69 Firebird progress/brake upgrade - Lateral-g Forums

av8or32 · #1 03-19-2009, 12:17 PM

I haven't posted in a while but I'm really making good progress on the bird. My car came to me with factory style discs (added by previous owner) I would like to upgrade to some nice slotted/crossdrilled rotors and calipers. My question is, what type of kit do I need to use to upgrade and is it required to change spindles? Should I upgrade to power brakes? I'm not planning on racing. I just want updated pieces. I'll be running 17" or 18" wheels up front and I'm planning on upgrading to discs on the rear. I've installed a Hotchkiss TVS so the car is lowered about 3" all the way around (if it even matters)

Apogee · #2 03-19-2009, 05:05 PM

You're lucky as you've got a lot of options when it comes to brakes for a first gen F-body when you're running 17" wheels or larger. KORE3 kits are compatible with either the drum or disc spindles, however some aftermarket big-brake kits are only compatible with disc spindles. Since those are what you have, you shouldn't have any issues there regardless of the kit you choose to go with. Power brakes are not necessary to have a good functioning brake system, however if you prefer comparatively less pedal efffort, than it's something to consider if your engine creates adequate vacuum levels. If not, you can always go with hydroboost to get around any low vacuum level issues.

There are several companies who offer C4/C5/C6 Corvette based brake kits, inlcuding my own (KORE3), which are known for their excellent performance given their relatively low cost. A nice feature of the C5/C6 Corvette based kits is that they're scalable due to the numerous configurations offered between the C5 and C6 Corvettes. The base level C5/C6 kits have 325mm [12.8"] & 305mm [12"] front and rear rotors, whereas the C6 Z51 has 340mm [13.4"] & [13"] rotors respectively. The C6 Z06 kits are bigger still at 355mm [14"] & 340mm [13.4"] and run some huge 6/4-piston calipers.

Touring Classics and Baer Brakes offer similar styles of kits and would be worth checking out for comparison sake.

Wilwood has a lot of different levels of kits to fit almost any budget and I'm sure Frank at Prodigy Customs or any of the other Wilwood distributors would be more than happy to hook you up as well. High end race kits from Brembo, Stoptech, AP, Alcon, etc are all probably a bit more than what you're looking for and/or need.

Tobin
KORE3

av8or32 · #3 03-25-2009, 11:44 AM

So your saying that I can run the stock spindles that I already have on the front with the big brake kits? It seems like the mounting location for the calipers would need to be further out to handle the larger diameter of the new rotor.

Apogee · #4 03-25-2009, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by av8or32

So your saying that I can run the stock spindles that I already have on the front with the big brake kits? It seems like the mounting location for the calipers would need to be further out to handle the larger diameter of the new rotor.

Like most aftermarket brake kits, KORE3 kits use a custom caliper mounting bracket that bolts to the GM short-spindle using the existing steering arms bolts and drum/disc bracket fastening point near the top of the spindle. This mimics the mounting position of a C5/C6 Corvette relative to the hub for proper rotor and caliper alignment. The only OE item is the spindle and steering arm, everything else is removed and replaced.

Our GMSS kits are based on the Chevy drum hubs, so if you wanted to use OE drum hubs, your best bet is to find a decent pair from a Chevy A/F/X-body application. In addition to rebuilding any OE hubs with new bearings, seals, and longer wheel studs, the outside diameter of the flange will need to be turned down to be 5.94" with a 1/8" x 45 degree chamfer on the outer corner of the face of the flange in order to be compatible with all known C5/C6 front rotors. Or for a simpler solution, our kit can be supplied with billet aluminum hubs ready to go.

Please feel free to contact us if you'd like to discuss our kits in greater detail.

Tobin
KORE3

markss28 · #5 03-25-2009, 10:50 PM

I have the c5 kore3 kit all the way around and love it. Took roughly about 8-10 hours to complete job. If I did it again probably half that time. Looks great and stopd great too. Tobin is awesome to deal with I must of called atleast a dozen times before ordering and a few more times after and was treated with the most respect.

Oh yeah my car is a 73 camaro.
with 18s

GO KORE3