Another G-Body Question

[tiek1011]

First off I have found my home! This forum is awesome and just what I have been looking for.

I have searched and read so much info that I think my brain is going to explode. I am building a PT '80 Buick Regal and I'm 99% sure I have figured out what I am going to do are far as front suspension and brakes are concerned. Due to a limited budget, I am going with the B-Body spindle/ 1LE front brakes. I know there are other & better ways but this is what I can afford at the moment. My question is, do/should I use tall ball joints with this set-up? I have read many threads and just can't figure it out or remember if I read a definitive answer.



Any help would be appreciated.

[HILROD]

I know you need a modified lower ball joint. The upper would not need the tall joint as it is built into the spindle. Also there are bumpsteer and other issues with the B body swap. I've heard there is someone who is making the spindles with different steering arms, but that could be just a bad flashback on my part. I would think you'd be happier with a bigger brake swap on your stock spindles, with a tall upper ball joint. I've seen others turn the rotor into a hub, and use parts house stuff.

[Tony_SS]

I like the 80 Regal! Sounds like a fun project.

Depends on how far you want to take it? I have g-body spindles altered so that LS1 brakes fit on them. You can run the stock arms or throw in the tall ball joints with an upper a-arm swap.

Good luck with the project!

[Marcus SC&C]

Nope don`t use tall ball joints with the B spindles,they don`t need to be any taller than they are. In fact don`t use the B spindles at all. A limited budget is no excuse. For the same money just look for a set of newer S10 ZQ8 dual piston brake spindles on flea bay. For the time being the 11" dual piston brakes are a huge improvement over stock G body brakes and they won`t ruin your steering geometry or mess up the track width like the B spindles. When you`re ready to upgrade it`s really cheap and easy to upgrade them correctly to 13" C5 Corvette brakes. The 1LE swap is poorly named,it`s really an old D52 single piston brake swap with 1LE rotors just to get the correct bolt pattern. Real 1LE cars derived most of their increased braking from the big aluminum C4 Corvette calipers they used. If you want to get increased cornering with the ZQ8 spindles then just use them with a StreetComp Stage 2 package and you`ll really have a nice complete package with no downside.

PS Cool project. I used to have a few Regals including a `79 Turbo Sport Coupe (I always wished it had the `80 quad headlight front end!). Mark SC&C

[GBodyGMachine]

Do tall ball joints with a G Body Spindle

[GBodyGMachine]

O, and mark knows EVERYTHING. A great source for G-Body parts and info.

Jeff
(This gets me a 10% discount on my next order right?) LOL

[tiek1011]

Thanks for the replies. The caliper on the B-Body/1LE swap had me concerned, at first I figured it used the Camaro caliper, but was amazed at the single piston caliper. …not really the way I “wanted” to go.

Does the S10 ZQ8 spindle use a hub pack (or whatever it’s called) or is it a regular spindle like the G-Body? And Mark, when you said “When you’re ready to upgrade it’s really cheap and easy to upgrade them correctly to 13" C5 Corvette brakes.” does that mean I will use the S-10 spindles with the upgrade? ...What year S-10 am I looking for?

And the last question, what would be a good starting point for a performance alignment? I read somewhere the G-Body needs more negative camber, as much caster as you can get, and about 1/16 inch of toe. Does that sound right?

Thanks again for all of the help.

[Eric Howell]

The dual piston S-10 spindles are 98+ Blazer only, not ZQ8. The ZQ8 spindles are the same as std. S-10 and G body spindles. The dual piston uses a divorced hub (non serviceable bearings)

[tiek1011]

Thanks, so I would need the whole thing, spindle/hub, rotor, caliper all from the Blazer?

[Tony_SS]

try s10 warehouse on Ebay for the front brake/spindle setups.

[Samckitt]

I have that setup using Corvette C5 13" rotors & 2 piston calipers. Can't comment on it yet because I haven't driven it since putting them on.

If you decide that is the route you want to take & you can't find the parts let me know, I may be able to find them at a junk yard near here.

[tiek1011]

Thanks guys for all of the help. Are the 13" rotors a direct bolt-on?

[LS6 Tommy]

Marcus really knows his stuff. I wishSc&C had their stuff back when I got my GW stuff and installed the 1LE/Bbody spindle swap, although anyone I know who has that setup is more than pleased. The D52 caliper is more than adequate for a street car, even with a few track days thrown in, considering they're used on GM light trucks.

Tommy

[white79bu]

I agree with everyone else. Marcus is the man when it comes to this stuff. I have the b-body spindles on my malibu with C5 stuff now. But when I first did about 5 or 6 years ago that was the hot set up. My car drive's pretty well and seems to handle pretty good. It does seem to wonder sometimes when I'm going down the road, but I think that most of that is due to the hard autocross tires I have. I would love to have the AFX set up but what I have works for now.

[jackfrost]

i have the GW b-body spindle setup on my 442, and I love it. I don't notice the bumpsteer issues everyone always talks about. I think if you're on a budget, you can pull the parts together pretty cheaply.

[Tony_SS]

i have the GW b-body spindle setup on my 442, and I love it. I don't notice the bumpsteer issues everyone always talks about. I think if you're on a budget, you can pull the parts together pretty cheaply.

It's a good budget swap until you get to the $600 Hotchkis/GW uppers that are needed... unless you used a different solution?

[jackfrost]

no, you're right. although I was assuming any sort of front end upgrade will involve aftermarket tubular upper arms. and there are cheaper options now than GW's.

[tiek1011]

Well it looks like I'm going to go the S-10 Blazer knuckel/hub route. I'm still unsure what rotors / calipers to use. I would like the 13" if they will fit in my 16" wheels. My head is about to explode from all of the information I have been looking at. ...and then I need to find adapter plates for the calipers, I've seen some drawings floating around here but I'm not sure if they work with the G-body, S-10, Corvette, pinto, Gremlin blah, blah, blah swap. I'll get this thing figured out one of these days. Thank you everyone for your help.

[Samckitt]

Thanks guys for all of the help. Are the 13" rotors a direct bolt-on?

The C5 Vette 13" rotors are the same 5 on 4.75" bolt circle. They slip on perfectly. However the C5 Vette caliper will NOT bolt onto the S10 knuckle without some fabricating. A bracket between the knuckle & caliper bracket is needed to make it work.

[tiek1011]

A bracket between the knuckle & caliper bracket is needed to make it work.

Do you know where I can get this bracket? Is there a drawing or something so I can fab it my self? I tried searching for it but just came up with a bracket for the F-Body.