Hey guys, I purchased the front c5 hybrid kit with 12 inch rotor from Ed along with the rear PBR 12 inch last August. I got the kit in Decemeber and slowly worked on to where I was able to finally take it out the other day. I have a problem but will mention that further down the thread when I post a picture of it.

These first pictures show the stock front and new rotor as well as the calipers.

 

These are just pictures of my tearing down the front end.

 

That lower control balljoint was a pain in the ***, I tried the BFH method and there was no way in hell it was coming out, I was finally able to go rent a C-clamp style remover tool and it came right out and the new ones in.

The new spindles were nice but with one problem. I guess they are heat vanes on the actual caliper themselves, but one of the vanes was hitting the spindle to where I couldn't line the mounting holes up so I had to files some metal away from the spindle and it was finally able to mount.

 

The rear was much more work. I pulled the drums off and my buddy actually came over for the rear for a little bit. We ripped out all the old drum guts and he got under the car and took the dif cover off and pulled the carrige bolt and clips as I pulled the axles out. From that point I was on my own again.....friends.

 

The drum backing plate was ON THERE. It took me probably 30 minutes atleast on each side to slowly remove the bolt with a breaker bar. From this point on I had pics of all the new stuff and mounting plates but went to put them on the computer and some how deleted them before putting them on. Sorry. The porportioning valve went in pretty easy.

 

I just took these pics today after I took it out real quick. I also did a full tuneup this morning including...coil, wires, cap and rotor, optima battery, 160 degree stat. The car looks great but isnt perfect yet.

 

THE PROBLEM!!!

So, I took the car out and started driving to break the pads in. I would hit the brakes and the fronts would jsut lock up and the backs were not doing anything it seamed like. It seems like you need hardly any pressure on the pedel and the fronts want to lock. The fronts were wearing perfect but as you can see in the picture, the rear pads are contacting the whole pad on the rotor, only at the top. The reverse side of the rotor is perfect though. Both sides have the same problem. Also, I am starting to hear grinding noises coming from the rear. I took the wheels off, spun the axles and nothing was rubbing, it seemed fine, spun freely. Out them on took it out again and same problem. The front left actualy started to run had on sumthing as well until I tapped the brakes and it stopped but the rears still rubbing. I went to back it in the garage and the noise was even worse. I looked at it again and it kinda seems like the bottom of the caliper is real close to the rotor to where the other wheel looks a little more free. I have no clue what to do and it really makes me angry that I am having all these problems.



Also, when I went to change the rear line spliter to the axle, I broke the body line and had to replace the whole thing which sucked. I bought a stainless steel one from classic industries and put ital together and the spliter Ed ave me broke so right now I have the stock one back in there and am still waiting an email from Ed in which he hasnt responded yet.

If anyone has any idea why the pad isnt contacting the rotor please help me out. I been doing some searching on this but I am not really finding any answers except for the parking brake which isnt working either. I believe I gotta cut down a couple coils onthe return spring.

 

I'm having the same problem on mine. I switched the prop valve and have not been able to get the rear calipers to hook. I have the LS1 setup all around with a 4th gen rear. We bled the system and still have not been able to get it to work. I just sent the car out for paint to I'll get back at the problem when I get it back.

 

Ya, I have no clue. I wanna get someone behind me when I back up to listen where the rub is coming from, I am not sure if it isn't just my rear end going or sumthing, becuase like I said, I jacked the rear up and everything spun freely. I have no clue. I still have that rotor and pad issue though.

 

How tight are the pads sitting in the carrier in the rear? Looks like the outers might be crooked or just binding up. Had that issue with vehicles at work. It's always been resolved by a full disassembly, clean everything and some brake grease on the hardware (little pieces of metal the pads ride in). Hope that helps.

 

The pads didn't seem to fit too awful tight in the carriers, they would actualy fall out while I was trying to bolt the caliper up on the mount. I didn't know if there was possibly some kind of adjustment or sumthing.

 

Your rotors are on backwards . Just wanted to let you know. The vanes are supposed to cut into the pad. Thats what helps drilled and slotted rotors stop the car quicker. You have them the opposite way.

I'm sure thats not your problem but it can't hurt to swap them around!

 

I actually did a huge search on this. The rotors were actually already labeled left and right and that is how they are on now. I actually did it the other way becuase I thought the slots were to be higher up front. Like I said, I researched this and found out that dif. retailers face the slots in dif. ways. They have nothing to do with stopping quicker either. The slots are to carry dust away from the pad and the holes are for letting built up gas to escape from under the pads. The only way to really even use the full function of these rotors is on a track. They are only for looks on the street basically. There are two kinds of internal vanes....inside the rotor, curved or strait. If straight, you can face the slots to your preference, but if curved, you must face to where the internal curves bend toward the rear to allow proper cooling.

So with that said, I actually had them like you said but then decided to put them how ED had labeled them.

I also did a lot of vette searches and stuff and they were more than most facing like mine are now.

Thanks for the info though.

 

huh, well if thats how they were labelled then i guess thats right. ive always seen them going the other way. now i want to do research on this too! haha anways good luck with the original problem.

 

It almost sounds like the caliper brackets crooked. The piston side gets full contact and the outside pad is only getting contact on the top like if the bracket was crooked the TOP of the OUTER side of the caliper would recieve the most clamping force only using the topside of the pad> Also could cause the PISTON SIDE pad to hang up on the lower portion of the pad it cause your grinding noise.... Where did you find the info on the ls1 rear disk EBRAKE solution??

 

By any chance did you leave a c-clip out of the axle?

 

http://www.flynbye.com/catalog/i153.html

JamesC

 

Last I heard shipping time and customer service was "slacking". Was looking for part #'s and modification details/ quicker solution. Guess I'll just get a 4th gen ebrake handle and cables then pull out the welder.

 

Ya, I do think everything is a little off. Those brackets sent to me seem to be kinda warped or sumthing. My right side finally went to normal operation. I just been driving her trying to wear everything in. My noises have pretty much all went away except if I slowly stop with a slight pressure one of the pads squeel on the rotor as if it were in need of a new pad.

raffi4 - I did indeed put the c-clips back in.

Flynbye is indeed slacking. The distribution block I had broke and I emailed to get a new one sent as well as questions on the e brake and I have still yet to recieve any kind of answer.

 

Yea well anyways i just did the same upgrade to the front and have the rears(yet to be installed) and damn!! with hawks pads the car comes down from 85-10 in a blink of the eye cant wait to put the rears and adj. prop valve then you could really be eatin the dash =) I had a 02 WS6 with same rotors/lines/pads and the pedal feel is a little different but my IROC is 3 or 4 hundred pounds lighter maybe more and it def slows down faster but the 245 tires compared to 275 is making it alot easier to lock up the fronts...

 

I just notice Hawks sells the ebrake cables for lt1/ls1 rear end swap suprised no one has mentioned that. Im assuming it wil work with the rear brake swap.

http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/li...ebird-1-2.aspx

 

brakes look nice. sry about the problems. any idea how much weight uve added with the larger brakes? id say uve added a minimum of 50lbs.

 

I have no clue, I do know the original stuff, like the rear drums were probably heavier.... not sure about the front, the new stuff is aluminum instead of iron too...so it may be close.

 

gotcha, my aluminum SSBC force 10 calipers are super light compared to the stockers.

how much did the fronts set u back?

 

I dont know if its that much the front and rear calipers are aluminum and feel lighter then the iron calipers i would say only weight added would be from the rotors. But ill tell you something the stopping power is well worth the extra weight

 

I'm assuming you've already solved this problem as it is a year later already.

Just in case you haven't, you do know that the proportioning valve is different on the cars with rear disk brakes, right? If you're running a prop valve from a drum brake car on your disk brake swap, this may be your problem. You'll probably want to find one out of a 4th gen or even a 1LE or IROC car. A bit more tough to find one out of a 1LE, of course.