Just wanted to drop a line and say thanks to scott(greezemonkey) and matt(mw66nova) for helping with my ls1 brake swap. Scott made me up some conversion brackets and matt turned down my old rotors into the hubs for this conversion.


On that note, here's some pics of the progress along the way.

First you remove the stock rotors, bearings, seals and dust shield. The dust shield is held in with three 11 mm bolts. There's 3 sections that need to be ground down and cut off as well. Then you drill out the rearward two bolts to 13/32" and tap to 12mmx1.75. Then install the conversion bracket along with tapping the lower rear hole in a vice with the spindle. The bolts are locktited with #271 permanent locktite(red) and torqued to 85ft/lbs. Toss back on the new hubs and paint if you feel like it. Now is a good time to repack the wheel bearings and install new seals. I like mobil 1 synthetic wheel bearing grease, but that's up to you all. Next install the rotors, the caliper bracket and then calipers/pads installed. That's about it.


I know TGO likes pics, so i took a few along the way:






I'll edit this thread in the morning when I toss on the calipers and mounting brackets, they're drying right now from being painted red with VHT caliper paint.

More than appearence you'll like the increased stopping power with your new brakes. It's night and day.

looking good, definitely a good upgrade for these cars. I've got all my parts together and made up for this swap, just need to get some of your motivation and put mine together on the car

motivation Nah I have had this car in the air for 3 weeks now, have a 5.3L swap in my 88 suburban going on and realized that out of my 2 vehicles I can't drive either one at the moment, so I had to knock something out. Thank god my job provides me a work truck to get to work I also have red and black paint on my hands this morning, guess I had holes in my gloves last night and didn't see it before falling asleep. Must have been tired since I washed my hands and didn't notice before passing out.

Uh, that 12-pack probably didn't contribute a thing .

JamesC

haha i would have stayed up past 1am and finished it if that was the case

Did you mod your spindles on the car? Seems like that would be the way to go if possible.

while the cuts may be doable on the car, drilling out the bolt holes may be a bit more of a challenge; i ended up doing mine off the car with a drill press

Drill press is the way to go!
I tap all of mine 7/16 and 10mm i feel its better having more meat on the spindles... 12mms pretty big especially on the bottom of the spindle when you have to clear it for the caliper...



some already modified...


and a few more to do...

i did it with a long milwaukee hammer drill, it's probably 30" long and can make accurate enough holes drilled with it Obviously not on the hammer setting. Had an issue with the caliper slides being seized on the bottom drivers side, couldn't turn the rotor when the caliper was on there, had a moment. Got it all taken care of now though.

hmmm apparently these won't fit my skinnies at all, even tried a 5/16" spacer and still no luck. Well guess it's time to sell off the 15" front and switch to 17" fronts then. Don't feel comfortable running a bigger spacer or grinding the calipers.

well got a pair of these on order, tires will have to wait until I can sell the skinnies off, but got them for $50 a rim cheaper than summit.

Here's a pic of my buddies rim I borrowed, clears by just a hair.



won't know how the pro stars in the rear with these in the front looks until I pull the car out of the garage....we'll see.

What kind did you get? I was looking at Racestars for my TA, 17" fronts 15" rears

racestars are unilug rims and i don't feel comfortable enough with them at all, they use a staggered washer to put the GM bolt pattern in the middle, since its also for small ford pattern and 5x5" pattern as well, don't like that the rim would be riding on 5 washers with gaps all around.


Those are billet specialties street lites rims 17x7", the rears are still my pro stars 15x10"

giggity...... can't wait to drive the car again


who needs a set of like new skinnies since they don't fit anymore ?!?!?

what size wheels are you selling there? are they 15's?

Since it seems you would know the answer to this. I have done some research and dont quite understand what my capabilities are for upgrades. I have a TA stock and want to upgrade the brakes but keep the same wheels if possible. If upgraded brakes mean only with upgraded tires of course I am willing to do that.
But, my question: How do I upgrade to some brakes that are budget and possible from the local junk yards?
Or otherwise: HOw do I go about upgrade to the LS1 brakes?
1LE sounds great but the cost is so high.

get junkyard calipers and rotors from a 98-02 fbody. then modify your spindles, and either have someone cut your current rotors into hubs, or buy hubs. then get the retrofit brackets from someone like greezemonkey, or bigbrakeupgrades.com, etc.

selling weld 15x4 pro stars and 28x7.50 m/t sportsman pro tires. Tires still have the nipples on the outside edge since they have such low use. Total package with tires, rims and the proper McGard stainless steel lug nuts was $630. Looking to sell for $450 firm. Here's a picture of the car at world of wheels, you can see how polished the rims are, it's the last time I drove on them.

realized I never updated this with the rims mounted up so here's a quickie pic....




Now to sell off the complete set of pro stars so I can buy matching rear billet specialties and it'll be 100% done.

should of bought this setup super nice looking and would of cleared your prostars. btw great stoping power.

thats what I have on mine but its a drag only of course..

mine is to but i dont see why you couldnt drive it on the streets.. arent wheelstands just as punishable on these the same amount of street driving? i never would just an idea tho... also could you drag guys look at my new car its under the body forum the thread is called my new racecar thanks... btw xpndl3 you have an AMAZING looking car

it's not the physical beating they get from driving around, they don't have enough meat to disipate heat well enough. they will warp/crack if too hot. i have a set on the back of my car, and they kill a set of pads in just 6 months with regular driving too.

that makes sense. the rotors are very very thin compared to a regular rotor. i would only run these on a drag car cuz they are light and you dont need lightweight parts on a street car. wouldnt take the chance of losing brakes for lightweight parts. also greezemonkey how much do you charge for the adapters? and mw66 how much do you charge for turned downed rotors? would like to do this to my street car. thanks

this isn't a service i'm currently offering to the public. steve was in a tight spot so i took care of him. anyone who has a brake lathe should be able to take care of you.

How much is it turned down? Got any pics of one machined? If you would like to keep it private pm please so I can get the information to get this project done. Also greeze how much you charge for the brackets?

just turn it down till you can slip an ls1 rotor over it. take as little material off as possible

Alright don't want to get bashed but is all the 4th gen ls1 cars the same calipers? Also can they be used with a manual brake setup?

The "LS1" brakes are any 98-02 Camaro/Trans Am/Firebird, no matter V6 or V8.

ask steve (xpndbl3) about using a manual brake setup with those front calipers. i haven't had to go to manual brakes yet

wilwood 1.06" bore manual master here and I like the pedal feel. Still can't stop as hard as power ones, but that's to be expected. The 1.125" bore was far too large and couldn't stop at all and the pedal required HUGE pressure to even move it 1/4". This is about as good as it gets with that bore and these brakes, almost as close to the power pedal feel as I've ever driven and I've driven probably 10 or 15 different manual brake cars.

That sounds like what I got as for a master cylinder. I like Manuel brakes cuz it gets rid of that huge brake booster. And doesn't limit you on your choice of cams.

Hi im new to the board and was wonding if anyone could point me in the right direction for machining my rotors into hubs for a c5 brake conversion. Also has any one put c6 z06 brakes on there third gen?

Take it to any auto shop that has a machine shop they should be able to turn them. Also do a search at the top of the page and c6 calipers have been done. Also good luck with your car and welcome to thirdgen.