sp?) wipes but are they what caused the scratching or is it the guide brush thingys?

4. Does an ASD help when driving in the snow and rain? I would assume it does but I don't know much about them.

5. Has anyone ever used anything other then drip rails as drip rails? Meaning did anyone make their own?

I may have a few more that I can't think of at the moment.

Thanks
Ryan

1. HT Motorsports

3. I hear it's the guide brush thing. I saw a replacement kit, either on fierostore or archie's

Not sure of the others. I more or less a seasoned new-bee.

If you have a HU that has a DVD player in it by law it need to be hook up to the e-brake to work. but I have heard you can find codes to put in it to by-pass that part, and yes there are wires coming off the HU itself that you use to hook it up to the e-brake. The scratches are from the pads on the dew wipes if you replaced them you will not have anymore scratches. what does ASD stand for and a could probably help you out there.

[This message has been edited by pontiacman63383 (edited 01-02-2008).]

i belive he means all seasonal directional tire. if so the directional means no rotating tires without demounting tire and turning it around and remounting on rim. and so forth for all tires. should with traction but depends on your wallet if you want them or not. but that is my experience

I meant anti slip differential. Sorry that I miss lead you.

Ryan

As for other Big Brake kits, Held as mentioned earlier, and take a look @ Vette Brakes & Products, (VBandP.com), they have a C4-C5 upgrade kit that might be adaptable. Mid America Motorsports also has a similar upgrade kit. Design 1 Systems also has big brake kits for Fieros so I am told, but they are not listed on their web site.
With regard to your ASD question. Are you talking about a LSD?, A Limited Slip Differential? If so you might want to use the SEARCH button and look at the previous posting on the subject. (That's what I did )
It seems there are 3 LSD units available for a Fiero, Phantom Grip, GR8GRIP, and a unit by EP engineering. I am also looking into getting a LSD for my car. Maybe we should compare notes on the subject. Personally, I'd love to get BMWGuru's thoughts on the matter. I'm quite sure he knows more about this than I do.
Sorry, but I can't help with the rest of your questions.
P.S. Enjoy the new year.
Bob

------------------
"Its nice to be important.
Its more important to be nice."

quote Originally posted by Winkie: Ok heres my list. 1. Where can I get the Big Brake kit? I have seen Archies and WCFs but I believe there are other kits out there just don't know where. Ryan

With respect to brakes, remember that a larger diameter rotor is not always better. If your Fiero is otherwise mostly stock, the only thing you're going to do by going with larger diameter rotors is slow your car down. It's more rotating mass and it will increase your quarter mile times.

The Fiero's standard brakes DO experience brake fade. I've owned 9 Fieros over the past 11 years, and will quickly agree that if you drive your Fiero hard, you will experience brake fade from the stock brakes. In my personal opinion, the absolute best brake package for a Fiero, stock or otherwise mildly modified (up to around 230 horsepower I would figure), would be to go with the Grand Am brakes in front with some other upgrades:

This includes the following:

1 - Fiero Store's Larger Master Cyl ("Big Bore Upgrade") #56057 @ $49.95 (a MUST over stock)
2 - Fiero Store's Vented Front Brake Conversion Kit (Comes with calipers, rotors, hubs, pads, etc) #56004 @ $299
3 - Fiero Store's Cross Drilled Option for #2, #56005 @ $75
4 - Fiero Store's REAR Cross Drilled Rotor Package (crossed drilled rotors for the rear) #56000R @ $149.95
5 - Fiero Store's Stainless Steel Braided Brake Lines #56098 @ $99.95


All of the above items require NO modifications to your car. They are simple "bolt ons". If you bleed the brakes properly, you will have significantly improved braking performance, absolutely NO brake fade, and a firmer brake pedal.

I HIGHLY recommend all that stuff. It does add up to a lot... but it's well worth it.

At the very least, you will want to get the stainless steel brake lines and / or the larger master cyl.

------------------
Todd,
2006 Pontiac Solstice
2004 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible (Wife's Car)
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6 (3.2) 5-Speed
1984 Porsche 944 5-Speed
1981 Pontiac TransAm (Olds 455BB)
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

I just saw a thread on the 2nd page by PerKr about brake upgrades. You may want to check that one out. I haven't really looked at it, but the name looked like what you'd want.

compleat guess on the h.u., but i would think it's either looking for a ground to be made or 12v applied. if you knew which you could just give it what it wants and not bother with hooking it up to the brake wiring.

never had a head with dvd or requiring brake wiring hookups though.

1> there are several others also. Grand Am brakes is a favaorite of many - it cheap & easy - but no hand brake
2> why would a head unit care about brakes?
3> for me - it was the guide brush - replaced the window & the strips & the guides.....
4> yes & no. you get both tires for traction - BUT - when they both loose traction its tougher to get the rear end back behind you.
5> I have heard of people "re-felting" the guides

quote Originally posted by Fierology: I just saw a thread on the 2nd page by PerKr about brake upgrades. You may want to check that one out. I haven't really looked at it, but the name looked like what you'd want.

started that thread as part of researching my brake upgrade options. Seems to me that there really aren't any professionally developed kits, only backyard engineered kits. Personally, I've come to the conclusion that I need to replace not only the front calipers, but the rears as well. This means that the prop valve needs to be modified and an adjustable prop valve fitted. think I should add another reply to my other thread

I'm curious why everyone keeps saying that the "Grand Am" brake upgrade kit would eliminate the emergency brake.

The front brakes do the vast majority of the braking on a Fiero, and you'd as such WANT them to do the majority of the braking. The front hubs / vented rotors and calipers from a Grand Am will work on the Fiero. There really is no need to drastically upgrade the rear brakes of the Fiero. A simple set of cross drilled rotors in the rear with a GOOD set of brake pads and steel braided brake lines, will be all that is necessary to enhance the rear brakes of the Fiero for the vast majority of people.

The vented Grand Am brake kit upgrade is more than enough for pretty much any motor you're going to put in the Fiero. You would literally have to drive as maniacally as 10 OJ Simpsons within a 10 minute period in order to affect the Grand Am brakes negatively.

I've owned a few 96+ Grand Ams, and I've driven them SO friggin hard that the front rotors both literally started smoking while I was stopped (finally) at the light. I was literally flooring it at every light, and getting stuck at every red light (this went on for 30 minutes and I was pissed!). In a Fiero, with substantially less weight, you wouldn't have this problem. Basically, my point is, unless you were running a 24 hour race in a track as narrow and sharp as Monaco, you really don't need anything more.

If you're all about the glam and glitz of showing off your Corvette rotors (or something else cool looking), then by all means...

But if we're just talking about drastically improving the brakes on your stock or modified 84-87 Fiero, then all you need is this:

1 - Fiero Store's Larger Master Cyl ("Big Bore Upgrade") #56057 @ $49.95 (a MUST over stock)
2 - Fiero Store's Vented Front Brake Conversion Kit (Comes with calipers, rotors, hubs, pads, etc) #56004 @ $299
3 - Fiero Store's Cross Drilled Option for #2, #56005 @ $75
4 - Fiero Store's REAR Cross Drilled Rotor Package (crossed drilled rotors for the rear) #56000R @ $149.95
5 - Fiero Store's Stainless Steel Braided Brake Lines #56098 @ $99.95


Other than the professionally cross drilled and chamfeurred rotors, the rest of the parts are all just basic GM parts which you can buy online or at a dealership once you get the part number. I'd call the Fiero Store first though, they can probably sell you everything with a little discount.

------------------
Todd,
2006 Pontiac Solstice
2004 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible (Wife's Car)
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6 (3.2) 5-Speed
1984 Porsche 944 5-Speed
1981 Pontiac TransAm (Olds 455BB)
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 01-03-2008).]

quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: I'm curious why everyone keeps saying that the "Grand Am" brake upgrade kit would eliminate the emergency brake. The front brakes do the vast majority of the braking on a Fiero, and you'd as such WANT them to do the majority of the braking. The front hubs / vented rotors and calipers from a Grand Am will work on the Fiero. There really is no need to drastically upgrade the rear brakes of the Fiero. A simple set of cross drilled rotors in the rear with a GOOD set of brake pads and steel braided brake lines, will be all that is necessary to enhance the rear brakes of the Fiero for the vast majority of people. The vented Grand Am brake kit upgrade is more than enough for pretty much any motor you're going to put in the Fiero. You would literally have to drive as maniacally as 10 OJ Simpsons within a 10 minute period in order to affect the Grand Am brakes negatively. .....

yes - very true. but - with just grand am fronts, and stock/near stock rear - you end up with to much front braking. you actually LOOSE braking distance because of this.

actually - a newer bracket is available to put caddilac (85 seville) calipers on the rear, which would allow a grand am rotor & cadillac caliper & the emergency brake for the rear.

quote Originally posted by Pyrthian: yes - very true. but - with just grand am fronts, and stock/near stock rear - you end up with to much front braking. you actually LOOSE braking distance because of this. actually - a newer bracket is available to put caddilac (85 seville) calipers on the rear, which would allow a grand am rotor & cadillac caliper & the emergency brake for the rear.

This.

I'm sure most of you have taken a turn too hard and hit the brakes mid turn, right? I did it coming down a hill and the back end broke loose. I've only gotten it to do that twice, but I cant imagine how bad that problem would be if I had even more braking force in the front. The stock proportioning is 80/20 and the springs up front for the pre-88s are alot softer than the rear, so you lose that much more weight over the rear under braking!

quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: 1 - Fiero Store's Larger Master Cyl ("Big Bore Upgrade") #56057 @ $49.95 (a MUST over stock)

This has been shown on here many times as this would NOT be a good thing to do, It is only to properly match different calipers. Otherwise is would be a BAD thing to do.

quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: With respect to brakes, remember that a larger diameter rotor is not always better. If your Fiero is otherwise mostly stock, the only thing you're going to do by going with larger diameter rotors is slow your car down. It's more rotating mass and it will increase your quarter mile times. The Fiero's standard brakes DO experience brake fade. I've owned 9 Fieros over the past 11 years, and will quickly agree that if you drive your Fiero hard, you will experience brake fade from the stock brakes. In my personal opinion, the absolute best brake package for a Fiero, stock or otherwise mildly modified (up to around 230 horsepower I would figure), would be to go with the Grand Am brakes in front with some other upgrades: This includes the following: 1 - Fiero Store's Larger Master Cyl ("Big Bore Upgrade") #56057 @ $49.95 (a MUST over stock) 2 - Fiero Store's Vented Front Brake Conversion Kit (Comes with calipers, rotors, hubs, pads, etc) #56004 @ $299 3 - Fiero Store's Cross Drilled Option for #2, #56005 @ $75 4 - Fiero Store's REAR Cross Drilled Rotor Package (crossed drilled rotors for the rear) #56000R @ $149.95 5 - Fiero Store's Stainless Steel Braided Brake Lines #56098 @ $99.95 All of the above items require NO modifications to your car. They are simple "bolt ons". If you bleed the brakes properly, you will have significantly improved braking performance, absolutely NO brake fade, and a firmer brake pedal. I HIGHLY recommend all that stuff. It does add up to a lot... but it's well worth it. At the very least, you will want to get the stainless steel brake lines and / or the larger master cyl.

The brakes will be going on a 3800sc car. I definitely want to do something with the brakes because they just don't stop fast enough. Right now the car has a 2.8 but with a 3800 i think I want more powerful brakes. I don't know if this means bigger brakes or bigger master cylinder but I have to do something. I may occasionally take it to a road course for fun but i need them to stop.
I have thought this ever since a few weeks ago. I was going down the street at about 40 in the middle of the day and the ground was perfectly dry. And a couple deer decided to run into the street. I slammed on the brakes and it took forever to slow down. I thought that one was going to come through my windshield. Luckily the tires locked up and they ended up stopping me.
I mostly need brakes that can stop me in the one panic stop to prevent an accident.

Ryan

quote Originally posted by Winkie: The brakes will be going on a 3800sc car. I definitely want to do something with the brakes because they just don't stop fast enough. Right now the car has a 2.8 but with a 3800 i think I want more powerful brakes. I don't know if this means bigger brakes or bigger master cylinder but I have to do something. I may occasionally take it to a road course for fun but i need them to stop. I have thought this ever since a few weeks ago. I was going down the street at about 40 in the middle of the day and the ground was perfectly dry. And a couple deer decided to run into the street. I slammed on the brakes and it took forever to slow down. I thought that one was going to come through my windshield. Luckily the tires locked up and they ended up stopping me. I mostly need brakes that can stop me in the one panic stop to prevent an accident. Ryan

Start w/the new brake lines, and better pads on a 20+ year old car and go from there, if that dosen't give enough braking improvement then move on to the more
expensive options.

Norm

As stated above a bigger master will not help anything unless it is used to fill bigger calipers. IMO the best bang for the buck in the brake upgrade department is still the vette upgrade available from the fieroaddiction ebay store. It is simple....

4 - 12" vette rotors
4 - 88 fiero calipers
4 - caliper adapter brackets
4 - Concentric rings
and the bolts that hold the brackets to the nuckle.

It will work whether you have an 84-87 fiero or an 88 (brackets are different between years). You DO need 88 fiero calipers though. E-brake, master cylinder, and brake hoses are retained as well as the stock porportioning valve and booster. 16" wheels are most likely necissary. ~350 if you have the calipers and anywhere from 450-800 if you need to buy them and whether you buy them new of used off the forum.

The labaron 11.25 swap is another option also but costs more since you have to change the master, calipers, rotors and lines. Will work with some slight grinding with the stock fiero 15's. ~800 total.

Archie, D1S, Held (HT), WCF, Fierostore, and other offer brake upgrades. Gotta go back to work but if you are interested in hearing more I will be back on later tonight.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 01-03-2008).]

Hi,
Just another thought. There is a great thread on this forum called the "$100 Brake Upgrade", or something similar. Do a SEARCH for this thread. It will be well worth your time. Basically the upgrade consists of replacing the stock Fiero vacuum brake booster with a larger diameter brake booster from an S-10 pickup. Those who have done the upgrade rave about the results. A new set of pads, (and perhaps rotors), followed by the $100 booster upgrade would probably be the most logical and cost effective 1st steps in improving your car's braking. The next step might be to go to the 12" Vette rotors with the stock Fiero calipers.
Any how, it's just a thought. I'm no expert, so check with some of the other folks on the forum and see what their thoughts are on the subject.
Good luck, Bob

quote Originally posted by Winkie: The brakes will be going on a 3800sc car. I definitely want to do something with the brakes because they just don't stop fast enough. Right now the car has a 2.8 but with a 3800 i think I want more powerful brakes. I don't know if this means bigger brakes or bigger master cylinder but I have to do something. I may occasionally take it to a road course for fun but i need them to stop. I have thought this ever since a few weeks ago. I was going down the street at about 40 in the middle of the day and the ground was perfectly dry. And a couple deer decided to run into the street. I slammed on the brakes and it took forever to slow down. I thought that one was going to come through my windshield. Luckily the tires locked up and they ended up stopping me. I mostly need brakes that can stop me in the one panic stop to prevent an accident. Ryan

Actually, the fastest way to slow down the car is to not lock up the brakes, locking up actually increases stopping distance. And as long as you can lock up your brakes, you have enough brake to slow the car down. The biggest reason for upgrade is to prevent fade, which is overheating due to multiple hard stops in a short period of time. Bigger and stronger brakes will just lock up faster in a panic stop.

quote Originally posted by Pyrthian: yes - very true. but - with just grand am fronts, and stock/near stock rear - you end up with to much front braking. you actually LOOSE braking distance because of this.

How is it that you would lose braking distance? The only way that would be possible is if your front tires break loose and you skid, either way, simply upgrading to better tires would fix this, or buying an adjustable proportioning valve (which is extremely cheap). Although, I don't really think this would be necessary. The front brakes from the Grand Am don't make such a huge difference that they would cause this. They are still single piston calipers and only ever so slightly larger. They are better, but not so much that it would cause a drastic difference like you're describing. The biggest benefit to this is completely eliminating brake fade.

quote Originally posted by AP2k: This. I'm sure most of you have taken a turn too hard and hit the brakes mid turn, right? I did it coming down a hill and the back end broke loose. I've only gotten it to do that twice, but I cant imagine how bad that problem would be if I had even more braking force in the front. The stock proportioning is 80/20 and the springs up front for the pre-88s are alot softer than the rear, so you lose that much more weight over the rear under braking!

I don't mean this to be confrontational, but you're wrong in this respect. The Fiero (for one) suffers from more understeer than it does oversteer. The only negative to having unproportionally better brakes in the front than the rear would be more noticable understeer (your front tires break loose and you go forward in a turn rather than making a turn). However, as I've indicated in my response to Pyrthian, these are STILL single piston calipers with barely more braking surface area. While you will BENEFIT from better brakes overall, the biggest benefit you'll see is basically a complete elimination of brake fade. Oversteer would be rather unlikely. The brakes really are not so significantly better that it would cause oversteer due to the weight of the vehicle pitching forward in a turn under hard braking. Slamming on the brakes in the middle of a turn apex is probably the worst thing you could do anyway.

quote Originally posted by sardonyx247: This has been shown on here many times as this would NOT be a good thing to do, It is only to properly match different calipers. Otherwise is would be a BAD thing to do.

The Grand Am front calipers do have slightly larger pistons. This master cyl only has an 11% larger displacement in the cyl, which is almost unnoticable. The only thing it does is just give you slightly higher line pressure at maximum depression.
------------------
Todd,
2006 Pontiac Solstice
2004 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible (Wife's Car)
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6 (3.2) 5-Speed
1984 Porsche 944 5-Speed
1981 Pontiac TransAm (Olds 455BB)
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 01-03-2008).]

quote Originally posted by Fieroseverywhere: As stated above a bigger master will not help anything unless it is used to fill bigger calipers. IMO the best bang for the buck in the brake upgrade department is still the vette upgrade available from fieroaddiction's ebay store. It is simple.... 4 - 12" vette rotors 4 - 88 fiero calipers 4 - caliper adapter brackets It will work whether you have an 84-87 fiero or an 88 (brackets are different between years). You DO need 88 fiero calipers though. E-brake, master cylinder, and brake hoses are retained as well as the stock porportioning valve and booster. 16" wheels are most likely necissary. ~350 if you have the calipers and anywhere from 450-800 if you need to buy them and whether you buy them new of used off the forum. The labaron 11.25 swap is another option also but costs more since you have to change the master, calipers, rotors and lines. Will work with some slight grinding with the stock fiero 15's. ~800 total. Archie, D1S, Held (HT), WCF, Fierostore, and other offer brake upgrades. Gotta go back to work but if you are interested in hearing more I will be back on later tonight.

So I can put 88 calipers on my 87 and buy that kit and it all fits? Definitely seems like one of the best/almost cheap brake upgrades I have seen. Other then the fix up the stock or the GA brakes.

Ryan

give me a little more info on the HU like brand model and so on.

quote Originally posted by Winkie: So I can put 88 calipers on my 87 and buy that kit and it all fits? Definitely seems like one of the best/almost cheap brake upgrades I have seen. Other then the fix up the stock or the GA brakes. Ryan

Exactly. The problem comes if you don't have 16" or larger wheels or want to keep your stock wheels. You get the best of both worlds. Upgrade to 88 calipers and 12" vette rotors without all the fuss of the changing master, hoses or proportioning the system. For 88 cars its just a rotor swap and could not be easier. Here is a link to the ebay store and more info on the kit. 84-87 are available also just you may have to message Jon (AKA Rockcrawl) to see if he can make up a set. The quality is excellant.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymot...6QQitemZ160194854996

Here is a shot of my rotors on. This was just my test fit and I still have to rebuild my calipers before I can put it all together.


My setup is kind of special. I have an 88 cradle swaped in and Jon made up a set of the 88 style brackets for the rear and a set of the 84-87 brackets for the front. I did get a chance to see both brackets up close though. One thing I forgot to mention (see link above for full info) is the kit also included 4 concentirc rings for the rotors and the bolts that hold it all together. Mine fit perfectly. I'll post more pics in my build thread when I get everything together.

Hugh got the first set of 84-87 on his 87GT if you want to do a search for more pics. Turbo 383.
And blkcofy just put them on (or is in the process... can't remember) his car. In this thread.
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/086013.html

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 01-03-2008).]

quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: How is it that you would lose braking distance? The only way that would be possible is if your front tires break loose and you skid, either way, simply upgrading to better tires would fix this, or buying an adjustable proportioning valve (which is extremely cheap). Although, I don't really think this would be necessary. The front brakes from the Grand Am don't make such a huge difference that they would cause this. They are still single piston calipers and only ever so slightly larger. They are better, but not so much that it would cause a drastic difference like you're describing. The biggest benefit to this is completely eliminating brake fade.

because your rear brakes are now doing less work.
and - yes - you are 100% correct that larger tires is a good way around this.

anyways - I have Grand Am fronts, and I do have to much front braking. and, slightly larger dia makes a HUGE differance in volume. remember that "area = PI x Rad ^ 2". an exponential curve based on Radius. and, the brake pressure is completely tied to the cyl volume, which is based on the surface area of the piston.

but, as I mentioned, someone does make brackets now to put 85 caddy seville calipers on the rear, which have provisions for the hand brake, the same piston size as the grand ams, and allow the use of the grand am vented rotors on the rear also - so you now return to the original stock brake bias + have vented rotors all around + hand brake

quote Originally posted by AP2k: This. I'm sure most of you have taken a turn too hard and hit the brakes mid turn, right? I did it coming down a hill and the back end broke loose. I've only gotten it to do that twice, but I cant imagine how bad that problem would be if I had even more braking force in the front. The stock proportioning is 80/20 and the springs up front for the pre-88s are alot softer than the rear, so you lose that much more weight over the rear under braking!

If the stock proportioning is 80/20 F/R, that would mean the proportioning valve is set to less than 0.5?

again, remember to keep your upgrades well balanced for your intended use. Only upgrading the fronts with larger calipers and larger rotors is not a very good idea. The least you should do is add an adjustable prop valve for the rear calipers (remove the stock prop valve or you might get funny results). Never put a prop valve on the front end.

larger MC would be needed if you intend to install much larger calipers, but remember the F308 uses a 22mm MC and 48mm front pistons. 57mm caliper pistons (in a single-piston sliding caliper or 2-pot fixed) gives us the same MC/caliper ratio when using the OE MC (if it is indeed 25,4mm).