What should be my next fiero mod?

I can either.....

1) put KYBs/sensatracs, with some ebay coilovers and qa1 progressive rate springs

OR

2) I can get a nitrous kit




HELP.....what should be my next upgrade?

get the KYB kit from the fiero store

I agree.....get the upgraded suspension. Nitrous is cool, and very addicting....but unless you can make some money by using it, you'll end up spending more money because of it in the long run. It has too many downfalls to use on a street car.

Thanks for the advice.

Why pay $319 & $334 for some kyb shocks/struts and a sway bar. That doesn't sound very smart to me. I put a front sway bar on the rear of my 86 fastback for dirt cheap. The kyb's have a life time warranty, instead of buying them from the fiero store I can buy them from Advance Auto for cheaper and if they break...guess what...no shipping charges. Their cheapest kit doesn't even include springs. This is my "cheat" sheet.....

1. A set of the cheapest ebay double locking adjustable coil overs, ditch the shitty springs, you only want the spring perches. $85 w/shipping

2. A set of KYB shocks/struts Fronts-42.88 Rears-62.88 = $226.33 w/tax
A set of Monroe Sensatracs Fronts-25.88 Rears-49.88= $162.13 w/tax

3. A set of HAL QA1 progressive rate springs from summit for $49.95 each. Not sure if I want the 140/250s or the 225/475s. $208.75 w/s&h

That brings the total up to about $455.75 if you go with the sensatracs
or $519.95 if you go with the KYBs.


Sounds a little pricey BUT I will have adjustable heights, I will be able to put wider rims on and I will have a way sicker suspension than ANYBODY can offer for the price paid.

OR

For the more conservative side of me I could just get the sensatracs and intrax drop springs which are also progressive rate springs. For the price listed above for the sensatracs plus about $200 for the intrax and have the same amount of performance without the adjustability of coilovers :mad:. total on package 2 comes to about $360.

You need some very stiff shocks and struts to make the ride tollerable. Dropping it as far as the Intrax springs do, you definitely do not want to get the Monroes....a good set should last you a couple years, but a not so good set may blow out after only a couple months. The front shocks are extremely easy to replace, so it's not such a big deal, but changing the rear struts takes some time and requires a wheel alignment when finished. If you want to try to save a few bucks do it on the front......you don't want to have to re-do the rear! ;)

The only reason I considered Monroes is because black-azz-gt on pennocks has been running with them and the intrax along with poly everything and he says he has had no problems. He's been riding on them for about 9 months he told me. They are cheap and have a liftime warranty, but so do the KYBs. Neither the Monroes or the KYB's are warrantied if there is more than a 1.5" drop. So I have not made my mind up yet.

You need some very stiff shocks and struts to make the ride tollerable. Dropping it as far as the Intrax springs do, you definitely do not want to get the Monroes....a good set should last you a couple years, but a not so good set may blow out after only a couple months. The front shocks are extremely easy to replace, so it's not such a big deal, but changing the rear struts takes some time and requires a wheel alignment when finished. If you want to try to save a few bucks do it on the front......you don't want to have to re-do the rear! ;)

what are you ridin on?

You can check out my Fiero page at FierceGT.com. But I have KYB shocks and struts on 2 of my cars, and Suspension Techniques springs on my '85, and Intrax on the '87. I'd recommend the Suspension Techniques springs over the Intrax.....the Intrax make the car almost 1/2 lower...which looks really cool, but doesn't offer as good of a ride. If you want it to be really low, get the Intrax....the car will still handle way better than stock, but for the best handling, I'd either go with the Eibach or the Suspension Techniques. Also while you have everything apart, it's not a bad idea to go ahead and change to poly bushings. You'll need a torch to burn the old rubber ones out. It's kind of fun actually, and if you do it right you can get them to shoot out a few feet on their own :D just don't touch the hot rubber.....

You can check out my Fiero page at FierceGT.com. But I have KYB shocks and struts on 2 of my cars, and Suspension Techniques springs on my '85, and Intrax on the '87. I'd recommend the Suspension Techniques springs over the Intrax.....the Intrax make the car almost 1/2 lower...which looks really cool, but doesn't offer as good of a ride. If you want it to be really low, get the Intrax....the car will still handle way better than stock, but for the best handling, I'd either go with the Eibach or the Suspension Techniques. Also while you have everything apart, it's not a bad idea to go ahead and change to poly bushings. You'll need a torch to burn the old rubber ones out. It's kind of fun actually, and if you do it right you can get them to shoot out a few feet on their own :D just don't touch the hot rubber.....

I second that. Also using KYBs on my 88. They work great for a street car. Could be a bit stiffer. With the next step being Koni-brand (and thus Koni cost) though.... they'll do :-).
I also installed poly bushings on the front of my 88 (doing the rears next month). It was pretty easy. May as well do the ball joints and tie rods while you're in there, and get a fresh alignment. Then you wont have to touch anything for a looongg time.
Definitely go with coilovers for the rear. Since you will be using smaller diameter springs with the coilover setup you can trim your spring perches to gain clearance for wider rims/tires. For my setup, I used HAL single-rate springs, 170lb rate. This is 20lb over stock on the 88 rears. Pre 88's have higher spring rates front and rear. Sorry, I don't have the values on hand for those. I'd like to try the progressive rate springs from HAL.; I'll ppossibly get a pair to install when I drop the cradle to put in my 3.4 DOHC next month since it'll be easy to access everything at that point. However, with as little suspension travel as there is after lowering the rear, I don't know how much of a difference it will make.
I have not tried the Monroe shocks/struts myself but I have heard that they have the same or very similar stiffness to KYBs. There is also one more option, Gabriel struts. I've heard good things about these as well, but again haven't tried them myself.

-Steven

ive heard some good stuff about gabriels also and im thinkin about giving them a try. ill post on how they do when i get some. im also going with the "go to the junk yard and get a front sway and bolt it on the rear" technique. i have instructions on how to do this.

your next upgrade should be powersteering. hahaha

power steering? NO WAY. the steering is easy without it, power steering and you would be overcorrecting and spinning donuts on every turn.

Was looking at your profile to see if you have a 84-87 or an 88, but you have a 1995 Civic. Hmmm.
"GOATNIPPLES"
With a name like that you better be tough!

yeah it was sarcastic hence the hahaha at the end

yeah it was sarcastic hence the hahaha at the end

oh. :lol2:

Was looking at your profile to see if you have a 84-87 or an 88, but you have a 1995 Civic. Hmmm.
"GOATNIPPLES"
With a name like that you better be tough!

I did own a civic because I thought they were fast until I owned one. It quickly became my R&D car. I currently own a 86 fastback (that starts) and an 85 notch (for parts).

I can hold my own and the name is a joke on my street name. My friends call my goatnipples.

I was gonna drop it but I ran into a problem I thought I spun a bearing or threw a rod but after I tore my engine apart i quickly found out it was one of those cups on the exhaust valve. So I decided to put a CompCams K-Kit on my 2.8. Almost done. 260H cam, valve springs, timing chain and gears, retainers, locks, and seals. I bought some Comp pushrods. total was 349 something from summit. I thought that was an awesome deal.

Found out that wasn't the problem and I don't want to fuck with this piece of shit chevy calls 2.8 and I am going to upgrade to a 3.4 pushrod with the milled heads I have and the 260 cam.

Found out that wasn't the problem and I don't want to fuck with this piece of shit chevy calls 2.8 and I am going to upgrade to a 3.4 pushrod with the milled heads I have and the 260 cam.

:lol:

yeah my car should be running soon, finally got a guy to do the swap, got the Crane Cam, 2.02/1.60 heads, MSD box, new hi-per dissy, taylor wires, platinum plugs, hi-flow oil and water pumps, new oil pump pickup, new radiator, new hoses, new shift knob (50 horses! lol), shift kit, and thats it so far, gotta break her in :)

Those heads sound like the heads off a gen 2 or 3 60 degree v6 and I hope you changed the pistons if you use them because your compression will be through the roof, like 12, 13 or 14 from what I understand. If they are aluminum you will blow that motor so quick. Just fill the tank with 100 octane or anything higher.

the guys who built the engine said it would be fine...