I thought I'd post this warning after I broke a spindle and lost a wheel in the Hairpin at Sebring. The early 944s up to 85.5 and all the 924S models use a driver's side spindle with a hole for the speedometer cable. They are weak, and when constantly used in racing will fail. I am posting this because I knew of this problem and ignored it. The result was the loss of the wheel, hub, spindle, brakes and fender on that corner of the car. I "tri-cycled" it off the track safely, but had it broken in a high speed corner, it could have been a lot worse. Here are some pictures of the failed part, showing how little metal there is. I have since upgraded to 87 spindles and Hubs, which are not only stronger, but use larger wheel bearings. I maintained the rest of my early offset suspension, modifying the strut mounts slightly, where they bolt to the spindles. I recommend going directly to the late spindles, because they are larger and hopefully stronger than the "hole-less" 85.5 to 86 spindles.

Thanks for sharing this.

I broke my driver side spindle this summer at the Tremblant track (Qc, Canada) and discoverd a new meaning to the word understeer!

Actually, my car is a 85 1/2, so my spindle did not have that hole but it broke just the same.

Any body has a set of late spindle for sale?


Walter.

Walter, I posted the same warning on Rennlist and someone replied with some late offset spindles for sale. Here is a link: http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/racing-and-drivers-education-forum/659997-warning-early-944-spindles.html#post8948610

Does changing an early cars to late spindles also require a change in brake rotors? And, does the update also effect the wheel fitment with the early wheels?

It does require changing to late rotors, but wheel fitment is unchanged. Actually, the late rotors are a lot easier to change than the early ones, so there is some added benefit. The major issue is that you can't usually get enough camber with the late spindles unless you slot the mounting holes on the strut. If you want to keep early struts, you have to slot them anyway because the bolt holes are further apart on the late struts. I took the opportunity to change to late struts when I upgraded, and slotted the lower mounting hole to get enough camber.

Tis worth noting that late rotors are way more expensive than early ones... but one accident due to a broken spindle would easily wipe out any savings!

The 87 up spindles also require a different strut as the flange is narrower than the early version. I tried to track the failures as it seemed there was nearly always a prior accident on that side of the car. Greg F