Spindle Options

UC645 · Sep 23, 2024

Currently I’m doing some bench racing for future upgrades on my Monte and one thing that’s been stuck in my head is a spindle upgrade.
I’ve been looking at SSM’s “Game Changer” kit, and while it’s the most cost effective out of the box for the gains SSM claims, it comes with a caveat that kinda breaks the deal for me: The spindle SSM offers has clearance issues with the brake kit I’ve been eyeing. Big Brake Upgrade offers sever adapter brackets that can be use to convert A, F, G, X and S10 spindles to the huge 14” rotor and 4 piston Brembo combo that came on the 2010-2015 Camaro SS. BBU’s brackets interfere with the spindle due to the required spacing of the caliper and rotor, and to my understanding there’s no way around this.

So I’m looking for suggestions on what spindles could be swapped into a G with relatively little fuss (or a lot if the benefits are there) without asking for a kidney in return like the AFX spindles from ATS.

I’ll also add that the whole point of this is to use as much stock replacement components as possible so breakage/failures aren’t as much of a hindrance as they would be with an aftermarket setup, like from Wilwood for example. This is why I was interested in BBU’s conversion brackets.

Jarhead85 · Jan 19, 2025

Look at a company in Oregon named Kore 3. I believe it is kore3.com. They build kits using all stock corvette parts for different spindles.

Sweet_Johnny · Jan 19, 2025

Are you looking for a drop in ride height? Is something like this an option with those brakes?

8

Thread 'LS1 front brakes on G body spindle'

Jul 26, 2018

LS1 front brakes on a G body is a pretty common upgrade. I have about 2k miles on my mostly homebuilt setup. Has been sucessful and thought I would do a how to with all the info in one place.

I wanted to go with a blazer setup but I priced it out and in dirt car territory, I couldn't justify it. It was cheaper to go with the stock spindle and 4th gen stuff. If you are anywhere where dirt cars are running up north where 2wd's rarely sold, it is tough to find the parts. Could have bought spindles from someone down south, but $200 there, $200 for wheel bearings, getting calipers and rotors...

UC645 · Jan 20, 2025

Jarhead85 said:
Look at a company in Oregon named Kore 3. I believe it is kore3.com. They build kits using all stock corvette parts for different spindles.

Kobin’s stuff is pretty neat, but most of it uses 2 piston Corvette stuff and the other option is the 6 piston ZR1 which is uber expensive. I’ve already got 4 piston Brembos from a 6 Gen Camaro in hand so I'm locked in to that route. The main upgrade I’m after now is a bearing pack improvement, as I don’t trust the Blazer bearing packs to handle much cornering abuse.

Sweet_Johnny said:
Are you looking for a drop in ride height? Is something like this an option with those brakes?

8

Thread 'LS1 front brakes on G body spindle'

Jul 26, 2018

LS1 front brakes on a G body is a pretty common upgrade. I have about 2k miles on my mostly homebuilt setup. Has been sucessful and thought I would do a how to with all the info in one place.

I wanted to go with a blazer setup but I priced it out and in dirt car territory, I couldn't justify it. It was cheaper to go with the stock spindle and 4th gen stuff. If you are anywhere where dirt cars are running up north where 2wd's rarely sold, it is tough to find the parts. Could have bought spindles from someone down south, but $200 there, $200 for wheel bearings, getting calipers and rotors...

81cutlass

Replies: 84

Forum: How-To's / Knowledge Base

Not looking for a drop in height, the car is about 2-1/2 inches currently and it’s too low with the current trimmed springs. I was really after geometry improvements, but I can get all I want with a little fabrication and parts from the SPC catalogue.
LS1 brakes are better than stock but only marginally better than the Blazer spindles. The 4 piston Brembos I bought a while back may be overkill, but they’re more track oriented than the LS1 stuff imo. Just after heat control on that front.

The main focus since I made this thread has shifted to an improvement in bearing packs, as I don’t trust the Blazer spindle bearings to handle cornering forces on top of day to day driving. That and stock replacements are shoddy compared to 20+ year old stock units.

BBU offers a hub that takes a 1LE bearing setup for the stock spindle and is a serious consideration. The other option is CPP’s C7 bearing spindle that’s claimed to fit C7 Corvette brakes, but has only been tested with C5/6 setups. And as far as I’ve found, no 6 piston ZR1 calipers have been fitted to those spindles.

Might buy a set of those and eat the restocking fee if C7 stuff doesn’t fit without some easy modifications. By the looks of it all that would be required is clocking the caliper further forward to a more 9-10 o’clock position rather than the 11 o’clock position that these spindles are set up with out of the box:

Corvette Style Stock Height Disc Brake Spindles, 1978-87 G-Body

1978-87 G-Body, Stock Height Spindle W/ C7 Hubs, Uses C5, C6 or C7 Brake Systems

classicperform.com

Sweet_Johnny · Jan 20, 2025

UC645 said:
Kobin’s stuff is pretty neat, but most of it uses 2 piston Corvette stuff and the other option is the 6 piston ZR1 which is uber expensive. I’ve already got 4 piston Brembos from a 6 Gen Camaro in hand so I'm locked in to that route. The main upgrade I’m after now is a bearing pack improvement, as I don’t trust the Blazer bearing packs to handle much cornering abuse.

Not looking for a drop in height, the car is about 2-1/2 inches currently and it’s too low with the current trimmed springs. I was really after geometry improvements, but I can get all I want with a little fabrication and parts from the SPC catalogue.
LS1 brakes are better than stock but only marginally better than the Blazer spindles. The 4 piston Brembos I bought a while back may be overkill, but they’re more track oriented than the LS1 stuff imo. Just after heat control on that front.

The main focus since I made this thread has shifted to an improvement in bearing packs, as I don’t trust the Blazer spindle bearings to handle cornering forces on top of day to day driving. That and stock replacements are shoddy compared to 20+ year old stock units.

BBU offers a hub that takes a 1LE bearing setup for the stock spindle and is a serious consideration. The other option is CPP’s C7 bearing spindle that’s claimed to fit C7 Corvette brakes, but has only been tested with C5/6 setups. And as far as I’ve found, no 6 piston ZR1 calipers have been fitted to those spindles.

Might buy a set of those and eat the restocking fee if C7 stuff doesn’t fit without some easy modifications. By the looks of it all that would be required is clocking the caliper further forward to a more 9-10 o’clock position rather than the 11 o’clock position that these spindles are set up with out of the box:

Corvette Style Stock Height Disc Brake Spindles, 1978-87 G-Body

1978-87 G-Body, Stock Height Spindle W/ C7 Hubs, Uses C5, C6 or C7 Brake Systems

classicperform.com

If I remember correctly C5 brakes fit with the mods 81cutlass did in that link, keeping costs down by making the hubs and brackets. The hub seems to be nearly identical to some kits, even BBU's, and is made from a G Body brake rotor. But I'm new to both aside from reading, and I haven't read that material in a while. I'm right there with you as far as my feelings towards tapered vs Blazer bearings but have no real experience with aftermarket/ specialty spindles. I'm definitely going to follow along and try to learn something though.

UC645 · Feb 7, 2025

Got a small update: CPP Vette spindles are ordered, should be here sometime next week.

I’ve also been digging around for more info on the C5/6 VS C7 running gear components and found something interesting:

C5/C6/C7 Wheel bearings

Here is something that may interest some of you (if you like saving money). Those running C5/C6 front uprights and bearings know that the base and Z06 hubs are not as strong as the ZR1 hubs with their larger bearings and thicker wheel mounting flanges. But the ZR1 hubs are pricey - $350+. I...

www.vettemod.com

The bearings are the same for all 3 generations according to this thread ^
The only difference is ABS sensors aren’t integral to the C7 bearings, and from 2010 onwards, GM went to SKF for their bearings and these bearings are the Racing series (probably named something different, this is the only name I found) that were available for the C5/6 in the aftermarket. I don’t have any specifics, but the updated bearings are supposedly much heavier duty than the original C5/6 stuff.

Plus, they’re cheaper than GM genuine Blazer bearings- those run $280 a piece now! The C7 ones are about $130, much more wallet friendly if you’re going to go into the deep end like I’m attempting to.

Clone TIE Pilot · Feb 8, 2025

Sweet_Johnny said:
If I remember correctly C5 brakes fit with the mods 81cutlass did in that link, keeping costs down by making the hubs and brackets. The hub seems to be nearly identical to some kits, even BBU's, and is made from a G Body brake rotor. But I'm new to both aside from reading, and I haven't read that material in a while. I'm right there with you as far as my feelings towards tapered vs Blazer bearings but have no real experience with aftermarket/ specialty spindles. I'm definitely going to follow along and try to learn something though.

Hubs made from turned down rotors have cracking issues. The GN guys really complain about them, one of them even lost a wheel. From what I read the issues with the turned hubs are twofold. First the integral rotors act as a reinforcing band for the stock hub, so its weaker without it. Second that much machine can create residual stress in the casting.

Sweet_Johnny · Feb 8, 2025

Clone TIE Pilot said:
Hubs made from turned down rotors have cracking issues. The GN guys really complain about them, one of them even lost a wheel. From what I read the issues with the turned hubs are twofold. First the integral rotors act as a reinforcing band for the stock hub, so its weaker without it. Second that much machine can create residual stress in the casting.

Very good information, thank you sir. I feel like I read about some of those bad experiences but just can't remember any details at the moment. Guess I need to go back in for another look around. I appreciate the heads up.

Clone TIE Pilot · Feb 8, 2025

Sweet_Johnny said:
Very good information, thank you sir. I feel like I read about some of those bad experiences but just can't remember any details at the moment. Guess I need to go back in for another look around. I appreciate the heads up.

I think heard about these issues a decade ago. One guy said he had a front wheel come off as he pulled into the pit at a track. He was lucky it didn't happen at speed.

UC645 · Feb 10, 2025

Houston, we have liftoff.

Waiting on the wheel bearing and rotor to come in at my local O’Reilly’s, that should be Wednesday.

The caliper bolts up and has a ton of clearance to the upright, only concern is the upper control arm since the caliper extends further than I thought it would originally. Everything else looks like it will line up nicely!

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Spindle Options

UC645

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Jarhead85

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Sweet_Johnny

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Thread 'LS1 front brakes on G body spindle'

UC645

Royal Smart Person

Thread 'LS1 front brakes on G body spindle'

Corvette Style Stock Height Disc Brake Spindles, 1978-87 G-Body

Sweet_Johnny

Has A Face For Radio

Corvette Style Stock Height Disc Brake Spindles, 1978-87 G-Body

UC645

Royal Smart Person

C5/C6/C7 Wheel bearings

Clone TIE Pilot

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Sweet_Johnny

Has A Face For Radio

Clone TIE Pilot

Comic Book Super Hero

UC645

Royal Smart Person

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