info needed on frt brake upgrades

[Stg1Regal]

I remember reading here or on one of the other forums, about upgrading the front brakes on a G-body .



I was about keeping your current spindles, and machining down an old brake rotor to adapt/fit a Covette rotor over it, or something like that.



It was also required to cut something off the spindles to fit a bracket for the correct caliper to mount



Sounds familar? There was, if i recall a link to a thread somewhere about this conversion.



TIA

 

[Stg1Regal]

I found those links..whewww!!!



For the front brakes......

http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/brakes ... rerid=1864





And for the rear brakes...

http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/brakes ... rerid=1864

 

[pontiacgp]

way too much work and expense for what you gain with this upgrade

LS1 Brake Mod, machining the parts

Assuming spindle is off of car and you have the LS1 adapter bracket:
1. Remove hub/rotor from spindle.
2. Remove brake dust shield (you will use two of the three dust shield holes in the spindle for this mod): the hole by the bump stop, and the hole closest to the upper ball joint mount.
a) Hole by bump stop: drill through with letter U drill (.368) (3/8 drill will work) and tap through with 7/16-14 tap.
b) Hole by upper ball joint mount: drill approximately 1 1/8 deep with letter U drill and tap 7/16-14 to the bottom. Check this hole with bolt and adapter bracket to make sure bolt doesn’t bottom out, drill and tap deeper if needed. (I used 7/16 X 1 ¼ long grade 8 bolts)
3. Spindle mod: I used a chop saw to remove the ears but a sawzall or equivalent should do the trick.
a) Ear by bump stop: cut about 1” away from the new mounting hole (ear side of hole). I made the cut parallel to the flat on the bump stop.
b) Ear by the upper ball joint mount: cut about 1” from old caliper mounting hole (ball joint mount side) also cut parallel to flat on bump stop.
Note: neither cut is super critical as long as you don’t cut away your new mounting holes and no other clearance issues are brought up. These locations for cutting will at least get you pointed in the right direction.
c) Clearance for caliper bolts and bracket on spindle: I had access to a mill, but a die grinder or equivalent will work. Lay the adapter bracket on the mounting hole flats of the spindle, there will need to be a little material removal of the spindle to get the bracket to lay flat on the mounting flats. Once you have the bracket flat on the mounting hole flats of the spindle, put the metric bolts that hold the bracket to the caliper through the holes (head of bolt will be on spindle side of bracket pointing out). Next you will need to either cut pockets or completely remove the material on the spindle for the heads of the bolts that hold the bracket to caliper. If the bracket will mount to the spindle with no interference, bolt it to the caliper then bolt on the spindle. I also had to notch the caliper bracket a little to clear the heads of the 7/16 bolts, a little handwork will do for this.
4. Rotor/hub mod:
Access to a lathe or brake lathe will be needed (have heard of some milling the rotor off on a mill). Basically the entire rotor section will be removed, with only the hub section left. The hub should be turned to approximately 5.700” OD. Check the inside diameter of your LS1 rotor for clearance. Be careful not to go much smaller than 5.625” OD, the hub can crack between the stud holes and the outside diameter when new studs are installed. After the hub is machined you need to clean the bearings real good or better, just replace them. I also installed longer studs for the addition of the LS1 rotor, just check and make sure your lug nuts don’t bottom out.
5. Parts should be ready to assemble. I assembled everything on a bench before attempting to install on the car. It’s a little tricky getting the caliper assembly onto the spindle, you will need to slightly pull the rotor out a little to get the bolts through the bracket and into the spindle while also keeping the rotor inside the brake pads. Go ahead and tighten the bolts down at this time. Once everything is put on, I ran the lug nuts on and spun the rotor to check for clearance. If everything looks good, install it on the car.

 

[79loserbluebu]

It's really not that much work. All you have to do is take a new rotor from your car to a machine shop to be machined done to act like a hub. You could always stay away from taking things to machine shops and just do something like this.

S10 2WD Blazer spindle
S10 2WD hub bearing
LS1/C5/C6 caliper conversion brackets from www.flynbye.com
LS1/C5/C6 calipers, pads, and rotors
And make your own rubber lines, unless you'll be seeing quite a bit of track time, and then you can custom order a set of stainless steel brake lines from a place like SSBC or Kore3.

I've been on www.s10forum.com for almost 3 years and I've gone the route of switching over my S10 front brakes to S10 Blazer front brakes, which are dual piston whereas the trucks are single piston and floating calipers.

 

[pontiacgp]

the question is why is there a need to upgrade the front brakes in the first place. With the pads and rotor I'm using I can lock up my wheels at any speed and I have never experienced any brake fade....so the only way for my car to stop quicker wouldn't be a brake upgrade, I'd have to upgrade my 245-50-16 tires

and I'd like to see what the factual stopping distances from before an upgrade and after.....using the same brand of brake pads and the same tires and using the same road surface.....

 

[79loserbluebu]

So you are basing your opinion on your own vehicle, by stomping on the brake pedal and locking up the brakes, whereas your actually losing braking distance by sliding rather by slowing your speed.

Also, how is using a two piston caliper with more surface area than a single piston caliper not going to improve braking? The LS1/C5/C6 all have larger brake rotors than stock G-bodies or S/T trucks. Seeing as the vehicle they are questioning the stock brakes is an 82' Regal with a 455 under the hood, it would be stupid not to upgrade the brakes.

 

[dan2286]

So you are basing your opinion on your own vehicle, by stomping on the brake pedal and locking up the brakes, whereas your actually losing braking distance by sliding rather by slowing your speed.

Also, how is using a two piston caliper with more surface area than a single piston caliper not going to improve braking? The LS1/C5/C6 all have larger brake rotors than stock G-bodies or S/T trucks. Seeing as the vehicle they are questioning the stock brakes is an 82' Regal with a 455 under the hood, it would be stupid not to upgrade the brakes.

If the car is able to lock up the brakes, the brakes do not need upgraded. You need to start looking at other stuff like wheels, tires, suspension to take advantage of the stopping power. Once all of that stuff is able to handle the breaks with out locking up the wheels, then you should upgrade the brakes. You do not want to put huge brakes on a stock car and expect it to stop any better, it will just be able to lock up the tires much easier and make it not very safe.

 

[79loserbluebu]

You arent putting huge brakes on a stock car. Your putting slightly larger brakes on a stock car. I'm not saying your going to cut your 60-0 times in half but its going to make a dent in it. Getting softer tires will also help.

 

[dan2286]

You arent putting huge brakes on a stock car. Your putting slightly larger brakes on a stock car. I'm not saying your going to cut your 60-0 times in half but its going to make a dent in it. Getting softer tires will also help.

If the stock brakes are able to lock up the tires, how would upgrading the brakes help??

 

[79loserbluebu]

You don't want to lock the brakes up at all to begin with. Adding a larger sized rotor will slow the vehicle down faster. There is even proof in that thread in the second post of this thread. Even read the first two sentences from that thread. Honestly, I'd rather take advise from someone who has done the upgrade versus someone who thinks it won't help.