vetblack

I am sure someone out there knows this answer....

I have an 86 944 turbo, and I got a pair of 88 944t spindles...WIll they bolt on the my 86 suspension?

If not, what else needs to be changed, I have expensive after market a-arms which I dont want to change......

Thanks for the help...

PorscheDoc

I don't know for sure, but i would imagine they should bolt right on. Oh after 86 they changed the tie rod length, so that may be your only issue with connection.

dand86951

I am not a suspension expert, but I believe the 86 front suspension metallurgy has a different genetic makeup than the 88 and later so I am sure there will be a donor organ rejection factor. So to help you out I will offer to buy them from you.

keith

OK let's see if I remember this correctly (Ian explained this one) - the late model spindles on early offset A-arms/tie rods will give you a lot of positive camber - you'll need camber plates up top to get back to a good setting.

The reverse is true with early spindles on late model A-arms/tie rods.

Sam Lin

keith is partially right, they do have more inherent positive camber. However, with stock components you can still get approx -1 degree of camber which is adequate for street. For track use you will need to change the control arms or go to camber plates for some more adjustment range.

Sam

Danno

I can get about a -2.5 camber on my '86 struts. Due to the different angles with the longer later arms, the offset holes for camber adjustment is different on the spindles. If you bolt on the '87+ spindle onto an '86, you lose about 1-degree of camber adjustment. So maximum camber would then be about -1.5 degrees. Good enough for street use, but you'll want another 2 degrees for track.

DAR951

So the only difference between the two parts ('86 vs. '87 - on) is the hole location for strut attachment? Is the casting otherwise the same?

Danno

Yeah, the part is pretty much the same. The brakes will bolt on. But you'll need '87+ rotors, hubs and bearings due to the larger spindle.

vetblack

Thanks for the info Danno,

so if i get this right, just switching to late model spindles and leaving everyhting else 86, I lose about 1 degree of camber. I need at least -3 degrees becasue the car is track only. I do have camber plates which should more than account for the loss of 1 degree...... I am at -3.2 degrees camber and i know I have more than 1 degree left on the plate for adjustment so should be fine.....

I also have late model strut housings I could use, but I don't know if that even matters...

Thanks FOr the help...

DAR951

Don't go there quite yet... Danno says "yeah, the only difference is the hole placement" BUT then also says it's a different spindle size, requiring a different hub and bearings (the PET confirms this).

SO, it's a bit more than just swapping out the spindles and adjusting the camber.

Matthew951

This probably wont be a whole lot of help, but I have an '87, that the previous owner for one reason or another had '86 hubs and spindles installed on the car all the way around. I think it may have been from a slight accident, but I cannot conferm that. I do know that my camber is very hard to just. I have a little more camber then what stock settings are, but Steinel's told me my car will handle a lot better how its set up know, and believe me it does.

But anyways, if you are in need of '86 spindles, I am hoping on transfering my cars suspension back to '87 specs eventually. So, if you wanted to trade '86 for the '88 spindles, or something to that effect, or have me pay a little for them if '88 ones go for more then '86. I dont know if thats what you want to do, or if you are wanting to for sure change your car over to '88 specs.

I can tell you for sure that it IS possible, becuase my car is the opposite way. I DO also know that it would need new hubs and bearings for sure, just as DAR951 said.

Hope this helps,
Matt

turbo944

I have an 86 with the late model suspension parts put on it. To do the complete swap to have late offset up front (if this is what you want to do). If you want to complete this you'd want the A-arms, tie-rod ends, spindles, hubs, and rotors.

As people are saying, you can mismatch to some degree, but you will compromise the suspension design a bit somewhere as the parts were meant originally to work together as a whole group.

My 86 now has everything except for the later calipers to have a complete late model suspension as I already had the 89 M030 sway bars, struts, springs, and torsion bars.

DAR951

I think the issue for vetblack isn't changing the offset, it's about upgrading the spindle... at least that's why I jumped in here.

There is some discussion about the '86 setup being less than great for tracking/racing (although there are a tons of track miles on '86 cars with stock spindles with almost no mention of any failure problems).

Since I have several sets of early off-set wheels, I'm not interested in changing the off-set BUT am interested in the possibility of beefing up the spindle/bearings if that could be done reasonably.... seems from this thread that it can, just with a bit more than simply changing one part (need to swap the hubs/bearings too).

thanks for all the info.

smokey

I have the 1987+ spindles on my 1986, with S4 calipers and rotors. I have camber plates to get 2.5 degrees camber for the track. The later spindles are stronger, with larger bearings, and are recommended for track use. There have been cases of the earlier spindles breaking in track use. They just bolt right up, but you have to use the later rotors.

DAR951

I'm running what I was told were 968 calipers and rotors on my stock '86 front suspension (with appropriate adapter)... Are these the S4's??? Do you use any adapters or do they bolt directly to the spindles?