I have a 1970 car that I am rebuilding and I am trying to determine what suspension to put on.

I have both early and late components.

What are the differences between them and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

No real advantage, late hubs are "hubcentric"
Ball joints are different but as long as they are tight use what you got. Just keep them the same on each side.
Brakes are different but don't provide any better stopping
A-arms have tabs for sway bars on late arms however my early car has tabs. I suspect they were added.

Rears I think are all the same

minimal from a performance perspective.

probably unless you intend to replace all ball joints and bearings then you would use what ever is in the better condition
DON'T FORGET TO DO A 4 WHEEL ALIGNMENT when you are done.

differences are:

-different offset on front
-different front calipers to accomodate the offset difference.
-different lower ball joints to accomodate the different strut with its
different offset
-some late front a-arms do not have the mounting tab for sway bar.
-some of the early parts (front and rear) are not hubcentric, and will
cause problems with mounting unmodified early wheels onto late hubs

probably more I'm forgetting

other than the rear hubs have the bosses for easy 5 lug conversion!

I fairly big difference that's shared with the 911 is the balljoints and where the struts attach to them are very different. The earlier balljoints just use a pinch bolt, where the later ones use a wedge pin. The earlier style was only used on the 911 from 1969 to 1972, where the wedge pin style was used from 1973 to 1989. The wedge pin balljoints are easier to find, and generally cheaper. The redesign was done primarily because it was found the holes for the pinch bolt style can oval under serious stress and over time.

If you have the choice, using the later struts and the matching balljoint would probably be better.

Questions:

Which style had hubcentric?

Which style had the 911 bosses?

What is the offset? The way the tire is positioned?

Thanks for the knowledge.

Brant, I am changing all the bushings and bearings. And i'll ask when the time comes where the best alighment place is.

Thanks, Joe

late style were hubcentric (but you can't run early pedrinni's on them)
late style has "911" ball joint... actually it just means late ball joint

so run the late.
but know you may have to add sway bar tabs later.

(don't forget to rebuild your brake calipers and bearings while your there)


brant

One item I never see mentioned and that I had to discover on my own was that the early calipers (Single bleed nipple) are narrower than the later model double nipple calipers. The brake pads from the later model calipers will not fit into the early model calipers and clear the rotor. I learned this when I tried to put race pads into early model calipers and then tried to fit them onto the rotors. It was what caused me to change to the later model calipers for longer pad life
They are only a few millimeters narrower but it is enough to cause later model pads not to fit.
Randy

Weeeeeee 3mm bosses.