I have a 91 Firebird and looking to upgrade the front brakes, what is the most cost effective way to do that? Looking to stick with my 16" wheels.

 

Usual preferred path is the LS1 brakes. Check www.bigbrakeupgrade.com as a starting point in your research.

 

What he said, got everything I need and will do the swap this spring

 

I have the LS1 brakes on mine. ...and by LS1 brakes, we mean brakes that came on LS1 equipped 4th gen F body cars. There's not actually ANYthing LS1 about them, lol. ...but they fit all the 16 wheels, EXCEPT the crosslace wheels I think. They might...but I'd double check if you have them. Boy do they make a difference. It's night and day. Bigger AND better brakes for sure.

 

good point this. The twin piston aluminium calipers on the LS1 Camaro's and firebird's were also on the same year V6 cars. Same brakes from what I can see so may be the case that you can source the brakes from someone parting their plain jane V6 car and without the Trans Am/ Z28 tax...

 

Yeah, I thought they might've been on the v6 cars too, but didn't want to make that leap. Can't imagine that'd make it any cheaper from a parts house though. part number is a part number. Now buy it from a speed shop, then who knows. Honestly, it's not a bad deal buying the whole kit from one of the places like bigbrakeupgrade. You need the modded brackets and knuckles anyhow. Might as well know you have all the necessary parts all in one place.

 

Looks like the modded parts would cost you $485, the whole kit is $785. So you'd have to buy rotors, calipers and pads for $300.

Rock Auto has the caliper/rotor/pad kit (same for v8/v6) starting at $172 for a basic "Power Stop" brand kit. ...for street driving, I've always been a fan of consumer level ceramic, and not a race type pad, which this kit offers. Powdercoated caliper kits start at $242.

Anyhow....food for thought.

 

Abubaca's suggestion is probably the best way to go. But you will need cores if you purchase remanufactured calipers, or you will be assessed core charges.

There are 4thgens by the dozens in junkyards nowadays in large markets, and most probably feature dual piston calipers, which will cost about $20/each. Get a pair, complete with brackets, and you can use them as cores, at a value of about double what you will have paid for them, toward the purchase of remanufactured calipers.

As for cleaning-up and/or rebuilding and/or painting calipers yourself, it's not really worth the effort because remans are inexpensive and, literally, like brand new. So unless you simply want to do all of that work yourself, then remans would be the best way to go. Then get new rotors of your choice from one of your preferred sources, online or locally, and the partial conversion kit from BBU(bigbrakeupgrade).

And while you're at a junkyard, also get a set of spindles from a 3rdgen to send as cores to BBU.

Another advantage of buying your upgrade "kit" piece-by-piece like this, is that you won't have to spend all of your money at one time.

 

Yeah we use the term "LS1 brakes" to mean, 98 - 2002. Not so much the engine. Just the years it came in.

 

Nope, they fit over the LS1 brakes, you just need an 1/8 spacer so the caliper doesn't contact the back of the "spokes" of the wheel

 

I’ve done the “LS1” swap twice now (I did pull my parts from a V6 car). Very simple and straightforward. If you have any mechanical ability you can pull it off in your own garage. The spindle mods can be achieved with a couple cuts and drill and tap 2 holes. Your existing rotors can be taken to your local machine shop to be turned down into hubs. I used Scott at BigBrKeUpgrade as well for the brackets.