Fatman tall spindles and SPC Stage II tall ball joints both increase height to improve performance. I'm wondering if combing the two will create too much height and thus negative performance.

You can't do both, more is not always better.

Mike

Thanks, Mike. I figured as much.

Is it posible to use SPC control arms with stock ball joints and fatman spindle?

If so, would the SPC arm add any benifit over the original upper arms.

You would be better off not buying or if you already have it, selling the fatman spindle and going with the tall ball joints and the sc&c stage II + kit. The fatman spindle does not achieve the same camber curve and bumpsteer improvement as the stage II does. If you are dead set on the fatman setup I am sure sc&c can set you up with the proper ball joint to take advantage of the adjustability of the spc uppers.

Yep,what Pete and Mike said. :yes: Oh also, the Fatman spindles add a great deal of bumpsteer. The steering arm holes are .514" lower than stock. Heidts spindles would be a better...wait...less poor choice. :thumbsup: AFX are Top Dog, Stage 2-Plus with stock spindles second,then Stage 2,then Heidts tall spindles (although they`re a 2" drop spindle with all the inherent issues), then everything else. ALL tall spindles really should be used with appropriate aftermarket upper arms (like ours ;) ) if you want be able to align the car and prevent binding issues with the upper ball joints. Simply put if the spindles or tall ball joints etc. change the geometry enough to make a real difference the upper arms are no longer the right length,offset and angle to work properly. Mark SC&C

I have been searching for this same info.. I was originally going with the SC&C stage 2 with the afx spindles, and c5 brakes, but have decided to stay with smaller brakes for the option of running 15" drag wheels.

This being said.. what drop spindle would be best with the spc arms? Is the heidt's the best drop spindle to use?

Thanks Mark.. You have been the biggest help on here when it comes to Chevelle suspension. I am using most all of your suggestions that we discussed before.

This being said.. what drop spindle would be best with the spc arms? Is the heidt's the best drop spindle to use? Are you intending to take corners, or is this a street/strip car built to drag race? If you're going for cornering, I'd go with stock spindles and tall balljoints with some stiffer lowering springs.

The only good reason I can think of to run drop spindles (other than those who want to drop their cars more than ~3.5" from stock) is if you want to run a soft front spring for drag-racing and keep it off the bumpstops... in this case, Heidts would be the best of the drop spindles.

My car is a street car, so it sound like the consensuses is drop spindle aren't the way to go. I'd really like to lower the stance of my cars, so I was looking at possibly using the Fatman spindles which are an option on the ECI C5 brake package I've been thinking of using.

If I use SC&C Stage 2, stock spindles, hotchkis/bilstein shocks, and Eibach lowering springs on my 66 with a 350 small block and 17" wheels, how many inches of drop should I expect to get.

I would like my car to have a stance similar to the 66 on Marks website:
http://www.scandc.com/images/66%20chevelle%20finished%20009.jpg

As it is now, I'd say my car is sitting roughly 3 inch to high in the front and 2 inches in back.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/11/web/767000-767999/767465_11_full.jpg

Would OPG 2" or 3" drop springs be a better option than the Eibach for getting the stance I'm going for.

Thanks for all the great information.
Sal

SORRY TO JUMP IN ON THE THREAD, BUT I ALREADY HAVE FATMAN SPINDLES, LOVE THE STANCE OF MY CAR! I AM RUNNING 650lb SPRING W/ ADJUSTERS IN FRT, A 150lb IN REAR (THIS IS AN ELKY). MY QUESTION IS IF I GET THE SC&C ARMS WHAT BALL JOINTS WILL I USE. THE NEW MOOGS I INSTALLED LESS THAN 300 MILES AGO, OR DO I NEED AN AFTERMARKET JOINT. I KNOW I DONT NEED THE TALL JOINT BECAUSE I ALREADY HAVE THE FATMAN DROPPED SPIDLES, (I KNOW I KNOW BAD CHOICE BUT THEY ARE ALREADY ON). BUT I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING THIS WINTER ABOUT MY UCA, AND I REALLY LIKE WHAT I HAVE READ ABOUT SC&C.

Are you intending to take corners, or is this a street/strip car built to drag race? If you're going for cornering, I'd go with stock spindles and tall balljoints with some stiffer lowering springs.

The only good reason I can think of to run drop spindles (other than those who want to drop their cars more than ~3.5" from stock) is if you want to run a soft front spring for drag-racing and keep it off the bumpstops... in this case, Heidts would be the best of the drop spindles.


Hey Derek! I am wanting my car to do everything...lol.. I am wanting it super-low and to handle well. Drag racing is not my primary goal, but will occasionally see a race.

SORRY TO JUMP IN ON THE THREAD, BUT I ALREADY HAVE FATMAN SPINDLES, LOVE THE STANCE OF MY CAR! I AM RUNNING 650lb SPRING W/ ADJUSTERS IN FRT, A 150lb IN REAR (THIS IS AN ELKY). MY QUESTION IS IF I GET THE SC&C ARMS WHAT BALL JOINTS WILL I USE. THE NEW MOOGS I INSTALLED LESS THAN 300 MILES AGO, OR DO I NEED AN AFTERMARKET JOINT. I KNOW I DONT NEED THE TALL JOINT BECAUSE I ALREADY HAVE THE FATMAN DROPPED SPIDLES, (I KNOW I KNOW BAD CHOICE BUT THEY ARE ALREADY ON). BUT I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING THIS WINTER ABOUT MY UCA, AND I REALLY LIKE WHAT I HAVE READ ABOUT SC&C.

Just give Marcus a call he will get you what you need.

Sorry to be a little late jumping back in on this one. We`ve been crazy busy the last few weeks (which is a GOOD thing!).
If you already have Heidts or Fatman tall spindles the same adj. arms we use with the ATS tall spindles will work perfectly and you can use stock ball joints with them.
If you don`t have 2" drop spindles you really don`t need them...pretty much for anything at all. The red ragtop in the pic has the StreetComp-AFX on it (which is a 7/8" drop spindle technically) with Eibach Pro springs. The car was actually a bit lower than he wanted it and would occasionally rub a front tire over big bumps etc. We brought it back up a bit to that ride height with 3/8" thick urethane upper spring isolators which raised the car about 5/8" (remember 2:1 motion ratio but then the isolators squish a little). Now it`s perfect. The suspension is in a better position from a geometry standpoint if you get at least half of your drop from springs. If you get it mostly from 2" spindles you loose that because once you add performance rate lowering springs the car is so low you can`t drive it. If you`ve got a big block with Hooker Super Comps you`d probably need a feeler gauge to measure the ground clearance. ;) Reduce the effective spindle drop by an inch or so and you`ve got some more room to work with.
If you want the car uber low and get all the drop from springs you`ll probably end up with the pivot axis of the lower ball joints higher than the pivot axis where the arms bolt to the frame. That`s a big no no and pretty much makes the geometry fall apart like a house of cards so we want to avoid that.
For those that already have the Fatman spindles,they`ll still improve the handling quite a bit over stock,they just have the bumpsteer issue. We have had people use them with ATS aluminum steering arms to correct that (it actually corrects not only the error of the FM spindles but the factory error as well) but I understand that some clearancing of the arms or spindles is necessary. Maybe someone reading this has done it and can chime in. Mark SC&C