Possible to Run Wilwood AERO6 Front Brakes on 2nd Gen Fbody Stock?

[bkbkbk]

Howdy all,
I've searched around a while and had'nt seen a definitive answer to whether it's possible to run an AERO6 front brake kit (or combination of AERO6 Calipers and à la carte parts) with stock 2nd gen Fbody spindles.

I know Wilwood offers a kit for the 1st gens but does not sell one for the 2nd. I wanted to throw this question out there in the off chance anyone has maybe used modified stock spindles and ran some version of the AERO6. I currently have stock spindles and a DSE front suspension kit "2" up front on my 1973 Firebird and wanted to see if I could squeak by with this and run the AERO6s without too much effort.

Thanks!

[anguilla1980]

I would not suggest it if you are going to track the car heavily due to the small size and failure rate of the factory wheel bearings when pushed really hard. I have first-hand experience lol. 2 failures so far and now I'm looking at aftermarket spindles with much larger and modern sealed bearings.

[smax]

I just swapped out the stock spindles on my 73 Camaro for a set of CPP C5 spindles, and I'm running Wilwood SLC56 calipers with these spindles. With these spindles you could run the AERO6 calipers.

[$Mike70Z-28]

you will need to call them. i know for a fact with other brake kits . you can change calipers and they supply different brackets to mount them.

[bkbkbk]

Thanks all for the good feedback. I didn't realize there was that stark of a difference in the bearing strength between the stock and corvette spindle systems. You've now got me going down the rabbit hole of researching/weighing my options for corvette spindles and brakes

[bkbkbk]

Hey smax, what upper and lower control arms are you using with your CPP C5 spindle setup?

The reason I ask is because after researching brakes and bearings, I think the C5 style spindle is the route I'd like to go, however I'd love to get confirmation from someone using the DSE tubular upper and lower control arms that they didn't experience any unfavorable geometry impacts with that combination.

[79T/Aman]

Control arms have zero impact on the spindles (unless you were going down the road of building a real racing set up)
Control arms also have minimal impact on static geometry (unless the pivot point distances have been changed)
Don't confuse geometry with alignment.
DON'T be fooled with "stark difference" in bearing strength, the early 70-78 F-body spindles used the same spindle pin bearings as the first gens A6 inner and A2 outer bearings, in 79 the outer bearing was changed to the A3 the pin size went from .750" to .844" yes some first gen spindles have had failures but unless you are truly heavily racing the car with high amount of tire loads I would not worry about it.
Problem with sealed bearing hubs, the bearings are very close together and were not designed to support the loads that are generated by older cars suspension layout.
The standard serviceable bearing has a much wider bearing spread and the load point is between the bearings, on sealed hubs the load point is outside the bearings creating a prying effect on the bearings.
Now if you are going to go the route of the sealed bearings do not use C5 hubs especially the cpps at minimum use SKF oem C7 (AC Delco and Timkens will be reboxed SKF and will be around $130-160 ea.) or the best would be SKF race hubs or Heidts supper hubs at $300+ ea.

PTFB has new spindles that are similar to your stock ones (direct bolt on) but with the bigger 79-81 bearings and have also better steering geometry, and they are available ready to fit your Wilwood caliper brackets.
If you choose the cpp spindle route only purchase the spindles and PTFB can supply you the Super hubs as well.

[dontlifttoshift]

What's a super hub?

OP, use the CPP spindles and order a Wilwood kit for a C6/6 corvette and you are done. Absolutely use the C7 hubs and not the CPP hubs.

[79T/Aman]

The Super hub is a new hub, a bit expensive at this point however.

[dontlifttoshift]

Super helpful.

How about who makes the super hub? I saw you mention Heidts and I am having a hard time equating that name with quality, let alone on par with the SKF race hubs.

[bkbkbk]

Wow 79T/Aman and Donny, thank yall so much for the quick replies.

DSE advertises improved castor/camber and mentions "improved geometry" so I did want to just sanity check the combination of DSE arms and CPP spindles by some folks just to be safe. Thank you for chiming in there.

79T/Aman, yessir I absolutely plan to run the ACDelco 20981829 / FW412 hubs if I go the CPP spindle route. That approach of running the SKF hubs was sparked by previous conversations I read on the forum by you, David Pozzi and a few others.

I've been leaning pretty hard this route so I can run corvette style brakes and simplify hub servicing on a moderate budget.

[79T/Aman]

most any upper arms worth anything will have caster built into the control arms by moving the ball joint fore/aft, camber can also be built into the arms by making them shorter or longer, realistically there is not much difference between all the arms on the market, maybe a degree and 1/8" not enough to change the static geometry that much, now camber gains will be affected much more due to the amount of pos. caster that can be dialed in.
By no means am I trying to imply that the DSE arms are not worth it, just clearing up the fact that most aftermarket control arms give you the ability to achieve more aggressive alignment settings, nothing more.
As for the brake calipers, is there a need to use the AERO6 calipers? if you want to do this on a budget those calipers will run you $1000 alone plus the radial brackets $200, pads start at $200 and there is no real street friendly compound, in the end you will have over $2000 in this.

[bkbkbk]

Thanks 79T/Aman, for the additional info on the control arms. This is all in line with what I assumed, seeing as these aftermarket control arms are marketed to be compatible with so many different component parts set-ups.

Regarding the brakes, I'll be the first to admit that there likely isn't a "need" for the AERO6 and I am still weighing my options for brakes. I want a manual brake setup for a heavy car that will mostly serve as my excuse/platform to fool around with autocross for some fun. Most of what is currently in/going into my car is likely overkill for the power I have because I like to have ample headroom for my driving error + keep options open for adding more power in the future.. an approach taken from growing up around road racers and my LIMITED experience supporting a motorcycle landspeed racing team.

Im very open to taking feedback. When I consider piston area, pad area, and materials, the OEM corvette brakes seem hard to beat. The wilwoods definitely offer an additional cool factor and some of the tech in the AERO6 Race 140-14557 kit (and its variant options) caught my attention.