SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

i just started a job at a parts store (car quest) and theyve been training me on the computers, so i was looking up brake parts for my car since all four ends are gettin low. so what do i find but 1LE calipers for the front, for 90 a peice with out pads. and the rears i already have so ill rebuild those. i went home and bought four power slot slotted ONLY, rotors for 109 for a front pair and 99 for a rear pair. im going to mod the spindles myself and buy spohns brackets unless there is another place i can get em cheaper. ill probably get a set of earls lines to. i wasnt sure about brake pads, i dont get to crazy with slammin on the brakes and the stock ones have actually been sufficent. but i think im getting these parts for pretty cheap and still giving me better stopping power. its to late to turn back but, how good is the 4 wheel 1LE brake setup? what pads should i get. the cars an 89 and has the PBRs on the rear already, do i need a prop valve or anything? it was originally drums then i swappin it to a 9 bolt from an 89 TA. if i have no more then say 500-600 into this 4 wheel 1LE brake upgrade am i bein cost efficent? how does this brake setup stand up to other cars?

Hunter Motorsports

The 1LE brake setup is pretty darn good - especially for the cost.
Great bang for the buck in my experience. For a street car they are all you will ever need - and they do quite alright for Track (road course) use also - provided you have race pads.

As for street pads I would recomment the Bendix premium metallic pads - part # MKD412 - they are a great street pad. If you want a pad that is a bit more aggressive there is the Performance Friction Z-Rated pad - PFC 412Z - they are also excellent - but cost considerably more than the Bendix pads.

Hawk has the HP-Plus - I find them to be a bit too "grabby" - but others I know like them. I have not been impressed by Hawk pads in my experience. Tried the race pads - and the street pads - went out and bought PFCs and was much happier.

The proportioning valve you have is the correct one for the 1LE setup - but you may want to contemplate installing an adjustable one - not really nesscsary for street use IMHO.

Buy the brackets from SPOHN - do the spindle mods - bolt them up and throw out the anchor! Have fun.

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

i was thinkin of gettin the wilwood adjustable prop valve. ill see how it stops, it still would be nice to pump up the rear pressure a little to get the front to work less and be more stable on a corner under braking. the bendix pads are a bit pricey,

i found EBC greens for 79 for the fronts and 69 for the rears. is that a decent pad?

Justins86bird

I'm running the Hawk HPS pads. I like them alot better then the Performace Friction pads I used to run. The PF pads never wanted to stop the car when cold. These were the non Z-rated pads BTW.

$90 a caliper seems high too me. I paid only $32 each at Autozone + $20 core charge.

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

what did the calipers come with? these come with a carrier on them, slap in pads and bolt on i think?

Justins86bird

Nope, no carriers with mine. A while back it was decided that none of them come with them anymore. Spohn is the only source for them now.

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

hmm, thats no good then. what were the part #s for the ones u bought. the same as the ones in the tech article? did they accept ur cast iron calipers as cores?

Justins86bird

They were Femco calipers. I didnt bother taking back my cores since they were single pistons and I didnt want to try to fool them at the counter.

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

so it was 52 with a core charge? thats rediculasly cheap, cheap to the point i cant believe u have the right ones!

Justins86bird

Stock irons are only $10

You'll need this
http://www.spohn.net/index.cfm?fusea...&productid=107

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

cool, so i need that kit and a set of pads to make the calipers complete. i haev the rotors, ill mod my spindles and get wheel bearings and lower ball joints.

Justins86bird

Don't forget hoses and a new banjo bolt. The iron's bolt wont work.

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

You can probably do the swap cheaper by sourcing the parts that you'll require; however, the Spohn kit, which is what I used, comes with all you'll need in a tidy package--for those members who haven't yet begun their upgrade.

JamesC

ebmiller88

iTrader: (7)

Banjo bolt P/N is 10286122, BTW...

Ed

Apeiron

And crush-washers.

Hunter Motorsports

Brake pads are VERY important. NOTHING affects the stopping power of your braking system more than the pads. I do not recommend going cheap on the pads. Cheap rotors - o.k. - cheap pads - car will not stop as well. And it is true that the PFCs generally stop better once they get some heat in them - usually this is only one or two good stops. I do not have any experience with EBC pads. I know the Bendix pads work great. Same for PFC. I know some people like the Hawk pads - not me personally. Don't bother spending your money on anything from Raybestos - unless it is the "Brutestop" pads - they are decent.

Choose wisely.

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

i just bought the calipers from autozone... 32 a peice plus core charges. now if these calipers didnt come with cages, what is the GM part # for the cages? i checked the tech article and it was confusing with the parts list. ill get the spohn adapter brackets but if the calipers dont have cages i need those, whats the part #?

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

Here's a site/list that may be helpful:

http://www.ws6transam.org/1LEbrake.html#1LEfront

JamesC

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

im doing this swap too got cal(from a/zone) rotors off internet spohn cradles,brkts,Earls stainless brake hoses for 1le, 90 model spindles to modify,i now have 4wl disc do i need to change existing metering valve or will i have to change?? i understand i need std disc/drum master?? that dosent make sense as the drum side has a small residual pressure valve in the output port to hold 2-3lbs of hydraulic pressure in drum line. last question: brake line fitting thread differences the 90+up are different thred pitch? do i have to change all metal lines? i will also be adding a 92 rear end with the bigger brakes at same time

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

thats the site that i couldnt figure out, he has a few differnt part numbers that say their for brackets, not very specific to what ones.

Justins86bird

I guess the cages you refer to are the caliper carriers. No point getting the GM p/n since GM disc them and stock has been depleted. You'll have to get those from Spohn.

Justins86bird

Only if you have cast iron rear calipers will you have to get the drum m/c.

BretD 88GTA

1LE cars used the J50 disc/drum master cylinder. The 90 and up cars also used the J50 regardless of what type of brakes.

The pre '89 4 wheel disc cars are supposed to use the J65 master cylinder but my '88 disc/disc car has a J50 master cynlider. So I don't know how accurate that is.

90+ do use different pitch threads on the brake lines. This mainly affects the prop valve.

If you end up only spending $500 to $600 upgrading all 4 wheels to 1LE then you are WAY ahead on being cost effective. Typically just the front upgrade runs $800 to $900.

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

what about metal lines of the frt wheels connecting to the earls brake lines? 2 frt and 1 rear?
i do have the iron calipers .i dont understand 4whl disc to 1le 4whl disc why new master cyl/prop valve would be different
i guess im to technical? i am ASE certified in brakes, so it seems improper to use a disc/drum master cyl on a 4whl car?

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

its the line pressure that makes the differnce.

BretD 88GTA

That won't be a problem.


IIRC the J50 master cylinder creates more line pressure and gives a firmer pedal feel.

3.8TransAM

ouch

want to do the conversion badly on my GTa and my Formie(the TTA is 1LE equipped already) but man its sad when the most expensive part is a coupla chunks of cast iron/aluminum :-(

I know its not Spohns fault, i know how much patterns/molds/castings cost to get into production, just kinda breaks your heart though.

Still gonna do it just not as soon as i thought.....but figure 500-600 and u have better brakes and if u have a sawzall u dont even have to pull the spindles :-) lol

LAter
Jeremy
PS i will vouch for the 1LE being better from the factory than the reg 4 whl disc. I have to imagine the difference is even far more noticeable running good pads

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

ooo lala check out these...

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

and..

ebmiller88

iTrader: (7)

If you don't want to lay out the cash for the 1LE brakes, do the next best thing and go with the C4 upgrade...same brakes, much less cash.


Ed

PF Flyer

1LE - front


1LE - rear

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

the rotors i got should be decent for what i need. their made by hawks racing or somethin. paid 262 with shipping for all 4 1LE slotted rotors.

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

would having them zinc washed be expensive? how long does that last? and has anyone heard of hawks racing? not sure the quality of them, the parts seem decent tho.

BretD 88GTA

I don't know about the cost of zinc washing, but I have the exact same rotors for my 1LE set-up. Fronts are not on the car yet, but I have been running the rears for a few months now and have no complaints.

Br1dgeman

Hey, Ed-

Did you use the corvette carriers in your brake upgrade? Do they have the same bolt spacing as the 1LE carriers do?

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

yes im using the c4 carriers for my 1LE kit. they are the same as far as i know, and i beleive i located a sorce for them, i have to look into it further.

ebmiller88

iTrader: (7)

They are indeed different. The C4 carriers have bolt holes that are spaced way out, about 6" apart. The 1LE carriers' bolt holes are sort of in the middle, maybe 3" apart.


Ed

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

hmm thats no good ed.

ebmiller88

iTrader: (7)

C4 and baer carriers look like this:

ebmiller88

iTrader: (7)

Spohn's 1LE carriers look like this:

http://www.spohn.net/product.cfm?productid=1367

They won't interchange..

Ed

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

****ty, time to search more i guess.

Br1dgeman

Not only will they not interchange, the C-4 carriers do not even appear to fit in the the space where the !LE adapter bracket goes...

I just tried to mock it up in my garage to fabricate a bracket that might work- I don't think there is a snowball's chance in hell those C_4 carrirer will work.

Br1dgeman

How does Baer DO IT with those carriers?!?!

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

maybe bore is different in disc vs. drum which would make a pressure difference. disc vs drum cyl usually differ in the resovior as discs have bigger volume because they displace more fluid than whl cyl do. also they incorporate a residual pressure chk valve to hold 3-5lbs of pressure to the rear drums to overpower the springs that hold the shoes on.
it seems like the big difference will be in the prop valve??

ebmiller88

iTrader: (7)

Also, 1LE rotors are around 1" thick...C4 rotors are only around .83" or so...big difference.


They make their own or have PBR make them spec'd to order.

Ed

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

i need a damned left hand side caliper carrier. this sucks

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

well its about time!!! almost done...

Rotor Comparo:


Passenger side:


Painted and cleared PBR calipers with the earls lines and stainless banjo bolts, I used VHT brake caliper cast aluminum and VHT clear, very nice spray paint:


cant wait till its finished!

ebmiller88

iTrader: (7)

Talk about resurrection! Here's a little advice. I highly advise you to paint or otherwise protect the bare metal areas on the rotors, both front and rear, if your car isn't a daily driver. My Iroc's been sitting a while and all rotors are rusted like crazy. I'm gonna have to pull them off and sand or bead blast them clean and then paint them to keep them protected.

Ed

Dale

iTrader: (12)

I'm kinda glad this is brought back up.
I seen somewhere on here that the spindle needs modded. Is this if you cant find true 1le spindles?

Also, I assume this setup is overall heavier then the small disk, and drum setup?

Does one need to change the rear alxes to go to rear disk from drum?

ebmiller88

iTrader: (7)

Pig Sooie!!! (Little home-state thing...)

Yep, factory 1LE spindles are probably the hardest thing to find from a third gen. You'd be better off just to mod the stockers you have to make them work. You can buy them though, but they're like $300 each new.

It's heavier due to the larger rotor and additional brackets and stuff, but the braking performance is worth it. There are, IMO, better upgrades out there.

No, you don't have to change axles to do a drum to disc swap. You have to remove them to get to the backing plates but you can keep them. Also, not that hard to do.

Ed