looking at picking up a set of spindles from a junkyard for the LS1 brake swap, and would like to be able to check them to see of they are bent or otherwise out of spec. anyone have any technical drawings or anything like that?

 

no one?

 

I wouldn't worry too much, they are very hard to damage and should be pretty obvious if they are messed up.

I have full size copies of the origional blueprints for the 1le spindles, if there are certain measurements you want I can get them

 

what is the difference between the 1le spindles and standards?

 

Essentially the ears have been cut off the standard spindle. You can see the modified 1LE spindle below:

http://web.archive.org/web/200605221.../1LEbrake.html

JamesC

 

the steering arm on the driver's side spindle on my car had been bent in about an inch sometime in the past, and someone compensated for it by adjusting the tie rods so that they were uneven from side to side.. it obviously happened a looong time ago, because the layer of grease and grime on the spindle was uniform and the tie rods were uniformly rusty and didn't look like they'd been touched in at least 20 years.. i only noticed it because the wheel would turn about a turn farther to the left than to the right and the tie rod was an inch farther away from the bead of the rim on that side than on the other side.. i "fixed" it by heating it up with a torch and eyeballing it to be pretty close to the other side without actually taking it off the car, but some measurements would be nice to have so i can at least make sure any junkyard spindles i get are straight. i just know someone will jump in to say that's it's not safe to "fix" it like that, but i put 13,000 miles on the car this summer and didn't die...

also, i've seen people mention bending the arms for better Ackerman geometry, so it would be nice to have a good spec for that if i'm gonna do anything- might even make up a fixture for each side and a program to modify the spindles for 1LE or LS1 or whatever brakes on the cnc here at work in case others might want some cheapish modified spindles..

 

To add that when you do the 1LE modification, there is alot of undesireable casting that can be grind off the spindle to lighten it. I took an extra 1/4 lb off each side when I did my comversion by smoothing the casting lines off and strategically grining off alot of mass that was not critical near the sturt shaft bolt holes. Lots of radius grinding so it retained strength, but lost weight. light weight suspension parts is critical in good ride quality and perfomance handleing so every little bit counts when you add up all the parts plus wwheels and tires. Could be the difference of 10 pound per wheel if done right with care rather than not being aware of this weight importance. Its little things like this why people report their cars riding harsh. They put heavy brakes, heavey larger diameter tires and wheels that are also wider, they increase track width which in turn increases offset and cause more ariiculation weight through leverage, etc.

just another tip.