Granada Spindle Upgrade?

[William Grow]

I was just on the phone with another member here and dang if we didn't get cut off... The conversation was about brakes, but when he found out I was using Granada spindles on my GT-Fourte build, he mentioned that while many people here use Granada spindles, many are upgrading. One of the companies he mentioned was Wilwood. A search of Wilwood's spindle page revealed only 74-78 Mustang 2 spindles. Are these one and the same? If not, does someone have a part number handy?

Question 2: What do you think the likelihood of encountering a failure is with Granada spindles on a car that attended the occasional track day?

GT-Fourte also offers a aluminum front upright that is on the "consider" list. But I thought that since I planned on using Wilwood brakes anyways, it couldn't hurt to look...

Thanks.
-Bill

 

[Dave P]

I used Mustang II spindles in my build I got them from Lefthander Chassis
lefthanderchassis.com

 

[Malcolm]

If your granada spindles are the same as UK granada spindles then outright failure was very rare. What was experienced by some was spindle flex causing brake pad knock back. This is caused by the small bearings. Depending on what brand of 40 you have, Southern GT can do replacement upright and spindles.

 

[David]

Hi Bill,

You may find this thread of interest
http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tech-chassis-brakes-tires-wheels/29726-granada-uprights.html

 

[William Grow]

Malcom: I do believe these are the same spindles that would be found in the UK. I got them here in Hungary in trade for some used snow tires we had from a car we sold

David: Damn, the search button gets me again! Thanks for the thread, definitely helpful.

 

[David]

Helps I knew about it!

Also see the threads at the bottom, eg the wilwood spindles:
http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tech-chassis-brakes-tires-wheels/37388-wilwood-pro-spindle.html

 

[Phil]

Bill:
Those Wilwood uprights are really nice, they are not copies of the Mustang II but look similar, and can take a variety of brakes up to some real big stuff, all direct bolt up.
Also they have so called "improved geometry", and a bolt on steering arm.
Here is the link: www.wilwood.com/PDF/Flyers/fl193.pdf

I bought a pair from Jegs, but they are sold by a number of vendors.
Cheers
Phil

 

[40 Bud]

For what it is worth I offer the following: My GTD has the standard spindles that came with the kits right after they went to rear disc brakes (about 1989). I upgraded the brakes to those from a Datsun (Nissan) 300Z. Still the same original spindles and bearings. The car has about 15,000 miles on these and about 8,000 to 9,000 of those are track day miles. The car has about 340HP and attains speeds up to about 130 mph on the track. I have had no problems with the spindles and the bearings are the originals. I wouldn't worry about the factory set up with improved brakes.

 

[Malcolm]

It would be interesting to know if the prevailance of roundabouts (traffic circles) here in Europe made the issue of spindle flex more noticeable cf the States. Enthusiastic speeds at these junctions was a common cause for those that did suffer! Also if you ran slick tyres then that was often a factor too. Notwithstanding this the majority of GTDs did not suffer spindle flex issues. One theory put out was that the steel quality had enough variance in it to create the problem for some spindles but not the majority. As soon as you fit them to a car that wasn't a granada then you are outside the original design criteria straight away.

 

[Darrin]

FWIW, I have the GTForte upgrade aluminum uprights and spindles you mention and they seem very well built. Not sure if they are better or as good as the Wilwood option and they cost about the same.

One thing I like about the GTForte solution though of course is it's a one stop solution and they have everything needed for the setup.

 

[William Grow]

Darrin: I like the idea of the "one stop shop" possibility of GT-Fourte, but with the shipping to the states and 20% VAT it bumps the price up to $100+ that of the Wilwood setup. I may keep the Granada spindles for now to "keep the ball rolling" and then order the GT-Fourte uprights when I place my next order with them to save a bit on the shipping costs (budget budget budget right?).

David: KPI? Great, now I have another suspension term I didn't know I didn't know...

It sounds to me like the people who've used the Wilwood spindles were building their A-arms around them, but I've already purchased the GT-Fourte upper and lower A-arms (and I made really pretty white Delrin bushings to go with them) and I'd hate to see that money go to waste... I've got the drawings from the Wilwood site that Phil shared but while I look those over: Has anyone tried to use the Wilwood spindles as a bolt in replacement for the Granada spindles? Or would that be a "back to the drawing board" as far as my current A-arms were concerned?

Thanks again everyone,
-Bill

 

[David]

Technically should now be SAI not KPI as nothing uses kingpins anymore! People use KPI and SAI interchangeably though despite that.

 

[Darrin]

You don't pay VAT when you import into the US Bill.

BTW, did you get the rear A arms from GTForte?

 

[William Grow]

I didn't think I should, but when I order through the site it always tacks on the dang VAT... I'll have to write Darren again (first time I tried to order, the US was not a shipping option)

I have not ordered the rear A-arms yet. They were on my list to do this month with the trailing arms, but with the VAT and shipping I decided to put the money in the bank until my budget allowed enough to order the rear uprights as well. If VAT becomes a non issue, I may order this month after all as I have a friend traveling stateside (it's cheaper to ship it there and bring it back in your luggage than it is to ship to Hungary)