I have swaped out my A body spindles for B body spindles. Reading up on suspension improvements these will lower the front 1 inch and and widen the stance. One problem Wilwood has two kits one positive offset and one negative. Not sure how to decide what to get or just correct the offset with the rims. I called wilwood and the tech guy did not know what I ment by B body spindles??? He had know idea what a B body car was. Then told me they don't have a kit for them but I clearly found them on there web site. Anyone out there do a spindels swap? What kind of front brakes are you running?

 

I assume you are talking about the 1977-1990 B-body spindles, correct? Did you use the correct late-model ball joints and tie rod ends? The later spindles use a different ball joint taper from the A-body spindles and while you can bolt them up with the early ball joints, the mis-match in taper can lead to suspension failure.

Also, did you use spindles with 11" brakes or 12" brakes? The 11" brakes are the same diameter as the stock A-body brakes and are no improvement. The 12" brakes require you to use 1LE rotors if you want to keep the 5 x 4.75" bolt pattern.

What did you do about the alignment problem? The taller B-body spindles require either a boatload of alignment shims or the aftermarket short upper control arms. And you are aware of the bump-steer problem, right?

 

The spindles I have install are casting 36955 LH and 3690056 RH for 12 inch rotors. I have machined the lower A arms and installed new style ball joints. I have Hotchkis tubular upper A arms and complete Hotchkis suspension front and rear. Replaced all the standard bushings with Derlrin.. I have QA1 coil over shocks in front and QA1 adjustable in the rear. I would like to stay with the standard bolt pattern but would like to go with a better caliper and rotor the factory.

 

The only "factory" rotor option is the 1LE rotors. RockAuto lists a variety of suppliers for these rotors ranging from $31 - up. You can get Raybestos P/N 5994R for $43 apiece. There is only one factory caliper. There are aftermarket bolt-in calipers with larger pistons.

 

How would the Custom Cruiser's 5x5 with the heavier brakes work in this situation?

 

That's what he's installing. The B-body spindles ARE the ones used on the Custom Cruiser. The 1LE Camaro rotors are the same 12" rotors as those on the B-body wagons. The only difference is that the 1LE rotors have a 5 x 4.75" bolt circle.

 

Thanks.

 

This is a swap I am thinking of doing as well...except the pieces I have are off of a Trans Am. Not a B-body...I think they call it an F-body? I was going to use 1LE rotors and calipers, a Hotchkiss upper A arm. This swap is supposed to be a suspension/handling upgrade as well as a disc brake upgrade. (my 442 has drums). I will have to go with bigger wheels obviously. Until now I hadn't heard anything about a bump steer or suspension failure problem. Has anybody on here done this and had a good outcome?

 

I found info here:

http://www.oldsmobility.com/old/discbrakes.htm

 

You had better go back and read that again, more carefully. The F-body spindles can only accommodate the same 11" rotors as the stock disk brakes on your A-body. The 1LE rotors WILL NOT FIT those spindles. The problem is that the spindles have an integral caliper mount that is positioned for the 11" rotors. The 12" 1LE rotors will hit the caliper mount and since it is integral to the spindle, you cannot relocate it outward. Keep in mind that the 1LE rotors are from a THIRD GEN F-body, which is 1982-up. The second gen F-body cars (1970-1981) only got 11" rotors. The third gen F-body cars use a strut front suspension and you cannot use those spindles on the A-body cars.

One more time, if you want large disk brakes, you need to use the 1977-1990 B-body spindles (only the ones for the 12" rotors) and the 1LE Camaro rotors. You MUST use the correct ball joints and tie rod ends. You WILL have bump steer unless you correct it with special tie rod end fittings.

Or, you can simply put 12" Corvette rotors on stock A-body spindles as described here.

 

Thanks for the info Joe. You're right....I hadn't read that as well as I should have. I didn't realize that the 1LE rotors were 12". Thanks for the link for swapping using 12" Corvette pieces.