Hi all, just wanted to see if you guys could offer any advice on my frankenstein brake setup. I have been through some of the old threads, but I haven't seen anyone try anything quite like this, so any input you guys have would be great!

Alright for starters, I have an '83 Camaro, sport coupe, with totally stock brakes all around. For christmas, my family decided to suprise me with a new rear end for the car.

The rear end in question is a G92 pulled out of a 1990 IROC Z, and came with the 1LE calipers, sway bar, and shocks in place. I was pretty pleased, since I had been wanting to install rear disc brakes for some time. I was planning on converting the front brakes to 1LE as well, but after doing some research I discovered that the swap is very expensive and that quality parts are hard to find. I still believe I need to upgrade the front brakes, as I am operating on the assumption that the stronger 1LE calipers in the rear will overpower the weaker OEM calipers in the front. I am leaning toward these replacement calipers from SSBC, http://www.stainlesssteelbrakes.com/brakeproducts/brakecalipers/sportTwin/ as they are direct replacements for my stock calipers in the front. So, onto my main questions.

Right now I have two major questions that I have been unable to answer. The first is what type of Master Cylinder/Proportioning Valve combo should I use for this hodge-podge setup? I was planning on running the stock MC and buying an adjustable Prop. Block from Wilwood. As I understand it, this would allow me to run full pressure to the front brakes and fine-tune the rears, allowing me to work around the fact that the front and rear brakes are different (which would make any factory prop. valve useless, since it's preset bias would be thrown off by the difference in the brakes themselves, right?).

The second is whether the front caliper swap is needed. My assumption about the rear brakes overpowering the front brakes holding true, the swap seems critical. And while I have the prop valve and master cylinder apart, I thought I might as well bulk up the brakes in the front too, even if I don't really need to.

Finally, are there any other factors I'm overlooking? Such as running new brake lines, or swapping out a different MC? Does anyone think this could never work in a million years, or do I have a faint glimmer of hope? Thanks in advance for your help guys, sorry this post wound up being so long but I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read it.

 

Welcome to the site. A search of this site will provide a weatlth of information.

The front 1LE swap isn't terribly expensive. Spohn sells the kit, so check it out for yourself. No problem with parts, quality or otherwise. As for your assumption that the rears will overpower the fronts, please know that from 89-92 the rears are all larger than the fronts.

I converted my 85 IROC to 1LE on all four corners. Check the following link for more pics and info:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/faq-...iscs-89-a.html


JamesC

 

Exactly...

If you use the "1LE" rear brakes, which are identical to the non-"1LE" rear brakes from 89-92, along with your existing front system, you will be duplicating the stock non-"1LE" 89-92 brake system.

It works fine. There's no "overpowering" that I've ever noticed in my 83 car with about a 91 or 92 disk rear in it, or in a stock non-"1LE" 89-92 car for that matter. In fact, I'm still using the 83 master cyl and combo valve, and it works out great. The car stops perfectly, no locking up or weirdness of any kind. The rear pads wear at about 2/3 the rate of the fronts, which would seem to indicate that they're reasonably balanced.

Which is of course, not to imply that better front brakes wouldn't be a good thing; only, that you won't be getting into trouble somehow by doing what you're talking about.

If I was going to upgrade my fronts, I'd use the LS1 setup. That one, the C4, C4 HD, C5, and 1LE are all about the same general price and work about the same as far as braking power; but when you compare the number of cars on the road with each system, and as a result the ease of finding replacement parts for them, the LS1 setup is going to be BY FAR the best long-term maintenance option.

 

Alright guys, thanks for the input. It would be nice to have 1LE brakes on all four corners, even if just to say that my car has them. I'll look into the front 1LE swap and keep you guys posted on what happens. Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

If you want to do the front 1LE brakes you can get out cheaper by shopping around for parts. I bought the brackets and carriers from Spohn and shopped around at local parts stores for the rest of the parts. I ended up with a little over $650 in my upgrade.

 

I know I have one complete, new 1LE front setup in stock as well as all the others listed: C4/C5/LS1 and others. Let us know if you have any other questions on your upgrades, you'll be glad you did them.

Ed