Spindle welding

[Rayatswan]

Does anyone know if its possible/legal to cut and weld the steering arms on early Mustang spindles?

[hybrid]

You can have the pitman arms done, so I guess the steering arms would be OK too, as long as you had them x-rayed and certified etc afterwards.

[hybrid]

By the way, is there a reason you want to go down this path? You can't find anything suitable?

[Rayatswan]

Hi Hybrid, I am looking at running some 18"wheels with a large back offset, I can perhaps buy a set of Stubtech drop spindles to get the rim over the top of the ball joint but the steering arm will be an issue.

[cage]

What size backspace are you going to run on these wheels?

[Rayatswan]

At least 6", I have tried a set of late Falcon rims and the arms will hit.

[cage]

What width are the wheels including the lip?

And what suspension are you running?

[boofhead]

At least 6", I have tried a set of late Falcon rims and the arms will hit.

You would generally not cut the arms - you would heat them up (to the right temperature) and bend into position then heat treat them. Note to be perfectly legal they would have to be xray crack tested. This is what is required when getting later spindles to work correctly (aka correct bump steer) on an early 65/66 mustang.

In your case your talking about significant modification which will have potentially serious issues with Bump steer and weird ackermann angles. You really need to look at it from a complete suspension perspective. Lastly, with such large offset in the front your wheels will not have much of a turning circle as the tyres will bang against the rails and/or upper arms in certain suspension vertical movement positions when turning the wheel. You can do some trimming but suspension movement interference issues need to be considered.

[Rayatswan]

Ok, probably a bit more info will help with this discussion.
I intend to change the 66 shock towers out of my coupe and fit a set of 68 towers, the control arms will be changed as well.(along with some other stuff)
The shock towers are being changed for extra room for a CHI 3v head conversion on a Windsor block.
The resulting 1" extra wheel track on each side means more inner offset required.
I also want to run 11" wide rims.
I have had a conversation with Mike Maier about his "Old Blue" 66 Mustang, He achieved these wheel sizes by increasing the A arm lengths, cutting 1" out of the top of the spindle to lower the top A arm ball joint and cutting 3/4" from the length of the steering arm.
He uses 8" backspace on his rims.

[boofhead]

Interesting. Well the answer is yes you can cut and weld. It has to be perfectly welded with no faults or porosity. So you weld them via a V filler in layers and check each layer with crack die to check as you go grinding and welding the layers. Then you need to XRay the welds (you have suggested 4) and if it passes then you will have a number (to be punched into the spindles) and certificate to cover the legal aspects. It could be $600 - $1000 to do the Xrays alone and it may fail. Maybe Mike can arrange or do them for you?

I hope you do post progress as you go - I am sure interested as others would be as well.

[Rayatswan]

Thanks for that Boof, I will post progress pictures.
I am a just starting down this restomod path so I have only just started on the strip down. I intend to send a brief of proposed modifications to my engineer soon but didn't want to waste his time with cut and welded spindles if it couldn't be done.

[Shaunp]

As Boof said, you tack it together then v it out, then weld with a vertical up weld grind it out dye check it then do it again and again and again till you fill the V all the way around then Xray, if it fails you do it over. Boof has watched me do it as I was instructed by a master. Ive done a few drag links that passed Xray no trouble. Xrays are about $250 per weld.

Also what size 3v heads? some of the AFR Windsor heads flow very similar in standard format albeit with raised exhaust. For 3v heads you really want the Tristan Trickas ported ones, T-Rex 3v heads are what you want for big HP, on a big stroker like 427 etc, you'll make 700+ hp on those with on a carb.

[Shaunp]

With respect to the 3V heads I'm not sure on your engine build but 195 AFR comp port heads flow better the 208 3v heads up to 650 thou valve lift, which really is plenty of cam and have the benefit of fast gas speed down low. The 195 AFRs are a very efficient head for fast street engines. Out of the box the 3v heads are good but you really have to step up to the CNC port ones to get the big numbers. Out of the box you are better just to run AFR heads as you dont need to alter the shock towers etc, again I dont know what your engine build comprises of, but be interesting to know your plan.

[Rayatswan]

Hi Shaun, If I go down this path with the spindles would you be interested in the job?
The heads I have are CHI 3v 208cc CNC ported by Nathan Higgins race engines
62CC chambers and finished ports that are 238cc. I can post pictures if anyone is interested.

[Shaunp]

Sure love to see them, whats the rest the engine spec. Must be a big engine with 238 ports