I Read many articles on 1LE brakes still unsure about a few things.
I intend on converting the front to 1LE brakes and leaving the rear stock calipers.
1. Some conversion kits say I need a different master cylinder because car that came with disk brakes use a different master cylinder. Other kits don't mention anything about changing master cylinder. Do I even need to change this since I'm not doing anything with rear brakes?
2. Proportioning valve. Will I need a adjustable one if I only do the front brakes to 1LE or can I just continue using what I have and will it work good with that one?

Thanks for your help.

 

I'll answer your questions in the order you didn't ask them:

0. 1LE brakes aren't the brightest idea in the world. Not because of anything technical; rather, because there never were more than a few hundred cars with them in existence in the world. Therefore, when you go to the parts store to order something, say somethinig trivial and optional like .... pads, the odds of being able to find them anywhere you go for years far into the future, are DIM at best. I'd strongly recommend putting something more commonplace on there; LS1 ones are probably the best choice, followed by C5 ones (pretty much the same thing, just dressed up a bit and a bit more costly). Again, not because of any technical reason, but instead, future-proofing. Don't put something on your car, ESPECIALLY not the brakes, that you can't maintain EASILY, RELIABLY, and CHEEEPLY.

1 & 2. You should be able to use the same MC and combo valve, since of course, you have the SUPER CRAPPY Saginaw rears, and they most likely don't work anyway; your existing problem of EXTREME bias to the front (like, 100%) will just get worse. Although, I can't in my wildest hallucinations, come up with how it would be a good idea to do that kind of work to the brakes, and not change out a $12 MC. That's about the most penny-wise and $100-foolish thing I can imagine.

3. A smarter plan of attack would be, again, LS1 brakes, for the rears as well. For those however you WILL need a new prop valve and MC. The stock 89-92 ones should work fine with that, or of course you could use {drum roll please} a LS1 one instead. Or, depending on which aftermarket 9" setup you have, a popular choice there is often the rears off of certain years of Explorer. Any way you go, if you still have the iron Delco calipers on your car, they need to go away. IN fact IMO that would be the FIRST upgrade I would do if I were in your situation, LONG BEFORE I would worry about the fronts. You may even find that your fronts are entirely adequate if you can get some rears on there that actually do anything at all.

 

I converted to the 1LE fronts using the following write-up:

http://web.archive.org/web/200605221.../1LEbrake.html

If you ever become interested in the rears, the write-up below will be helpful, I think:

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

JamesC

 

Parts for the so called "1LE" caliper are very common.Chevrolet use the same calipers in corvettes & those cars are far more "common" than a 1LE f-body.If you ever need parts for the calipers or the caliper itself.Just ask for 88-96 vette years, if the parts guy cant find anything for 1LE.

Pads, seals, rebuild kits are the same on vettes.The larger outer bearing use on the 1LE rotor is from the older 2nd gen f-body line & is also used on the big impala/caprice models.Inner bearing is the same for 10.5/1LE rotors, which i believe is the same inner bearing also used in 2nd gen f-bodies.

At the very least you should swap the prop valve.