All New Mustang II Spindles With Modern Tech Inspired By a C7 Corvette

Classic Performance Products’ All-New Corvette-Style Modular Mustang II Spindles

By Rob Fortier – Photography & Videography by Taylor Kempkes

Underneath a Mustang II or Pinto from where they originated, Mustang II spindles are perfect! For decades now hot rodders have been using them with great success under a variety of non-Mustang II vehicles. The potential problem(s) enter(s) the picture when you mix performance-based 1/2-ton (or larger) trucks and large-diameter wheels with spindles/bearings that were never meant to carry such a, well, heavy load. Under more extreme braking conditions, the spindle “pin” can flex, and with that flex the rotor too will flex, ultimately causing the brake pads to “knock back” against the caliper which, in turn, causes the driver to release and depress the brake pedal to re-engage the pads. This amount of pin flex can vary depending on the quality of the Mustang II spindles, as well as the size of the brakes and wheels/tires they’re trying to stop.

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02 Classic Performance Products new Corvette Style spindle kit for Independent Front Suspension
Classic Performance Products’ (CPP) new Corvette-Style (CS) Spindle kit is the be-all and end-all for Mustang II based Independent Front Suspension systems! With their C7 sealed bearing hubs, “pin flex” is completely eliminated, allowing the use of larger-diameter wheels and a host of aftermarket performance brake kits. And with their unique spacers, track width is adjustable!

Classic Performance Products has finally come up with the solution—they’ve literally taken one of the best spindle upgrades to the next level by not only increasing wheel bearing size but by completely eliminating the spindle pin from the equation. How so? Simple: Classic Performance Products has integrated C7 Corvette sealed-bearing hub technology into a Mustang II spindle, dubbed the CS Upright Spindle, which is available in stock height or 2-inch drop spindle kit. Additionally, with the inclusion of convenient hub and caliper spacers, the new CS spindles offer the ability to adjust the track width for either the typical Mustang II wheel mounting location or narrowed 1/4 to ½ inch per side.

03 Complete Spindle kit utilizing C7 style sealed bearing hubs and retains aftermarket performance brake kits

Unlike your traditional pin-style wheel spindles, these pin-less uprights come with sealed-bearing hubs (available in both entry-level and high-performance versions), which not only make installation as easy as can be, they also eliminate having to set bearing preload. And the icing on the CS spindle cake is the ability to use any Corvette-based aftermarket performance brake kit from Classic Performance Products’ Pro Series six-piston 14-inch kit to any Baer brakes, Brembo, and, as you’re about to see, Wilwood Corvette upgrade brake systems on your Mustang II style frontend!

04 Mustang II front suspension high performance sealed bearing hub from Classic Performance Products
Installation on your typical Mustang II front suspension is remarkably simple and straightforward. We’ll begin by installing the supplied 1/2-inch (red Loctite coated) wheel studs in Classic Performance Products’ high-performance sealed-bearing hub (it’s also available in an entry-level version).
05 Drilled and Slotted Brake rotor for Mustang II
To properly torque them down, we use a vise-secured brake rotor as a “jig” to hold the hub in place.
06 Corvette Style spindles allow the use of aftermarket Big Brake kit
As mentioned, the CS Spindle will accept any aftermarket Corvette upgrade brake kit, including Wilwood 6 piston calipers and 14-inch two-piece rotor assembly.
07 Spindle pin no longer needed and replaced by flat Corvette hub adapter plate
Since we’re eliminating the spindle pin altogether, we’ll obviously have to swap out Wilwood’s Mustang II hub, as well as the hat, for their flat Corvette hub adapter plate; the rotor will be reused.

08 Flat Corvette hub adapter plate for new spindles

09 Mustang II hub assembly put together with red Loctite
And just as it is with their Mustang II hub assembly, the attachment process requires sequential torquing (along with the use of red Loctite); safety wiring is highly recommended.

10 Mustang II hub assembly requires sequential torqueing to spec

11 Mustang II Spindles and upper and lower ball joints installation
With the old Mustang II spindles safely removed, and both upper and lower ball joints confirmed, they’re good to go another round. The new CS Spindle is bolted right in place.

12 New Spindle fit Mustang II upper and lower ball joints

13 Cotter pins installed on the new classic performance products
Don’t forget: Cotter pins are your friend—use them to your benefit … and safety!!!
14 Installing required spacer for Mustang II flange on the sealed bearing hub
Before installing the C7-style high-performance sealed-bearing hub into the CS upright, the “standard Mustang II offset” spacer is set onto the backside of the mounting flange. (For a 1/4-inch narrower track width, these are not used.)
15 Using the supplied hardware for new hub assembly
Using the supplied Grade 8 socket head Allens, the new hubs are installed and torqued down.

16 New hub assembly is getting installed on the independent front suspension

17 Offsetting the standard hub with caliper bracket spacers for Wilwood brake kit
To accommodate the standard hub offset, both caliper bracket spacers are used “behind” the Wilwood billet caliper bracket, as shown.

18 Adapter plate for Wilwood brake kit on a Mustang II independent front suspension

19 Standard offset hub and caliper bracket with rotor spacer
To align the rotor with the standard offset hub and caliper bracket, the supplied rotor spacer is used.

20 Adding a 14 inch brake rotor from the Classic Performance Products big brake kit

21 Wilwood calipers are put back together with the 14 inch rotors from Classic Performance Products
With brake pads loaded, the Wilwood calipers are slipped back onto their respective rotors (held in place with lug nuts till the wheels are reinstalled) and locked down accordingly.
22 Classic Performance Products dropped Corvette Style spindles attached to the Mustang II tie rods with no modifications
The Classic Performance Products’ dropped CS Spindles feature integrated steering arms that accept the Mustang II tie rods already in use, so no steering linkage modifications are required.
23 New Corvette style spindle for Mustang II Independent Front Suspension
And there you have it: in just a few hours’ time, our Mustang II Independent Front Suspension is now CS Spindle equipped and ready to perform.
24 LS powered classic truck with Corvette big brake kit
Guess it makes sense that an LS powered classic truck would receive Corvette-based performance braking, right?!

Source
CLASSIC PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS
(800) 522-5004
classicperform.com

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