Clever Idiot Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Ok, I have a set of spindles from a '75 Chevelle to do the tall spindle conversion. I know I need to get the upper A-arms for tall spindles (plan on getting the BMR ones). I'm assuming the stock steering arms won't bolt up to the new spindles? I'm guessing that I would need to get steering arms for a '75 Chevelle (or equivalent) to bolt up to the spindles, and that those steering arms would accept the stock outer tie rods. Is that right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte7071 Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 DJ Im not sure about the steering arms but I have a pair of hotchkis uppers for the tall spindle setup. If you are interested I can sell you them dirt cheap pm me if you are interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo's70MCs Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 I thought the only difference was the power steering vs the non-power steering arm? One being longer than the other? Maybe someone will know for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clever Idiot Posted April 30, 2012 Author Share Posted April 30, 2012 PM sent. Well, I guess when I get home I'll see if they bolt up to the new spindles and let y'all know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clever Idiot Posted May 4, 2012 Author Share Posted May 4, 2012 Oy. So I looked into it last night. The steering arms (and brake caliper brackets) are all cast as part of the spindle on the 1975 Chevelle (and apparently others). Did some swimming around the Googlespace, and found this archived on a protouring forum. I may have to rethink some stuff here... "Ah the ol tall spindle swap. This one always stirs up a hornets nest. I`ll field the tall configuration handling diffence first. Yes,you`ll notice a difference on the street *IF* you drive the car in a spirited manner in the twisties. You don`t have to get stupid with it just whip in into the corners a little and you`ll feel it. The higher roll center height reduces body roll and in conjunction with a negative (good) camber curve keeps the tire side walls from rolling under. At lower speeds you`ll actually notice the difference more with tall squishy 14" or 15" tires than with good 17"s. The improved geometry also allows you to run a bit less front spring rate and sway bar rate too if you like which can give you a car that both handles better and rides better. One of those few win/win situations in hot rodding. As for the tall B spindle swap there are those who have tried it and are very happy with it. I`ve done the swap to several customers cars over the years and although the handling was much improved the downsides are such that I never cared for it. For starters if you use F car spindles with 11" rotors you get exactly the same calipers and the same sized rotors as a `69-`77 Chevelle. No gain there. I`ve done the swaps with 12" B car brakes too but frankly with the same calipers and brake pads and rotors just one inch larger it makes very little difference. You`ll get as big or bigger an improvement with a set of Performance Friction or Hawk pads. If you want to upgrade to aftermarket brakes you`re better off with the stock A spindles. They were designed from the outset as modular components. Aftermarket brakes bolt onto bosses intended to mount brakes and work very well. The tall F and B spindles have integral brake mounts and steering arms cast in. Their shape and overall design is less than ideal for adapting aftermarket brakes ,leading to brakes bolted to dust cover holes etc. Yes,they can work and work pretty well but it`s just more complication for no good reason since you`ve already got a nice modular spindle already. The all cast tall spindles have another problem. The steering arms are part of the spindles and they`re located in a totally different place than stock A body arms. They`re longer than stock which slows the steering ratio and throws off the ackerman angle and worse they`re about 5/8" lower than the already too low factory steering arms with amplifies the poor factory bumpsteer by roughly a factory of 2x! Many of my customer`s don`t even notce it. Others find it so annoying it drives them nuts. But since making old muscle cars drive like new cars is what ProTouring is all about and since great bumpsteer characteristics are one of the things that make new cars drive like new cars...why would you want to make it worse.....? We`ve taken another tack. We just released our Street Comp Stage 2 package for A body. It`ll be on our site once the current updates are finished. It consists of adj. tubular upper control arms,specific tall upper ball joints and maybe more importantly specific tall lower ball joints. The tall joints in effect make the stock spindle just as tall as the tall spindle which gives you the advantages of a higher roll center and better (negative) camber curves. What`s more you retain your stock steering arms,your current steering ratio and ackerman AND you raise the steering arm into much better alignment for *BETTER than stock* bumpsteer. It`s still not perfect but it`s as good or better than most modern performance cars. To put it in perspective the bumpsteer on a stock A body will run a typical single dial bumpsteer gauge out of travel (that`s over 1/2" per side!). An A body with the B swap will run it out of travel plus pull the end of the dial indicator far enough away from the plate that I can put my finger in the gap! Bumpsteer is something people aclimate themselves to somewhat even when it`s this bad and eventually don`t conciously notice but when you take it away you notice that all of a sudden the car`s much *nicer* to drive overall,much *easier* to drive fast and with much more *confidence*. Marcus SC&C" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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