WilliamSilver

iTrader: (6)

Was wondering on what would be the best option for my brake upgrade.

88 Firebird. Rear drums which im keeping for now.

Want some advice on what's a good practical brake upgrade that I can get my hands on for 500 or less.

Kicker is I want them to fit under the factory 16 ws6 wheels I have. Links welcome

Any ideas for me?

So far 1le I think would work but im not sure

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

You might peruse the site below for ideas:

http://www.flynbye.com/

JamesC

Z28Smitty

Look to upgrade to LS1 brakes in the front. I did mine last year and they came out great.
If you can find a decent set of LS1 brakes at the junk yard and rebuild them yourself you'll save big $$.

WilliamSilver

iTrader: (6)

Think I might go with the c4 on that site

And you won't find any ls1 brakes in a junkyard in Sacramento just to hot of an item

startat2

iTrader: (2)

Is that C4 kit just for two wheels, or for all the way around?

BlackenedBird

iTrader: (5)

flynbye.com has not been getting good reviews lately, from what I've seen, based on his S L O W time it takes to fill orders. I've seen posts reporting 6+ months, in recent times.

But I have seen nothing bad reported about http://bigbrakeupgrade.com/pricing.htm

89 Iroc Z

Another option is to do the modifications yourself: http://lukeskaff.com/projects/car/th...brake-upgrade/

SiCkRs

iTrader: (6)

You could piece a complete kit for about $300 with spindle and everything if you do all the work yourself such as modding your spindles and cutting your rotors into hubs.

WilliamSilver

iTrader: (6)

Wouldnt mind doing it myself but i dont think im in a position to do so right now. Not sure where i would source the LS1 calipers and everything else needed to do it in a reasonable amount of time either.

Been checking craigslist for LS1 brake components, no luck. a bolt on kit might be my best option. they have that LS1 kit for $680

any other ideas?

No one on TGO is selling LS1 brake swap right now either

89 Iroc Z

Second hand LS1 brakes are easy to pick up on fourth gen and later camaro forums like Z28camaro, ls1tech, moderncamaro, or even ebay. Many people upgrade to CTS-V and 2010+ camaro brakes on fourth gen camaros because they are basically a bolt on so they will have there LS1 parts laying around. You can buy new (reman) calipers for $60 each that come with the caliper carriers and rotors for about $30 each from rockauto.com. The parts are also cheap at your local parts store.

SiCkRs

iTrader: (6)

Were you located check craigaliat I bought my ls1 rotors and calipers for $40 with 60k miles, and just today I seen some slotted rotors and calipers for $100

Z28Smitty

GM Sport Salvage in San Jose has plenty of LS1 calipers to chose from. I picked up a set from them last year for $200 that I cleaned up, powder coated, rebuilt and installed on my vert.


I have a set of stock rotors/hubs and front spindles left over from my conversion that I'll let go cheap. This will allow you to prep the spindle and hub assemblies ahead of time so your car will have less down time when you perform the conversion.

WilliamSilver

iTrader: (6)

managed to snag two front calipers and all the parts including spindles etc for $200.

Think i can get everything done except cutting the spindles. hmm

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

Sure you can--it's not rocket science. I used a hacksaw and a Dremel to soften the cut edges. Drilled and tapped using a drill and vise. Long ago, when members were first going 1LE, members were doing the conversion on-car (I purchased a set of used spindles for convenience and to avoid downtime).

JamesC

WilliamSilver

iTrader: (6)

Alright JamesC. Since you put it that way and completely killed my lazyness ill do it all myself. Will include pics.

Think i need a few more parts right? ill take pics of what i got when it comes in

SiCkRs

iTrader: (6)

Yeah post pics of what you got from what I understood, you will still need the bracket which I believe it's on sale in bigbrakeupgrades.com for $56 if I'm not mistaken. Then you will need to modify your spindles you could do that yourself and after that either buy some hubs or cut ur rotor into a hub. Then last the brake lines is another thing you will need to buy. I might have skipped something but I wrote the main things you will need to start this swap.

1ADan

iTrader: (4)

i too was worried about doing the work myself, but its not that bad. local machine shop cut down the rotors for me to make the hubs (cut off the disc area first, it'll cut down on shop time and special tooling), bought the brackets, and used a bit of power tool macgyvering to mod the spindles (chop saw with super large cut off wheel for the big cuts, hacksaw and dremel for the smaller stuff).

WilliamSilver

iTrader: (6)

copy that. kit comes in next week. think i need a proportioning valve still.

Comes with

Calipers
Original caliper brackets
Spindles(98)
brake lines
rotors
pads

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

LS1 brakes can be done for $200 or under. Best bang for buck by FARRRR. Email this guy because he has a lot of LS camaro parts. I bought EVERYHTING from him. Complete front brakes, booster, master cylinder.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/98-02-Camaro...item43aad00520

Plus with the LS camaro master cylinder, you can use a motive power bleeder and bleed/flush your brake system solo.

I went from this:

to this for $200:

WilliamSilver

iTrader: (6)

well brakes come in tomorrow. Will try and grab spindles from the junkyard thursday so i can cut them and install everything together.

So far i have

LS1 calipers + brackets
Brake lines
4th gen spindles(dont need them though right)

think thats it

SiCkRs

iTrader: (6)

No you need thirdgen spindles and some hubs.

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

This is how to modify your spindles:

http://lukeskaff.com/?page_id=396

ramicio

iTrader: (-1)

If you have to turn down the rotors into hubs, then what hub does the wheel have to center on? It looks like there is a surface there to do so, but only without a rotor attached the the machined rotor that's now a hub.

1ADan

iTrader: (4)

The wheel is still centered on the center of the old hub and studs. The hub/rotor hat flange width never played any role in centering the wheels; they just butted up against each other.

ramicio

iTrader: (-1)

I don't like the idea of that.

BlackenedBird

iTrader: (5)

Why? 3rd gens are lug-centric just like 95% of all the cars on the road. Only "recently" has hub-centric been the thing to do.

novaderrik

every stock vehicle built in the last 50 years or so has been hub centric... but that's mostly to make things go together faster and easier on the assembly line... the lugs work just find for centering the wheels. you get over the fear of using the lugs to center the wheel after you put your first set of old school unilug (the kind with the slotted holes for 4.5. 4.75, and 5" bolt circles with HUGE center bores that use the 3/4" shank lug nuts) Cragar, Keystone, or Ansen slot rims on a car and it doesn't fall off right away...