12" front brake swap questions

[Trannyman95]

I tried using the search but didnt have much luck and every return had multiple pages and when I would click "next page" it would say Item Not Found so maybe there is a search problem?? Anyways I am looking for info or WHO has personally done this swap. I came across a few sites that mentioned this but info varies from everyone. I am soon going to be using late 80s GTA 16x8 rims and for those that have looked into this the offset is not too Gbody friendly. From what I have read you can use the rear rims on the front with a spacer, but I have also read that going to the different spindles for the 12" conversion moves out each side 3/8". 1LE camaro rotors seem like the best choice to retain the correct bolt pattern but does the 1LE spindle work on a Gbody or do I need to look into a mid 80s Bbody/Caprice spindle? The stock rotors just dont cut it though I give them a lot of credit for their small size and the weight of the car, but 100+ mph runs and jumping on the brakes often just doesnt last forever and since I am using a larger rim I would like to go to the 12" brakes. Also will these work with a 15" rim or is that a definate no-go? The Bbody cars only had 15" steel wheels that used this larger rotor but I dont know the offset of those wheels. I currently have a 15x7 rim on the front with 4" backspacing it and would be nice to use the 12" rotor with these wheels but if not then Im not too worried about it. Thanks in advance to those who can help!

 

[78MC-BBC]

You may want to look into the LS1 front brake swap. The swap your talking about is called the B-body swap and it makes you but aftermarket upper control arms and creates a ton more bumpsteer than the stock suspension had to begin with.

the LS1 brake swap requires you to modify your stock spindle and rotor, but lets you use the stock 12" rotor and twin pistion PBR calipers from a 98-02 camaro/firebird. do a search for the LS1 brake swap and take a look, or others on here will chime in. The only reason i didnt mention the C5 vette brake swap is that you want to use those 16" wheels and C5's wont let you do that, my 17's barely fit

 

[GregonVI]

I recently spent a bunch of time reseaching the 12" rotor upgrade for my GP and was leaning towards the B-body spindle install, but I had read stories about the bumpsteer issue as well as people that had that setup then upgraded to the LS1 brakes that 78MC-BBC suggested and found better braking than previous.
So on that note this is some of what I found:

First, some on the B-Body spindle:

http://gbodyforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3 ... light=inch

http://gbodyforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2 ... light=inch

http://gbodyforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2 ... light=inch

http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showth ... p?p=375475

http://gbodyforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4 ... sc&start=0

http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/brakes ... steer.html

Some LS1 info:

http://gbodyforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3764

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/faq-b ... rakes.html

This company makes a bracket kit to instal the LS1 brake setup on to a G-Body spindle:

http://www.flynbye.com/catalog/c7_p1.html

Hope that helps. I am going with the LS1 brakes and aftermarket wheels, I wanted to run 15" snowflakes but it looks like 16" rims minimum and I don't think all 16" rims will fit. I spotted some info on that over at the third gen board.

Greg

 

[Trannyman95]

Thanks for the info guys! I hadnt heard of the 98+ Fbody stuff being usable on these cars yet but looks promising although I would really like to have the option to put my 15" rims back for the track

 

[Silent viewer]

at the moment i have the newer s series dual piston sealed hub spindles installed, they came on extreme s10s and blazers, 11 rotors and i threw some brembo drilled rotors on. i have not driven it yet but i can assure you it will blow stock out of the water. i also have most of a ls1 setup that i may use instaead and use the s series set up on the cutlass but not sure, both are bad a$$. here is the best and fairest priced place i have found, if you order hubs and brackets here and the rest off of ebay i would put money on a under 500 dolalr big brake setup.

flynbye.com

 

[bigdan]

personnaly I went the b body spindles+1LE rotors ....
combined with a 2" dropped suspension & UB machine uper A arms
I dont have any bumpster problem (probably because of the dropped suspension)
cost was minimal compared to some other conversions.
great result compare to the original set up

my 2 cents
Dan .

 

[Silent viewer]

how much are the upper arms? my s10 setup i have 100 into the spindle assemplies and 80 in new brembo drilled rotors that i found on craigslist and then pads are about 50 so 230 bucks total and they bolt right in. the ls1 setup i have so far i have 35 in the brackets and 65 shipped in used but good calipers, i just need the hubs which are aorund 125 and then pads and rotors i found for 110 shipped which equals around 335 total. i started buildint the 1LE setup but i decided that the ls1 had better calipers and would be cheaper. i am not sure about the tall spindels just because i have heard so many people say it is both good and bad on your suspension??? there are so many options now, there are kits for 14" c6 and cts-v setups now, those are awesome! i guess it is all personal prefference anymore

 

[bigdan]

at first i tought id have to go with hotchkiss at around $500.00

but with UB machine ( nascar suspension provider) it costed me $125.00
spohn performance is another alternative

get a look on their site....
Dan

 

[Silent viewer]

125? wow, that seems cheap, what is the difference? can you post a link or a model number so i can google it? thanks

sphoon seems to have allot of nice affordable g body parts, i think theie ipper arms are at the 300 mark

 

[78MC-BBC]

i am currently running SC&C adjustable upper control arms and spohn lower tubular control arms and i still have stock monte carlo spindles that i modified for the C5 vette parts. For the hub i used stock monte rotors that i had cut down into hubs, only cost be $50 to have that done.