C5 spindles

[dennis68]

Anybody (Marcus) have any information on what is involved in getting C5 spindles on to A or F body ball joints? I don't have any to measure for taper. Marcus, you have PM.

[Salt Racer]

C5 knuckles use so called 10-degree (1ft over 2") taper ball joints, and if I'm not mistaken, 2nd gen F-body used the same taper. But I'm not positive. Early A-bodies use 7-degree (1ft over 1.5") taper.

UBJ would be more of a problem, and that's why I mentioned Marcus since he's done it already.

[dennis68]

Well I have the LBJ solved, any idea what upper I could use. I am using speedway arms so mounting is not a problem, I can get any mount fabbed on.

We talked about this before Katz, does the steering arm position the outer tie rod in a more favorable position for bump steer/ackerman? How about turning radius, a common complaint with tall spindle users (here is where Marcus chimes in with I told you so).

[sonicblue70]

Dennis if you don't mind me asking which of the speedway control arms did you end up going with?

Thanks,
Corey

[Salt Racer]

That depends on the steering arm design. I'm not sure what Marcus really did on his, other than the tie rods have been dropped quite a bit to work with G-body drag link. In terms of bumpsteer, your tie rods are too long as is (relative to UCA/LCA), but since you'll probably need longer UCA to make up for KPI difference, it may work out better.

Unless tie rod holes are kicked out towards the rotors, chances are Ackermann angle will be reduced. This, I'm assuming based on what you said about tall spindles (ie, larger turning radius therefore longer steering arms), and Marcus' steering arms are pretty short. If my assumptions are correct, turning radius should be better than tall spindle conversion. It will also make the overall steering ratio quicker, which you probably want.

As far as UBJ goes, go to Marcus' web site and see what he did. You'll have to do something similar. Otherwise the knuckles are too tall and you'll have super short FVSA and super high RC.

www.scandc.com

[dennis68]

OK, It is way more involved than I originally thought to use the C5 spindle, involved being I can't build them in the garage and I won't pay the $$$$$$ to have them modified to work. a couple hundred for ready to go parts is one thing but getting into the thousands for sopindles and ball joints, thats nuts. If one were to come with a CAD drawing of a pair of spindles, how much and where would you go to have them built? If I am going to spend money on spindles I might as well have them built exactly how I want right?

[Salt Racer]

Dennis,
Try places like Stock Car Products, Coleman Racing, AFCO, etc. They may be able to make you a custom set for $300~400. The catch is you may have to lose 5x4.75 bolt pattern (but you can always re-drill pattern on their hubs).

[dennis68]

What about emachine shop.com. I downloaded the software and have playing with a CAD drawing. It looks like about 200/ea for 1 off parts but if I can get a few together the price comes down to like 75/ea. Just don't know that I want to trust my CAD drawing to that kind of investment.

[Salt Racer]

What kind of capability does emachine shop.com have? How about their tolerance? $200 for one-off small parts (like caliper brackets) makes sense, but that's dirt cheap for a spindle.