WHEELS AND BRAKES: GOT EM'

Greetings! I located a pretty good deal on a set of custom wheels that I think will really make the El Camino look modern and sophisticated. I found them on Craigslist a month or so ago and raised the money to snag them before somebody else less worthy got them. According to the seller, they were mounted on another G body car like my El Camino and should certainly fit. However I had a few problems to overcome. More on this brake drama in my next post.

First, I removed the stock spindles and replaced them with new dropped spindles which should lower the car from 2 to 3 inches. While I was in the neighborhood I replaced the outer tie rod ends and the driver's side upper ball joint, which had a split rubber cover. The stock spindles weren't worn but the car sat too high in the front and I didn't want to lower it by heating the coil springs. Other guys do this and I see some of their cars bouncing down the road. I don't like the look unless you're driving a stiff street racer. This way, using the dropped spindles, I get the front end down without affecting any of my handling geometry.

 

The new spindles came powder-coated and had the tapered shaft protected with a soft cap. I took the dust covers off and put them in the media blaster and they cleaned up very nicely. Since I was removing the calipers and rotors anyway, I went ahead and had the rotors machined and replaced the calipers with new units. I put some silver paint on the rotors and calipers so they would look decent when viewed through the pattern in the new wheels. I used catalyzed acrylic enamel for this, it stays on better and the shine last far longer. In my next post I'll add a picture of the new parts before the wheels were bolted on.

 

This shot shows the spindles before replacing the outer tie rods. It also shows the dangling caliper. I try not to do this and had placed the caliper up above the upper A-arm so it wouldn't hang by the brake hose, but it must have been in the way or fell out. I'm excited to see how the car sits once it's back on the ground wearing these sharp wheels and tires! 

Doug