Old spindle thread posts I "Larry Callahan" moved

[bret]

hehe...I can assure you we'll push the Camaro, the GG Chevelle, and every other car we drive as hard as we can. Its the only way to find the performance limits.
After we broke the spindle on the Chevelle at Costa Mesa we hauled it over to CPP in Anaheim to get it fixed up. A couple days later it was up and running and Ed Capen from Goodguys drove it back up the coast to Pleasanton. He was almost home when the 540 swallowed the carb stud. Trip over. They hauled the car back to Indiana where we found the carb stud embalmed into the #4 combustion chamber. Nice.
Anyway...suspension is fixed, fender, inner fender, hood and door fixed, engine fixed by Bill Mitchell and on the way back to us for re-installation. The car will be driven to the Atlanta Goodguys autocross where we will race it again at 110% throttle.
What happened to the spindle? Well, I immediately [on Sunday]called Brent VanDerVort [Fatmans] and he immediately pulled all of his stock [and ours] for magnaflux and heat treat inspection. This was before we had any opportunity to dis-assemble the car and evaluate the damage. All of his stock was good. All of ours was good. After getting the broken spindle back for evaluation we couldn't determine 100% what caused the failure because of the collateral damage, but think there may have simply been a flaw in the forging of that particular unit.
I guess the point is that if you routinely "push your car to the limit" you need to be prepared to find that limit. We search for that limit so our customers don't have to. In this particular case "we" would include Brent VanDerVort from Fatmans, Jim Ries from CPP, and Kyle tucker from Detroit Speed. The first guy to offer assistance was Kyle...and he did it because he was instictively concerned as a hotrodder for my safety and the well being of the car. He also offered assistance in evaluating the cause of the failure. He recognizes that this situation, if left unresolved, hurts everyone in the long run. Kyle and Stacey are one of you and one of us...don't forget that.
Brent VanDerVort is also one of you and one of us. He responded immediately and fully.
So has the spindle failure been resolved? In the context of being comfortable with supplying these spindles to customers...even customers who want to autocross a 4000lb car on an extremely sticky track...yes, I am quite comfortable. I have replaced the broken spindle with a duplicate unit, I have several other of my own cars with this exact spindle [my GSX has almost 30,000 miles on it], and I have installed these spindles on my new Camaro that will be [hopefully] raced next week at the Year One event in Atlanta.
In the context of ever being satisfied with the performance of ANY of my products, failures or not...the day that happens will be my last.