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79 Toronado

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Old Sep 23, 2014 | 07:26 AM
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39buick's Avatar
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79 Toronado

Wish to convert the front end spindles/rotors from a 79 Toronado, front wheel drive to rear wheel drive. What GM spindles will fit the current "A" arms?
Old Sep 23, 2014 | 03:38 PM
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Originally Posted by 39buick
Wish to convert the front end spindles/rotors from a 79 Toronado, front wheel drive to rear wheel drive. What GM spindles will fit the current "A" arms?
Uh, none.

I'm a little confused. Are you building a RWD Toronado using the stock front suspension, or are you adapting the Toro drivetrain to a mid-engine application.

If you are doing the mid-engine conversion, there are two options that have been used in the past. The easiest is to simply retain all the stock spindles and tie rods and replace the center link with a rigid link that is bolted or welded in place. You'll need to ensure that this new rigid link is located in exactly the same place as the stock center link would have been with the steering in the straight-ahead position. These conversions use a section of the Toro frame that holds the drivetrain mounts, front suspension, and torsion bar mounts welded into the new frame.

The other option that has been used is to fabricate a custom rear suspension using trailing arms from a 1960s-70s Corvette. This is how Bill Porterfield designed his Toro-powered, mid-engined frame for VW-based kit cars. This option requires some careful engineering, coil-overs, and custom half-shafts.

If you are converting a Toro to RWD and retaining the stock front suspension, why do you need to change the spindles? Just remove the half shafts and the rest still works. The front wheel bearing and hub assembly is an integral unit, very similar to the ones used on newer vehicles like Corvettes and S-10 trucks. You may want to retain the splined part of the half shaft in the hub just to seal the backside from dirt. You could cut off the yolk that fits into the CV joint to make it smaller.

How about more details on your project?
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