# "tall" spindle question



## Mr_Roboto (Apr 19, 2013)

OK, so my buddy thinks it's a good idea to do the tall spindle swap. Rather than thread jack about brake kits, I figured I'd start my own thread and ask some questions. First and foremost, it appears that the 73-77 A-bodies used a tall spindle, as well as using the larger lower ball joints. Was there a change in the chassis that would prevent us from stealing the lower arms from a 73-77 arms, swapping them out and using the B-car spindles that way? Has anyone even examined this as a swap?

Don't mind me if this has been covered, just musing over the parts books.


ED:

Found this which interetingly enough lists the kit for 67-77 A-bodies. If that's the case, then yeah this could be really interesting. Anyone got a set of arms to compare?

http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/tech/hppp_0912_suspension_kits_for_your_vintage_gto/viewall.html


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

What kind of car do you have? Helped a friend do this exact swap 20 years ago on a '65 GTO and it was a big 'ol mess. F-body front brakes/spindles...'73 or '74. Threw the camber/caster out the window. Didn't have enough room to install the shims needed with the exhaust manifolds on the car. Absolutely unworkable. Ended up installing '72 A body front spindles/rotors/calipers and it was sweet. Still is. And the car drives straight, too. If you want to monkey around with the suspension geometry, get the new adjustable arms,or a complete kit. The F-body spindle swap on A-bodies is a long dark road. Ask Ghosttown65 about spindle swaps. He's been initiated.....


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

if you want your car to handle like a firebird...buy a firebird. These are 4500 pound cars made for straight line performance. With GM stock bolt on brake and suspension enhancements they are very capable of putting you on the edge of your wide flat recliner like seat in some turns. If you plan on doing autocross or some road course style racing go all out and get the Global set-up, i think there's a member running it on his 69' for the track and does quite well, but thats a lot of scratch for tooling around on the street.


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## Mr_Roboto (Apr 19, 2013)

More looking for info on the mount point variances between 73-up and 72-previous for the control arms. I was looking at the B-car stuff more for the 12" rotors than the 11" Camaro stuff. Was definitely NOT planning on doing the shim thing, just bucking up for a set of arms as my buddy has done the same thing on his S10 so I have helped him with it. Based on what I'm reading though, the 73+ A-bodies also used tall spindles, so I was more wondering about the arms/mount points of those. If that were the case, theoretically they would bolt in. Question of things like track width come into play, but that's where taking measurements comes into play.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

What year car are you working on?


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

This can very easily go south on you. It's one of those things that "buddies recommend" (translation: they read it in a trick-of-the-month club magazine somewhere) but most often have no experience themselves... or maybe they did it their car and now they just want some company in their misery. Biggest problem: bump steer. When you change all the angles on the tie rods and stuff, what happens is as the suspension travels up and down it starts pushing and/or pulling on the tie rods and "funny things happen". There is a way to do it right, but it involves spending big bucks on custom parts and changing -everything-, not just the spindles. A few years back when I was thinking about doing this to my car and I lucked onto a very well written web site where a guy had gone through the whole exercise and what it took to finally make his car "right". Unfortunately I've lost the link and couldn't find it just now.
Google up "tall spindle bump steer" and start reading - you'll find plenty of sad stories.

Bear


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## 68Resto-mod (Nov 10, 2009)

Like Bear says, the spindle swap thing will likely result in bump steer issues. It sounds like you want to correct the camber problems that were engineered into the early A body suspensions. I am no expert, just a guy that has learned from mistakes. There is a great book that explains suspension geometry. Go to Amazon.com and search for “How to make your muscle car handle”. 

IMHO, I would keep the stock lower A arm and spindle and add the adjustable upper A arm that Geeteeohguy suggested along with tall ball joints for camber correction. If you have an extra $ and want to get into auto-cross, a complete Global setup is supposed to be top shelf. My next suspension upgrade will be the adjustable upper A arm and tall ball joints by SC&C. This will also allow the 5 degrees positive caster that will make the car track real nice.

Here is a link to an A arm/ball joint kit.

SC&C Street-Comp Stage 1 Plus GM A body `64-`72 with greaseable delrin bushings | Savitske Classic & Custom


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Well put, Bear. The fiasco my buddy and I went through years back was a _direct _result of reading "the trick tip of the month" in a well known publication. What a disaster, and what a bunch of BS. The car drove like it was on top of a ball. About as stable as a bicycle with the handlebars backwards with a passenger sitting on top of them!!! Ackerman principle comes into play, too, with zero/wrong centering coming out of turns. Dangerous.


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## Jeff's Classics (Feb 24, 2010)

68Resto-mod said:


> IMHO, I would keep the stock lower A arm and spindle and add the adjustable upper A arm that Geeteeohguy suggested along with tall ball joints for camber correction. If you have an extra $ and want to get into auto-cross, a complete Global setup is supposed to be top shelf. My next suspension upgrade will be the adjustable upper A arm and tall ball joints by SC&C. This will also allow the 5 degrees positive caster that will make the car track real nice.
> 
> Here is a link to an A arm/ball joint kit.
> 
> SC&C Street-Comp Stage 1 Plus GM A body `64-`72 with greaseable delrin bushings | Savitske Classic & Custom


That is the setup I put on my '68 GTO about 3 years ago, with stock springs and the Hellwig big hollow sway bar. I love the handling of this car, it's the best handling and riding muscle car I've ever been in. Much nicer to drive than even my Corvette, which has stock geometry but upgraded shocks, springs, and swaybars. I never want to drive the Corvette anymore since I upgraded the GTO, haha.
Jeff


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## Mr_Roboto (Apr 19, 2013)

12&#148; Corvette brakes on a first gen Camaro

Probably going with this or a variant honestly. It looks like it would be the easiest way to add decent sized brakes without a ton of worry on the suspension stuff.


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