Sc And Lx Spindles

Randy N Connie

Registered User
Are 1993 and later SC spindles and LX t-bird spindles the same.

Will the 1993 later LX spindles bolt on a 1990 SC.So I can upgrade
to the larger cobra brake set up.

THANKS RANDY
 
Make sure they are from LX's with ABS. They have the holes for the abs sensors. Also snag the ABS sensors, they are a little longer than the 89-91 style sensors.
 
Well I havent got one yet but I'm planing on getting a standard TBird power brake master cylinder WITHOUT proportioning valve.
 
Thanks guys.I was wanting to get the newer style spindles.
So I could upgrade to some bigger brakes.I have one of my
rotors that is starting to surge when I put the brakes on.
So I thought it would be a good time to start looking around
the junk yard for some thing better.I would like to get the 13in.
rotors to put on,but I hate to have to spring for new bigger
wheels to do it.

I would like to find a balljoint for the upper a-arm that would
have a nut on top of the balljoint to hold the balljoint in place
in the spindle.So I could delete the pinch bolt in the top of the
spindle,that holds the top shaft on the upper a-arm balljoint.
This would give me about 3/4 inch more room for a wider tire
if I could grind down the pinchbolt boss.Then I would be able
to maybe get a 275 to 285 width tire on the front.

TANKS RANDY
 
If you are looking for more tire clearance on the front, then changing to the late model spindles will give even less clearance than the early spindles. The shape of the arm up to the upper ball joint is different.

Don't forget you will also need new or used swaybar endlinks to complete the swap.

I had cut the end of the upper balljoint off flush with the spindle to gain clearance for some 255/55/17s I was running on the 17x9" Cobra rims. I also had to run a 3/16" spacer with that tire rim/combo.

I remember that a guy name Lonnie Doll ran 275's on his 92 until he changed spindles. He even tried to get some new castings that were like the early style for clearance and like the newer style for brakes. He could not get enough interest to complete the project.

Here is a comparison shot of the two spindles. New on the left, early style on the right. It might be hard to see, but the early style is more curved than the newer one.

spindlecmp.jpg
 
gldiii: thanks for the pictures and infor.I need to get the newer spindle so I
can compair my 90 SC spindle to the 93 and up.To see if I can do some welding ,
machining.So I can.

1. get a wider tire under the finder.

2.be able to get a larger brake rotor.

What is the differrence between the two spindles that allow the use of bigger brakes?
Is it just the mounting point for the brake caliper? Or more?

Thank RANDY
 
Last edited:
Randy, the early spindles has the caliper mounting tabs as part of the unit ... the later one has those two holes you see that a separate caliper bracket can bolt to.

There was some talk a while back about trying to cut the tabs off the early spindle, and weld on new tabs in the proper spot for larger brakes ... the consensus seemed to be that there wasn't enough meat on there to do it correctly.


cheers
Ed N.
 
Ed's got the answers! It might be possible to weld in a plate on the older stlye after cutting off the two supporting mounts for the caliper to slide on (this restricts the diameter of the rotor). The smaller mounting tabs for the two caliper mounting bolts might also have to be removed.

I just don't have enough information on the type of spindle (forged vs cast) or enought welding experience to make the call on whether or not it can be done. It also looks like there might be an issue with getting the new holes setup in proper relation to rotor for the calipers.

Randy, if you want to take a closer look, I can send you a driver's side spindle of both styles if you want to split the shipping costs with me. You can overhaul the older style spindle, I just want the new style spindle back unharmed! LOL

If this could be safely done, it could put a lot of old spindles back into action. I worked a little with Rich Thomson at MN12 Performance a while back, but we never got past the design stage. I'm not sure it can be done, but I'm willing to help out if you want to try it. Just drop me an email (address in sig) if you want to persure this further.
 
Thanks Ed; You and gldiii have got my tiny wheels turnin.With the info and picture.
I have an 90 spindle to look at.But the new style is still on the LX so I can't take
any measurements from it.

So if I would take my 90 spindle and machine off all the un wanted peices.
Caliper mounting tabs,ect. Then design & machine a new bracket to bolt or weld to the
90 spindle,with the braket for the bigger caliper mounts.with the proper off sets.

Maybe instead of trying to just weld up the bolt bosses, if this is what was tried.
Maybe a larger peice could be machined to replace more to find the extra meat
needed for the caliper mounting points.

RANDY
 
Last edited:
I realy dont see a problem with welding new brackets to the old spindles myself. We've done that on street rods for many years.
Make sure you have it TIG welded though, absolutely NO MIG welding on that part.:)
 
If someone can come up with a fairly straightforward way to put larger brakes on the early spindles, you would make a lot of people happy I'm sure. ;)

I have a pair of early spindles that I was going to experiment with, haven't done much with them yet other than stare at them. :D
A nice combo if it's do-able might be the 99 - up Mustang V6/GT PBR calipers over 11.6" Mark VIII rotors ... might be tight enough to fit inside stock wheels for people looking to stay on 16s.



cheers
Ed N.
 
Back
Top