I have started on getting these made finally. They will be molded in a thin steel sleeve and will be a press in type. This is for the long rear trailing arms on the 88 Fiero. Sorry I put this off for too long. It will take a few 3-4 months before I have some on hand. I might have a simple press in aluminum tool made also to help with pressing them in. Most likely I would include a sanding flapper wheel to sand the ID of the ends to remove any rubber from the old bushings or rust etc.
Any other requests? I think the rest of the rubber suspension bushings used in the 88 are still available? Or some have found substitutes that work?
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
Awesome! I'm not sure the others are available. It would be great to get them all together as a set since they all probably would need to be replaced at the same time. Thanks for looking out for our needs Rodney! Still hopeful that you'll get the T-Top seals too a some point...hint hint....
Yes! I don't really want to go to poly in my DD as it tends to squeak. I second the T-top Seal problem. I know mine are shot.
------------------ John 1955 Chevrolet 210 Sedan (Shopping list in progress) 1988 SE seized duke...next engine...1996 LQ1 found ~Future 1990 Fiero Clone? 1988 T-Top Coupe rocking 41 MPG! 1986 SE Project Mayhem 1999 F350 Crew Dually ~17mpg city 22 hwy Wife's 2001 Saturn SL1 51MPG high score
Originally posted by Rodney: I think the rest of the rubber suspension bushings used in the 88 are still available? Or some have found substitutes that work?
Only the toe-link bushings are currently available as a direct fit option. The currently available trailing link bushings require a sleeve (16mm bolt vs. the 14mm used in the fiero) and the solid lateral link needs to be modified to use the toe-link bushings. Here is all the info: //www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/121294.html
Having bushing options that are a direct fit for the 88 rear would be a great thing. I only run rubber bushings in the trailing link to keep road harshness to a minimum so I would be interested in a few sets of the trailing link bushings.
I was able to buy brand-new trailing arms (yes the long ones) with new rubber in them as recently as a year ago; it took some searching but I finally got them. Made in USA. I've yet to do anything with them since I'm still up in the air about what to do with the lateral and adjusting links.
Rodney has the better solution, in my opinion, since his bushing won't require replacing any original hard parts with unknown aftermarkets.
I'll look at having the ones made for the lateral and toe links also.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
Making progress. Still will take a long time but I should have them some time this summer.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
Working on them. Long lead time. Tooling has to be made etc. These things always take way longer than you want them to. But I'm quite sure I will have them this summer some time.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
I'm still working on the rear 88 rubber bushings. We have one engineered and CAD drawn. Two to go yet. Once all three are engineered and CAD drawn I will have them make them. Tooling needs to be made first. Tooling is expensive to make these. Will be a while yet. Maybe by late summer or fall.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
I'm still working on the rear 88 rubber bushings. We have one engineered and CAD drawn. Two to go yet. Once all three are engineered and CAD drawn I will have them make them. Tooling needs to be made first. Tooling is expensive to make these. Will be a while yet. Maybe by late summer or fall.
My Fiero still runs because of Rodney Dickman parts. Whenever they're available - I'll take a set. I've never seen any product from you that was less than OEM quality.
I have made good progress. The first batch is the 3 rubber bushings used in the 3 trailing arms for the 88 Fiero. The 3 drawings are finished. I have a few minor dimension changes that have to be made yet and soon they will make me some. It appears they will be making me some pre-production samples first. The one bushing that is in the steel sleeve will be reproduced exactly as the original GM bushing. The other two will be in a thin machined steel sleeve that will be pressed into the original trailing arms. They first wanted to make the OD all rubber but I felt that is difficult for most people to install. So I had them change them to an outer steel sleeve type that is press fit into the arms. Similar to my rubber dog bones: http://rodneydickman.com/ca...h=22&products_id=301
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
I'm still working on this. I've had some things about them and their dimensions etc hold me up yet before we can make them. But I will succeed in time. I'm sure by late winter I'll have some on hand. I've made progress on the rubber frame front and rear sway bar bushings for the 88's. I should get those done by late winter/spring. The tooling/start up costs on these is huge. But if I do not make them who will? I'm also looking to make (more or less) exact reproductions of the factory 88 sway bar end links.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
This one has taken a lot longer than it should. I have a few excuses. But: I have made progress on them and I am moving forward on them and they will get done. Still a ways off yet. But they will get done by mid summer or so I hope.
Also working on the rubber pieces for the frame mounts for the 88 sway bars front and rear.
Sorry for the long delay on these pieces.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
I recently swapped an '88 rear cradle into my '87 Fiero, and the trailing arm bushings are a little worse for wear. So you'll have another customer, as soon as those bushings are available.
I'm still working on this. All three are CAD drawn. Working on a few dimensions on 2 of them. To begin I'm going to get some made for R&D testing to see how they fit. I'll be looking for a few to try them in their 88 rear suspension arms. The concern on the 2 arms is the tubes they get pressed into are rolled and welded making it hard to determine a good outer diameter that will press in and fit nice. If the R&D samples are too loose or too tight I'll have them adjust the diameters and maybe try another run of R&D samples. Lots of tooling costs to make these. Roll the steel outer tubes to the shape/size and then the rubber molding stuff. Once all goes well I'll have a batch made of each. Hopefully by the end of summer but it may be longer yet. Not an easy project but it needs to be done.
Also making progress on the 88 front and rear sway bar frame to sway bar rubber bushings. That is coming along well and should be ready in a few months (hopefully). They will be using a self lubricating type rubber generally used for these types of rubber sway bar bushings so they won't squeak.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
Press bushing? W/ outer shell? Can likely use same press kit for CA bushings, available thru loaner tools at AZ etc.
quote
Originally posted by mattwa: I will admit poly is somewhat harsh in an 88 ( but not as bad as a full poly 84-87 rear suspension), however I have not heard one squeak from it yet.
Don't think no noise = bushings are good. Polly bushing can wear out and never make noise.
any CAs, tailing arms, etc attach to wheel see enough movement that inner sleeve tries to saw thru the polly. Lack of lube and road trash/dirt/etc can make this problem faster than many think.
Silicone Grease lube bushing but also keeps water/dirt out. Many grease outside of polly think noise but no... so water/etc can't get into small voids when meets outer shell and rust out the shell.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)