Hi all! I have a 1987 5.7 IROC and am really considering the Wilwoods for a nice upgrade. Are they worth the money? Has anyone installed them on their 3rd Gen? And lastly how are they operation wise?

Thank you
Joe

 

Can't speak all that much to the cost/benefit ratio of Wilwood products; they're one of the oldest in that business though, so no doubt their stuff is "good".

I would NOT recommend them for an upgrade to a street-driven car however. Not that they're not "good"; rather, if you go down to the parts store at the corner, they won't have parts on the shelf for them, like they would for any of the stock systems. It REALLY SUCKS to be unable to drive your car because you have to order in new pads or something, and they're back-ordered or whatever. After all, Wilwood is under no particular legal obligation to assure replacement parts availability, like OEMs are (to at least some limited extent).

I'd STRONGLY encourage you to look instead at changing to one of the newer stock systems that are common all around you. The LS1 (98-02 F body) setup is one such; a number of ones off of Corvette are popular, as are CTS-V; and so on. Since you have the crappy 82-88 rear disc system, that should be the very first part to tackle. If your car has the 9-bolt rear it's a little harder butt that's still where you need to concentrate on first since those old cast-iron calipers hardly ever do anything at all.

 

Thank you very much for the information. Yes, not much out there is right. Im having a hard time just trying to find a 4 wheel complete kit for the 1LE setup. I will definitely look at the options you mentioned. I appreciate your time and guidance.

Thanks,
Joe

 

contact big brake upgrade he has all the parts for your kit, just not the modified spindles, youd have to modify your own, or send yours to him to be modified

 

You don't want that. You don't need "a 4 wheel complete kit" to begin with: you need a kit for the front and a kit for the rear, that are compatible. Again, like Wilwood, it's not that the 1LE system is "not good"; just, there were some low thousands - like 3,000 or whatever, not sure the exact number - of 1LE cars made, as opposed to ... HOW MANY? ... 98-02 F bodies, Corvettes, etc. And on top of that, the 1LE setup was discontinued almost 35 years ago, while lots of those others are FAR more current. The 1LE setup will land you right straight back in replacement parts hell, as evidenced by the fact that you can't find a "kit". It's quite literally an ANTIQUE, therefore ABSOLUTELY NOT the right solution for an "upgrade" that's expected to last into the future.

As an example of what's out there, look at bigbrakeupgrade.com. Not saying "buy their product"; I have no personal experience with them whatsoever, although lots of people on this board do; butt at least you can get an idea of what's available and how to attack the problem. And maybe they'll even turn out to be what you want, who knows. Subject of course to the potential 9-bolt issue, which it doesn't matter what "kit" you get, you'll have to overcome. For all I know, BBU might even offer a solution to that, which would be awesome to say the least.

 

Thank you for that fantastic information. I will absolutely look at that site and see what options are possible.

Thank you,
Joe

 

Wilwood mostly make brakes for track use. They're in a different league than most other stuff you see.

 

Thank you.....I just want whatever the best option/options are and willing to spend more to get the better options. Great info by everyone in helping me in that direction.

 

If you're not doing any racing or anything you can just buy quality new calipers, rotors, soft lines, and pads for your current set-up. It's perfectly fine for daily/normal use.

You can usually find AC-Delco gold parts on rock-auto.

 

Thank you for the information. No racing, just enjoying this bad boy. It needs brakes,, so I'm looking for the best options....price not being an issue.

 

Very limited on items for the performance package available brake wise.

 

I have wilwood 6 piston 13.5 inch fronts and 4 piston 12 rears. They're awesome on the street. I got a kit from kore3. If you have any questions let me know.

 

What wheels are you running on your IROC-Z?

 

Stock 16" I'm looking at some R1 concept drilled rotors that look nice. Thats a kick *** set up you have there!

 

Then you'll need brakes no larger than 12"-ish for the factory 16" wheels.

Wilwood offers a dual piston front caliper that's a bolt-on replacement for the factory iron caliper for use with factory 10.5" hub rotors. It's supposed to be an outstanding replacement. It works on the rear too, but it doesn't have an e-brake, and they don't offer any such replacement for the rear with a mechanical e-brake, so you'd be stuck with your unresponsive factory iron calipers in the rear.

Your best options will probably be the front and rear LS1 12" upgrades. Big Brake Upgrade should be able to help you with whole conversion packages, or just partial conversion parts, then you get your own rotors, calipers, abutment brackets and pads.

I put R1 Concepts high carbon Geomet slotted front and rear rotors on my truck about 6 years ago, and they've been very good. Prices are tough to beat. The brand is probably too "import" for most people on these forums, so I doubt you'll find many members here, if any, who've tried the brand. I can't vouch for their 3rdgen-style hub rotors, but the brand is good.

R1 also has a newer, more "upscale" brand too, Dynamic Friction, that's being sold more commercially, probably to try to hide from their "import" branded image.

 

These will fit your factory 16x8 IROC-Z wheels. You will need to convert your absolute horrible garbage Delco-Moraine rear disc brakes to PBR rear disc brakes.

Camaro/Firebird 1LE Brake Kit, Hawks Motorsports

 

Thank you very much!

 

For whatever it's worth, I've purchased two LS1/4th gen front brake kits from Scott at Bigbrakeupgrade. Both times I've had 'em paired with the PBR rear brakes. On my 89, the PBR rears were stock, and the front/rear bias was about perfect with the stock prop valve. On my 88, I swapped out the crappy delco rears for the PBRs. Sold the car before fine tuning the bias, but they still worked great. -and of course they fit behind the stock 16" Irocs.

 

I run them on all fours on my 89 Trans Am GTA, they're nice pieces, I run Baers on my 93 TA. For street driven car, you're better off with a factory based, C5, CTSV etc. Just keep in mind, for a LS/C5, those are 20+ years old cars, and a lot of that stuff is now only available is remanufactured, the quality can be severely hit and miss. What started my Wilwood journey was I got a 12 bolt for my GTA, I started searching for the ls 4th gen ls backing plates, cables, new calipers, good rotors, etc, I was only a few hundred away from what Wilwood sold a complete kit for with all new parts, I also wasn't dealing with junkyard / salvaged parts. It was the easy way out. But then it didn't match, I also had a bad caliper on the front, again parts store reman parts, so I went with the Wilwoods on front. The car stops great, very responsive at freeway speeds. Something you'll notice when you go to Good Guys, the majority of cars there that are nice builds, run Wilwoods. They run the same Caliper over multiple kits, people road race these things, so the parts are there. Most people order online anyway these days.

 

I have a set of Wilwood brakes up front and they are might and day better than the crap factory stuff and are half the weight. Install was as easy as could be. I use mine with a manual brake kit as well and the pedal feel is solid, brakes don't create too much dust but there are other compounds of pads that will bite harder than the ones I'm using. And lastly the rotors on these don't ever seem to wear at all they've been great since I put them on

 

Thank you for that excellent information. Just installed some new headers, brakes are next!!!

 

Nothing wrong with Wilwood for street. I have 6p up front and 4p in rear. Rear e-brake is doable - everything is if you are determined. Listen to advice, then do your own informed thing.
Here is mine as it sits for this winter on Michelin PS4's all around - 245/45/17 front on narrowed 8" wheel, 265/40/17 rear on 9.5" wheel. After lots of internal debate, I allowed the 20mm offset as not too bad and got my tire choice.
Correction, the fronts were narrowed 1" to 8.5" by Weldcraft Wheels in Livonia MI.

Here is an excellent thread, enjoy: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/brak...ake-kit-3.html