LS4 / F40 swap - fieroguru (Page 43/216)
fieroguru JAN 25, 06:53 PM
The rod ends/heim joints finally showed up (on back order for 1 month) so I can get started on the rod end lateral link upgrade. The rod ends are chromoly, teflon lined, with a wide format 1/2" hole on the ball end and 5/8-18 threads. They are rated for 24K lbs. The wider format and 1/2" hole greatly simplify the mounting in the stock lateral link pockets... just need two thick washers about .175" thick.






In addition to all the suspension/brake upgrades listed above, the car will also have poly bushings in front, rear coil overs, aluminum sway bar bushings front/rear and zero lash sway bar links... and that should wrap up the handling upgrades... (unless I make some aluminum upper a-arm bushings for the front..)

Work has been nuts this week and we are at peak activity for the next 3 weeks... But I should have time to continue to make progress on the weekends.
fieroguru JAN 27, 07:53 PM
Almost done with the modifying the S10 bearing and 88 upright to fit the two together... just need to modify the bearing to upright bolt pattern on the bearing now.
F355spider JAN 27, 08:37 PM

quote
Originally posted by fieroguru:


For the fronts, I am going to redrll the stock bearing flange for 5 x 4 3/4.
The S10 bearing in the rear requires extensive machining to the bearing and upright to get the two to work together. The S10 bearing housing is 3.6" in OD and the hole in the upright is 2.8". Both are being modified to about 3.10 to allow them to fit each other.




So the fronts will still be 88 Fiero. I was hoping there was a better choice for the front.
thanks,
fieroguru JAN 28, 07:38 AM

quote
Originally posted by F355spider:


So the fronts will still be 88 Fiero. I was hoping there was a better choice for the front.
thanks,



I might check into doing this same bearing/upright mod to the front as well. The bore in the upright is just a little smaller, but the bolt pattern is about 1/4" in diameter smaller.
Bloozberry JAN 28, 10:06 AM
Excellent work there fieroguru! If my eyes don't deceive me, it looks like this mod will push the wheel mounting flange outboard by only a couple millimeters as compared to stock.
fieroguru JAN 28, 10:48 AM

quote
Originally posted by Bloozberry:

Excellent work there fieroguru! If my eyes don't deceive me, it looks like this mod will push the wheel mounting flange outboard by only a couple millimeters as compared to stock.



Yes, as it is right now, the flange is pushed outboard slightly. I will probably remove the needed material from the face of the upright to bring it back to the stock location.
F355spider JAN 28, 11:42 AM

quote
Originally posted by fieroguru:


I might check into doing this same bearing/upright mod to the front as well. The bore in the upright is just a little smaller, but the bolt pattern is about 1/4" in diameter smaller.



Sounds good. I have a new set of 88 bearings stored but would be nice to have a beefier bearing. The wife's car is running some serious meat on the front.
I did a z28 front PS rack a while back with your mechanical skills it might be something to add to your arsenal of goods. I will be needing a PS set up latter. (hint)
fieroguru JAN 28, 08:17 PM
Only had about 2 hrs to spend in the garage today, but I was able to tear down the upright for the other side and get it bored as well:



Also, looked into the possibility of installing a modified S10 wheel bearing in a modified front 88 upright.
In this pic, the calipers are set for the 3.062" dimension that the S10 wheel bearing is turned down to.


The 88 front bearing bolt pattern is 3.74" diameter and a M12 bolt is .472". So the inner edge of the bolt threads will be at 3.268". With the 3.063 hole, the wall thickness would be .103"... not too much.

The other issue, is the bolt heads are .754"


The ID of the bearing housing (where the balls are) is 2.743"


So by the time the front side of the bearing housing is clearanced for the bolt heads, the wall thickness would be reduced to .122" at the notched portion.

The stock bearing wall thickness for the 88 rear wheel bearing is .117", which is thinner than the .122" the modified S10 bearing will have at the notched for the mounting bolts.
The modified S10 bearing has .160" wall thickness with it turned down to 3.062", so I could turn it down some more (.040" more) and increase the wall thickness of the upright at the bolts to .143" from .103"

The last issue would be the flange protrusion depth. The S10 wheel bearing would push the wheel flange out .44" on each side... and there really isn't mush of an opportunity to trim down the bearing (1/8" max) and the upright (probably another 1/8" max). There are 4 Timken part #'s for 4 3/4" wheel bearings that have a 1.66" wheel flange depth (vs. 1.86" on the S10 and 1.42" on the 88 Front wheel bearing), they only come with ABS and I do not know how that would impact modifying the bearing housing.

For the time being, I will probably just redrill the stock 88 front wheel bearing flanges for the 5 x 4 3/4".
fieroguru JAN 28, 08:23 PM

quote
Originally posted by F355spider:


Sounds good. I have a new set of 88 bearings stored but would be nice to have a beefier bearing. The wife's car is running some serious meat on the front.
I did a z28 front PS rack a while back with your mechanical skills it might be something to add to your arsenal of goods. I will be needing a PS set up latter. (hint)



I posted the information about installing the bearing in the 88 front above. The biggest issue would be the flange depth, but you could take care of that with the proper wheel purchase. If doing both front and rear, I would recommend making all the bearings the same, that way you can do 5 at once and have a spare that will work for both front/rear.

I probably will not be doing anything with power steering for quite some time. Adding a pump to my current accessory drive would be problematic.
Besides, my wife likes my muscular arms, so might as well keep the daily workout out for them.

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 01-28-2012).]

fieroguru JAN 29, 05:33 PM
The mount bolt holes on the flange of the S10 wheel bearing are tapped, so I modified 2 of the bolts to fit into the T-slot of the mill.


Once everything was indicated in, I drilled through the wheel flange and enlarged the hole to 3/4". Then used a 3/4" end mill to clearance the side of the bearing housing for the bolt head and to flatten the casting at the base.



Then went back though with a 1/2" end mill to drill the new holes (for the fiero upright pattern):


The two locating bolts were sacrificed for the drilling process:



Bearing all modified:



Bolted in place on the 88 Fiero rear upright:


The work to install the modified S10 wheel bearings into a modified 88 rear upright is now complete. The only part left for this project is swapping the outer CV for one from the S10 (27 spline).