blue72lt4sc

i have been doing biz with a local machine shop here recently and after doing some talking...we decided to do some research and pic a caliper and rotor combination and them make it work on a c3...i have a 72 and im gonna be doing quite a bit of road racing when its done and since i am going first rate with everything else i have to do the same for the brakes and i d like to offer such an upgrade to my customers.....so i have the machine shop to do the work, just need suggestions on what kind of setup to go with, id like to keep the calipers the same all the way around like go with 6 piston baers or something...let me know, cause if we are successful, a kit will be for sale i promise!!! :chevy


[Modified by blue72lt4sc, 3:25 AM 3/6/2003]

427V8

If you have 17: wheels;
Front;
6 piston Wilwood Billet Superlights on 13" Rotors
Aluminum Hubs with bolt on rotors

Rear;
Four piston Wilwood Dynalites on stock rotors

And dual master clyinders with brake fluid recirculators.


15 " wheels and you are pretty well stuck with Stock or Dynalites.

Oh and the bracket design for the 6 Piston Superlights exists for stock rotors, a simple mod for 13" rotors. I just don't have the $$ for 13" rotors and wheels and tires...

I also now have a bracket for Wilwood GNIII ( 6 piston Nascar calipers ) on 12.19" rotors, for the front of course.


[Modified by 427V8, 9:46 PM 3/5/2003]

Paul in Warren

"If you have 15" wheels you are pretty well stuck with stock or Dynalites"

You guys really need to "get a load of what our systems can do for you"...

Vette Magazine called the installation of our systems a 3 to 1 (!) impovement :eek:

mayberg

It would be nice to have a complete package - dust shield, caliper mount, rotor, etc. to fill up those 17 inch rally's I'm gonna get someday. I'm thinking stock brake calipers with the Hydratech thingy, but if there's calipers that will perform better and still work on the street, I'm all ears.

mrvette

Since the VAST majority of C3's will never see a race track anymore, and as such a good upgrade for street reliability would be some sort of aluminum floating caliper design....single piston would be fine....reduce weight, simplify operation/install, cheap stock style pads readily available.....stock caliper from some other car, makes parts house replacement/kits available....trouble with expensive custom stuff is...just that when in a few years parts are NLA because some engineer decided in the original design to use some custom stuff from GOD knows where, for the end user....it's toast....sorta expensive on the input end for that final result.....my way of thinking anyway.....
now for the very FEW that actually race....welll you pays' your money and you goes' fast......

I would want an aluminum caliper from say a Caddy, or other heavy car, that's CHEAP, pads easily gotten, large production volume, probably single piston floating, as in all matter of fact they work just fine for 99.99% of all driving.....reliability is up, no more silly pumping worries....
keep the iron 1.25 inchx11 dia rotors, as most likely finding something to replace them would be much thinner POS...warping and such, famous on all c4-5 racers, even some HP street useage....

GENE

groovyjay

I ordering new brakes next week. I think it is THE brake kit for C3 Corvette. I contains 15" 2-piece, cross-drilled rotors and 6-piston monoblock Brembo calipers in front and 13" 2-piece cross-drilled rotors and 4-piston monblock Brembo calipers in rear. The kit comes with CNC machined billet brakets and SS braided hoses. I've been in talks with Wilwood, AP, BAER and Brembo and this was the only bolt-on kit for C3 Vettes that will use big rotors and provide signficant improvement (not just change of caliper colour :lol: ). If you'd like more info I have received doing my research, drop me a line and we'll talk. :cheers:

groovyjay

Oh, forgot, I'm also using Hydroboost... :yesnod:

71roadster

I would like 13 inch slotted front rotors, either 1 or 2 piece, doesn't really matter. 1 piece is certainly cheaper. I like the new Outlaw 9000 caliper. It is one of the only calipers I have seen that exceed the piston area of the stock calipers. And, they are very affordable. This is probably the route I will end up going. They have a smaller caliper that will bolt onto the same bracket from Heidts that the Wilwoods bolt on to with piston area the same as stock. Stock rear rotor is fine.
http://www.outlawdiscbrakes.com/

Chris

MN-Brent

I think the following should be considered:

1) It should fit to 17 inch wheels
These are the current sweet spot for performance to dollar tradeoffs. Also I have seen an article where going from 17 inch to 18 inch tires yielded no real improvement in handling. I think the 18s sidewall was too stiff and the tires let loose earlier because of this.

2) Caliper is floating pin design for longevity.
No fixed racing caliper design... please. After that, I dont have any caliper namebrand preference.

3) Rotors should be slotted and not cross drilled. I believe cross drilling reduces the strength of the rotor and for longevity, you could have weak spots that create stress cracks. Slotting takes care of the problem of gas dissipation while creating less potential for stress cracks.

My .02
Brent...

mrvette

Brent, I agree with you, since I allready HAVE 17 inch wheels...yeh it would be nice, but to tool up for making something for the mass markets....I suppose in reality, the market is too limited for such an upgrade, that makes it racer expensive.....but it does nothing to improve the performance for some small price increase, for the guy who needs calipers/brake work/rotors currently, and most of them still have 15 inch wheels....
I guess what I"m saying is to keep the volume/attractiveness/price deal in a good spot....need consider the street guys too....

I really wonder how much better a larger diameter rotor is for racers anyway...I mean inherently....compared to say the majority of stuff out there....

GENE

73 LS-4

I know everyone gripes about them but I feel the brakes on a C3 are one of its best assets as long as everything is working correctly. How many modern cars are even running 4 piston calipers on all 4 wheels. The only performance drawback to the stock calipers is their weight in most applications, now they have a few longevity issues with the stock design but most aftermarket calipers have remedied a lot of this. Now if a similiar design with a much lighter caliper that doesn't cost a whole lot more then an aftermarket stock caliper came out then I'd be interested.

:cheers:
Pat Kunz

Taijutsu

GJ: Will you stop raising the bar for excellence? Please let the rest of know the result of you research into better brakes! For me Hydraboost is a first step. After 17" wheels better callipers and bigger rotors are a MUST! I spoke to the rep from VB&P some time ago. he said they were working on a kit to fit C5 brakes on a C3. This would cost about $900 each end. This would give the lighter weight callilers, larger rotors and reasonable cost and repair. Since they have been slow to respond to the growing market, let the first to develop an improvement make the money! I think for everyone that wants to upgrade, Hydraboost is a first step. I will be doing mine in a few months and will post the results. I haven't seen any unhappy customers.

theandies

:iagree:
Make a stock style caliper out of aluminum and I'd buy 4. I don't want or need 17 inch rims. I like my 15 inch ralleys.
John


[Modified by theandies, 1:59 PM 3/6/2003]

mrvette

Here we go now....frankly 4 piston calipers are NICE, but in reality, I want a nice warp proof THICK rotor.....C5 stock setup don't get it....look at C5 racers...same car weight essentially.....

so that leaves what rotor at 1.25" thick to choose from...that won'd break our banks.....and what calipers to use??? I still have no issues with single piston floating...in fact they work fine for quick street driving...I have not had any problems related to performance or longevity....now I realize a 4 piston would be NICE...but....what's out there???

GENE

terryrudy

:iagree:
For the street, the stock calipers have tremendous stopping power. I have surprised many people with my completely overhauled stock system and Hawk pads.
I am always looking for ways to lose weight tho, so would be up for a modern design that performs at least as well as the stock system for not a lot of $. For the 15" wheel people, the stock system (or the aluminum SSBC stock calipers) will do ya just fine. If you have the bigger wheels (IMO a NIGHT and DAY difference, everyone should upgrade unless they like the styling of 15" which I can understand) we need rotors that fill them up, even if just for the sake of having them. :) But honestly I am happy with the braking performance now, just would feel better if the calipers weighed a lot less.
-terry

norvalwilhelm

groovejay if I am reading this right you are getting a great set of brakes and along with the hydraboost you will never experience lack of braking power.

73 LS-4 I agree with you . My brakes are set up properly, no runout, 4 stainless calipers, stainless lines and hydraboost and I never feel I don't have enough brakes. Other then the weight issue with the calipers they are a great set of brakes. I also run wagner $20 organic pads to save the rotors.
I would love groovejays system. :) :) :)

Shock

I would love to have the 13" rotors and the Brembo "Big Red" calipers from the Porsche. Excellent brakes and they would haul our cars down in a hurry. Personally, I would not use the Wilwoods or Alcon's etc due to the fact they are a racing type caliper. They are great, but they have no debris shields and are they are designed to be rebuilt with new seals regularly. Something I don't want to do every year.

Mike

Chris O'

Does ANYBODY run Wilwoods??? I have a set of Dynalites I'm putting on my '77.

:cheers:

Twin_Turbo

I'd have to go w/ 6 piston billet monoblock brembo's like jay has.

As for who has Wilwoods, ME, I have Wilwood Integra 4's and I'm almost done w/ the brackets for them, the brackets are in fact pretty simple.

Marck

groovyjay

I did research on both Baer and Wilwood and like you said they are bit on the racing side, BUT the calipers I was looking for (Extreme+) Although they may have been derived from race calipers, they have full dust and weather seals as do all proper road-going calipers. Unfortunately they didn't have right rotors I was looking for, so I decided against them, but if you are doing a DIY kit these calipers are great choice, lot of guys uses them on their pro-touring Camaros.