Hello i am looking for a stronger front suspension setup for my 86GT as it now pulls over 1g lateral acceleration. Im afraid i am going to bend a spinde since they are somewhat weak. Will an 88 front knuckle/bearing assembly bolt in to the 84-87 upper and lower control arms? as long as the ball stud and tie rod holes are in the right place it should bolt right in, right?

I do not own an 88 but I have heard that the front hub assemblies are impossible to find so maybe figure out a way to adapt the rear hub assembly to your current spindle with machine work or I know that there is a lowering front spindle made that uses the rear hub.

They arent impossible to find.

I know of a complete front unit waiting to be scrapped since no one wants it.( PM me if anyone wants details, it's not mine)

I have an 88 unit in process of being installed in my 86. The parts do not interchange, It's either all 88 or all 84-87. The spindles on an '88 are not "stronger" than the pre 88. More failures are seen when racing on 88's than the 84-87 spindle type. But the geometry is leaps forward of the pre 88 stuff.

There are threads here on what it takes to install an 88 unit into pre 88 cars. There are also, as mentioned, aftermarket units from Arraut Motorsports to use modified cartridge style hubs on the front of both 88 and 84-87 cars. There was once, and hopefully very soon, 84-87 drop spindles that used a larger spindle from G-body's/S-10/F-bodies and have multiple bolt patterns in the hub. DoubleC4 bought the patterns and mold's and will hopefully be able to make them soon.

[This message has been edited by FieroWannaBe (edited 01-30-2013).]

If you bend a spindle that's the least of your worries because it's gonna be one hell of a crash to to that.

I've looked into this before a litte bit. But I was looking for the opposite effect. The 84-87 spindle's axle line is very low when compared to an 88 spindle, which is roughly centered. So effectivly 88 spindles would be drop spindles in an earlier suspension. 88 spindles heavily limit you to what kind of bearing you can use in them as 88 Fiero front bearings are the only ones known to fit the spindle. The 84-87 bearings one are better by a long ways anyway, especially since the two tapered bearings are inches apart, rather then smashed into one *tiny* assembly. But they still leave a lot to be desired. That said, Rodney Dickman did start having a better bearing made for the 88's very recently.

In 83-84, John callies and his team created the Indy Fiero pace car. They had trouble with the stock bearings over heating at high speeds. They had custom hubs made, and used 83' F body bearings with spacers installed on the spindles to fit the larger ID bearings. They averaged 144 MPH laps in that car. The spindles were stock otherwise.

I've seen a few bent spindles surprisingly. I centered up the spindle by its point in the front and back on a lathe and the bend in the shaft was obvious when rotated. Not sure what kind of accidents the ones I was checking out were in, just thought it was interesting.

I have done this. The steering arms must be cut off the spindles and new ones fabricated or there will be extreme bump steer. I made mine from early chevelle arms. Worked very well.

quote Originally posted by mattman134: to bend a spinde since they are somewhat weak.

What makes you think that?

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/A...10-2-047965.html#p14

quote Originally posted by Will: What makes you think that?

My one son bent a spindle sliding into a ditch on his 84 notchie. He later handed the car down to his little brother who bent the other one. It's not that hard.

[This message has been edited by weaselbeak (edited 01-31-2013).]

I've bent one myself, but it takes a crash... and anything can get broken in a crash. I've folded '88 rear links in half, but that doesn't mean they're too weak to run high performance tires.

Keep it between the lines and they're fine.

[This message has been edited by Will (edited 01-31-2013).]