73-77 GM A body

[LSx442]

I am preparing to start to restomod on my 77 Olds 442. I'm looking to lower the car and upgrade while I'm at it. I know Global West now makes parts as does DSE... Can someone help me decide what to purchase. I don't have a clue about any of this stuff... I will be upgrading to C5 brakes and I was thinking I should probably upgrade spindles since I want the car to be lowered

[Apogee]

I think you'll find that drop spindles probably are not the best solution for your vehicle, but a call to Mark at SC&C (www.scandc.com) for all of your suspension consulting needs would probably answer questions that you didn't even know you had yet.

FYI, there's also an upcoming resto-mod build in High Peformance Pontiac magazine of a '77 Pontiac LeMans "Can-Am" car that should correlate well to your build in most ways. Global West has been heavily involved in that project, as have we.

Tobin
KORE3

[LSx442]

I didn't really find much as far as drop spindles for my car and I would rather use drop springs anyway. I saw an article in PHR with a Luguna which was some help. I'll check out High Performance Pontiac also


Thanks for the reply Tobin, I'll be in contact with you soon for some brakes

[LSx442]

Ok after going back and forth for a while I've decied to go with DSE's upper & lower control arms. They are a little cheaper than Global West so I figure I'll save some money where I can. For the rear I really like Global West's setup with the bushing for the rear end so I might use their stuff. I think I'm going with DSE's lowering springs too. I'm a little worried about 2" being too low but I can always swap them out if I decide it will be a problem.

Would there be anything to gain by swapping to 94-96 B-body spindles? I know my car and those use the same spindle but I read the B-body had lighter spindles and possibly bearings were larger also

[Randy67]

I believe the bearings went larger in '78. I know my 81 Camaro has the larger bearings and they fit on the B-body spindle. If you are changing spindles, go with the 78-up ones for 12" rotors for a low cost upgrade. You will need to get 1LE rotors from a 88-92 F-body also to keep the 5 on 4.75 bolt pattern (B-rotors are 5 on 5).

[LSx442]

Thanks for the reply. I'm glad you mentioned the lug pattern because I didn't even think about it.

So your saying to use 78+ 2nd gen F-body spindles? I will be upgrading brakes to C5 vette brakes using Kore3 brackets.

[Apogee]

Note that the 91-96 B-body spindles differ slightly with respect to the steering arm tie-rod end position, but nothing an alignment won't fix. Since you'll be upgrading the OE brakes anyway, there's very little advantage to swapping your spindles unless you've just gotta have that .844" outer wheel bearing. Note that the SET34 wheel bearing is just a glorified SET2 with a larger ID...same OD and very similar load and speed ratings. The SET3 bearing is a bigger OD bearing with bigger rollers, giving it an improved load and speed rating over both the SET2 and SET34 bearings, but how many of those have you failed? We do make 7075 race hubs for the SET3 bearing, but again, it just depends on how you intend to use your car as to where I would suggest putting your hard earned money.

If this is going to see some serious track abuse, you could upgrade to the 1995-96 9C1/Wagon spindle with the 5/8" lower balljoint, but you'd need your lower arms to be built for the larger balljoints.

Tobin
KORE3

[novaderrik]

the 94-96 B body spindle is a few pounds lighter and a bit stronger than the older spindles. i think it is just a balljoint swap away from being a bolt in deal.